hi there it's asiya over the last couple of years i've taken my ielts exam
three times and each speaking test was quite different
so in this video i'd love to share my experience with you so you know what to expect in part
three of your exam and what you can do to improve your performance okay let's get started
so i took the ielts exam three times in recent years and all three speaking tests were quite
different and i think a lot depends on the personality of the examiner so let me tell
you how it was for me so the first examiner i would say he was a challenger he interrupted
me the most and in part three he challenged me to prove my opinion by asking questions such as
is it always so or why do you think so yeah by the way the examiner may interrupt you during your
test and it doesn't affect your performance it doesn't mean you're doing something wrong and it
may happen for various reasons maybe they want to see if they can push you and you will be able to
to answer the next question quickly because you're performing really well or maybe they just need
to move on to the next question because uh you're running out of time so don't worry about that just
answer the next question so that was my first examiner the second examiner didn't interrupt
me at all she was very to the point she asked me a question then she waited for me to finish
it but then sometimes i could see that she wants to say something and then i would just
stop at the end of the sentence and let her speak maybe that's why she didn't have to interrupt me
she didn't give me any emotional feedback she just listened so the third examiner
uh that was an online test ielts indicator during the last lockdown so it was a video call and the
examiner was from probably america canada i'm not quite sure and she was really outgoing she
showed her emotions freely and she actually participated in part three discussion the most
she didn't just ask questions sometimes she actually said something and then she asked
the question so it felt much more like a normal discussion unlike my first and second exams just
be prepared that your experience may depend on who's asking you the questions your job in part
3 is to give long extended answers but at the same time you shouldn't talk for the sake of talking
so what is an extended answer let me give you an example let's say the question is can you trust
everything you read on the internet i could say absolutely not there is so much misinformation
that is being spread both deliberately and unintentionally the problem with the internet
today is that everyone can publish anything and when you read something you have to check
what the source of the information is and decide how trustworthy that source is
and that's it i've answered the question don't be afraid to answer the question and then stop and
let the examiner ask you the next question in part 3 you will do most of the talking but it's still
a two-way discussion with the examiner and they don't have predefined lists of questions
they have topics and they can ask you questions based on what you just said for example in part
two i was asked um to tell about a time when i looked into the sky and then in part
three the questions were about flying to mars and living on mars aliens and studying astronomy
and of course flying to mars is something we hear about on the news because that's what elon musk
wants to do and actually most of the topics in part 3 are discussed on the news at least
in the uk and i think if you have some time before your exam start listening to your news in english
bbc world news is available in every country start reading your news in english too and after some
time you will become aware of all the topics that are discussed in the uk so you won't be
surprised to hear a question and you will also pick up some vocabulary and some arguments to
use in your answers before we talk about some other things you can do in ielts speaking part
3 to improve your performance let me tell you about a platform that allows you to practice
your english with native speaking teachers this is cambly the sponsor of today's video and a great
place to prepare for your ielts speaking exam on this platform you can choose a teacher you like
or book lessons with different teachers to get used to a variety of accents you can
suggest a topic for your lesson or take ielts speaking lessons or even a mock speaking test
lessons start from just 15 minutes a day twice a week and you can take them at any time that suits
you at the moment you can take one 10 minute class for free and if you like it subscribe using the
link in the description to get an extra discount you save the most if you take a 12 month plan and
if you change your mind you can cancel it and get a refund i encourage you to take the free lesson
while it's available all the links are in the video description box below and now let's continue
a common problem in ielts speaking part 3 is if you don't know what to say and then you find it
difficult to answer the question but remember that in ielts speaking you're not required to
know things it's not a test of your knowledge it's a test of your english skills and your ability to
communicate in this language so if you don't know an answer explain that this exam is not
about facts it's about your opinions whether they are right or wrong and whether the examiner agrees
or disagrees with you for example the question is do you think that self-driving cars will replace
cars with drivers in the future and i could say well i've heard that self-driving cars
are being tested in california and that they were involved in a number of accidents
so i'm under impression that these cars are not very safe that the technology is not there yet
and i think we're gonna continue to drive our cars for a very long time and some people may
disagree with this opinion and say that's not true all cars are going to be self-driving cars
quite soon but it doesn't matter so if you don't know what to say at the end of the day you can
always say that you don't know much and explain why that's already an answer and then you will
move on to the next question next remember that fundamentally ielts examiners assess your ability
to communicate in english so communicate like a real human being use intonations
try to show your emotions use gestures use mimic even though you can't see much in a mask but still
it all makes an impression that you feel comfortable communicating in english
and don't expect the same back from your examiner some are very attentive and very nice but some
look pretty bored because well they may be pretty bold imagine if they have ielts speaking exams
back to back for hours and hours but they're still perfectly capable of giving you your score without
looking straight into your eyes my next tip is be very polite in english people soften their
language and express their thoughts indirectly so if you say something like i don't agree
that's not what i meant it sounds rude and it makes an impression that you're not proficient
communicating in english so use phrases like this i see what you mean but i don't quite agree that
i understand what you're saying but on the other hand i'm afraid i don't see it this way
i'm not quite sure if that's really the best way basically take the point that the examiner
gives you acknowledge it and then slightly divert your answer in your own direction
now let's talk about your vocabulary to get a high score for your lexical results
you need to show that you have a wide vocabulary and that you know less common words
but if you learn some complex words or some rare idioms they will not look natural and they're not
going to increase your score so what you can do is you can talk about details and then you use some
topic specific vocabulary which is going to bring you a higher score for example in one of my exams
i was asked about a big project i completed and i talked about my university dissertation
and then i started talking about the topic of this dissertation of course i could do that in english
so i talked about the monetary policy and the interest rates and inflation and so on so all
the concepts which are so familiar to me and they give you a higher score because it shows that you
are really comfortable talking about this specific subject and this topic-specific vocabulary can
help you achieve a higher score for your lexical resource while still sounding absolutely natural
ielts examiners assess your performance based on all three parts of your exam but i would say that
parts two and three are more important that's where you talk for longer and the examiner has
more time to listen to your english part one is to warm up so don't worry if you couldn't
provide a perfect answer to a question about your favorite wild animal or if you like your voice
however if you start well it gives you confidence and it still makes a positive first impression on
the examiner luckily the very first topic in part one is quite easy to predict and you can
find these questions sample answers and useful vocabulary in the pdf guide here and don't forget
to check out cambly if you'd like to work on your speaking skills with the native speaking teacher
and thank you for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye