Taking tests such as IELTS Speaking are extremely challenging for many reasons, with one of the main ones being that a certain amount of life experience is needed to be able to talk about some topics. However, there are ways to deal with topics you are unsure of or even ones that you don’t know anything about. it does take practice, though.
There are two ways to look at this, both of them positive.
- Saying you don’t know, opens a block in your mind and stops you from searching for the right answer.
- Use words and phrases throughout your answer, so the examiner is absolutely sure that you don’t know, so some of the information you give may be wrong.
Let’s start with the first one.
1/ Breaking the IELTS Speaking Part 2 Block
You may be asked about a historical building you visited, your favourite river, or an area of science you are interested in.
Describe an interesting historic place.
Describe a river, lake or sea which you like.
Describe an area of science (physics, biology, psychology, etc.) that interests you
If this happens, then even after a minute, it is impossible for most examinees to think what to say.
If you don’t know about something, say so as soon as possible. It helps to break down the block in your mind and helps you to speak.
There are various phrases you can use to do this, but the important point is that you make it clear to the examiner that you are guessing.
In some other exams such as Cambridge Advanced and Cambridge Proficiency, this is called talking about an unfamiliar topic. It is just another skill to use in English.
| Talking about an unfamiliar topic is just another skill. Learn it! |
Two of the IELTS speaking strategies you could use in cases like this are:
1/ make it clear you are talking about something slightly different. For example:
I’m not sure if it is classified as a historic building, but I’d like to talk about the ABC cinema in Manchester, which was built in the 1960s.
There aren’t really many rivers near where I live, but I remember one that I saw when I was on holiday in France. ….
I’m not really a science person and never have been, but we needed to take all the sciences in first year in a kind of general course.
You are saying to the examiner, LOOK! I have no idea about what I’m going to tell you about, but I’m going to try my best!
2/ Talk about things that you have heard about second hand or seen on TV.
Personally, I have never been to any historic places, but I did watch a very interesting documentary on Stonehenge a few months ago.
I’m not really a romantic kind of person, so I’ve never even thought about liking a river or anything like that. I did read about one in Africa, though. I think it was called the Wahheezi River and it was amazingly long although I can’t be sure exactly how long.
It’s been so long since I’ve taken any science subjects, I really couldn’t tell you if any of them interest me or not, however, I did read about something on a web-page a while ago. It was about …..
When you say
I don’t know
It makes it so much easier to continue to talk about something and lets you forget some things or be a bit inaccurate.
But you must relate what you are going to talk about to the question. If you don’t, then it will seem as if you have decided to talk about anything you like. Not good!
If you talk about something you have read or seen, then you can use phrases such as:
As far as I can remember …..
From what it said …..
I’m not sure, but I think …..
If my memory serves me correctly, …..
….. that’s why it sticks in my mind.
Use phrases such as these and you should be able to piece together an answer to an IELTS speaking topic that the examiner knows is very difficult. Don’t worry!
2/ Use words and phrases throughout your answer so the examiner knows you are doubtful about what you are saying.
If you know nothing about the topic, say so.
Say so IMMEDIATELY!!!!
If you are taking a face to face IELTS Speaking test, there is a slight chance the examiner will just change your topic card. They want to you to do well, but they have to do their job.
If you wait until after you have written your notes and tell them you know nothing, then you have waited too much time. EVERYTHING they do is recorded. IELTS Speaking examiners MUST be fair, so everyone must get the same time and be given the same chances. If you only waste a few seconds hoping for a change in topic, then try. Otherwise, it’s not worth it.
When you MUST use the difficult topic card
You have to give an answer, but you also need to be clear and inform the examiner you are really not sure.
Here are some examples of how you can do that.
How to express that you are not sure in IELTS Speaking
I may be totally wrong about this, but ……
I know absolutely nothing about this but in my mind ……..
I have no idea about this at all, but I imagine ………
I have never even thought about anything like this, but I in my mind if that happened then …………
I have never experienced anything like that, but from what I have heard ………….
I’m really not sure about this, but from what I remember ……
I guess he could have been a xxxxx, but I’m not sure.
As far as I can remember he …….
If I remember correctly there is …….…
I think I saw a documentary that said ……
I think I read in a newspaper that ……
If I’m not mistaken, …..
IELTS Speaking Part 2 Examples:
Describe an interesting historic place.
As far as I know, there is an old castle about 5 miles from where I live. I may be totally wrong about this, but I think it dates from the time of the civil war. When that was exactly, I have no idea. Something like 300 years ago, I guess. I think I read somewhere that it was built to protect the main road through the country. It’s ruined now because it was burned down when the people inside tried to rule the local area. That’s what they say around here, anyway.
It looks really dramatic when you drive past. It stands high on a clifftop overlooking the estuary, so I suppose it must have been also used to watch for ships coming from the sea to go up the river. There are some great pictures of it online. As far as I know there is nothing to see there really, though, except ruins of rooms and so on, so unless you can imagine everything from the bare stone walls, it wouldn’t be that interesting. There is an open area of grass in the middle seemingly, but one side of it is the cliff top. I was trapped on a cliff when I was a kid, so there’s no way I’m going anywhere near that. Some of my friends say it’s nice for a picnic there, and of course the view is lovely.
I’ve never really thought about it much, but that castle and a little church, not that far away seemed to be quite important at that time in history, whereas these days they are in really insignificant places. I don’t know for sure, but I think I’ve heard that there used to be a ferry across the estuary, from the nearby town, so maybe that’s why that area was more important at that time.
Describe a song or a piece of music you like.
I don’t really listen to much music these days, but if I did, I’d listen to something like soft rock. That’s what I think it’s called anyway, there are so many genres, it’s difficult to remember. I know the song I’d like to tell you about, but without humming the tune, I don’t really know what to say about it. As far as I know, it’s by a band called the Creeps and I think it’s about someone who had a girlfriend that he loved very much but who left. It must be about 10 years old because I first heard it when I was at a school disco, and I was having a dance with a girl I fancied. I imagine she thought it was romantic in a way.
It’s one of these songs that keeps cropping up at different times in my life, and although it’s great to hear, it always reminds me of that girl. From what I’ve heard, she’s married with three kids now and has a really hard life. Pity really.
Recently, I started to learn how to play the guitar and decided that playing that Creeps song would be one of my musical goals. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to play the guitar, but it can be a struggle to sound like you want to. Your fingers don’t always do as they’re told.
Anyway, I tried and tried and, in the end, after about 6 months I could play a decent version of the song, but the trouble was I had become sick of it. So, these days, when I hear it I think of the girl and sore fingers.
Conclusion
If you don’t know much about the topic or question, use some of these words and phrases. as ever, you should choose the ones you are happiest with and not force yourself to learn them all. Talking about an unfamiliar topic is a great skill in any language, so this one will help you at any time with your English and especially IELTS Speaking.