Monday, July 6, 2009

How to prepare for IELTS Speaking in 10 days ( Part 4- IELTS Speaking )


How to prepare for IELTS Speaking in 10 days ( Part 4- IELTS Speaking )



Hey guys,

IELTS speaking is the area where i didn't score 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.

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.

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.

36 comments:

Jagadish Vema said...

Sir, your post on IELTS has been quite informative.
Can similar preparation get me through TOEFL too??

Ankit Arora said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

rachael said...

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.

Ankit Arora said...

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

Manisha said...

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

Ankit Arora said...

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

Unknown said...

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

Ankit Arora said...

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

Anonymous said...

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.

Unknown said...

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

Ankit Arora said...

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

mohan kharal said...

Hy ankit,i’am glad to know some idea about ielts,as i know nothing about it.i get difficult in listening ,so how to do it well?
Mohan

inspire said...

Hi Ankit,

Please advise can we prepare for General Training IELTS Exam in 2weeks - I mean full dedication and can get the score above 7. Also is there any book which is a good guide for these exams or IELTS material is sufficient. Need your advise on this.

Regards,
Prerna

srinivas reddy said...

hi ankit...
dis is reddy.i had only 15 days left for my ielts,bt i hadnt prepared upto now.if i do hard work frm 2day.can i be able to score a good score...

AKHIL said...

hi ankit
i have take 30june for ielts.and i don't know about ielts.can i get 6.5 band in 1 month preparation.

Akash said...

Hi Ankit,

Your first sentence is grammatically incorrect. It should be 'IELTS speaking is the area where i didn't SCORE very well'. When you guide someone on something related to your field, it should be correct else others will also do the same mistakes.. :)So just wanted to inform you.. But then I liked your blog. Keep it up.

Regards,
Akash

Ankit Arora said...

thanks Akash for correction :)
Just corrected it..

Akash said...

welcome.. :) by any chance do you know which is the best coaching institute in Bangalore for IELTS.

and the best book which can help me out to get a score of 8..
I tried googling it but cundt find anything...

Any help would be appreciated..
Thanks..

Unknown said...

Thanks Anikit.... after reading your blog comments i got the confidence. so I can get 7+ band. I have another 3months time to prepare my IELTS exam.

Thanks............

Anonymous said...

hi ankit
i scored a 7 in speaking a year ago , been living in Melbourne for 2 years, and did some teachers training there for 4 weeks. However, today I got the IELTS result with a 6.5 in speaking. I am in shock.
Does selection of the ielts test centre or attention of the examiner effect performance apart from my own mistakes.

nancy john said...


Helpful IELTS speaking tips it is very important information for students

Anonymous said...

hi ankit
Am sitting to my test on march 9th..
i found a lot of difficulty regarding speaking and listening section.could you please tell me how to over come these difficulties?
especially in listening section i cant find those answers,probably i can find only 20-25.but i know that you would suggest me to watch english movies but there was no result,i dont know y and what my problem is!

Anonymous said...

Hi ankit,

I have one month to give my exam and I'm not getting good scores in practice sections as a slow learner. Can you please suggest me how to get more than 7.5 also I'm poor in vocabulary.

Anonymous said...

Hi, every one I am a new student and now I havenot appear in the IELTS Test yet. this my preparation section so thats why I will here so please all of you give me all related information and guide me as well. I really want to get atleast 8 bands which is the requirement of my admission in university... thanks you all. my Email address is
seearabi@gmail.com help me please

Anonymous said...

Hi-
I am a student of final year in BSC Honers. I want to take a good marks in IELTS exam. Though I am not at good in English as much but i have some time to prepared myself for the IELTS exam. I want to start form beginning. So how would you suggest me to do some thing that can be really able to help me to take a good marks in all section of IELTS exam.
Is there any reference books or any mind-blowing suggestion i can get from you? Please fell free to suggest.
I read all of your post before and it was really quit good. So please help me by telling some wonderful idea and name of books. I will be glad full to you if you can help me.
Best Regards-
Milon Chowdhury Raj

Unknown said...

Sir,
I read your above discussions, now I feel that you would guide me better for my ielts preparation.
Sir,my problem is that when I speaking in the class I unable to express my ideas .kindly give me tips how can I speak fluently and express myself good? how can I generate better ideas?
Regards
Harry

Anonymous said...

Hi Ankit

I am kuldeep. I am taking the ielts test within a month. Please tell me how can i improve my readind skills. I need to score 7 bands but unable to reach the target. Please help me.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ankit,

I want to improve from 5.5 Band Score to 6.5 in IELTS & in each sections except Reading 5.0.

Please give me tips. I think 15 days enough to prepare.

Regards,
Ritik

Unknown said...

Hi Ankit,

I gave my exam last year and I got 5 bands over all in speaking and your idea is best for speaking test can you help me how to improve my score 6.5 bands in all session its little bit difficult for me my exam is on 12Apr. I tried a lot 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 speaking and reading session.

nancy john said...

if we work to improve our learning skills we can pass the test with high band

ielts essay

sara said...

Learning is very important for ielts

teaching challenge

sheen said...

Thanks for sharing this useful blogs with us.

sara said...

IELTS is very important for those people who need to Study In UK . IELTS test methodology is really awesome. I agree that one should pass this test to be able to communicate in UK English.

toefl information

Unknown said...


Thanks for the heads up! IELTS is very challenging and it should not be taken for granted. It needs time as well as constant review and practice.

IELTS Exam

Catherine said...

Thanks for writing a excellent post.
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