Many students think IELTS Speaking Part 1 is easy. It is an ideal time to add more challenging English, but knowing little tricks helps too. Know the format, how to prepare effectively and discover 6 of these little tricks for a successful start to your speaking test!
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IELTS Speaking Part 1 Quiz: Is It as Easy as You Think?
IELTS Speaking Part 1 Format
| Task Type and Format | A short conversation between the examiner and the candidate (spoken questions). |
| Focus | The focus is on general social and interactional language. |
| Timing | 4 – 5 minutes |
This part tests the candidates’ ability to use general social and interactional language.
There are about 12 questions on three topics.
Part 1 gives candidates the opportunity to show their ability to use general social and interactional language and talk about themselves and their interests, experiences, plans for the future, etc.
The examiner asks candidates for some information about themselves, then widens the scope of the questions by asking about, e.g. candidates’ leisure activities, studies, travel and holiday experiences, and daily life.
Candidates are expected to respond to the interlocutor’s questions.
This short social exchange is a natural way to begin an interaction, and it gives the candidate time to settle before dealing with the more specific tasks in Parts 2and 3.
6 Simple Little Tricks To Help You With IELTS Speaking Part 1
1) In this part of the test, examiners will ask candidates questions about themselves, for example where they live, what their hometown is like and so on. They will then ask some further questions about, for example, their leisure time, their studies, their future plans, travel and holiday experiences, their daily routine. To prepare, work your way through practice questions on various topics. How can you comfortably answer each kind of question, such as Do you …..? Have you ever ……? Are you ……? and so on.
2) You should respond promptly with answers which answer the question, add more information and are as spontaneous as possible. Rehearsed speeches should be avoided as these are easily spotted and they might be inappropriate for the questions asked. If you use practice questions, rather than memorising your answers, think about what, who, when …. you are going to talk about.
3) Look for opportunities to socialise with English speakers. With a teacher, classmate or friend, you could role-play social occasions in which you meet new people, e.g. parties, long train journeys, joining a new class, starting a new job. However, for IELTS it is more useful for you to practice talking about what you have done or who you know rather than dialogues.
4) Try to react naturally and give full answers but not answers which are too long. To this it is best to answer the question, then add one or two sentences. Don’t repeat the question in your answer but answer it directly if you can’t paraphrase it. You have 12 questions; you don’t need to paraphrase them all. Answer questions such as do you ….? by saying ‘Yes I do’ or ‘No I don’t’ Answer Are you …? by saying ‘Yes I am’ or ‘No I am not’ and so on before you add more information. It is best to vary how you answer in the further one or two sentences.
5) Train yourself to ‘think on your feet’ and answer a question quickly even if you have never thought about a particular subject before. Try to use written examples of unsuitable candidate responses and ask them to improve on them. For example:
Examiner: What do you hope to be doing in five years’ time?
Candidate: Er … I don’t know. ✗
Candidate: … I’m not sure really. If I manage to get a good job, I may be aiming for promotion. If not, I could be more concerned with my personal life. ✓
6) If you have a friend that is taking IELTS too, interview each other in pairs or small groups and find out as much as possible about each other in a given time. This will help you to sustain an interaction in a less familiar situation. It will not only let you discover other ways to answer questions but also highlight how easy it is to give an answer that doesn’t fit the question.
IELTS Speaking Part 1 Sample Questions
- Where do you live?
- Who do you live with?
- How did you get here today?
- What’s the best time of day for you to study? Why?
- What kind of holidays do you enjoy most? Why?
- Is there anything you dislike about travelling? Why?
- What kind of magazines or newspapers do you read regularly? Why/Why not?
Conclusion
I hope that has helped to give you a better understanding of what is required for the IELTS Speaking Part 1, and that you will look into each part in more detail. There is a full list of pages on the IELTS Speaking test here. Good luck with your test!