IELTS Speaking Test: Guide for Beginners

- If you are new to IELTS speaking,

or even if you have done the speaking test before,

and you still have doubts or questions about it,

then this guide for beginners is for you.

Let's do it.

(bright music)

Hello, my name is Keith from English Speaking Success,

and I also run the website and the Keith Speaking Academy

here to help you speak better English,

give better answers and get a higher score

on the IELTS speaking test.

So in this video, I'm going to explain, right,

the different parts of the test,

what happens in the different parts,

and also give you some tips

so that you can sail through the test.

(laughs) Sail through the test.

I mean, go smoothly through the test.

So you can sail through the test

and get the score that you want in IELTS speaking.

Also at the end of the video,

I will give you some resources that can help you prepare

for the IELTS speaking test.

So stick around for those.

Now, the first tip that I will give you for free

is the following.

The most important thing in IELTS speaking

is to work on improving your overall spoken English.

I think you should practice often and over time

to build up your confidence, right?

Exam tips and techniques.

Yes, they're helpful,

but really they're just the tip of the iceberg.

(laughs) No pun intended.

What's really important, right,

is your overall spoken English skills.

That's where you should focus.

So don't book your test until you're confident

you have the right level of spoken English.

Another thing I think is really important

is I'm gonna ask you today,

as of today to start thinking

of being a confident English speaker,

not a bored, frustrated student, right?

Change your mindset.

Start to think, "I am a confident English speaker."

Like many exams, IELTS, it's in the head.

It's a mindset.

If you think you can do well, you probably will.

Okay, great. Let's get started.

So IELTS speaking. What is it?

Well, it's one of the four parts of the IELTS test, right?

There's reading, listening, writing, and speaking.

Each one makes up 25% of the total score.

IELTS of course,

is the International English Language Testing System.

And it's an exam that is developed

to give an accurate assessment

of your English language proficiency,

which is important if you're going to study abroad

or work abroad in an English speaking environment.

Now there are two types of tests.

There's the academic test and the general test.

The academic test is more for people

who are going to study abroad

or possibly register for a professional organization.

The vast majority of people take the academic test.

There's also the general test,

which is more for people,

either going to immigrate.

And in fact, if you're going to Australia,

New Zealand, Canada, or the UK, IELTS is a requirement,

or if you're going to work abroad

in an English speaking environment.

What's important is the IELTS speaking test is the same

for both the academic and the general module.

Now, when you book your test,

and nowadays you can book online,

or you can call your local test center,

that's going to be either IDP or the British Council.

Then you'll be given a date for your exam.

Normally in most countries,

the writing, the reading and the listening

all happen together on the same day.

And then the speaking is either later in the day

or earlier in the day, or even on a different day, right?

It's taken separately.

Some students do ask me,

"Keith, IDP or British Council, which is easier?"

They're both the same because they don't write the test.

Cambridge Assessment write the test.

It's the same test for everybody.

IDP and British Council deliver the test.

So of course you'll get different people,

but it's the same test.

So it doesn't matter.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Okay.

Focus on your IELTS preparation.

So just to be clear, IELTS speaking, right,

is a test of your natural spoken, conversational English,

not formal academic English.

So when the examiner asks you, "Where do you live?"

Don't say, "I reside in a tall, urban dwelling in London."

Nobody speaks like that.

No, "I live in a flat in London."

Make it natural, focus on being natural.

Of course you can embellish.

You can say, "I live in a beautiful flat,

which is slap bang in the center of London."

Great. But keep it natural spoken English.

Okay. How does the examiner evaluate your English, exactly?

Let's find out.

So the examiner is looking at four different things,

your fluency, your vocabulary, your grammar,

and your pronunciation.

Each one accounts for 25%.

Okay.

Your fluency is basically how easily you keep going, right?

Can you carry on speaking, da-da-da-da-da?

Or do you hesitate a lot?

Um, um. Um.

Is there a lot of repetition?

I-I-I-I think I-I, things like that.

Vocabulary right, is the range of vocabulary

and the accuracy.

Are you making a lot of mistakes?

You need a balance between having lots of vocabulary,

but using it well.

Vocabulary will include things like collocations,

phrasal verbs, very important in spoken English,

idiomatic expressions are also important

and things like that.

Grammar also, the examiners looking for

the range of grammar.

Are you using simple and complex structures and mistakes?

Are you using them accurately?

Finally, pronunciation is your control

of the features of pronunciation and how easy it is

for the examiner to understand you.

So the features include things like word stress,

sentence stress, connected speech,

intonation, weak and strong forms.

