Are you worried about taking the IELTS Speaking Test?
With our 10 expert IELTS Speaking Tips and a lot of practice, you can achieve the IELTS speaking score you want.
The IELTS speaking test is face-to-face and consists of three parts.
It is the same speaking test for traditional paper-based IELTS and the newer computer-delivered IELTS.
You will feel more confident if you understand each of the three sections of the IELTS Speaking Test.
Part 1
You have a conversation about yourself with the IELTS examiner for 4 to 5 minutes.
These are the common topics:
- Personal interests
- Homelife
- Work
- Family
Part 2
The examiner will give you a topic cue card. You will have one minute to make notes about the question topic and plan your response.
When the examiner asks you to start speaking, you should speak for one to two minutes about the topic.
Part 3
You have a longer conversation with the IELTS adjudicator related to the topic of Part 2 but in more depth.
Part 3 takes around four to five minutes.
IELTS Speaking Tips
1: Do not memorize complete answers
Don't memorize answers, even if you study them for a long time.
A memorized response will not provide an accurate indication of your English-speaking ability.
If you memorize responses, the examiner will know (examiners train to identify memorized answers!).
It will affect your final score.
2: Do not try to use big or unfamiliar words
In the Speaking test, do not try to show off your vocabulary with long and complicated phrases you aren't confident about using.
It is more probable that you will make errors by mispronouncing unfamiliar words.
Mistakes have the potential to influence your final speaking score.
Use a variety of words and phrases that you are familiar with to talk about the topic in question.
To learn more vocabulary and phrases related to these theme areas, study the core topics in Tip 10 using vocabulary lists or mind maps.
3: Try to use a variety of grammar structures
The IELTS examiner evaluates your speaking abilities using the following evaluation criteria:
- Fluency and Coherence
- Lexical Resource
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy
- Pronunciation
Use a variety of structures, including simple and complex sentences, to communicate your ideas.
Recognize your own mistakes by practicing speaking English with friends. Record your conversations and try to identify anything that you can improve.
If you detect an error, correct yourself as soon as possible. Your score reflects how well you construct grammatical sentences correctly.
It's critical to practice discussing the past, present, and future using proper tenses.
4: Do you have an accent? Do not worry!
The IELTS examiner can comprehend what you're saying better in a person-to-person speaking test than an AI machine can.
Try to communicate effectively, and there's nothing to be concerned about.
Through practice, become aware of sounds that you struggle to pronounce correctly. Try to use stress and intonation in your speech.
Practice with people you know and ask them to tell you when they can't easily understand what you're saying.
5: Pause and think
It's not a problem if you need to pause and think about what you want to say next. It's normal when we're planning answers.
Here are some useful phrases to use in the speaking test:
- That's an interesting question
- I've never really thought about it much, but...
- That's an interesting point
- Well, some people might believe that is the case, but I think...
- It's a complex situation, but let me answer it by saying...
- My first thought about that is...
6: Do not use fillers
Speak with confidence and do not use filler phrases. When we are stuck for something to say, we tend to use fillers.
Your goal in the speaking test is to communicate confidently and express your ideas to the examiner. So try to avoid fillers such as:
- Like
- Umm
- Ahh
- Well
- Yeah
- Ahh
- You know
7: Expand your answer
Try and give the examiner a complete answer. Extend your replies to the questions, and don't wait to be asked for more details.
When your responses are limited, it indicates to the assessor that you can't speak about a subject in detail or at length.
When the interviewer asks you - "Why?" - they want you to offer reasons or more details in your response - to go deeper into the topic.
8: Smile! It helps pronunciation
Yes, when you smile, it can help relax you. Being relaxed will help improve your speaking performance.
Try to articulate sounds correctly. When you smile, your voice naturally becomes friendlier.
Using clear pronunciation and tone helps demonstrate that you can use a variety of features of spoken English.
9: Avoid speaking with a monotonous voice
When you speak, try to vary your voice. A monotonous tone makes it challenging for the interviewer to understand what you're saying and which parts are crucial.
By focusing on specific words and learning to pause at critical moments in your talk, you can make the conversation more interesting.
When you emphasize specific terms, it makes comparing and contrasting ideas simpler by stressing key words.
Avoiding monotonous speaking also improves the flow of conversation, so keep these points in mind:
- Avoid speaking in a monotonous voice
- Emphasize specific words/phrases
- Use natural hand gestures during the conversation, as you do in real life.
10: Practice core IELTS topics
In Part 2, you must speak about a topic for around 2 minutes.
Practice talking about typical IELTS themes with a speaking partner.
Also, try to enhance your communication abilities and learn more words connected with each subject.
Here are some example topics to practice before the IELTS Speaking Test:
- Advertising and Retail
- Education
- Environment
- Crime and Punishment
- Family life
- Tourism and Travel
- Transport
- Sport and Recreation
- The internet
Practice makes perfect! So with plenty of speaking practice and these 10 IELTS Speaking Tips, you'll earn the band score you need for your IELTS Speaking test.
Do you want to improve your IELTS speaking skills?
By studying an IELTS speaking sample answer, you will be able to see a good example of how to respond to the question and also learn some useful vocabulary related to the IELTS speaking topics.
Many IELTS candidates have a problem with the speaking part of the IELTS test because they are just not familiar with talking about some of the IELTS speaking topics.
Candidates can sometimes experience a ‘blank moment’ and not know what to say because they have not had enough practice expressing their opinions about IELTS speaking topics.
When you read through an IELTS speaking sample answer you should pay attention to:
- The way the speaker organizes their ideas in the response
- How the speaker connects different ideas together when responding
- Any specialized vocabulary related to that particular topic
What you can learn from an IELTS speaking sample answer?
Using IELTS speaking sample answers to help you prepare for the IELTS test is an excellent way of helping you to:
- improve your own IELTS speaking skills
- get an idea of how to extend your own answers
- become familiar with some of the typical IELTS speaking topics
- improve your chance of a better IELTS speaking score
A good IELTS speaking sample answer will have responses that are the correct length, not too short and not too long.
In Part 1, a typical response is about three or four good sentences.
In Part 2, the response should be long enough to fill the maximum two minute speaking time allowed in the IELTS speaking test.
In Part 3, the language used in the IELTS speaking sample answer should be more complex and include different ways of expressing possibility, probability and conditional situations.