Overview - IELTS Speaking Test

The IELTS speaking test lasts only 11-15 minutes and it is split into three parts:

The IELTS Interview - not as bad as you might think...

IELTS speaking Part 1 (3-4 minutes): Short Questions and answers about some very familiar Topics. The first questions will be about your name and where you are from and then there will be some questions about where you live or where you work/study. This  will then be followed by questions on one or two additional topics that should be quite familiar to you; topics such as entertainment, holidays, leisure activities, sport etc.

IELTS speaking Part 2 - "the long turn" (2 minutes plus 1 minute to prepare): Candidates are given a topic card and then given 1 minute to prepare for a 2 minute answer. The topics can be a little bit more difficult than those in the first part and can include describing or commenting on a book, building, person, movie, situation. After you have given your presentation, the examiner could ask 1 or 2 rounding-off questions before moving onto the final part.

IELTS speaking Part 3 (4-5 minutes): This is a discussion based on the topic area used in the second part. Questions normally are more difficult in terms of thinking and will be about more abstract and general concepts; they might ask the candidate to compare, analyse or speculate on the prior topic. The examiner could also really try to push the candidate to see what their linguistic boundaries of ability are.

How is the speaking test graded?

The speaking test is graded with a mark being given (from 1-9) based on  four key criteria:

Fluency and coherence: Fluency is the ability to speak at a normal speed without too much hesitation and repetition. Coherence is whether speech delivery is easy to understand. In order to score highly, you need to talk at length and develop your topic (do not give single word answers and try to give as much detail as you can). In general, it is good if you can use connectives and discourse markers and avoid pauses and restarting sentences.

Vocabulary: To score highly on this criteria, you must use higher level words, pay attention to collocation, and also use some more idiomatic language. You should also try to show ability to paraphrase and try to avoid using too much slang or any rude words. Remember, this is an academic test so your vocabulary choice should reflect that.

Grammar: Use a variety of sentence types (simple, compound, complex) and try your best to avoid grammatical errors. Problems with articles (a / an / the), prepositions and word order can make your speaking difficult to understand. Try your best to control word endings (correctly use singular/plural / word endings) and ensure that you use the correct tense.

Pronunciation: Your accent, the extent that it is easy or difficult to understand. This includes how you use language features that a native speaker would use; for example intonation, stress, and rhythm.

It is perhaps unfortunate that some problems can count in two categories; for example, some grammatical errors might also result in a lower score for pronunciation or some pronunciation problems might also result in a lower score for grammar.