At the end of the day,

the first thing the examiner

is asking himself or herself is,

"Can I understand this person easily?"

So work on your pronunciation as well.

But fear not because I have got a complete guide

for each of these four areas on my website.

Check the link below.

Now, an important thing to remember, right

is you cannot fail or pass IELTS,

you just get a result that shows your level.

The level goes on a range from,

well, zero up to nine.

Don't worry about zero.

Zero is basically when you didn't go to the test

and you get a zero.

It normally goes from Band 1,

which is somebody who cannot communicate,

what IELTS calls a non-user.

There's no communication possible,

right up to a Band 9, which is the best.

Band 9 is completely fluent, similar to a native speaker,

what IELTS calls an expert user.

Okay.

Most people to get into university or immigration

are looking at something like a Band 6 or a Band 7,

maybe a bit higher,

depending on exactly what you're going to do.

What you need to do is check with the organization.

For example, the university, where you are going,

make sure you check what they require

or the immigration office that you need to apply to.

If you want to know more about the different bands

and what ability corresponds to each level,

again, checking the link below

to the public band descriptors.

You can find out all about that there.

Let's talk next about the different parts of the test.

So the speaking test is a live test with an examiner, right?

You are not speaking into a computer,

it's you and an examiner,

a real person,

one on one in a room together.

Scary for some people, right?

Don't worry, it's a face-to-face exam.

During the pandemic of course, some things changed.

There were times in some countries that the examiner

and the student had to wear a face mask,

that may still apply.

And also video conferencing,

like a Zoom call was used in some cases to do the test.

Actually, that's going to become more common

because in 2022 and beyond IELTS online is coming

where you will be able to do the test

from the comfort of your own home.

Well, not that comfy,

but you'll be able to do the test online

and IELTS speaking will be done with a kind of a Zoom call

or a video conference.

That's coming.

So that's also an interesting and a useful way of practicing

your IELTS speaking tests.

Just to be clear, the test is one on one.

I know some Cambridge tests,

you have two candidates together speaking,

this is not the case.

This is you and the examiner.

It's a question, answer format.

The examiner asks, you answer.

You don't get to ask questions, right?

Although in part three, if you don't understand something,

you can ask the examiner, right?

You can say, well, don't say, "I don't understand,"

'cause that is like a big red flag

saying 'my level's not very high'.

I would say something like,

"I don't quite follow."

"Can you explain that?"

Or, "What do you mean by da-da-da," right?

I mean, if the examiner says,

"You know, what is the future of AI?"

"What do you mean by AI?"

"Oh, artificial intelligence.

Okay. Right."

So it's absolutely fine now and again,

to just check your understanding with the examiner

in part three.

So it's probably more like an interview

rather than a conversation, right?

Some students have asked me about,

"What if I have a speech impediment?"

Now that may be a stammer

or some other medical problem with your speaking.

That's fine.

You must let IELTS know when you register.

Let the test center know before you do the test, right,

not on the day of the test.

Let them know beforehand

and they will take measures to support you to do the test

such as giving you more time to answer.

Okay.

Also, the test is recorded with an MP3 recorder.

So don't be surprised when the examiner starts recording.

Don't think, "Oh, what have I done wrong?

Why is he recording me?"

It's perfectly natural.

And the test will last from 11 to 14 minutes.

It's divided into three parts.

Each part has a different goal,

an objective or a testing objective.

And it's important you understand that

so you have a different approach for each part.

Let's look now at the three different parts,

beginning with part one.

So part one, hmm.

At the beginning,

the examiner will check your ID and check your name.

And then there's a kind of a warmup.

So there'll be one or two introductory questions

about either your work, your study,

your home or your hometown.

After that, there will be two more topics

and probably two to four questions on each topic,

topics like your hobbies or food,

things like that.

Now you may feel there's a lot of questions

in a short time in part one.

It can feel a bit like a quick fire approach.

So the important thing is that you give a short answer.

You can develop a little bit,

but I would say two to three sentences,

maybe 10 to 20 seconds,

but don't worry if the examiner interrupts you,

that will happen.

The most important thing is part one is all about you.

It's about your life, your life experiences,

things that you do, right?

They'll be asking questions like,

"Well, what food do you like?"

"Well, I love eating fish and chips, of course."

Not true, but it's about you and your experience, right?

If you want more tips on the introduction part of part one,

check out this video up here.

Lots of great ideas.

Now my tips for part one are the following.

Do a bit of research and be prepared

to talk about the most common topics that come up.

