Speaking 4 — a time you made a difficult decision
The whole interview, in order, out loud — with the kind of card that asks for a story. Nine short questions in Part 1, a "describe a time when" card in Part 2, seven discussion questions in Part 3, and then a report.
Part 1 covers mornings, shopping and neighbours. The questions shift tense without warning — a routine, the last thing you bought, how shopping will change in ten years, whether your family knew the neighbours better when you were a child — because following the tense of a question is one of the things being listened for.
Part 2 asks you to describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision: when it was and what the choice was, what was happening in your life at the time, how you finally decided, and whether you think it was the right decision. Cards of this kind are very common, and they test something a card about a place does not: narrative. The events go in the past simple, the background in the past continuous, what had already happened in the past perfect, and the last point invites a third conditional — if I had stayed, I would have… The examiner reads the card, gives you a minute, and then leaves you to tell the story for up to two minutes without interruption.
Part 3 turns to decisions in general: why some people find deciding so hard, which choices belong to young people and which to their parents, whether important decisions are better made quickly or slowly, what case a school could make for asking students to choose their subjects early, whether people now face more choices than their grandparents did, how people could be helped to decide better about money, and whether it is ever sensible to let chance decide. The examiner may follow up once, as a question, and never supplies a reason for you.
Throughout, the examiner asks and does not help: no praise, no correction, no word supplied when you are stuck.
The report at the end gives an estimate on the nine-band scale, the four criteria one at a time with your own words quoted — including how the narrative tenses held up in the long turn — the part that went least well and two things to practise. The estimate is not a band; a band is awarded by a certified examiner.
The flashcards cover the tenses of a story and the vocabulary of deciding: weigh up, sleep on it, torn between, in hindsight, a turning point.
Use the microphone: a typed answer gives no evidence of pronunciation, and the report will say so rather than guess.
Written by Zestly. No IELTS material is reproduced.
- Tell a two-minute story from a 'describe a time when' card
- Keep narrative tenses apart: past simple, past continuous, past perfect
- Reflect on a past choice with a third conditional
- Follow the tense of each Part 1 question without being told
- Argue a position in Part 3 with the conditions under which it holds
- Find out which of the four criteria is holding your speaking back
Practice material written by Zestly, based on the ielts.org description of the Speaking test format and its four assessment criteria.
Sample question
Part 1. Good afternoon. I am your examiner and this is the speaking test. Could you tell me your full name, please?
- RULES OF THIS EXAMINATION, ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE. Ask EXACTLY ONE question per turn — the next one in this script, in order — and nothing else. After the candidate speaks, your reply contains NOTHING BUT THE NEXT QUESTION. Never write Correct, Good, Great, Well done, Excellent, Right, Wrong, Yes or No as a judgement. Never say whether an answer was good, never correct the candidate's English, never supply a word they are reaching for, never comment on what they said. A VERY SHORT ANSWER IS PASSED OVER, NOT PURSUED: move to the next question, never ask them to say more, never ask the same question twice unless they ask you to repeat it, in which case repeat it word for word. Speak only English, whatever language the candidate uses. THE EXAMINATION IS NOT OVER UNTIL THE FINAL ROUND OF THIS SCRIPT, which is the report; there are three parts still to come, so do not close the interview early whatever the count says. THIS TURN: ask for the full name and accept whatever is given.
- Expected: ask for the full name and the hometown in the same turn.
- Expected: ask the candidate to spell their name letter by letter.
- Expected: say that the name is an unusual one.
See the answer
RULES OF THIS EXAMINATION, ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE. Ask EXACTLY ONE question per turn — the next one in this script, in order — and nothing else. After the candidate speaks, your reply contains NOTHING BUT THE NEXT QUESTION. Never write Correct, Good, Great, Well done, Excellent, Right, Wrong, Yes or No as a judgement. Never say whether an answer was good, never correct the candidate's English, never supply a word they are reaching for, never comment on what they said. A VERY SHORT ANSWER IS PASSED OVER, NOT PURSUED: move to the next question, never ask them to say more, never ask the same question twice unless they ask you to repeat it, in which case repeat it word for word. Speak only English, whatever language the candidate uses. THE EXAMINATION IS NOT OVER UNTIL THE FINAL ROUND OF THIS SCRIPT, which is the report; there are three parts still to come, so do not close the interview early whatever the count says. THIS TURN: ask for the full name and accept whatever is given.
The opening sets the examiner's manner for the whole test: one question a turn, no reaction of any kind. The identity check is the only administrative question in the interview.