IELTS Speaking Part 3 Format, Prep and 5 Terrific Hacks

Being prepared means there will be no surprises in your IELTS Speaking Part 3. This means you can concentrate on your English and give the best answers you can. Know the format, how to prepare effectively and discover 5 terrific hacks for a successful test!

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General

Part 1

Part 2

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IELTS Speaking Part 3 Quiz: Do You Know it All?

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Format	The candidate is asked questions related to the topic in Part 2 by the examiner.
Timing	4 – 5 minutes
Interaction Pattern	One candidate and one examiner
Task Types	This part of the test is designed to give you the opportunity to talk about more abstract issues and ideas on a topic related to Part 2
What does it test?	Express and justify opinions about more abstract issues. Organise your ideas coherently. Analyse, discuss and speculate about issues.
Marks	Candidates are assessed on their performance throughout.

The best preparation for IELTS Speaking Part 3, is to regularly read newspapers, magazines and more intellectual websites about issues affecting the world.

Candidates must remember that although IELTS Speaking Part 1 is about your life and what you do, Part 3 is more general. Rather than talking about ‘my family does …..’, you would say ‘Most families do …..’. It doesn’t matter if you know what most families do or not. It’s an English test, not a geography test.

Practice being more specific when talking about groups. Rather than saying ‘everyone likes Taylor Swift’, say ‘the vast majority of young women like Taylor Swift songs.

If the examiner stops you speaking, it is because he is busy, has a good idea of your score and has little time left. If you feel the questions are getting harder, the examiner is trying to push you to find out if you can reach the next speaking band score.

Practice also helps with confidence. Overcoming difficulties in practice means your chances are better on test day.

Practice also allows you to develop structures for most of your Part 3 answers so when you are doing your test, you have templates to follow. However, if you have a great template (remember, do NOT memorise your answers), do not use it for each question. Vary your answers by using different templates for each answer.

If you have the money, thinking about your IELTS test as the first one of several, will make it much less stressful, and allow you to find out your biggest problems before you take the next one. The only problem is, they are not cheap.

a) Many IELTS Speaking Part 3 questions ask about people or children. Rather than give a vague and disorganised answer about people or children, split the groups. You can split them by age, income, where they live, and son on. For example, rather than talking about children, give three shorter answers about infants, primary school kids and teenagers. This will make your answer more organised so it will sound as if you know exactly what you want to say. t takes practice, though.

b) If you use English in your work or studies, you have a vocabulary bank that you are familiar with. Pushing your answers towards your work or study allows you use that bank confidently. For example, if your company has a certain economic position, use its language to enhance your vocabulary throughout your Part 3 answers.

c) Relating to the first point. Organise your answers. It helps you just as much as it helps your listener understand what you want to say. Firstly ….., Secondly ……, Finally …… If you can’t think of three, it’s ok. Just say you can’t remember. If you do this, though. You can’t use exactly the same way in each answer. The first one will sound great, but by the third or fourth answer, it’ll sound boring.

d) Use the latest IELTS Speaking questions to practice, but only use them to prepare WHAT you are going to speak about. Don’t memorize answers! When practicing, you can also experiment with different answer styles to find out which styles you prefer and make you feel more relaxed.

h) Do not pause for too long before you begin speaking. A short pause to gather your thoughts is acceptable, but anything longer than this will give you less time to produce a suitable sample of language. Having a template for your answers will help you here and should also allow you to use fillers while you think about your main answer.

1. What kinds of markets are there in your country?
2. Do you think small markets will disappear in the future?
3. Have people’s shopping habits changed in recent years?
4. What are the differences between shopping in street markets and big shopping malls?
5. Do you think the goods sold at discount stores do not have good value or quality?
6. Why do some people like to buy expensive goods?

I hope that has helped to give you a better understanding of what is required for IELTS Speaking Part 3, and that you will look into each part in more detail. There is a full list of pages on IELTS Speaking Part 3 here. Good luck with your test!