IELTS Speaking Part 3 Information and Advice

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Many students seem to miss basic facts about IELTS Speaking Part 3, so this page is to fill in some of that missing information. There are also separate pages for more detailed information and advice for each part.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Format	The candidate is given a cue card with a topic to talk about and some questions to help them.
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.

Practicing IELTS Speaking Part 2 will let you know what talking for about 2 minutes feels like. That way, you will know if you should keep speaking or if that is enough.

If the examiner stops you speaking, it is because he is busy, has a good idea of your score and has little time left.

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

Practice also allows you to develop a structure for most of your Part 2 answers so when you are doing your test, you have a template to follow.

One of the main problems about watching videos, is they don’t give you any idea of how much pressure you will feel in the test.

IELTS can change people’s lives by helping them to study abroad or work in another country. It is really common for speaking test takers to be extremely nervous, which often affects what they say, and hence, their speaking score. Some people are so nervous they can’t speak at all!

To combat this, it is essential that you practice with different native speaking teachers or friends so you are confident that you can actually understand the questions they ask. English speakers have a vast range of accents, so practicing is recommended.

These two last points in particular, will make you more confident when taking your test. 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 you have a boss or teacher who is highly qualified, they could become anyone in questions that start ‘Describe a person who …….’

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!

e) If your questions seem to be getting harder, the examiner is trying to push you to see if you can get a higher score. Don’t worry and do your best!

f) Be prepared if you don’t know anything about the topic of the question. Have a plan.

g) Try and balance speaking clearly and speaking naturally. Speaking naturally means your speech should flow rather than pronouncing each word perfectly.

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. Being able to paraphrase if you do not know or cannot remember a word and extending your responses rather than giving a one-word answer, will help you more.

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!