{"id":1709353,"date":"2019-03-07T11:06:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T11:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.staging.ieltsadvantage.com\/?p=1709353"},"modified":"2021-07-29T15:58:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T14:58:37","slug":"how-to-talk-about-an-unfamiliar-topic-in-ielts-speaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2019\/03\/07\/how-to-talk-about-an-unfamiliar-topic-in-ielts-speaking\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Talk About an Unfamiliar Topic in IELTS Speaking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s common for IELTS students to worry about getting an unfamiliar topic on the speaking exam. However, this article will outline the reasons why this shouldn\u2019t be your priority <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> what to do if you do receive a topic you know little about.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">know that it can be a lot of pressure speaking about an unfamiliar topic in a second language. I\u2019m a native English speaker and even I struggle to talk about topics that I know little about! <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We conducted an experiment on our YouTube Channel a few months ago, challenging our native-English team members to answer IELTS Speaking questions with no prior preparation. You can see them struggle (and maybe even feel a bit better about your own skills!) by watching the video below:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"lyte-wrapper fourthree\" style=\"width:420px;max-width:100%;margin:5px auto;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_B5R3Bgqek-c\"><div id=\"lyte_B5R3Bgqek-c\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FB5R3Bgqek-c%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/B5R3Bgqek-c\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FB5R3Bgqek-c%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video thumbnail\" width=\"420\" height=\"295\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:420px;margin:5px auto;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>What are the chances that I&#8217;ll get an unfamiliar topic?<\/strong> <\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Honestly, this depends on the amount of time you&#8217;ve invested in your IELTS preparation.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is unlikely that you will receive a topic in the IELTS exam that you know nothing about. The topics chosen by IELTS are typically those that most people are comfortable discussing.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More importantly, it\u2019s not a knowledge test &#8211; it\u2019s a speaking test. The marking scheme\u00a0doesn&#8217;t mention knowledge-specific criteria, but the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fluency and coherence<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pronunciation<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vocabulary<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grammar<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>(If you didn&#8217;t know this already, you should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/ielts-speaking\/\">click this link<\/a> to read our guide to IELTS Speaking.)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many individuals on the internet create their own exam questions with crazy topics because they think it will help students practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, such questions make many IELTS students more nervous than they should be. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because they think they could be asked about any topic in the world!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using non-official speaking topics does <\/span><b>not <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">help you prepare for the speaking exam because it distracts you from the type of questions that you could actually receive. This is why we only recommend using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2017\/08\/02\/ielts-practice\/\">official <\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IELTS materials to practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, you shouldn\u2019t worry about getting an unfamiliar topic in the speaking exam &#8211; the chances of this happening aren&#8217;t as likely as you might think.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don&#8217;t waste your valuable time worrying about unfamiliar topics &#8211; spend your time on focused preparation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1709350\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/unfamiliar-topic-ielts-speaking-exam.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><b>What if I do get an unfamiliar topic?<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two possible strategies that you can follow if you receive an unfamiliar topic in IELTS speaking:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be open and honest.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can always tell the examiner that you know very little about the topic or that it\u2019s not relevant to your own experience. However, it is important that you <em>explain why.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explaining that you don\u2019t know much about a topic will allow you the opportunity to develop your answer while demonstrating your pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency skills.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember: no two people will answer a question the exact same way, so it\u2019s not a case of your answer being \u2018right\u2019 or \u2018wrong\u2019. Your ultimate goal is to communicate with the examiner effectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make up a story.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The IELTS exam isn\u2019t a lie detector test!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, it is completely fine to make up a story in the speaking exam \u2013 the ultimate goal should be for you to demonstrate your English speaking skills.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This strategy is more suited to those who are naturally good storytellers or creative types. If you struggle to speak creatively or dishonestly, I would not recommend lying to the examiner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re uncomfortable with the idea of lying, you can always speculate about other people&#8217;s experiences of your given topic. It is much better to speak about other people and keep talking than to hesitate or pause because you don&#8217;t know what else to talk about.<\/p>\n<p>You can read our complete guide to lying to IELTS examiners by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2016\/09\/02\/a-guide-to-telling-the-ielts-examiner-lies\/\">clicking this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I completely understand how stressful the IELTS exam is. Hopefully, this article has helped you realise that you have one less thing to worry about!\u00a0If you&#8217;re feeling more confident about your exam preparation, let me know in the comments.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Alternatively, if you&#8217;re repeatedly failing to get the scores you need, you might need more help than free materials can offer. If this sounds like you, please send an email to chris@ieltsadvantage.com. We&#8217;ll do everything we can to help you get your required score.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">We&#8217;re always happy to help!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s common for IELTS students to worry about getting an unfamiliar topic on the speaking exam. However, this article will outline the reasons why this shouldn\u2019t be your priority and what to do if you do receive a topic you know little about. *** I know that it can be a lot of pressure speaking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[43,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-1709353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-speaking","8":"tag-ielts","9":"tag-ielts-speaking","10":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Talk About an Unfamiliar Topic in Speaking Task - 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