IELTS Speaking Test entails a face-to-face discussion with an IELTS examiner which is usually informal in nature. It is basically conducted to assess your fluency and your overall confidence level in English speaking and needs to be taken by both the Academic as well as the General Training students. It lasts for roughly fifteen minutes.
The four parts that are chiefly tested upon are –
- Fluency and Coherence
- Lexical Resources/ Vocabulary
- Grammatical Range
- Pronunciation
In order to understand more about what the examiner evaluates, please click here
Now, let us come to the three parts that the IELTS Speaking test is divided into.
IELTS SPEAKING PART 1 – INTRODUCTION & INTERVIEW
The Speaking Part 1 consists of a conversation that’s very casual in nature. The certified IELTS examiner will ask you questions about your everyday life such as about the work that you do or the kind of people who you hang out with. This round lasts for about 5 minutes.
Examples – Where are you from?
Who all are there in your family?
What do you like to do over the weekend?
Here, you need to maintain clarity while you’re answering these basic questions. Avoid digressing from the question asked and stick to facts. While answering the question asked, do not keep your replies either too short or too lengthy.
For instance, if you’re asked “ Who all are there in your family?” you could say something like “My family consists of my parents and my grandparents. So, there are 5 of us who stay in the same house. However, the entire family consists of several members and they stay in different parts of the country.”
Remember to be confident and clear while answering questions that are directed towards you. You can check out this video on how your confidence level and your intonation affects this round.
IELTS SPEAKING PART 2 – INDIVIDUAL LONG TERM
Here, the student is provided with a Cue Card that has a topic written in it. The student will be given a minute’s time to prepare for the topic .They will be provided with a paper and a pen to take down some pointers that will help them build up their topic. They will then be asked to speak on the same for about 2 minutes. He/ she needs to speak at length about it while pausing naturally in between sentences. Once the student is done speaking, the examiner will ask 2-3 questions related to the topic.
Let’s take a look at some of the cue cards and understand this better
CUE CARD 1 :
Describe a TV series that you recently watched.
You could speak about
- What the TV series was about
- How it influenced you
- What it’s central theme was
- Why did you choose to see it
CUE CARD 2:
Describe a time of the day when you feel your best
You could speak about
- How that time of the day helps you
- What time of the day it is
- Why you feel so
- How has the realization come about
Here, you will have to speak at length about the topic that’s asked and weave all your points together to the main question asked. Everything should sound linked to the topic and ensure that you are coherent while you’re elucidating it.
The purpose of this round is to glean just how effectively you can communicate in English. It should seem natural and not monotonous or forced.
IELTS SPEAKING PART 3 – TWO-WAY DISCUSSION
In this final round , you will be asked a question similar to the one you had spoken on in the second round. However, the question will not be as personalized as it was but more generic.
So, if your topic was “Describe your favourite person” in the Cue Card round, you will be asked something like “ What are the traits that make someone likeable?” in this third round of the Speaking test.
The examiner assesses the student’s ability to not just speak at length but also to speak on various spectrums of the same topic without any lapses.
Although all rounds are equally important, the third round gives the examiner a picture of how well versed the student is in English. Being able to clearly express yourself and discuss the topic that has been asked with as little subjectivity as possible will help you score your desired band score.
You can refer to this video for further clarity.
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