How to Get a High Score in IELTS Speaking

- It seems to me a lot of students are preparing

for IELTS Speaking the wrong way.

They're following tips they get off anybody on the internet.

And if you're following the wrong advice,

you may get a lower score than you really deserve.

Let's fix that.

Let's make sure you're getting some good advice to help you

get a higher score and the score you really deserve.

(upbeat music)

Hello, this is Keith from English Speaking Success.

Also check out my website, the Keith Speaking Academy.

You know, when I started teaching IELTS,

I couldn't believe the number of students who came up to me

saying that they've taken the test six or seven times

and they still haven't got the score they need.

And I thought, wow, you must be very rich.

Or maybe you really like IELTS

and want to donate lots of money to them.

And I know that's not true, or something is wrong.

So I ask students,

how are you preparing for IELTS Speaking

between each time you take the test?

And that's when I realised very quickly

what the problem was.

And in a nutshell, this is the problem.

A lot of students who are not ready for the test

and nowhere near ready for the test,

are being told they can reach a band 7 or above

in a short time by following a few tips.

And what happens is they book the test, they take the test,

they fail the test, or they don't get the score they need,

and they lose confidence,

they lose belief in their ability to speak English

and it goes down and down.

So today I want to tell you a better way

to help you prepare for IELTS

so you can get a higher score in the IELTS Speaking.

These are not tips, these are strategies.

I'm not gonna lie, some of them will take time,

but the rewards are big.

In addition, during this video,

I'm gonna tell you about

an awesome mobile app that I really like

that will help make your learning

more effective and a lot more fun.

It's called Woodpecker Learning, it's a great app.

I'm gonna tell you more about it very, very shortly.

First of all, let's have a look

at how you can get a higher score in IELTS Speaking.

Okay, number one, the first thing, is be patient.

Only book your test when you are ready.

You know, the other day,

I got a message on Facebook Messenger

from a student who said,

"Could you give me a study plan for four months

to go from band 4 to band 8?

And I, well, no, I can't because it's impossible, right?

You can't do that, so you have to be realistic.

Remember, Cambridge guides us

that in order to go up one level,

you need about at least 120 hours of guided learning.

So if you're studying an hour a day on IELTS Speaking,

so five hours a week, let's say,

and then you're gonna need 24 weeks.

That's six months to move up a level,

to give you an idea, okay?

Of course, you can study more intensely, that's fine,

and do it in a shorter time,

but it does take time to build up your level.

So when I say book your test when you're ready,

what do I mean by 'when you're ready'?

There are two important things.

First one is that you're at the correct level of English

or a little bit higher.

So if you're going for a band 7,

make sure you already have

at least band 7 level English, right?

If you're at band 5 level and you expect a band 7,

you're not going to get it.

So work with a teacher.

Even just have one class with an experienced teacher

who can tell you you're there,

you're at the band 7 level as far as your English goes.

The second thing is to be familiar

with the test format, right?

You should know the common topics you get.

You should know that Part 1 answers

are fairly short, around 15 seconds.

You should know that in Part 2,

you have a minute to prepare.

You can make notes and you can keep those notes

as you're speaking.

You should know in Part 2

you should try and speak for up to two minutes.

You should know in Part 3

you need to develop longer answers.

The examiner will always interrupt you, they always do.

It's fine.

So you need to know the format

and you should have the level of English,

the correct level of English,

or a little bit higher for the band that you're aiming for.

Okay, that's the first thing, be patient.

Number two is to build flexibility.

It's so important to have flexibility

when you speak English to get a band 7 or above, okay?

The big mistake most people make is they go on the internet,

they find the IELTS Speaking questions.

They then create or develop an answer for each question

and practise that answer,

thinking I'll be more confident

if I can have an answer ready.

Mmm.

Yes, but no,

because what happens if you forget the answer?

You can't adapt.

What happens if the question actually is a bit different

and your answer doesn't fit?

And anyway, the examiner will know

you've memorised an answer and you will be marked down.

What you should be doing is finding some questions,

they don't have to be the exact questions,

but any common questions or topics,

and practise giving a different answer

each time you ask the question, right?

