15 IELTS Speaking Tips and Tricks

- If you are preparing for IELTS

but struggling with your speaking,

then these tips and tricks are just for you.

(upbeat music)

Hello, this is Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy

and the YouTube channel, English Speaking Success.

Now, taking IELTS is tricky, right?

Because you need to have a good level of English

to understand how the test works

and to know how to prepare for the test.

Wouldn't it be great if you could speak to other students

and teachers who have taken the test

and got a band seven, eight, or nine?

What if you could learn from them what to do,

what not to do?

Well, today you can,

because in this video, it's a compilation video.

I've gathered the tips, the tricks, and advice

from students and teachers from all around the world.

Some of them are my students,

amazing students who struggled with English speaking

and IELTS speaking,

took my Gold course,

and then got the results that they needed.

I also have some clips of conversations

with other IELTS teachers.

There's a wealth of things.

We're gonna cover everything from preparing,

practising part one, two, and three,

how to handle unfamiliar topics,

mindset, motivation, vocabulary, everything.

Let's dive in straight away

with one of my students from Vietnam, Thu,

who talks about the importance of practising English.

- Well, I think when it comes to giving advice,

what I would say is that

when it comes to learning a language,

it's not about knowing, it's more about doing.

So the more you do, the better you'll be.

So, yeah.

Especially when it comes to speaking, yeah?

You wanna put away your notebook.

You don't really need it.

You just, you know, straight up do it.

And I think the biggest difference

between a student of a band eight

with someone whose level is below is experience.

So you might want to put in

whatever you've learned into practise,

and that's how you advance in IELTS

and, you know, just learning language in general.

Not just English, but any language at all.

- That's great.

So spending time with the language is so important.

Now, when it comes to preparing for IELTS

and IELTS Speaking, how do we prepare exactly?

Let's turn to Diyorbek from Uzbekistan.

He's a teacher out there, and he's gonna give us his advice.

- What I do with my students,

we prepare for, you know, common IELTS topics, for example.

And you tend to do that a lot in your channel.

Like, let's assume, in part one,

you should definitely have answers for your hometown,

home and work or studies,

and all that, you know, your interest

and how you spent your weekends,

and those kinds of questions you need to get ready.

And in the same way, in speaking in part three,

a lot of the questions that relate to trends,

so social trends,

so you need to keep abreast of what's happening in the world

and then what's your attitude towards that.

And I believe the best thing you can do

to get prepared for this exam

is to look at common IELTS topics,

and there are so many websites online.

And then you check what common IELTS topics

they usually have in the exam,

and you prepare for those topics,

and it's very likely

that you're going to have one of them in your exam.

- So preparing the common topics is such good advice.

There are so many of them, I know.

So look at the most common ones first,

begin one by one, take it step by step,

don't become overwhelmed,

and just review, and revise, and review.

Now that's great.

It's hard when we come to prepare for IELTS Speaking

'cause we're all very busy people, right?

Some of us are studying, working, we've got family.

How do you find time?

Let's turn to Dianne from the Philippines,

who gives her take on how to find time

for studying for IELTS.

- Yes, for me, it was really hard.

Even I am not currently working,

I am taking care of my three kids right now.

- Right, three? - So it's very hard.

Yeah, three kids.

The whole day is really, you know, occupied already.

So I really make time.

So when I'm doing the household chores,

I am listening to your courses,

and I really took your advice that, you know,

it's not good that you do cramming.

Little by little, I mean,

the important thing is you need to, like, have a time,

like even a 30 minutes time in a day.

But the consistency is what is important.

Like, you have 30 minutes today, and then tomorrow,

and then the next day.

You just have to be consistent

because, you know, we cannot have any excuses,

that "Oh, I don't have time today,"

because you can,

five minutes or 10 minutes listening is okay,

better than zero, I mean.

That's what how I did it.

- Be persistent, be consistent, awesome advice from Dianne.

That's fantastic. Great.

We're gonna move from the Philippines

across the world to Nicaragua to listen to Nestor,

who's gonna tell us also now about the importance

of the structure of the IELTS Speaking test.

- Remember that when you are going to be taking an IELTS,

you need to be aware of the structure of the exam.