Give short answers, give direct answers, right?

Don't give long winded around the houses rambling answers.

Be direct. Talk about you and your life.

Relax.

At the beginning of the test,

it's your chance to get attuned to the examiner's voice,

to warm up a little bit.

So don't make it too complicated.

Keep it simple at the beginning.

Be careful with yes, no questions.

It is tempting to say yes or no, right?

But you mustn't.

"So if the examiner says, "Do you like cooking?"

"Yes, I do."

You need to develop a little bit, right?

Give a little bit more.

"Yes, I do.

"I'm a big fan of roasting, actually.

I love to do a roast lamb on the weekend."

Develop your answers a little bit.

Also do notice that the questions in part one are scripted.

So the examiner has to follow the questions.

At times, this can sound a little strange.

Don't worry about it.

So the examiner may say, "Do you like cooking?"

"No, I don't. Not at all."

"Okay. And what kind of food do you cook?"

"I just told you, I don't like cooking.

Are you listening to me?"

Don't say that, right?

You wanna say something like,

"Well, as I just mentioned,

"I'm not a big fan of cooking,

"actually it's my wife

who is the one who cooks in our house."

Be polite.

The examiner is just following the questions.

Okay, great. Let's move on.

So next, part two.

This is sometimes called the long turn

because you have one to two minutes to talk about a topic,

a long period of time, right?

So here, obviously the examiner is looking for your fluency.

Can you keep talking for a long time?

They'll be looking of course,

at the range of vocabulary that you're using

as well as the range of grammar

and what kind of mistakes you're making.

Okay.

It's most likely that at the end of part one,

the examiner will have an idea

whether you are a three or a four or maybe a six or a seven.

By the end of part two,

they're probably pretty much decided that,

"Mm, you're not a seven, you are a six."

And in part three, they'll confirm whether they're right.

So part two is important, right?

It can be the make or break moment of your test.

Actually, all parts of the test are important

because you are evaluated across the whole test, right?

Not just on one part.

That said, let's have a look in detail at part two.

What happens here?

Well, the examiner will give you a task card.

Sometimes called a cue card.

"Here you are."

"Oh, thank you."

And they will say something like,

"I'd like you to describe something important

"which you own."

Here is an example of a typical cue card.

So you've got the main title

and then three bullet points to discuss and talk further.

And finally wind up with explain something

like why it is important to you.

So you will have one minute to prepare your talk.

It's really important you make good use of that minute.

You'll be given a piece of paper and a pencil,

so you can make notes and you can keep the notes

and the task card in front of you

whilst you're speaking, right?

Keep hold of them. They're useful.

My tip is here in the one minute preparation,

as quickly as you can

decide what you're going to talk about, right?

Something important to me.

Oh gosh, my house, my car, my telephone.

My telephone. Right, I'm gonna talk about that.

Decide that.

And then in the remaining time,

just go through the bullet points

and decide the content of each part, right?

So maybe you're gonna talk about where I got it from

was this shop in England?

How long ago?

Okay, that was maybe four years ago.

And what I use it for,

well, for emails, for texting, for calling family.

Ba-ba-ba-ba.

And then, so you've got a structure.

The structure in your notes is so important.

You don't have time to write down a lot of detail,

but at least have a structure to follow.

Okay.

And don't worry about answering

all of the bullet points, right?

You can, but you don't have to.

So don't worry if you miss one out, it's okay.

It doesn't matter. Trust me.

When you're talking,

you are allowed to talk between one and two minutes.

I suggest you try and talk as much as you can.

Try and talk for the whole two minutes,

even until the examiner cuts you off, if possible.

Don't worry if you finish early,

the examiner will ask you a follow-up question

just to wind up the session.

But this is your opportunity to speak out for a long turn.

Take the opportunity.

My other tips for part two are when you start

have your first sentence ready in your head.

Before you start speaking,

pause, stop and breathe.

"I'm going to talk to you about,"

right, take that moment to ground yourself before you speak.

Don't speak too fast.

Control your speed.

Some students ask me,

"Can I use idioms in part two,

in fact, in the whole test?"

Well, yes.

And you should be using some idioms.

I mean, don't use too many,

but you should be using idiomatic expressions, right?

That's a key part of natural spoken English.

Other students ask me,

"Can I use wanna, gonna, shoulda?"

Yes. This again is natural spoken English in formal English.

You should be speaking like that.

You should be making contractions like that.

That's it for part two,

let's move on to the final nerve wrecking part three.

Now part three,

well lasts four to five minutes and it comes so quickly.

Like a train down the track, right?

No sooner have you handed back the task card,

then the examiner will say,

"So, we've been talking about something

"which is important to you,

and now I want to go on to ask you some questions

related to that,"

and boom, you are straight into part three.

So it's really important.

Stay focused.

There's no break. Okay.

Now in part three, as I mentioned,

the examiner is going to take the same topic as part two

and go into more depth.

Okay?

So typically they will take one or two subtopics

related to that theme

and ask you maybe two or three questions

for each subtopic,

but it's all on the same theme as part two.

So if in part two, your question was,

"Describe a road trip that you've taken."

Part three may look at a subtopic

like cars and the environment, right?

For example, how does driving affect the environment?

Will electronic cars become more popular in the future?

So here, and what you need to do is to develop your ideas.

Do you remember at the start I talked about

each part of the test needs a different approach.

So in part one, you're talking about yourself.

In part three, you're talking about more abstract

and general ideas.

You need to be able to evaluate ideas,

speculate about the future.

Hypothesize, justify your opinion.

All of these different functions

are so important when you develop your answers.

Now, as I mentioned,

the test part three is normally four to five minutes.

You may get a total of four or five questions.

So you can see each answer

could be anything from 30 seconds up to maybe a minute

depending, right?

It it's not mathematics.

Some questions may be longer.

Sorry, some answers can be longer,

some can be shorter,

but make sure you're developing your answers.

If you want more tips about part three,

I've got more videos up here that you can watch

to go into more detail.

I would just say finally, on part three,

don't worry if the examiner interrupts you,

it always happens.

It's not good or bad.

They're just doing the test.

You just focus on your answers. Okay?

Also the examiner in part three may be making up questions

based on your answers to probe you and push you further.

So just be aware that you may have to justify

what you're saying.

And then at the end of the test,

the examiner does not give you a score, right?

Not at the end of the test.

You just say, thank you.

They will tell you it's finished,

time for leaving, adios, goodbye.

And you go, and that's it.

And good luck with your test.

So we've seen the format of the test,

how it's evaluated and the three different parts.

How can you prepare for the IELTS speaking test.

Good question.

Let's have a look.

Now, if you're preparing for IELTS speaking,

you're most probably also preparing for the reading,

writing and listening papers.

So I think a great resource you should have

is the Cambridge IELTS practice tests,

books one to 16.

There's the academic books and the general books.

Of course, for speaking, it's all the same.

And doing practice tests,

especially for speaking is great

because it's like you get used to the exam conditions,

you get used to the timing,

you get used to the pressure,

like the real exam.

And do them with a clock, right,

time yourself under exam conditions.

If you want to find speaking practice tests,

Cambridge books have them.

You can also go to takeielts.britishcouncil.org

and the ielts.org website all have speaking practice tests.

And they're all good resources.

Of course, for speaking,

you can also explore my YouTube channel

English Speaking Success,

which is not only full of tips,

but it's also full of the language that you need

to succeed in IELTS speaking.

On my website, Keith Speaking Academy,

you've got lots of free live lessons

on every topic under the sun.

Every topic you can imagine that comes up in IELTS speaking,

it's on the website.

You can check out all the links down below.

You may want to,

and I think this is a good idea

is to do practice with other people.

Italki is a great platform for that.

Cambly is another where you can find teachers

and practice with them.

Italki's a bit more flexible.

You pay as you go.

Cambly, you buy a package

and you invest in a kind of a longer term of learning,

but both of them are great.

Also, if you want to study at your own pace

with an online course in the comfort of your home,

I also have an online course.

It's IELTS Speaking Success.

Get a Band 7 plus in gold.

And it's full, not only of strategies for the IELTS test,

but it actually gives you the language you need

to improve your spoken English.

It's based on The Speaking Success System,

which is a system of practicing chunks

I've developed over the years.

So you get lots of practice within the course,

as well as the strategies,

the tips, two live lessons a month,

and a private Facebook group.

It's all happening.

IELTS Speaking Success, get a Band 7 plus gold.

Go and check it out in the link below.

Guys, that's it.

I hope this has been useful for you.

If you're preparing and getting ready for IELTS

and you're a beginner,

this gives you a good idea of what to expect.

If you like the video,

like it, subscribe to the channel,

turn on notifications.

Leave me a comment if you have any questions

about IELTS speaking and I will get back to you.

In the meantime, go and watch the next video,

which will give you 15 useful phrases

to impress the IELTS examiner.

Thanks for watching my friend.

Take care. Bye-bye.

(bright music)