Where do you live?

I live in Manchester.

It's a nice city up in the north of England.

Where do you live?

I live in a city

that's about two hours' drive north of London.

It's called Manchester, quite a nice city.

Where do you live?

I live in Manchester, actually.

It's quite a fashionable city and it's also famous

for its football club, Manchester United.

What's happening?

You're building flexibility, you're able to adapt,

you're actually expanding your use

of language and vocabulary

and your confidence will just rocket.

That's the way you should be practising .

Right, number three, build your vocabulary, right?

Remember things like, well, adjectives, adverbs,

collocations, and idioms, to name a few.

So remember to use adjectives, right?

There are lots of outstanding, fantastic,

top-notch adjectives you can be using.

Don't forget them.

Adverbs, many students forget about adverbs,

yet they are immensely useful, right?

Extremely powerful.

They can be hugely helpful when you're speaking

to show off your language.

Collocations.

Collocations are the words that go together.

So when you learn a new word,

never, never, never just learn one word.

Always learn the other word,

at least one other word that goes with it, right?

So if you learn shower,

you should learn have a shower

or take a shower or a refreshing shower.

Learn some collocation to help you

use the word more fluently.

The other one was idioms, right?

I think there's a bit of an obsession with idioms.

Yes, they're useful, they're not that important, right?

I mean, in an IELTS Speaking test,

you may use one or two idioms in the test,

but don't worry too much about them.

You know, in the live lessons,

I spend about 5 or 10 minutes on idioms.

It's just a small part of the language that you need.

So useful, but don't sweat the small stuff.

Another thing about vocabulary as you're building it up

is only use words that you really know

how to use in the test.

A big mistake is that students will discover a word

like the day before the test and try and use it in the test.

For example, somebody shows you a plethora of,

and they say, well, that means a lot of.

Great. So you think, great.

In the test and you say,

oh, there are plethoras of problems with climate change.

And the examiner goes,

"Oh, dear, you learned that word yesterday, didn't you?"

They know because you couldn't pronounce it properly.

The grammar was wrong, right?

It's singular, a plethora of something, not plethoras.

And it just wasn't used fluently in the sentence.

So be really careful.

When you learn a word,

only use it in the test when you're really confident

you know how to use it, right?

Okay, number four, find your most common

grammar mistakes and fix them.

My experience is that students

tend to make the same grammar mistakes again and again.

So each student will have slightly different mistakes,

often depending on your mother tongue,

but often the same mistakes come up again and again.

So if you can, get some feedback, get a teacher,

even if it's for one class,

who can just identify the common mistakes you make

and then fix them, fix them through practise,

through repetition and repetition in different contexts.

As you're repeating in different contexts,

you're practising the grammar at a much deeper level.

Sort out those grammar mistakes,

it'll really pay off in the long-term.

Right, before I go on, let's take a little break.

So listen, I hope that you're enjoying the video so far.

If you are, press the subscribe,

turn on the notifications, right?

Now, oh, by the way, the coffee machine's broken,

but you've got a choice: banana or a mini pear,

which would you like?

I like apples and bananas.

So that's... mini pear? Great.

Here you go, catch.

Did you just drop that?

Butter fingers, come on.

So listen, some of these tips, they're not tips, are they?

These strategies, they take time, right?

But here's the thing.

A lot of students and teachers

are talking about passing IELTS as quickly as possible.

But I think they're missing the point.

Because if you enjoy your learning,

why would you want it to end?

Right?

Of course, you may have deadlines to get your IELTS score,

but when it comes to improving your English,

if learning is fun, you want it to last a lifetime.

So, anyway, talking about fun,

let me tell you about that app I mentioned earlier,

Woodpecker Learning, right?

It's a great app, I'm gonna show you on my iPad.

I like it because it makes learning fun,

because I know the guys who work there

and they work very hard to improve it

and update it all the time.

And also, because they're working

with us today to do a lucky draw.

That's right, three students will be able

to get three gifts from Woodpecker Learning.

Let me tell you about that in a moment.

But first, if you don't know Woodpecker Learning,

very briefly, this is how it works.

So we're inside the app.

