TIPS TO GET 8 BAND IN IELTS SPEAKING

Many people agree that the secret of success in the Speaking test is being a confident and creative person. Does it mean that others will fail? Not at all! This test is PREDICTABLE. Use the following tips to prepare yourself for what’s coming and the confidence will come.

What are they looking for?

If you know what is important to IELTS examiners, it improves your chances of success. These guidelines refer to every part of the Speaking test. Stick to them and you will satisfy your examiner.

• Speak without long pauses (when you are trying to think of something to say)

• Understand what the examiner asks you and confirm that by answering accordingly.

• Demonstrate how many “smart” words you know.

• Use all the tenses when you speak – past, present, future – and use them correctly.

• Pronounce the words correctly. For example the word “culture” should sound like “kolcher”, not “kultur”.

• Important! Accent has nothing to do with pronunciation, so it will not affect your score.

TIPS TO GET 8 BAND IN IELTS SPEAKING

Keep it simple!

This tip refers to the whole Speaking test. Don’t start long and complicated sentences if you don’t know how to finish them! Keep your sentences simple, and words – understandable. If you make a grammatical error – it’s ok to correct yourself, but don’t overdo it, you must sound fluent.

When you hear a question, your mind automatically develops an image with the answer. You can describe this image in your own language, but when you start to describe it in English, suddenly you don’t have enough words in your vocabulary. So try to think of what part of that image you can describe, do it and stop there. Don’t let yourself show what words you don’t know by saying incomplete sentences.

TIPS TO GET 8 BAND IN IELTS SPEAKING

Interview

The first part of the Speaking test is the Interview. You enter the room, see the examiner, say “Good afternoon!” and smile. He or she asks to see your passport and invites you to sit down. If he/she offers to shake your hand – do it, otherwise – don’t. Your body language is important here, it must show that you are relaxed and confident. When you are talking, try to make eye contact with the examiner as much as you can.

During the interview the examiner asks you questions about yourself, your work, studies, parents, brothers/sisters, pets, etc. Your answer to each question should consist of one or two sentences; try not to answer with just “yes” or “no”. After all it’s your English they want to hear.

TIPS TO GET 8 BAND IN IELTS SPEAKING

Speech

After you have finished the Interview, the examiner will hand you a card with 3 or 4 questions on it. Usually the card asks you to describe a place, an event or a situation from your experience. You have 1 minute to prepare a little speech that answers all of the questions on a card. You also receive a sheet of paper and a pen to write your notes.

The speech should take between one and two minutes. In the end, the examiner might ask you a couple of additional questions. The tricky part here is to know when 2 minutes have passed. You need to get a feeling what is it like to talk for 2 minutes. Practice at home with a clock, recording yourself while you are speaking on a particular topic. You can use MP3 players that can record. This way you can evaluate your own speech without any help from other people.

TIPS TO GET 8 BAND IN IELTS SPEAKING

Practice, practice, practice

Choose a card, prepare for 1 minute, writing down the points you will speak about. When you start speaking, try not to get in trouble – don’t use words unless you know what they mean, don’t use long complicated sentences where you get lost in words. Try to speak simply and make it sound interesting.

Discussion

In the third sub-part of the test you have a discussion with the examiner. The topic is somehow related to the one from section two, but it is about ideas that are more abstract. Your job is to express and justify an opinion. It is called a discussion, but in reality you are the one who does most of the talking.

TIPS TO GET 8 BAND IN IELTS SPEAKING

What if …?

It can happen that the examiner asks you a question and you don’t have a clue what he/she is talking about. Don’t panic! Just say:

• I am not sure what you mean, could you be more specific?

• Could you repeat the question, please?

If you don’t have a ready answer and you are trying to borrow some time, say:

• Well, I’ve never thought about that, but I would say that…

• Well, it is not a simple question.

TIPS TO GET 8 BAND IN IELTS SPEAKING

If they ask for your opinion, you can start by saying:

• In my opinion…

• I think that…