Speaking Test in IELTS: 10 Basic and Common Questions!

I think in a profound way – but I speak like Poteto
Hakulal

This quote perfectly explains why so many people are afraid to give the Speaking tests of IELTS. And yes, the potato is purposefully misspelled just to show how even a simple word can be hard to speak, especially if you are nervous and it is a test.

Let us all come to an agreement- the English on our head sounds way better than the English we speak. Now since IELTS test your overall capability with this language, obviously you would need to give a speaking test. But since a lot of us are so scared of this test that we naturally have quite a few questions regarding this.

10 FAQ’s on the Speaking test of IELTS

Now, speaking is harder than it seems, especially when you are being judged for how well you speak your non-native language. So you would naturally want to be prepared with all the information you may need and mentally prepare yourself.

Questions like how long does it last and how what types of questions will you be asked are some of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to the Speaking test of IELTS.

To answer these and some of the similar ones, let’s move on to the questions now.

1) How many questions will there be asked in the Speaking test?

The simple answer to this is – it depends on the length of your answers. In parts 1 and 3 of the speaking test, your length of answers will determine the number of questions you will be asked due to the limitation of time.

As for part 2- you will be given a card with one or two simple questions.

2) How long does the Speaking test take?

The total length of a Speaking test lasts somewhere between 11 to 14 Minutes. The three parts of the speaking tests each have their own limitations and requirements of time length. To be more precise:

– Part 1 has a minimum time requirement of 4 minutes but cannot exceed past 5 minutes
– Part 2 must take 3 minutes but cannot exceed 4 minutes od
– Part 3 should take 4 minutes but should not exceed 5 minutes

3) How long does one have to speak in part 1?

There is no time limit as long as you don’t talk on a single topic for 4 minutes straight. The best answer will be the ones that go straight to the point with a few sentences of additional information.

4) How long should one speak in part 2?

The quicker you conclude your answer the better. You should meet the time requirement – 3 minutes but you can complete your answer before that and see the response of the examiner as well. Go straight to the core of the question and end your answer with the concluding sentence to get the best results.

5) What to do if one doesn’t understand the question?

The answer to this is again – it depends on the part of the exam you are in.

In the first part of the speaking test, you can ask for the examiner to repeat the question. At the same time, in part 2, you can ask for the clarification of the question you don’t understand during the 1 minute of preparation time that it gets.

In part 3 of the Speaking test, the examiner can paraphrase the question into a simpler language.

Also do keep in mind that you should ask the question to the examiner leading with the parts that you do understand and letting them know what you think about the parts that you don’t understand.

6) How much preparation/thinking time do you have in part 3?

You don’t get any time to think nor prepare for part 3 of the speaking test. As soon as the question ends, you should start giving the answer. But since average people need time to process the question, you should start with filler sentences like “This answer to the question that you just asked can be… ” or “That is an interesting question and it can be answered with ….” or something similar.

If you are not something who can think on his/her feet some time to process the question – which a lot of us do- you can use these genetic sentences that don’t require much thinking to give your brain some time to process the question.

7) What if you can’t come up with an answer in part 3?

In this case, you just have to say the answers that you have in a well presentable manner. The important thing is how you present and not what you present as the third test of the IELTS speaking test is all about testing the communication ability.

If you are completely blank on the topic, just imagine what other people would say on the topic. It is always a good idea to listen to debates and news arguments to prepare for this. If you listen closely, you will find that in a lot of these debates, half of the time, one size doesn’t really know what to say and yet they grasp a few words and turn it into a presentable debate.

8) How long should you speak in part 3?

You should speak longer than in the part 1. You should always try to give more than one idea and if possible contrasting ideas to support your argument.

Just be sure that you still make sense and your speech is coherent during this period of time.

9) How are scores calculated in the IELTS speaking test?

It is not an easy task to give scores on speaking without being slightly biased as this exam is completely subjective to the examiner. But despite that, there are a few criteria that you should meet in order to score well.

– Fluency of speech
– Vocabulary range and accuracy
– Grammatical range and accuracy
– Pronunciation

10) How can one prepare for the Speaking test?

You can try a few speech techniques when it comes to this but as long as you can use a good range of words at correct places while being grammatically correct and fluent, you should be fine. You can use a few of the tips to increase your score.

– Listen to debates to increase the range and accuracy of your vocabulary
– Record your own speech and listen to it for fluency and clarity
– Listen to native English speakers – speaking in an official environment to understand how words are pronounced
– Practice breaking down the words via syllabus to increase the accuracy of the pronunciation

So,

These are just some of the most common ones among the questions. However, the answers to these questions should be helpful to anyone as we covered the overall gist faq’s for the Speaking Test. Now before we go, let’s all remember how our voice sounds inside our head and try to imitate that voice by recording ourselves. It can help your speech as the tone in which we think are more fluent and has better words than what we speak.

Hope you found this helpful. If you have any suggestions for us, let us know in the comments below. And as always, thank you for reading till the end.