the IELTS Speaking test is not just about how much English you know it's also about how to
be at your best for those 14 minutes the exam lasts I want to talk to you about the ways to
make sure you are at your best on the exam day by practicing the right kind of skills in the
days and weeks before so you could leave the room with a smile on your face it's Asiya let's get
started first of all you have to do something you may not like not many of us enjoy listening to
the sound of our own voice because our recorded voice sounds a little higher and different well
I'm sorry but it really is a great idea to listen to yourself speaking in English why it's a good
way to check your pronunciation and intonation do you speak clearly uh are you intelligible in
other words can other people easily understand you also are you able to make the meaning of what you
see clear through emphasis if I want to express my opinion for example I might want to stress a
particular word well I suppose that could make a difference to my band score examiners will
notice that kind of skill so it's worth practicing listening to yourself will also help you identify
sounds or particular words you have problems with let me think of an example I'm not very
familiar with the literature on this topic but as far as I understand it's a very controversial
issue the British say it one way people in the US say another and you can check that online
very easily literature literature literature and remember you don't have to sound like a British
North American or Australian native speaker what matters is that others understand you that your
pronunciation is clear enough starting by yourself can be a bit lonely sometimes right so it's much
better to practice with someone ideally another person preparing to take I I think very often it
may be even better to share your a practice with one or more others who are not necessarily close
friends but people you can be honest with and who are honest with you when it comes to constructive
not destructive feedback that feedback will include comments about how you sound to others
you can find a speaking partner via our telegram Channel every month we publish a post that gets
hundreds sometimes over a thousand repes from interested I candidates I'll leave the link to
the channel in the video description alternatively just open your Telegram and search for Fast Track
IL then go into the search menu in the corner and enter #p partner and you get straight to the last
post the latest post for the best results look for a partner with a similar level of English
so your partnership is mutually beneficial but ideally from another country in this case you
have different accents and will be able to get feedback from someone who's not that familiar
with your pronunciation and your country's culture part one is all about fluency giving
relatively short answers to a series of at least 11 questions on three topics in five minutes you
know questions about ourselves our experiences and feelings more than anything else it's important to
sound fluent even though each answer is POS possibly two or maximum three sentences that
often follow a pattern of statement reason or course example for instance would you like to
be an artist no I don't think I would because I'm not all that good at drawing and I've always been
more interested in numbers and Sciences anyway I'm sure nobody would want to see any of my art no buy
it of course simple language that has a nice flow to it that's the idea in part one now then to give
yourself the best kind of pre-exam practice why not try the following prepare questions on one
mandatory topic work or studies home Hometown Family prepare questions on two other topics I
have a list of recent questions in a PDF document that is pinned at the top of our telegram Channel
practice by yourself or with your study partner in this case you can take it in turns to be
the examiner and the test taker ask at least 11 questions on one mandatory and two other topics
remember to time yourselves 5 minutes maximum just like the real thing and always remember to record
your practice sessions playback for feedback use this feedback to improve it's a simple pattern
which we can repeat with topics and questions in Parts two and three what's really important is the
feedback the way we can learn from this type of practice for example take this question from the
mandatory your work study set what would help you do your job better more time I don't have
enough time to do everything in any exam The Examiner will then ask why more explanation is
needed here if you've spotted an answer like this go back and repeat think it over and do it again
more time I really don't have enough time to do everything because not only am I responsible for
data collection but I also have to write a monthly report and attend meetings and so on most days I
don't leave the office until 700 p.m. better and a great example of using some complex grammar
not only am I but also part two the long term 2 minutes of pain and it's over part two finds out
how well you can tell a story and keep it going until the examiner says thank you you need to be
fluent coherent or smoothly connect your ideas and sentences use vocabulary that is appropriate
and extensive as well as being as grammatically accurate as possible it's a lot to ask especially
for those of us not used to speaking English for that length of time so once again you need
that preest practice to get that all important exam like experience topics May appeal to you or
not the examiner doesn't know who you are and just chooses a topic from the list describe a
person you know who is very popular describe a sport you have seen on TV that you would like
to try oh no I know someone I started with who is very very popular but she's horrible to me Sports
I hate all sports I can't even catch a ball yes it happens you might not like the topic
here are a couple of exercises that may help a great way to build up your experience and more
importantly self-confidence is to First choose one of the topics you're really interested in I
mean talk about something you enjoy from Reading to dancing to playing video games it's up to you
you probably be able to speak about your topic without hesitating too much then start selecting
more challenging topics once you get a neck for it just go through list of topics and pick the
hardest another possibility is to play one two three one take a topic press the recording button
and talk about it don't worry about your mistakes too much if you want to repeat something go for it
but make yourself talk for at least 2 minutes if you need more time to finish your story take more
time two listen to your recording and think about possible improvements were you repeating yourself
or jumping from idea to idea or or maybe you were lacking some words to explain your thoughts
improve on that here is an example how can we improve this sentence someone is describing the
spot of squash the ball mustn't touch the floor twice before you manage to hit it if it does then
the other player makes a point well in games like tennis and squash the ball bounces moves quickly
up after hitting the surface and we don't make points the verb is to score or more colloquially
to get a point correct your answer number three give the same talk again now aim for Quality try
to sound more fluent more coherent use better vocabulary this exercise is per perfect for
I confidence building if you have a partner ask them to take note of any mistakes while
you're speaking and then give you feedback using these two exercises in combination from easy to
challenging and one to three can bring the best results The Examiner in part three is trying to
push you are you able to express yourself using complex structure and showing off your range of
vocabulary if the examin is going to push you you must push yourself in preparation think of what
structures you can use in your answers for example varieties of conditional sentences passives or the
use of mod verbs such as could might should and so on imagine your part two topic was describe a
house or apartment where you would like to live now it's part three The Examiner has three sets
of questions set one is the easiest set three is the hardest they will choose two sets for
you depending on your previous performance set one might be mainly descriptive tell
me about the types of accommodation available to young people in your country set two would
be more comparative is is it better to buy or rent a place to live was it easier in the past
to find affordable accommodation set three is more abstract more speculative to what extent
is it the responsibility of local and National authorities to help young people buy their own
property can we say that there is a right age for young people to leave home to set up for
themselves answering the last question question what if we tried it like this well I think the
best time is when you finish your studies and find a good job because you will have the money
to rent or buy and not ask your parents for money it's not a bad answer but how could we add more
to it and make it a really good answer my study partner could tell me to do it again adding more
ideas or using some complex romantical structures in part three try looking at things from different
angles in this case we can ask ourselves is there just one right age is it age or circumstance what
conditioning factors exist say in my country and that could help produce this answer I don't
believe there is a right or wrong age it all depends dep on circumstances in my country for
example property prices are so high that most young people would never be able to afford to
buy unless they had financial help from their parents if the government had a better housing
policy then things might be different I mean hardly any new houses have been built over the
last few years you see the answer is longer but it's also much more complex it includes
a variety of different grammatical structures and different verb tenses it's never just a question
of taking a topic and talking about it it's more than just studying the vocabulary associated with
the topic that's important of course but when we look at what we're doing and start thinking
about it that's when we can really start improving when you practice use five or six main questions
and try to talk about them for five minutes think about this how much of I's success in speaking is
down to self-confidence of course self-confidence can come through practice as we've seen But there
is also a question of culture and personality those are big words but we can say that there
are certain cultures that show great respect for people in authority and that includes teachers
and aots examiners and that feeling of respect sometimes means that it's difficult for us to
look at someone directly in the eye and we would never take the initiative in conversation or of
course disagree with an opinion however all those things are considered very positive qualities in
the I speaking test of course examiners are very aware of these cultural and personality aspects
but at the same time it's a very good idea to be as open and proactive as you can and remember it's
not a knowledge or IQ test examiners don't assess how clever your ideas are so try to relax and get
a bit more talkative one way to improve is to try out a few ice breakers and you can practice them
in advance what I mean is start speaking as soon as the examiner greets you this is something you
can easily practice with a friend or by yourself if your test is face to face the examiner must
step outside the exam room greet You by quickly checking your name and then asking you into the
test room a lot of test takers feel so nervous that they just nod or say yes it would be much
better if you say a little more maybe yes that's right good morning please to meet
you you've broken the eyes you said something and you feel a whole lot better and then take
that into the exam room making improvements before the test means knowing your strengths
and weakness in English and in your attitude one very important tip most I candidates spend
most of their time preparing for part one of the exam when in reality they should be preparing for
part two and three in particular want to know why I've discussed that in detail in this video here
thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye