IELTS- The International English Language Testing System is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers. It is mainly used as a benchmark to test the language skills of people who want to migrate to an English-speaking land for various purposes like academics or professional assignments. IELTS is recognized by most of the academic institutions and professional organizations in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States.
IELTS Exam is of two kinds. IELTS Academic for students who wish to migrate for further studies and IELTS General Training for professionals and others who wish to migrate for any general purpose.
Both kinds of IELTS consist of four modules – Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. In each of these modules, one can receive a score of 1-9 based on performance. The final score is an average of these four scores.
To score well on IELTS, you require a firm grip on English language proficiency at all levels. This requires consistent preparation.
In this blog, I’ll talk about just the speaking module of IELTS and discuss tips to score well in that module.
First, let’s know about the module.
The Speaking module of IELTS consists of three parts:
Part 1: Here, you’ll have a 4-5minute conversation with the IELTS examiner about your work, family, hobbies, etc.
Part 2: here, you’ll be given a cue card with a topic. You’ll be provided 1 minute to take notes and then you’ll be required to speak on the topic for two minutes.
Part3: In this section, the examiner asks you a few questions related to the topic in part2, mainly discussing the topic a little more in detail. This section normally takes 3-4 minutes.
Here are a few tips that will help you maximize your score in the IELTS Speaking test:
- Do not try to squeeze everything into the very first answer. Since it is about your personal life, you might feel tempted to speak more but don’t do that. You’ll get plenty of room to speak later pointwise, with examples and proper development.
- For giving your answers, practice using a lot of verbs and adjectives. Being grammatically correct in simple sentences is not sufficient. You are judged on using your skills across a variety of descriptive and complex sentences.
- Do not use the exact wordings of the question in your answer if you intend to use it at all. Rephrase it.
- Do not try to use complex and big words in an attempt to impress the examiner. You might end up making pronunciation or usage mistakes. Keep it simple and correct.
- The accent is the last thing you need to worry about. The examiner understands a wide variety of accents. As long as you are correct on other parameters, do not worry about your accent.
- Take proper pauses to think. Rather than speaking up anything, use a pause, think and speak. It does no harm.
- Don’t memorize your answers as kids do. Especially about your personal details asked in the first section. It shows up when you speak and may lead to lowering your score.
- Complete and describe your answers as much as possible in every direction. Don’t give a chance to the examiner to prompt you. If your answers are short, it hints to the examiner that you cannot process a topic in depth. They also get a chance to ask more questions which is not so much in your favor.
- The examiner records your answer completely to assess them later on a variety of points. Don’t freak out and lose confidence when you see yourself being recorded.
- Practice is the only shortcut to success. Practice a lot. Pick up common IELTS topics to read about them and practice speaking on them.
Author,
Vaishali Pandey
