hi there it's Asiya
what's important in the ielts speaking exam?
your english skills of course
and also the way you demonstrate these skills in 11 to 14 minutes that the exam lasts
after taking ielts a number of times i can tell you that the way you approach this test matters
today i'd like to share some tips on how you can show your english in the best light
and hopefully achieve a higher score
okay let's get started
the first question is do you like chocolate oh yes i do well this answer is so short that
there is very little english to assess try to give an open extended answer to each question
let's try again do you like chocolate oh yes i do i can easily eat a whole bar of chocolate
but i try not to eat too much of it as part of my healthy diet okay saying that some questions
require a longer answer while you can answer others very quickly this is fine too
don't feel like you need to keep on talking and talking the point is to answer the question
for example do you work or study you could say i'm in the final year of my bachelor's degree
and i'm graduating this summer or i graduated last year and now work full time
these are good answers the next question will probably be what do you study or where do you work
then you'll be able to talk for longer sometimes your examiner may interrupt you in the middle
of your answer this is a normal practice and don't worry about being interrupted most often
this is simply because it's time to move on to the next question in your exam your
examiner will be managing time and for example in part one they must make sure that they ask
questions on three topics so they may interrupt you to get to the next question if however the
examiner interrupts you and asks the same question again this means that your answer was too vacant
you were beating around the bush instead of actually addressing the question
so in this case try to answer this question more directly another tip is
keep it simple you may be tempted to give complex smart answers in order to increase your score
the truth is examiners don't assess if your answers are smart or quite boring
but they do assess your fluency so if you're hesitating looking for those big fancy words
your score will probably go down rather than up so instead try to talk without effort
as far as it's possible by discussing things you can comfortably talk about similarly
don't try to be formal i know an exam is a formal occasion but this is a conversation with a person
this means that you should use spoken english for example should you use contractions
in ielts speaking absolutely if you say i am going to take part in a tennis competition next week
this doesn't sound fluent i have been living in london for 10 years this is not how people talk
in spoken english you should use contractions and emphasize the main words in the sentence i'm gonna
take part in a tennis competition next week i've been living in london for 10 years in your answers
you should use spoken english particularly in part one where questions are about your
life and experiences for example do you cook not until recently have i had an opportunity to cook
as i resided with my mother this is not a good answer even though the vocabulary is quite complex
try to give a more conversational reply not really until recently i lived with my parents
and my mom is an excellent cook last month however i moved to the student residence and
i guess it's a good time to get a cookbook this answer is not less complex as far as
vocabulary and grammar are concerned but it sounds so much more natural thus it would get a higher
score right now i'm gonna give an answer that contains a common mistake try to find what's wrong
i'm from a town or village i was born in almaty the largest city in kazakhstan with a population
of about 2 million people almaty served as the capital of kazakhstan in the past
and it is still the main commercial and cultural center this answer sounds like a wikipedia article
oops actually this is a wikipedia article don't do that remember that you'll be penalized for
using memorized answers because they don't show your english they show your memory
so don't learn your answers give an answer similar to what you would say in real life
for me that's i'm from a city called almaty it's the former capital of kazakhstan someone could
say i'm from a small village called cottinyak in the south of france here i directly answered the
question and gave a bit of information to explain where this is and that's enough the next question
will probably be what is your city or village like or is it a good place to live then you can give
a more extended answer now let's talk about part two the task says that you should talk between one
and two minutes in part two to get a high score you should demonstrate that you can talk at
length and if your answer is longer you can also demonstrate more vocabulary and grammar
so try to talk for full two minutes until your time is up and the examiner stops you
if you don't finish your answer don't worry about it next don't talk about yourself in part three
unlike part one which is all about your life and your experiences part three is more about general
abstract concepts for example in part one the question would be do you often use social media
in part three you could be asked do you think it's a good thing that people spend
so much time on social media in part one the emphasis is on your personal experience while in
part three it's more about people in general and what you think about some big concepts or problems
so don't make part three answers too personal try to talk about other people rather than
yourself and your friends let's compare the answers part one do you often use social media
a bit too much if you ask me i've noticed that whenever i'm waiting or just have a spare minute
i open instagram and start scrolling it i guess i'm a bit addicted part 3
do you think it's a good thing that people spend so much time on social media
i guess it depends on how much time exactly they're spending on social media
and what they're doing there if people watch some interviews on youtube or beautiful pictures on
instagram in their spare time this isn't a problem if however they scroll tick tock four hours
instead of working or studying then the social media addiction is detrimental to their lives
the part three answer is quite a lot longer and more serious
and this is what's expected people usually worry a lot about their part 1 but those questions
are there to warm you up these are parts 2 and 3 that will really reveal your skills
and determine your skull next speak loud and clear i know that speaking english with a native speaker
assessing your english may be quite intimidating this is a natural feeling which you should fight
if you are too quiet the examiner may struggle to hear you so try to speak loud and clear
practice at home record your answers on your phone and listen to them what would you improve
try to improve that a similar problem may arise if you're speaking too fast it may be because
of your nerves or simply because in your first language people speak fast again
make sure you speak in a way that is easy to understand and don't think that you must speak as
fast as you can if the question is simple it's better if you start with a moderate pace and try
to maintain it throughout your exam the next tip is if you are not sure what the exact question was
ask the examiner to repeat it they will most likely rephrase it to make it easier for you
to understand there is nothing worse than giving a great answer to the wrong question so it's better
to clarify what exactly is expected just say sorry i didn't quite catch that could you say that again
or i'm sorry would you mind saying that again next don't worry about your accent
you're not a native speaker and you're expected to have an accent examiners won't mark you down
on this i actually recorded a mock speaking exam with a student from france who still has
a noticeable french accent however this exam was assessed by a former examiner who gave him band
9 for pronunciation i'll link this video in the description and the examiner's assessment
is actually in the first comment under the video so what examiners will assess is if you pronounce
sounds and words correctly and if you have the right rhythm and intonation so if you have
some time before your exam try to mimic a native speaker find an interview or a ted talk you like
and repeat each phrase trying to imitate the intonation and rhythm practice answering
recent questions although there are a lot of topics used in ielts speaking topics are still
regularly reused here are some of the recent part 1 questions what trees are common in your country
could you describe your favorite piece of furniture why is farming important
i'm sure if you practiced answering them at home it would be easier for you to talk about them
during your exam i'm tracking recent topics in ielts writing and speaking and putting them in the
pdf guide which you can download on our telegram channel the link is in the description for part
1 topics you'll find questions and links to my videos with sample answers and vocabulary one of
those videos is actually on the screen right now and the mock speaking test i talked about earlier
thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye