let's talk about where you live do you live in a house or a flat right at the very start
of the speaking test there is a good chance you'll be asked some questions about your home
let's look at some common questions sample answers and advanced vocabulary
to help push up your band score it's Asiya let's get started [Music]
I've divided possible questions and Sample answers into three categories the first has a beautiful
name descriptions here are some typical questions do you live in a house or a flat or apartment
describe your favorite room in your home where would you spend most time in your home
let's take that first question here is a sample answer I live in a house in fact I've lived there
all my life it's located on the outskirts of the city in a quiet residential neighborhood full of
detached and semi-detached houses Alice has two flaws downstairs there is the living area a study
and of course the kitchen upstairs we have the bedrooms and bathrooms oh and we have a large
garden at the back of the house this question and answer together take me about 30 seconds which is
all you've got in part one that's not much time to make a good first impression so let's have a
look at some more advanced vocabulary I believe there all my life a good grammatical start will
show The Examiner how you use verb tenses and there is a great chance to use the present perfect
another example could be I haven't been there for long we only moved in a year or so ago
here the present perfect is followed by more specific time reference using the simple past
believe me examiners are listening carefully to your use of grammatical structures
on the outskirts of oh in the suburbs vocabulary should be precise and buried
his useful expression means the opposite of in the center or downtown
you live in an area in the suburbs where the city soon becomes the countryside
a residential neighborhood is an area where people live rather than work or go out detached houses
are not joined to another house with space on each side two houses are semi-detached
if they join together with space on either side compare that to terraced houses a row of houses
all joined together with no spaces between I live in a terrorist house by the way if you'd rather
not write anything down you can get all the sample answers and vocabulary for this and 40 other ielt
speaking topics from real exams in our PDF book The IELTS speaking Library if you'd like to buy it
the link is in the description or you can get the topics and questions only for free on our telegram
Channel now back to our question here is another description I'm currently renting a flat near the
city center I share it with a friend from work it's a bit cramped I'd say it has two bedrooms
a bathroom and a living room and kitchen all together in one space like open plan the building
has only four stories and good parking space in the basement so it's fine for the time being
I'm giving you these sample answers as inspiration the one thing you must never do is try and
memorize what you're gonna say The Examiner will just cut you off and move on to another question
but let's return to our vocabulary I'm renting a flat for the time being you can mention if you
own or rent in this example we can see that the continuous form currently renting together with
the expression at the end for the time being shows that the situation is temporary not permanent
I share it with flat sharing or house sharing is common especially with students and young
professionals remember in British English the person you share it with is your flatmate but in
American English they say roommate a bit cramped is a little small in a negative way that too small
if you want to say it's small but you really like it say it's not so big but it's very cozy cozy
means small comfortable and friendly at The Other Extreme we can talk about a large of spacious
room flat or house next stories are the number of levels a building has the building has four
stories it's a four-story building but we usually say I live on the second floor not Story by the
way stories and stories sound the same buildings can be very tall what they call tower blocks or
high-rise buildings a low rise building only has a few stories with the general description type
question there is no time really to go into much detail it changes a bit with our next category
closely connected to our descriptions are those questions about how you feel about your
home so let's call this category feelings some simple questions on what is your favorite room
what do you like best about your home what makes your home a pleasant place to live
we can add a bit more detail here look at this example about my favorite room well it would
be my room it's right at the top of the house in a loft my parents had built to make extra space
all my stuff there you know laptop bookcase music and this really old reclining leather armchair
where I spend a lot of time oh and through this Skylight in the roof I get so much natural light
some nice examples of less common vocabulary The Loft a space under the roof that can be used for
accommodation or storage the detailed armchair made of leather that can be lowered so you can
recline windows are common but a skylight a window installed in the roof or ceiling
is more interesting or this one the kitchen I was just really huge with an oval table in
the middle it's what they call a built-in or fitted kitchen with all the cupboards shelves
sink and appliances fixed perfectly and the hooks on the walls where we hang the utensils
we use most what I like most about it is the workspace where we prepare everything I love
cooking and for me the kitchen is the heart of our house built-in or fitted kitchens are
designed so that everything fits perfectly with no space in between the alternative is
a freestanding Kitchen where you can move some of the main appliances the fridge for example
cooking or kitchen utensils are all the tools you use in the kitchen your pants cooking pots and
so on so it's a really useful word to know the area where you prepare and maybe serve food is
the workspace as we saw before examiners want to find out how you handle ways of talking about past
and present experiences as well as future plans and even speculating about future possibilities
I've put these into a category simply called time do you plan to live there for a long time what
changes would you make to your home what kind of home would you like to have in the future
here are a couple of examples well I've lived there since I was a kid and I always think of
it as home but I'm going abroad to study soon and after that who knows what I'll be doing
I know the door will always be open for me but we'll have to wait and see
in this first one notice two very useful Expressions if we think of whom as a place
we have great memories of a place where we feel welcome and happy we can think of it as home it
doesn't even have to be your real home but maybe a place you move to where you feel part of something
and when we leave home well we know we'll always be welcomed back so the door will always be open
here is another answer talking about change well for a start I do the whole house up if I had the
chance and the money it needs modernizing the living room for example is carpeted wall to wall I
take it up and have the wooden floor vanished and replace those heavy curtains we have with blinds
and paint the walls white it would make the place look fresh some interesting phrasal verbs here you
can really impress The Examiner when you correctly use a few phrasal verbs I do the whole house up
to do something up simply means to redecorate and even make some structural changes to the property
I take the carpeting up here it means removing it completely the carpet is down on the floor
so you take it up note the passive voice too we can see the common passive structures the
living room is carpeted this means the carpet covers the room but look at this one to have
the wooden floors vanished this to have something done means to pay someone to do a job for you look
we had an extra bathroom installed we're planning to have the whole house redecorated
and modernizing is a much more precise way to say improving in this context and an example of
our future home I've often dreamed of living in a large apartment with a view in one of those smart
buildings I'm all for houses or buildings that have a minimal impact on the environment which
use AI to monitor everything from temperature to security systems seriously they are the homes of
the future and all four is a very natural way to mean and very much a favor The Examiner always
has an ear for collocations or combinations of words often used together like to have an impact
recently questions about your home started to pop up in IELTS speaking part 2. here are two
examples describe your favorite place in your house where you can relax or describe a house or
apartment you often visit when we try to describe our home it's too tempting to list rooms items of
furniture or just give a general description of the layout with these part two examples try to see
the essence of the question let's think about a house you often visit we can imagine it's a
house of some old relatives maybe grandparents here's an extract they have this really amazing
room downstairs full of paintings and photos on the walls what must be an antique sideboard along
one wall covered with knickknacks and souvenirs they've collected over the years and then there
is the sofa it's a bit shabby but once you sit on it you won't want to stand up again there is a
personal touch here the room is really amazing the sofa is obviously very comfortable the vocabulary
is precise with the antique sideboard this piece of furniture with drawers we see in living rooms
knickknacks are small objects usually quite cheap used for decoration in a house
the sofa is shabby or in poor condition because it's been used for many years
together they give life to the description moving on to part three The Examiner wants to take the
topic further maybe exploring the relationship between living in a flat versus in a house in
your country or maybe whether people prefer to buy or rent here is how it could develop The Examiner
to most people in your country prefer to rent or buy their homes
I think until recently most preferred to rent at least the younger generation
it's so hard to get on the property ladder with property prices been so high
and it's hard to save enough to put down a deposit for a mortgage you said until recently has that
situation changed well it's changing especially in big cities demand is outstripping Supply so
landlords are charging exorbitant rights it's Rich the kind of Tipping Point where it may be cheaper
to buy or in the worst case scenario still living with your parents to get on the property ladder
is to buy a house or flat for the first time to get a mortgage there is no tea it's just mortgage
it's to get a loan from A bank to pay for the property which you pay back over 20 or 25 years
to put down a deposit when you're getting a mortgage you need to have 10 or 20 percent
of the total cost in cash as an initial payment so you need to save money first
demand is outstripping Supply this means that the number of people who want to buy is growing
faster than the number of properties on the market landlords are charging exorbitant rights
Property Owners the landlords are asking for rents that are way too high exorbitant
Tipping Point is a moment when an important change occurs
now the next step is learning the new words and practicing your answers you can get sample
answers and vocabulary for over 40 topics in our paid IELTS speaking library or download
questions only on telegram for free both are linked in the description but you know what
I've noticed recently that at the beginning of part one questions about your hometown have been
asked more often than your home and you can find a lesson to impress The Examiner over here thank
you so much for watching me today and good luck with your preparation and your exam bye