Speak as much as possible Youve got 12 minutes to show how good your speaking is.

. Dont pre-learn your answers These sound rehearsed and examiners will notice this and move on to a different topic. Avoid yes/no answers Always include details to fill out your answer. Correct yourself if you make a mistake This is what native speakers do and you wont lose marks for it. Make sure your intonation is not flat English speakers have melody in their intonation. If the way you speak sounds flat, you will sound bored the examiner might think that you are not interested or dont care! IELTS Speaking Exam Summary PART 1: Introduction & Interview Time: About 4 minutes Possible Subjects: Getting-to-know-you, family, where you come from and interests Example Questions and Answers: 1) Where do you come from? Originally, I come from a really small village in southern Spain called, Benalup. Most people there work on the surrounding farms or in the construction industry and theres a good sense of community everybody knows everbody else. But, anyway, now I live in Cadiz, which is the nearest big city. I live there because Im studying Law at university and its perfect because its far away enough from home, but also close enough to go back home if I want a good meal or some clothes washing done! 2) What do you like doing in your free-time? I wouldnt say that Ive got any specific hobbies, but I like meeting my friends, of course and gossiping about things going on at Uni. We usually go out for a coffee or something small to eat after lectures, but at the weekend we meet up at someones flat and get ready to go out and then spend the whole night drinking and dancing and all that kind of stuff. Its really good to stay out until the sun comes up and then go and have hot churros for breakfast together. 3) Why are you studying IELTS? Well, as part of of my Law course there is the possibility to go on an exchange program with UCL in London for 6 months. So, I really want to use that opportunity to broaden my horizons. But, it means that I need to get a 6.5 IELTS score. So, Ive really been studying hard to try and secure my place, because I definitely want to experience London, as its obviously one of the best cities in the world. PROBLEMS 1) If you didnt hear properly: SAY: Sorry, I didnt catch that. Could you repeat the question, please? 2) If you dont understand a word/expression: SAY: Sorry, I havent come across that expression/word before. Could you explain what it means, please? 3) If youre not sure about the nature of the question, and you want to clarify what you THINK the examiner asked: SAY: Do you mean.? When you say. are you asking about.? Posted by Bren Brennan on Sep 15 2011. Filed under IELTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry hami September 21, 2011 - 9:42 am Excuse-me, but as far as I know, the examiner will not let us tell such stories like your samples answer. I took exam last month. In the 1-st and 3-rd part, the examiner asked another question right away whenever I stopped 2-3 seconds between phrases in order to find a linking word.

I got bad mark, 5.5 actually. Can you suggest any solution, so that I can get over this kind of problem? In fact I will rejoin the exam in October. Thank you. Reply Candy September 22, 2011 - 6:59 am Dear Mr.Bren Brennan I have a question: could your please tell me is it ok to use American intonation, pronunciation, and voice in IELTS Speaking test? Thanks a lot, Candy Reply Bren Brennan September 22, 2011 - 7:50 pm Candy, I think that its not a problem speaking American English in the IELTS test. Lots of students have some kind of American accent because they use movies and TV shows from the US to help them learn English. Theres nothing wrong with it. What if you had an Australian, Irish or Indian accent (or any other varation)? Its all English :) Dont worry about it. Concentrate on improving your vocabulary, work on your grammar accuracy and practise, practise, practise!!! Good luck! Reply Bren Brennan September 21, 2011 - 12:03 pm Hami, Its difficult to comment accurately on what happened to you because I wasnt there, but if there is silence from you for 2-3 sec (like you said), then the examiner will think that you have run out of ideas and try to help you by asking you another question. This is because in normal speech, people dont stop for 3 secs without saying anything. SOLUTIONS: 1) As it says in my IELTS Speaking part 2 blog, Dont stop speaking unless you are told to do sothats the main thing. 2) Practise a lot (speaking out loud, not just thinking about or writing down answers), so that you reduce theses kind of errors. 3) Have a few fillers ready (and practise using them) to avoid silence gaps Fillers: What I mean is / What Im trying to say is / And the word escapes me, just a sec while i think / Errrrmm etc