Try to put yourself in situations

where you need to speak for two minutes or even more, right?

The idea of it here

is not only to focus on those two minutes,

for example, I'm talking,

I'm referring to the part number two.

I'm talking about that part specifically,

where you will have the opportunity

to speak for at least 10 minutes.

You grab a topic, and try to develop that topic,

and try to speak as much as you can.

Eventually, the examiner,

at the moment of your IELTS examination,

he will ask you to stop, and then you stop.

No problem, right?

But at least you reach that part of the speaking, right?

And obviously, that will help you out.

So there is not a magic formula, there is not a trick here,

it's just based on consistency,

working on your fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary,

grammar range, and coherence, right?

- Brilliant, and Nestor raises a very, very good point

that IELTS Speaking is about fluency, vocabulary,

grammar, and pronunciation.

All four are really important, each one is weighted 25%.

So make sure you focus on,

you make sure you cover all four of them

when you are practising and preparing.

Nestor mentioned the structure.

Let's have a look. Let's zoom in on part one of the test.

We're gonna go to Syria, where a fantastic teacher, Huda,

who's a teacher in Damascus, is gonna tell her,

gonna tell us her advice for part one.

- You know, in part one, it's the first impression

that the examiner has about you.

So I think first impressions count.

So try to impress the examiner

by your language at the beginning,

but keep it short and simple, as you always say.

Like, don't speak too much,

just two or three sentences for each question, I think,

is more than enough.

And I remember during my speaking test,

the examiner asked me, "Why?"

So when the examiner asks you "Why,"

this means that your answer is or was relatively short

or you didn't state the reason,

so try to state the reason

and give examples whenever it's possible in part one.

- Absolutely brilliant advice from Huda.

Keep it short and simple, but sometimes give examples.

That's part one, let's move to part two,

and let's go over to Iran and speak to Ali,

who is also a student of mine but a teacher.

And he's gonna give us his advice

for part two in IELTS Speaking.

Did you use different strategies

for different parts of the test?

- Well, of course I did, you know?

Let me tell you something about part two

that's something I did based on your, you know,

based on your technique. - Right?

- Actually, part two, it's tricky,

especially when you want arrange your talking in one minute.

So I try to, yeah, I try to write down,

but you know, actually you taught me that.

So think about your first sentence,

think about your first sentence as well.

I do remember, actually, my question was all about,

for example, describing a book you have recently read

or something like that.

It was quite, yeah, it was really, I know it's quite easy,

but I started saying that, for example,

a book I've recently read,

a book I've recently,

is none other than "The Old Man and the Sea."

- I remember.

Oh, Ernest Hemingway. - Yes, Ernest Hemingway.

You know, actually, because, you know,

I expressed my opinion directly, yes,

to the, you know, examiner.

And it was a great help for me to know

what am I going to talk about.

You see that? - Right, right.

- And that's what I could follow, you know, I could follow,

and I talk about, for example,

there are many ways I talk about the plot,

I talked about the story, maybe the date or something.

- Very nice ideas from Ali. It's great.

I know my students learn from me,

but I also learn a lot from my students.

Now that's part two. We're missing part three.

So let's go back to Huda from Syria

to talk about part three.

And she tells us about the ORE method.

O-R-E? What's that?

Let's find out.

- Well, part three, I think,

is your last chance to show off the language you have.

So try to do your best to show off the language you have

and to extend your ideas, your answers.

You know, I think part three is more general,

and you have to keep it more abstract.

And it's not similar,

or I think part one isn't similar to part three.

Part one is all about yourself, it's all about you.

You've got some personal questions

about your likes and dislikes,

but in part three,

you have to think in a more abstract way, as I mentioned.

And you have to think about other people.

It's not about you anymore, it's about other people

and your society, or your culture,

or your country, or other countries.

So in part three, I think the opinion reason example

is a very good method to follow,

and try to connect your sentences with some connectors.

Use sign-posting and try to give examples

whenever it's possible, yeah. - Yeah.

So did you get it? ORE, opinion, reason, and example.

The examples are so important,

and they help you develop your answers

and show off more vocabulary,

as you're being quite specific in your examples.

That's great.

