Best Proven IELTS Speaking Strategies

First part: Introductory questions – This part generally lasts between 4-5 minutes. The examiner will ask you some questions to know you better and some general questions based on your life, hobbies and more so be straightforward with the answers. For example, the examiner might ask “Do you like reading a book?”. “Yes! I enjoy reading a book. It’s my favorite thing to do in my spare time.

Fluency vs Vocabulary –Both fluency and vocabulary carry the same weightage in IELTS speaking. Still its considered that you should focus more on being fluent as experts say that it’s better to be fluent than spending your time thinking about the best word. If you are speaking fluently, it will create a good impression on the examiner. Hunt only for 2-3 unique words while you speak.

Don’t memorize youranswers –There is no point of memorizing your answer as the possibilities of getting a random and unique cue card is very high. So, rather than memorizing your answer practice more and more cue cards and try having conversations with your friends and family in English language as this will help you gain confidence and become more comfortable.

Avoid Speaking in Monotone –Speak naturally neither to fast neither too slow. Don’t put too much stress on words. Don’t panic even if you made a mistake, its completely fine even if you make 2-3 mistakes while speaking. Vary your pitch at specific points to sound more fluent and interesting. Monotonous speech can sound less fluent.

Know Your Strengths & Weaknesses

It’s very difficult to recognize your own mistake while you are still learning the language. So, it’s always advisable to take help of an expert who can help you evaluate your language skills.

Try to figure out which of the four areas of assessment is your weakest – fluency and coherence, vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation? Maybe it’s particular aspects of several of these.

Firstly, identify the area which needs your attention and then plan a timetable in which you will practice particularly on those areas and hence you will make significant improvement.

One more important tip is that you start recording yourself speaking English. When you do this, you will notice things that need improvement that you might not otherwise be aware of.

Observation while voice recording:

– Repetition of words.

– Long pauses and hesitation.

– Your voice is monotone with little variation in your intonation.

– You focus too much on grammatical accurately at the expense of fluency.

Don’t be worried about your errors as they are part of the learning process. Recognize them and use them to improve.

Understand What You Will Be Tested On

This is one of the most important tip of IELTS Speaking. If you don’t know what the examiner is looking for, how can you be sure that you’re giving it to them?

Don’t risk a low band score simply because you fail to understand what the test requirements are.

The IELTS Speaking test is designed to assess your language ability:

– Communicate opinions and information on everyday topics and common experiences

– Speak at length on a given topic using appropriate languag

– Organize your ideas coherently

– Express your opinions

– Analyze, discuss and speculate about issues

So what, specifically, are you tested on?

– Fluency and Coherence

– Vocabulary

– Grammar

– Pronunciation