How to prepare for IELTS Speaking in 10 days ( Part 4- IELTS Speaking )
Hey guys,
IELTS speaking is the area where i didn't scored very well. I had taken a mock IELTS 15 days before my actual IELTS exam. In that mock, i scored 5.5 in speaking and the lady told me to really work on my IELTS speaking ability. And guess what, my final result in IELTS Speaking was 7.5 which is not awesome but still good enough.
Here i will share what all i did and what you should do to prepare well for IELTS Speaking.
1. I started speaking a lot on general topics for 10-12 minutes continuously just 4-5 days before the IELTS Speaking test day.
2. The IELTS speaking section can be categorized into 3 areas:
A. First part in IELTS speaking is a general discussion about you, your family, your native place, about your job, etc.. All general stuff. This goes for around 3 minutes. You dont
need any preparation for this. But make sure that you keep speaking.
need any preparation for this. But make sure that you keep speaking.
B. Second part in IELTS speaking is where the interviewer will give you a topic to speak on. In my case the topic was "Speak about a product whose advertisement influenced you to purchase it". Now it was a bit smart. I thought that i should speak about a topic on which i can pull in many ideas, even though that product's advertisement may not have influenced my decision to buy it. So my HP laptop clicked me. I spoke how advertisement of HP laptop influenced my decision. What all features were discussed in the Ad. And how the advertisement distinguished the HP laptop from rest of the laptops. She gave me 2 minutes to speak. I spoke for 2 minutes and she stopped me after that. So make sure that you speak continuously for 2 minutes.
C. The third part in IELTS Speaking is where the instructor would test you how you are able to analyse the topic. She asked me if apart from advertisement, i did any other reasearch. What about the companies that prepare advertisements targetted towards children. And 2-3 more questions.
So the key here is be yourself. Take 3-4 seconds to prepare your answer and then start answering. That's it.
So the key here is be yourself. Take 3-4 seconds to prepare your answer and then start answering. That's it.
To summarize the above points, i would say KEEP SPEAKING, BE SMART, think in different directions while speaking, remain cool-n-calm and take 3-4 seconds before you start answering. That's it !
If you follow all these steps and if you are fluent in english, i see no reason why you should not be scoring above 8 in IELTS speaking section.
With this post on IELTS Speaking, i end the article series on IELTS preparation. In case you need any help from me regarding your preparation, feel free to contact me.
For Personal IELTS councelling, feel free to add me on skype ( skype id: onlinearora)
Sir, your post on IELTS has been quite informative.
Can similar preparation get me through TOEFL too??
Hi Jagadish,
Thanks for writing. I am sure the same things would come handy for TOEFL. But frankly i dont have much idea about TOEFL.
I would look into it's test structure and would write about it.
Best wishes,
Ankit
Hey sir, or who ever you are.. thank you for this tip :D it really helped me understand a little bit :). i did my writing, listening and reading exam couple of minutes ago probably like an hours or so. Now i got my speaking in an hour and 2 minutes :p. HOPE FOR THE BEST AND THANK YOU AGAIN!!! :D
Hi Ankit,
I will be taking up the exam in one month from now. Have Kind of practised listening,reading and nowadays i m concentrating on the writing part. I wanted to ask you a doubt. Whats the best way to start speaking. Like for an example Explain the role of Cinema in influencing today's generation.. Can u suggest a way in which one can start off brilliantly.
Hi Rachna,
1 month is enough time for preparation.
Nice to know you are done with almost all the sections.
Best way to start speaking:
Use my method: Divide the topic in various areas to generate ideas.
Example: To talk about "role of Cinema in influencing today's generation"
You can start with the fact that cinema plays a very crucial role in infuencing today's generation and keep giving examples.
You can talk about cinema's positive and negative impacts.
In positive, talk about:
1. good social messages
2. movies that motivate/inspire people
3. cinema that helps people unite- generate sense of patriotism etc
One negative side, you can talk about:
1. violence depicted in the cinema.
2. the bad habits of villians etc influencing children.
3. bad habits like excessive drinking, smoking projected in cinema
4. obscenity/vulgarity projected in movies.
Also you can talk about cinema in various countries, influence on people of different age groups, role of cinema in uniting countries. Example a movie which has all indian actors, but pakistani directors and producers, which is made in pak and promotes camaraderie between the two countries.
Just keep thinking and keep speaking and you ll emerge a winner !
Ankit
Hi Ankit,
Ankit as you explained in Crack book that you have got 8 in writing after writing 350 words. But whenever i write above that 250 words my teacher warned me that i'll cut the marks. Also u said 3-4 paragrahs for pros and 3-4 for cons. But here we have option i.e. only 4 paragraphs. 1. intorduction 2. adv. 3. adv. 4.conclusion. So I'm bit confused about this. Wat u suggested me in this case.
I've also so many quesions for ask.
I'll give my exam next month.
Regards!
Bimpey
Hi Manisha,
my idea is that their are 2 writing assignments. One with graph for analysis and other which some issue. So for the first one you can write 220 to 250 to 270 words, which is fine.
But for the second one, which carries more marks, and is more important, you can surely write 320 to 350 to 370 words.
The people who are checking your scores are bit relaxed on such limits and would not penalize you in you go above or below word limit by 20/30 words :)
Another thing, you asked about number of paragraphs. Its just that i feel comfortable writing it in 5-6 paragraphs. and dividing the issue. If you feel you can discuss the issue in 4 paragraphs, that's also fine.
Till the structure of your writing is logical and crystal clear, the number of paragraphs would not matter :)
Best wishes for your exam !
Cheers
Ankit
Hi Ankit,
I am going to write the ielts exam in the next.Can u please suggest how can i prepare for that??
Thanks Inadvance...
Sudeepthi
Hi Sudeepthi,
I would say, go through all the posts i have written on IELTS. And do a lot of practice. you ll do well.
You can write to me what areas are you finding difficult..
All the best.
Ankit
you can write more than 250 words in task 2 and will not lose marks for overlength. however, quality is more important than mere quantity! If your answer is below 240 words you will be marked down on task. this could mean half band difference.
hi ankit
i gave my exam last year and i got 6 bands in speaking and your idea is best for spaking test can you help me in reading session its little bit difficult for me my exam is on 11 feb .i treid alot and got not more than 21 out of 40 questions please help me how can i prepare this is very difficult time for me i have to clear my exam this time my admission letter is on wait because of this exam please help and if u help me please help me in all sessions i am very week in reading seassion
vimal
Hi Vimal,
> your idea is best for spaking test
- Thanks you liked it.
> can you help me in reading session its little bit difficult for me my exam is on 11 feb .i treid alot and got not more than 21 out of 40 questions please help me how can i prepare this is very difficult time for me i have to clear my exam this time.
Let me give you an honest answer: You ll need to find why those 19 got incorrect, and also why those 21 got correct. Read explanation for each question. One more tip: Dont get too involved in reading the text. Try to skim it. Try to move fast - but make a mental note of each paragraph.
- Then when you are reading questions, look at the details from paragraph and answer accordingly.
Believe me, if you can skim fast, you ll answer fast and you ll get atleast 35 correct. reading section is really very easy compared to listening and speaking.
I mean i prepared only for listening and speaking. Reg writing, i enjoy blogging, so that was not a big prob for me.
And reg reading, i just skim it when i want to read fast- and it helped me. it can help you too
Be confident and work on your mistakes.
All the very best !
- Ankit