Now, often students ask,

"Okay, but what if I get a topic

I really don't know anything about?

What do I do? Do I just say, 'I don't know?'"

Hmm. Let's find out what Ali thinks.

- Actually, I would say, you know,

when you don't know about anything, yes?

For example,

the question is really, really unfamiliar for you,

so just go with the flow and talk.

- Yeah.

- When you stop, actually you drop your points

and you drop your score.

If you stop and you say, for example,

"I'm sorry, I don't know exactly about this."

Wow, it's a really bad idea, you know?

- Just keep talking.

- Keep talking about something else.

- Yeah.

- For example, have you ever lost your wallet?

Well, no, I don't know.

But my father, my father did that.

And it was about two years ago, for example,

he was in, for example,

he was on the train coming back home.

Something like this.

- Exactly. And if necessary, make it up.

So if you don't know the topic,

don't just say, "I don't know."

Talk about something.

One of the great ways

is to talk about somebody else you know

who may have that experience or a similar experience, okay?

We've looked at part one, two, and three.

Now let's step back

and look at the bigger picture of learning English,

because preparing for IELTS,

your foundation is having a good solid level of English.

How do you do that? Well, I guess environment is important.

Let's go over to Vietnam.

We're gonna listen to Datio,

who is an amazing teacher in Vietnam,

talking about his personal experience on learning English

and preparing for IELTS.

I mean, what about you with you personally?

I mean, learning English and preparing for IELTS.

What's your approach and strategy?

- It's more of like in Vietnam, Vietnamese,

we have the saying bathe in the language.

I don't know if that's the same in English, so.

- Like, immerse yourself in the language.

- Yeah, immerse yourself.

So I didn't really sit down

and cram, you know, English,

study from a book, or, you know, whatever.

I tend to watch TV shows, a lot of shows

and just pick up all the natural expressions,

and the mannerisms,

and the way that you carry yourself

when you say certain expressions.

And the kind of emotion that you have to express.

So all of that, I think, I picked up from movies and shows,

but then you need a lot of time

to be exposed to that kind of material.

But for students, a lot of the times,

they don't have that kind of luxury, right?

So they need to get certain score

over the course of three months or even a month,

so it's impossible.

So I think that's what they lack.

But in order to be an effective user of a language,

I think putting in years of exposure

would probably create the best result.

♪ No, you can't hurry love ♪

- And you can't hurry IELTS either.

As Datio says, it takes a long time.

Building up your language level,

it's years of experience and practise.

And it is frustrating for students who don't have that time.

But I guess the message is prepare early,

start as early as you can

to build up that foundation of English language.

Now, I also think mindset is really important.

Let's move over to India and listen to Shakun,

who's gonna tell us a little bit about loving English.

- Actually, you know, I think if I talk about myself,

I love English.

You know, I don't have to stress too much on learning

because I just love this language.

You know, everything comes naturally.

I just watch English movies, I listen to podcasts,

I watch your videos, and I just do these things

because, honestly speaking,

I don't get much time, you know, with my daughter.

- Right, right. - So yeah.

It just comes naturally to me.

- That is so true.

Now, if you happen to love English,

maybe you are very lucky 'cause you already love English.

But for some students, it can be a headache.

But I actually think loving English is also a choice.

It's a decision you make.

You decide, "I'm going to enjoy this."

Of course, it helps if you have a good teacher,

good materials, and you are creating a nice environment.

But it is also a decision to say, "I'm going to enjoy this."

Changing the mindset

and starting to love your English can be a big help.

Now, love is great.

Some people say it's everything.

For IELTS, maybe it's not enough.

Maybe we also need to be strategic.

Let's go back to Vietnam

and see what Datio says about being strategic.

- You need to know the strategy.

So it's more a matter of like familiarising yourself

with the tests and just being really strategic

when you do certain parts of the test.

Like in writing, you need to follow a particular format.

And in speaking,

you need to know what the examiner's looking for.

And I'm getting myself more aware, you know,

like forcing myself to be more aware of those criteria.

That's how I pushed it to pushed it to 8.5.

- Right.

Oh, that is so good.

Really to know the criteria,

what the examiners are looking for.

You can get it public.

In the public band descriptors,

you really need to know the evaluation criteria,

especially if you're pushing up

to that band eight or 8.5 like Datio.

Brilliant advice.

Now let's move to Bangladesh.

In particular, the city of Khulna.

And here we're gonna look at vocabulary.

Because many students think, "Yeah, strategy, okay.

I just need to learn thousands of words."

Really? Do you?

Let's find out what Abir thinks about that.

- The last one, but not least, I will try to mention

is that don't learn huge amount of vocabularies.

Because if I talk about the Asians,

we love to learn maybe 1000 or 2000 vocabularies,

but we cannot use that.

So I sometimes like, it's like, "Oh, it's puzzle,

I cannot use everything.

I have learned a lot, but it's not working."

So don't do that.

Learn little or a smart amount of vocabularies,

like keep the portion really low in the beginning.

Learn some small things, try to execute that.

Then know when you are really okay

with all the things you have, then try to scale that.

Over time, learn more and more and use that.

And I guess that's it.

- Oh, that is awesome advice from Abir.

He hits the nail on the head.

It really isn't about learning thousands of words.

It's about building up slowly

and learning to use the words you are learning,

and then start to scale up, right?

So when you see those videos on YouTube

with band nine vocabulary, ignore them.

Even mine, ignore them.

Unless you're a band eight student, that's who they're for.

If you're band five, you don't need them yet.

So we've been looking great at all different aspects

and tips and tricks.

Let's have a look finally at motivation.

I mean, how, with all of this study,

how do you really stay motivated?

Well, we're gonna come over to Europe, to Spain,

to the Basque Country,

where Merche is gonna tell us about motivation.

- Don't lose your hope, because you are gonna get it.

Sooner or later, you are going to get it, without any doubt.

You have to be persistent.

You have to accept your daily ups and downs,

your weekly ups and downs,

especially when you attempt an exam

and you don't get your desired score.

You have to be prepared to go down for one, two, three days.

It's completely normal.

So you can give you time for rest a little bit

and then start again with a strong,

with force, with a strength,

because it's something that you get it,

but it takes time, and patience,

and acceptance of your own development speed,

your own improvement speed.

You have to accept that

and go on and keep on working hard, and you get it.

And it's just every day,

every day you have to do a little bit.

Your English must be in your everyday life,

reading, listening, speaking, writing, just a little bit.

It not necessary you to stay eight hours without a stop,

with all the parts.

No, but just a little bit.

Have an hour today, okay?

And one hour with this other part.

You know, be persistent, but be kind with yourself

and understand yourself.

- That is such a good message from Merche.

Be kind to yourself.

Accept the ups and the downs, ups and downs.

Accept where you are.

Just let go. Just be.

Fantastic. It's really good advice.

You need a good mental state to be studying

and preparing for IELTS.

There's a lot of stress.

We're gonna move to India for our final tip and words.

It is about stress, it's about family, it's about balance.

Let's go over to Shakun to tell us more.

- As I said, I don't get time,

but yes, whenever I get time, like today,

you know, I just hand over my daughter to my husband,

and I told him,

"Just don't disturb me for at least three hours."

And I just kept on watching your videos

as well as I watch a movie just to keep myself relaxed.

And I think this is the only way to learn a language,

is don't stress too much,

and keep it easy, and keep going.

- Yeah, fantastic. Great.

Exactly.

Don't stress, relax, enjoy your learning.

It's so important.

Take care of your mental health,

not just for your life but for your learning as well.

Excellent.

I hope you have enjoyed all of these tips and advice.

I'd like to say a big thank you

to the teachers who participated,

to my students who have taken the Gold course.

By the way, you can go to my website,

keithspeakingacademy.com,

click on the Online Courses, find out about the Gold course.

It is there really to help you

and support you with all of these aspects of preparing,

practising , handling vocabulary, strategies, and approaches

so that you can develop your speaking skills in a fun way

and get the confidence to face the IELTS examiner

and ace the IELTS Speaking test.

Thank you so much to all of you for watching,

to everybody who participated,

and a big thank you to my dad,

who let me use his kitchen for this video.

So thank you very much.

Take care, and I'll see you in the next video.

All the best. Bye-bye.

(upbeat music)