IELTS Speaking

IELTS Speaking module is in the form of a face to face interview/conversation with the examiner and lasts between 10-15 mins. It is the same format for both Academic and General students.

Typically, it is conducted on a different day than your Writing, Listening and Reading modules.

The Speaking Module of IELTS has three sections: Part 1, 2 and 3

Part 1 - Introduction

The examiner will ask you personal questions regarding your likes and dislikes and you should strive to answer each question in 2-3 sentences:

Example Questions:

- Who is your favourite celebrity?
- What type of food do you like the most?
- Is there anything you dislike about your hometown?

Part 2 - Cue Cards

The examiner will give you a topic card and you will have 1 min to prepare your talk and then you will have to speak for 2 mins. Most topics are about yourself or about something which happened in your life

Example Questions:

Describe a childhood friend:
- Who this person is?
- How you became friends with this person?
- What kind of things do you like to do with this person?
- Explain why you like him/her

Part 3 - Follow up Questions / Discussion

The examiner will ask you follow up questions based on the cue card which you spoke about earlier. You should answer Part 3 questions in 4-5 sentences

Example Questions based on the previous cue card:

- How do people make new friends?
- Why is friendship nowadays so volatile?
- Do you think we meet new people differently now that in the past?

Evaluation Criterias

The speaking module of IELTS is evaluated based on the four criterias below:

1. Fluency and Coherence: Fluency is about the ease with which the candidate is able to speak without noticeable hesitation, pauses or repetitions. Coherence is about how well the candidate is able to logically develop ideas by appropriately linking within and between sentences while speaking.
2. Lexical Resource: This refers to the range of vocabulary used by the candidate.
3. Grammatical range & accuracy: This refers to the use of a variety of grammaticalstructures accurately.
4. Pronunciation: It is not about the accent but rather how clearly the candidate has communicated.

Please watch the video below where we explain the IELTS Speaking module.

Speaking Tips & Strategies

• Answering the 'Why' of Questions
  If you find it hard to complete sentences in Speaking, answer the 'Why' along with it. For example, if the question is "Which is your favourite vacation spot?", Instead of answering "It is Manali", answer it as "I like Manali because I love cold areas and hill stations with beautiful meadows"
• 1:3 Rule in Speaking
  Always follow the 1:3 Rule while Speaking. When the examiner asks you a question, your answer should be around 3 times the length of the examiner's question - it'll help you show that you're flexible and detailed with your answers.
• Adding Characters in a story not to run out points
  If you feel like you're running out of ideas while Speaking, add more characters into the story to make it complete. For example, if you describe an experience where you felt bad, you can add in a fictional friend to the story and describe the friend or how he looks or how he is like
• Cross Technique Method
  This method can be suggested for individuals who tend to off- topic for the cue cards given. This is where candidates can draw a plus sign on the sheet provided, dividing it into four sections. the candidates in the one minute provided can write the keywords in the four spaces as per the sub questions. This will make it easier for them to connect the ideas and moreover not divert away from the topic.

Example:

Describe a famous person you are interested in
You should say:

- Who this person is
- How you know him/her
- What sort of life they had before they became famous
- How this person became famous
- And explain why you like this person.

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• Introspecting your Speaking
  Record your speaking sessions and analyse it afterwards yourself or with an IELTS teacher to understand the common mistakes in Reading and to work upon it.