You can see here,

they brought in all these videos from YouTube.

You can also access Netflix

if you have an account on your iPad.

Now the homepage arranges them

in different categories, right?

So you've got edutainment,

you've got trailers and reviews, food,

talk shows, which is great for conversational English,

news, you've got science, space, talks.

So you can choose by the topic you're interested in

and you want to practise, right?

You can also choose by teacher, right?

All your favourite teachers are here.

Emma, Lucy, Adam, Rachel.

You've got loads of them.

You've got Jennifer, Gabby, Anna.

Look, even Keith is here.

But let me show you how it works.

Let's take an example in Netflix, right?

So I've gone into my Netflix account.

I've got the code so I can use it here.

Imagine I want to watch, let's have a look,

let's have a look at "Star Trek".

Okay.

This is the series.

Now, what happens you'll see

is that you get the transcript that comes up, the subtitles,

which is brilliant.

So I can go and play the video,

but also access any part of the video.

Let's see if this works.

- A starbase built there by the inhabitants of that world.

Meanwhile, I'm becoming better acquainted

with my new command.

- Better acquainted. I wonder what acquainted means.

So I can click on a word and acquaint, right?

To furnish or give experimental knowledge of,

to communicate, to inform, to accustom, to familiarise.

Acquainted: personally known, familiar.

Ah, great.

So I can look up words, check the dictionary.

Absolutely awesome.

You can now access Netflix and all of those series

checking words if you need to with the transcript.

Absolutely brilliant. Nice.

The other thing now then is the lucky draw.

So together with Woodpecker Learning,

we are going to offer you three prizes

to three different people.

All you need to participate,

all you need to do is leave a comment down below.

And the comment is,

which is your favourite show to learn English?

Leave a comment within the next 48 hours.

So that is before Monday,

July the 12th at 12 o'clock Spain time.

Spanish time, Spain time, okay?

You've got 48 hours, that's the deadline.

And then I will announce in the pinned comment

who the winners are on Monday afternoon.

What do you win?

You win three, well, each person wins

one browser add-on for the mobile app,

which means on the mobile app,

when you're browsing the internet, you can look up words,

you can save them in a dictionary

and download them in a file for yourself, right?

It's fantastic.

If you want, you can use the code

for an iPad if you have an iPad,

and if you have a Netflix subscription,

then as you're watching Netflix,

you can use all of the Woodpecker features.

Get down, make a comment,

which is your favourite show to learn English?

Right now without further ado,

oh, have you finished your pear?

Great. Okay.

Let's get back and have a look at some more strategies

to help you get a higher score in IELTS Speaking.

Okay, number five, get a balance.

What do I mean by that?

I mean, as you're speaking in the test,

you're gonna need a balance

of complex language and simple language.

Unfortunately, a lot of students

get a bit obsessed with band 9 sentences, right?

And they try and develop and craft

a really complicated and complex sentence.

Maybe something like this.

There is a plethora of pernicious activities

effectuated by personages

on the heavenly body known as earth.

Well, lovely.

But the problem is nobody speaks like that.

I don't know if you would even see that in a book, right?

But some students may think,

well, plethora instead of a lot of,

pernicious instead of harmful,

and they're creating this crazy sentence

because they've been given bad advice.

They've been told, write down your answer,

make it as complicated as possible.

No, you need a balance. Some complex, some simple.

A much more natural sentence or answer would be,

there are lots of harmful activities

carried out by humans on our planet.

Much more natural spoken English, right?

You may want to change one word if it comes naturally.

You may say, well, there are lots of detrimental activities

carried out by people on our planet, right?

People instead of humans make it simpler.

So you're gonna have some sentences

that you may show off words that you're confident with,

but others will be very simple.

That balance is so important.

Get a balance, sound natural.

Number six, don't memorise answers.

So what I mean is don't memorise sentences like for Part 1.

Certainly not for Part 2 or Part 3, right?

Because the examiner will know

and it will mark down your score.

Do you remember what I said earlier about flexibility?

So when you've got a question,

being able to give different answers

to the same question, that's the secret.

That's really gonna build your confidence

rather than memorising the whole answer.

As a language-learning technique, memorising is great.

Yes, memorise words, memorise collocations,

memorise chunks, short phrases, but not whole sentences.

Flexibility, that's the key.

So please do not memorise all of your answers.

It's a lot of hard work anyway, and it's not gonna help you.

Now, number seven is start with simplicity.

I love that word. Simplicity.

You've got the adjective simple, meaning easy,

and the noun simplicity.

It just means, start in a simple way.

But I like start with simplicity.

What do I mean?

Well, maybe this acronym will be a good way

to introduce this.

Do you know this acronym?

KISS, right?

KISS. Yeah.

KISS.

Well, it reminds me of many of my Chinese students

who were surprised to discover that my name was Kiss.

And they said, "Oh, you are teacher Kiss."

And even my French students, "Ah, teacher professor Kiss."

Like (imitates kissing).

And I said, "No, no, no, no. My name is Keith, not Kiss."

"Ah, yes, Kiss."

"No, Keith."

And it went on and on.

But anyway, the acronym KISS means,

yes, keep it simple, stupid.

Not that you're stupid.

That's the expression, keep it simple, stupid.

It means keep it simple, right?

So what I'm saying here is at the beginning

of the IELTS test, you have a few warmup questions, right?

About your name, where you're from, maybe your hometown.

Keep it simple.

Don't try and use complex language at the beginning, right?

Give very simple answers.

It's a bit like when you're warming up to do exercise,

you don't straight away start running.

You start walking slowly, bit of stretching.

It's the same.

Keep it simple at the start.

Don't put extra pressure on yourself.

And then as you're building up your confidence,

then you can start to build up your language.

But at the start of the test, keep it simple, stupid, KISS.

Great. Let's move on.

Okay, last but not least,

in fact, I think this is hugely important

is prepare your mindset.

This is something that is often overlooked or forgotten

by many students until they do the test

and they make a complete pig's ear of it, right?

Oh, do you know that expression,

to make a pig's ear of something?

Pig as in oink oink, ear.

If you make a pig's ear of something,

it means you make a mess of it.

You do it really badly, right?

So for example, if you're cooking

and the dish is a disaster,

oh, I made a pig's ear of that.

Or you do an exam and you know you've made a mess,

you've done it wrong, you make a pig's ear of it.

So sometimes, I think, often, students realise later

how important the mindset is.

Earlier, I talked to you about being ready,

about getting your language up to the correct level

or a little bit higher, knowing the format of the test.

But the other thing is getting your head

in the right place, getting your mindset ready.

It's important because I think nerves

play a big role in the test.

In fact, I made a video just up here,

all about how to face your nerves before the test.

Go and check that out later.

But it's an important part of getting ready, right?

So I think you need to believe in yourself,

believe in your ability.

So if you know that you're at the band 7 level

of English and a teacher has told you

and you're going for a band 7,

be confident, believe in your ability.

Also remember that the IELTS Speaking test

is a conversation, right?

It's not a police interrogation where they're trying

to catch you out and trip you up.

It's not, right?

In fact, most examiners really want you to succeed

and show the language you can really speak.

So do relax, be alert, but relax.

And I suggest that you really try and enjoy the test.

Think about that before you're going into that test, right?

Think, I'm going to enjoy this.

I believe in my ability, I've got this,

I'm going to enjoy it.

It can really help.

Mindset really important.

So I hope all of these strategies will help you get clear

about what you need to do.

Do be realistic and be well-prepared.

Be careful with all of that advice on the internet, right?

And be careful of social media.

Spend a little time there, but try and get off social media

and start studying and practising .

Download an app like Woodpecker Learning,

help you get focused

so you can also enjoy your learning, right?

You can build your confidence, believe in yourself,

enjoy the test and get a high score in IELTS Speaking.

Do remember, Woodpecker Learning, the lucky draw, right?

Three lucky people are each going to get a promotion code

that they can use either on their phone or their iPad.

All you have to do,

leave a comment below before Monday at 12 o'clock.

Let me know which is your favourite show

for learning English.

Let's do it.

And I will see you in a moment in the next video.

Bye-bye.

(upbeat music)