Quizzes, exams, and flashcards about Speaking: Speaking 1 — the full interview, Part 3 discussion — six abstract topics, Speaking 3 — a person who…← IELTS® preparation: Academic and General TrainingThe interview, run in order and out loud, by an examiner that asks and does not help — and a report at the end on the four things a real examiner listens for.

What the test isEleven to fourteen minutes, face to face with an examiner, recorded. It is the same test in Academic and General Training. Three parts, and they are not variations on one task:

Part 1 — introduction and interview (4–5 minutes). The examiner checks who you are, then asks straightforward questions about familiar things: where you live, your work or studies, what you do with your time. Short questions, short answers. A one-word answer wastes the minute; a two-minute answer here is the wrong length for the part.

Part 2 — the long turn (3–4 minutes including preparation). You are given a card with a topic and some points to cover, one minute to make notes, and then you speak for about two minutes with no interruption. The examiner may ask one or two questions on the same topic afterwards. This is the only part where you hold the floor, and two minutes of continuous speech is far longer than it sounds until you have done it.

Part 3 — discussion (4–5 minutes). The same broad topic as Part 2, taken to a general and abstract level: not what you do, but what people do, why, and what might change. Answers are longer, and the examiner follows up.

What you are marked onFour criteria, weighted equally:

Fluency and coherence — can you keep going, and does what you say hold together?

Lexical resource — range and precision, including the ability to get around a word you do not have.

Grammatical range and accuracy — variety of structures, and errors that do not obstruct.

Pronunciation — can a listener follow you without effort?

Notice what is not on the list. Nobody is marking whether your opinions are interesting, whether your facts are right, or whether you have an accent. You can invent everything you say in Part 2 and score a nine.How this examiner behavesIt asks one question at a time and moves on. It does not say whether an answer was good, does not correct your English, and does not fill your silences — all of which is exactly what the real examiner does, and it feels strange for about a minute.At the end it gives you a report: an indication on the nine-band scale, the four criteria separately, and the specific things that caused a listener difficulty. That number is an indication and not a band. A band is awarded by a certified examiner against descriptors held to a common standard; what is useful to you beforehand is which of the four criteria is dragging, and that is what the report is for.Use the microphoneType if you must, but these are meant to be spoken — a typed answer gives no evidence of pronunciation, so the report cannot judge that criterion from it. An answer you can think is not an answer you can produce, aloud, to a stranger who is recording it — and that gap is precisely what the Speaking test measures.A few practical things the test rewards and practice usually does not:

Answer the question, then add one sentence. In Part 1 that is the right length. "Yes" is too short; a speech is too long.

Use the preparation minute to choose, not to write. A cue card has three or four points; decide what you will say about each, and make a note you can read at a glance. You cannot read out a script in two minutes.

When you lose a word, go round it. Saying "the thing you use to — the handle, the bit you hold" scores better than stopping. Getting around a gap is explicitly part of what lexical resource measures.

In Part 3, answer generally. "In my family we…" is a Part 1 answer. Part 3 wants what people in general do and why, with your own view in it.

Every passage, question, task and cue card here is written by Zestly. No official test material is reproduced, and facts about the test format are paraphrased from the published sources rather than copied from them.Zestly is an independent study tool. It is not affiliated with the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia or Cambridge University Press & Assessment, who jointly own IELTS, and it is not a test centre.IELTS® is a registered trade mark of the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. This product is not endorsed or approved by them.IELTS® is a registered trade mark of the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Zestly is not affiliated with, endorsed by or an official source of any of them. Every task here is our own and reproduces no official test material.

Zestly