What is the IELTS speaking test?
The IELTS speaking test is a one on one interview and discussion with the examiner where he/she will ask you a series of questions as well as ask you to talk uninterrupted.
The speaking test is the same for both the Academic and the General Training tests.
This part of the test is divided into 3 parts and the whole test will last around 14 minutes. The three parts of the test are described below.
There are 3 sections to the IELTS speaking test:
Part 1 – Introduction and Interview (4-5mins)
Part 2 – The Long Turn (3-4mins)
Part 3 – Discussion (4-5mins)
Introduction and Interview (Part 1)
This part of the test is where the examiner will ask you questions about yourself. These may be about your preferences, likes, dislikes, or habits. There are usually 3 separate topics in this section and these topics may vary. The topics that are commonly asked about are; home, hometown, work, study or family. Make sure to practice talking about these subjects before the test.
An example of a part 1 question and model answer can be found here.
The Long Turn (Part 2)
In this section, you will get a cue card detailing what you should talk about. You have one minute to prepare and plan your answer, you can take notes if you wish. Then you talk for 1 – 2 minutes about the topic.
(A question card may look something like below)
Describe a piece of international news you have just recently heard.
You should say:
- what the news is about
- where and when you heard it
- what you were doing when you heard the news
- and explain how you felt about it
Many students feel very nervous about this part of the test and are worried about running out of things to say. If you practice talking for 2 minutes about different topics, and you follow the prompts on the card, you should be fine.
Two big mistakes that students make in this part of the test are using the present tense to talk about the past and not describing things enough.
Once you have finished your talk the examiner may ask you a few extra questions about something to do with the topic of your talk. Don’t worry if you don’t talk for the full 2 minutes but try to talk for at least one and a half minutes.
Please follow this link for a part 2 question and model answer.
The Discussion (Part 3)
This part of the test is a discussion with the examiner about something related to the part 2 question. The questions are less about you and are more about other people or groups of people. Your answers are going to be longer and more in-depth than in part one.
Many of these questions are quite difficult to answer and often make you talk about 2 different things or points of view.
An example of a part 3 question and model answer can be found here.
How is the speaking test assessed?
There are 4 areas of assessment in the IELTS speaking test. Each of these areas makes up 25% of the overall mark.
A band score of between 0 and 9 is given for each area of assessment, if you were to score 9 for each area, this means that you achieved a score of 100%.
The areas that are assessed are as follows:
Fluency and Coherence
This looks at how well you can speak fluently, how well you join your words and sentences together. Pauses and hesitations as well as repetition may affect the score as they make you less fluent. Coherence refers to how easily you convey your ideas and how clearly you explain what you mean.
Lexical Resource
This is basically the vocabulary that you use when answering the question. It looks at whether you have enough words to discuss the topic and also the type of vocabulary that you use. More advanced words and colocations will generally get you a higher band score for this area.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
This is about how you use grammar in your sentences. To score well you need to demonstrate a range of grammar. These may be different sentence types (complex/compound), verb tenses or other grammatical structures. Accuracy must also be demonstrated if you want to achieve a high band score.
Pronunciation
This looks at how you pronounce words and individual letter sounds. Having a foreign accent when speaking is perfectly fine, but if this accent means that certain word sounds are mispronounced (said incorrectly), this could affect how well you score.
It is important to become familiar with the types of questions that they will ask in the test and to practice answering them. The latest IELTS speaking questions can be found here.
To see the IELTS speaking band descriptor in more detail click here.
If you are wondering how you can answer these questions, it is a good idea to think about how you can paraphrase the language in the question. Click here to find out more.