Many students think that the IELTS Speaking Part 1 questions are the easiest and simplest of the three parts, but it is a great time to show off what you can do. In real life, people take three seconds to find out if they like someone or not when they get that first impression. This is a great chance for you to give your examiner a good first impression.
These questions are all about you, your work or studies and your life, so you know the answers. This is a wonderful opportunity to show what you can do, rather than just answer the questions mechanically.
There are lists and articles on topic vocabulary for writing task 2 and noun phrases for writing, most of which can be used in the speaking part too. There are some high scoring sample answers below to help you with your practice.
More past speaking questions are also available here, here, here and here.
How to answer IELTS Speaking Part 1:
1/ Use the grammar tense of the question
If you can, answer the question in the grammar tense of the question. For example, if the question starts ‘Do you …….’ answer ‘Yes I do’ or ‘No I don’t’, and then add one or two sentences to extend your answer. When you add these sentences, there is a good chance you will change the grammar tense.
For example
Are clothes important to you?
Yes, they are. I absolutely love wearing the latest fashions when I have the chance. I have been into fashion for as long as I can remember.
Do not, however, TRY to change the tense, it will just make your answer sound poor. Let it happen, and it will sound much more natural.
2/ Personal Questions
Some of the questions can be very personal, so decide when you practice what information you can tell the examiner, and when you might tell a white lie. For instance, if the examiner asks where you come from, do you talk about where you were born, where you moved to when you were six years old, or where you lived after your parents split up? If you decide before your speaking test, it will be much much easier and stop you hesitating while you decide during it.
3/ Vary your answers
Try to vary your answers so you don’t use ‘because’ in each one.
For example:
What’s the decoration like in your home?
Answer 1 – There is floral wallpaper in most of the rooms in my home because it makes me feel as if I am in a garden, while in reality, I am on the 15th floor of a high-rise apartment block, so I need to feel closer to nature. It doesn’t really work, though.
Answer 2 – We have floral wallpaper in most of the rooms. There are curtains to match and similar coloured rugs on the wooden floor too. We prefer it like that to just one colour.
Answer 3 – My parents have covered the walls in most of the rooms with floral wallpaper, but I’m not exactly sure why. I guess it’s because my mum would love a garden where she could tend to her flowers as much as she wanted.
Answer 4 – Most of our walls have floral wallpaper, which is much better to what we had before. In our old flat, every wall was brilliant white, and was really sore on the eyes every time the sun shone. It used to give me headaches.
Answer 5 – When we moved to our apartment 10 years ago, it wasn’t in a very good state of repair. It was much cheaper to wallpaper the walls instead of paint them because the wallpaper could cover up the problems with the walls and also keep the plaster underneath from falling off.
Answer 6 – It’s decorated in pink. For example, there is pink floral wallpaper on the walls, a pink carpet and pink curtains too. We couldn’t have everything pink, so our sofa and chairs is a lovely colour of deep purple.
When you are practicing, try and vary your answers, it will really prepare you for your test. There are more tips about how to this in this article.
Part 1 Questions
Work or Studies
What work do you do?
Why did you choose to do that type of work (or that job) ?
Do you like your job?
Is it very interesting?
What subjects are you studying?
Do you like your subject?
Why did you choose to study that subject?
Is it very interesting?
Do you miss being a student
Do you prefer to study in the mornings or in the afternoons?
Are you looking forward to working?
Hometown
What’s (the name of) your hometown?
ls that a big city or a small place?
Can you describe your hometown a little bit?
How long did you live there?
Do you like it?
Did you like living there?
What do you like most about your hometown?
ls there anything you disliked about it?
Do you think you’ll continue living there for a long time?
Home/Accommodation
Can you describe the place where you live?
How long have you lived there?
Who do you live with?
Do you plan to live there for a long time?
What is the difference between where you are living now and where you have lived in the past?
Do you prefer living in a house or a flat?
What do you usually do in your house/flat/room?
Which room does your family spend most of the time in?
What part of your home do you like the most?
Are the transport facilities to your home very good?
What kind of housing or accommodation do you live in?
Do you live in a house or in a flat?
Please describe the room you live in?
What room does your family spend most of their time in?
New Year
How do you celebrate the New Year?
Do you still remember a new year that you celebrated?
Do you have any ceremonies to celebrate the New Year in your country?
Why do people think the New Year is a new beginning?
Singing
Do you like singing? Why?/Why not?
When do you sing?
Will you take singing lessons in the future?
Did you enjoy singing when you were younger?
Getting up early
Do you often get up early in the morning?
What do you usually do when you get up early?
Do you get up early on weekends?
Which morning do you like best in a week?
Being Happy
Is there anything that has made you feel happy lately?
What do you do to stay happy?
Can you stay happy all the time?
Is it important to be happy?
Reading
Do you like reading?
Do you like to read at home or in other places?
In what place do you think it is difficult to read?
Do you like to read by yourself or with other people?
Window view
What scenery can you see from the window of your home/dormitory?
Do you like to watch the scenery from your window?
Do you want to live in a house with beautiful window views?
How do you feel when you can’t see any beautiful view from your window?
Names
Is it easy for you to remember people’s names?
How do you remember people’s names?
How do you feel when people can’t remember your name?
Do you often forget people’s names?
Trees
What kind of trees do people usually plant in your country? How about your hometown?
Have you ever planted trees?
What kinds of trees do you plant?
Do you like planting trees? Why?
Decoration
What’s the decoration like in your home?
What kind of decoration do you prefer?
Do people like redecorating their homes in your country?
What’s your favourite colour when decorating your home?
TV programs
Do you watch programs on the TV or on your cellphone?
What kind of TV programs do you like?
Do you like watching the same kind of program all the time?
Do you talk with your friends about the program you watched?
Maths
Do students learn maths in secondary schools in your country?
Do you think maths is difficult?
What can people do with maths in their daily life?
Do you learn maths now? Why/why not?
Home country
Which part of your country do you want to live in?
What makes you feel proud of your country?
Do you know the history of your country well?
Will you stay in your country in the future?
Museum
Do you think museums are important?
Are there many museums in your hometown?
Do you often visit museums?
When was the last time you visited a museum?
Lists
Do you make a list when you shop?
Do you make a list for your work? (Does it work?)
Why don’t some people like making lists?
Furniture
Do you have a lot of furniture in your home?
Has anyone bought furniture for you?
What kind of furniture would you like to buy?
Which furniture do you like best in your home?
Handwriting
Do you often write with a pen?
Can we tell someone’s personality from his or her handwriting?
What’s the difference of writing with a pen and typing on a computer?
ls your handwriting easy to read for other people?
Clothes
What’s your favourite colour of clothes?
What kind of clothes do you never wear?
What kind of clothes do you usually wear?
Do you wear the same style of clothes on weekdays and weekends?
Sports
What sports did you do when you were a kid?
What’s your favorite sport? Why? / Why not?
Do you watch sport matches? Why? / Why not?
Are you a fan of any sport teams? Why? / Why not?
Text messages
Do you like texting?
Do you prefer sending or receiving messages?
Have you ever received a confusing text message?
ln what circumstances is making a phone call better than sending a text message?
Stages of life
Do you enjoy your current stage of life?
In which stage of your life were you the happiest?
Which stage of your life do you think is the most important?
What’s your plan for your next stage of life?
Picnic
Did you go on picnics when you were a child?
How often do you go on picnics now?
Where do you go on picnics?
What is the difference between picnics and cooking at home?
Recycle
Do you recycle now? Why? / Why not?
Did you recycle when you were a kid?
Will you recycle in the future?
What kind of things do you recycle?
Change
Have you changed a lot since your childhood?
What do you plan to change next year?
Do you like changes? Why? / Why not?
Are there any changes in your hometown?
In a hurry
What do you always do in a hurry? Why?
What kind of things would you never do in a hurry?
Do you usually go out in a hurry?
Do you like to be in a hurry?
Weekends
What do you usually do at weekends?
Did you do anything special last weekend?
What will you do next weekend?
What do other people in your hometown usually do on weekends?
Concentration
When do you need to be focused?
What may distract you when you’re trying to stay focused?
What do you do to help you concentrate?
Is it difficult for you to stay focused on something?
The area you live in
Do you like the area that you live in?
What are some changes in the area recently?
Do you know any famous people in your area?
