Follow these tips to maximise your score in IELTS Speaking Part 1
1. Practice beats memorising
It’s obvious, but, practise a lot, especially talking about common topics like friends and family, home, studies/ work, and leisure activities. Get used to how you answer (see some of the points below). Become familiar with the kinds of questions, and practice, practice, practice. Memorised answers are easy for the examiner to see, and will get you a lower score. To see more common topics go here.
2. Be whoever you want to be!
You can be anyone or say anything you want in IELTS, so don't worry about being honest, or giving your real opinions. You can create a more extrovert persona for the test if it will help - feel free to be enthusiastic or add details that aren't true.
Example: Do you ever do sport outdoors?
True answer: No, never.
IELTS answer: Yes, I love the outdoors and I'm a big fan of tennis, so I try to play at the local outdoor tennis court whenever I can.
3. Give at least one or two sentence answers
You don’t need to say a lot in this part of the test, but never answer with just ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Add some detail to each answer. Try to add an as or because to explain why you do something or what the result is. Alternatively or as well, add a small detail, such as a time, frequency or place where you do something.
Example: Do you like to do exercise?
Answer: Sure, I try to exercise at least twice a week. I like going to the local gym because it’s convenient and I can do lots of different exercises there.
4. Listen carefully to the question
That way, you will definitely answer the question in the right way. If you’re unsure about the question, it’s ok to ask the examiner to repeat or clarify it.
5. Listen to the tense used in the question
You can begin your answer with the same tense. So, for example, if the question uses the present perfect, begin with this tense.
Example: Have you ever been to a live sports event?
Answer: Yes, I’ve been to several. In fact, I went to see a live football match last year.
6. Don’t repeat the same vocabulary or phrases
For example, instead of saying “I really love…”, you could say “I’m a big fan of…”. It’s quite easy to use synonyms for adjectives, so don’t repeat “great”, but use “fantastic”, “excellent” or “amazing” instead.
7. Focus on fluency
In IELTS speaking fluency is just as important as vocabulary and grammar. If you can’t think of the perfect word, don’t worry and express the idea in another way.
8. Speak clearly
Sometimes test takers become nervous and speak very quickly, so it’s difficult to understand them. Focus on speaking clearly, especially if you’re a bit nervous on test day.
9. Stay calm and positive :)
It’s hard to judge your own test, so stay calm and positive even if you feel the test is going badly. You may think it went badly, but you can still get a high band!
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