Where do you like to go in that area?
New activities
Do you like to try new activities? Why?/ Why not?
What activities would you like to try?
What activities did you do when you were a child?
Do you like to try new activities alone or with friends?
Your favourite place
What place do you most like to visit?
How often do you visit this place?
Why do you like it so much?
Is it popular with many other people?
Has it changed very much since you first went there? [In what way?]
Leisure
Do you have any hobbies or interests? [What are they?]
How did you become interested in {whatever hobby / interest the candidate mentions)?
What is there to do in your free time in (candidate s home town/village)?
How do you usually spend your holidays?
Is there anywhere you would particularly like to visit? [Why?]
Friends
Are your friends mostly your age or different ages? [Why?]
Do you usually see your friends during the week or at weekends? [Why?]
The last time you saw your friends, what did you do together?
In what ways are your friends important to you?
Food and cooking
What kinds of food do you like to eat?
What kind of new food would you like to try? [Why?].
Do you like cooking? [Why/Why not?]
What was the last meal you cooked?
Do you prefer home-cooked food or food from restaurants? [Why?]
Your country
Which part of your country do most people live in?
Tell me about the main industries there.
How easy is it to travel around your country?
Has your country changed much since you were a child?
Colour
What’s your favourite colour? [Why?]
Do you like the same colours now as you did when you were younger? [Why/Why not?]
What can you learn about a person from the colours they like?
Do any colours have a special meaning in your culture?
Entertainment
Do you prefer relaxing at home or going out in the evening? [Why?]
When you go out for an evening, what do you like to do?
How popular is this with other people in your country?
Is there any kind of entertainment you do not like? [Why/Why not?]
Clothes
How important are clothes and fashion to you? [Why/Why not?]
What kind of clothes do you dislike? [Why?]
How different are the clothes you wear now from those you wore 10 years ago?
What do you think the clothes we wear say about us?
Dancing
Do you enjoy dancing? [Why/Why not?]
Has anyone ever taught you to dance? [Why/Why not?]
Tell me about any traditional dancing in your country.
Do you think that traditional dancing will be popular in the future? [Why/Why not?]
Musical instruments
Which instrument do you like listening to most? [Why?]
Have you ever learned to play a musical instrument? [Which one?]
Do you think children should learn to play a musical instrument at school? [Why/Why not?]
How easy would it be to learn to play an instrument without a teacher? [Why?]
Traffic where you live
How do most people travel to work where you live?
What traffic problems are there in your area? [Why?]
How do traffic problems affect you?
How would you reduce the traffic problems in your area?
Your friends
Do you prefer to have one particular friend or a group of friends? [Why?]
What do you like doing most with your friend/s?
Do you think it’s important to keep in contact with friends you knew as a child? [Why/Why not?]
What makes a friend into a good friend?
Keeping in contact with people
How do you usually keep in contact your friends? [Why?]
Do you prefer to contact different people in different ways? [Why?]
Do you find it easy to keep in contact with friends and family? [Why/Why not?]
In your country, did people in the past keep in contact in the same ways as they do today? [Why/Why not?]
Laughing
What kinds of thing make you laugh?
Do you like making other people laugh? [Why/Why not?]
Do you think it’s important for people to laugh? Why/Why not?]
Is laughing the same as feeling happy, do you think? [Why/Why not?]
Cold weather
Have you ever been in very cold weather? [When?]
How often is the weather cold where you come from?
Are some parts of your country colder than others? [Why?]
Would you prefer to live in a hot place or a cold place? [Why?]
Travelling to work or college
How do you usually travel to work or college? [Why?]
Have you always travelled to work/college in the same way? [Why/Why not?]
What do you like about travelling to work/college this way?
What changes would improve the way you travel to work/college? [Why?]
Farming
Have you visited a farm ?
What kind of farms do you like?
Do you think farming is important?
Did you do farm work when you were young?
Taking a rest
How often do you take a rest?
What do you usually do when you are resting?
Do you take a nap when you are taking your rest?
How do you feel after taking a nap?
Neighbours
How well do you know the people who live next door to you?
How often do you see them? [Why/Why not?]
What kinds of problem do people sometimes have with their neighbours?
How do you think neighbours can help each other?