hi I'm oli welcome to Oxford online
English in this lesson you can learn
about the IELTS speaking exam part two
the IELTS speaking test has three parts
and in this class you can learn in more
detail about part two of the speaking
exam and how to improve your score first
let's review what happens in part 2 of
the IELTS speaking test the examiner
will give you a card with a topic you
have one minute to prepare a short
speech on the topic after one minute the
examiner will ask you to speak you need
to talk for between one and two minutes
after you finish the examiner will ask
one or two simple questions about what
you said let's look at a sample question
from part 2 of the IELTS speaking test
which we can use today describe an
important choice you made you should say
what choices you had what you decided
and how easy it was to make your
decision you should also explain how you
feel about this choice now imagine
you're in the exam you have one minute
to prepare your answer how should you
use your time let's look part one how to
use your preparation time the first
thing you should do ask the examiner if
there are any words you don't understand
asking the examiner will use some of
your time and that's not great but don't
talk if you haven't understood the
question that will be worse secondly
look at the question it has four parts
the three bullet points and the longer
question at the end
one minute is not a long time you can't
prepare everything so don't try try to
think of one or two things you can say
for each part of the question make short
notes to help you remember your points
how can you make effective notes let's
look for example let's say you want to
talk about choosing what to study at
university you write computer science or
engineering IT interesting career
opportunities difficult pros and cons on
both sides satisfied IT work is
interesting creative these notes will
help you to speak let's see how the four
parts of the note follow the four parts
of the question this will help you to
keep your answer organized you have some
key words and phrases like career
opportunities pros and cons or creative
which you can use in your answer the
notes give you at least one or two
points to make about each part of the
question again you won't have time to do
more than this so don't try don't write
full sentences focus on covering all the
points you need to talk about okay your
minutes up
and it's time to talk now what part 2
how to organize your answer organizing
your answer well is easy to do and
important but many students don't do it
so well so how can you untie your answer
effectively first start with an opening
phrase say something like I'm
to tell you about I'd like to talk about
I've decided to talk about little blur
this gives your speech a strong clear
start what next
very simple follow the bullet points say
one to two sentences using your notes
about each of the three bullet points
hopefully this will take you 30 to 60
seconds be focused and don't go
off-topic or add any points which don't
answer the question every sentence
should be a direct answer to one of the
points on the card next focus on the
last part of the question here explain
how you feel about this choice now this
is the most important part of the
question because it lets you go into
more detail this isn't just true for
this question this is generally true for
IELTS speaking part two questions the
three bullet points are quite simple and
you can't say very much about them
sometimes but the last part always has
more depth and you should spend more
time on it so try to make three to four
sentences about the last part of the
question this should take you 30 to 60
seconds again great you finished right
well not quite
you also need a strong finish often when
I practice IELTS with my students they
act surprised when they finish their
answers like this and so I feel like I
probably made the right choice
finished this does not sound like you
finished it sounds like you've just run
out of things to say you should know
when you've finished and you should show
the examiner clearly so how can you
finish strongly use a concluding phrase
such as that's why I feel that finally
when I look back at my decision now I'm
glad I made the decision I did obviously
the finishing phrases aren't like the
opening phrases which you can use for
any topic the finishing phrases will
depend on the question you get just
remember you need to finish strongly
don't just
okay I finished point to what's next arm
part three adding details to your answer
IELTS advice says the same things give
detailed answers use varied vocabulary
use different sentence structures okay
that's great it's all true but how and
how can you use this in part two of your
IELTS speaking test actually if you
follow the advice I've given you so far
this will happen automatically if you
make two sentences for each bullet point
make three to four sentences for the
last part of the question write down key
vocabulary to use in your notes if you
do these things your answer should
already be detailed with some good
vocabulary we've already done a lot of
the work you need to do here but what
else can you do well for each point try
to give at least one fact and one
opinion for example don't say I had to
choose between studying computer science
and studying engineering say I had to
choose between studying computer science
and studying engineering I was
interested in both although I always
felt that studying computer science was
a better choice don't say I decided to
study computer science instead say I
decided to study computer science
because I felt it would give me more
interesting career opportunities this is
a good simple rule to make your answers
more detailed always include a fact and
an opinion if you can also add details
wherever you can so don't say it was
quite a difficult decision to make
instead say it was quite a difficult
decision to make
because my parents and my teachers all
gave me different advice and I didn't
know what to do
and say I feel like I made the right
decision say I feel like I made the
right decision because I really enjoy
working in IT it's very creative and
there's always something new to learn
following these simple rules will make
your answers more detailed and give you
a higher chance to get a better score
next let's look at timing part 4 how
long should you speak this is simple at
least one minute speaking for less than
one minute will hurt your score you can
speak for up to two minutes after two
minutes the examiner will stop you even
if you're in the middle of your sentence
if the examiner stops you that's not
necessarily a problem it doesn't affect
your score if you go too long however if
you haven't covered all the parts of the
question that could be a problem that's
why a good goal is to speak for 90
seconds this should give you enough time
to say everything you want to say so how
do you do that
practice and time yourself type IELTS
speaking part two questions into Google
find some questions to practice with
first speak and look at your timer on
your phone or wherever answer the same
question several times your goal is to
cover all parts of the question in 90
seconds later when you're more
comfortable with this practice your
answers but don't look at the timer at
the end guess how long you spoke for and
then look at the timer to check if you
do this a few times you'll start to feel
how long you need to speak for you'll
also know how much you can say different
people speak at different speeds if you
can speak fast and fluently you'll be
able to say more in 90 seconds if you're
a slower speaker you won't be able to
say as much practicing will help you to
understand how much you can say in 90
seconds what file dealing with common
problems finally let's look at some
problems which many students face in
part 2 of the IELTS speaking test first
problem I don't have anything to say
about this topic well I chose the
question for this lesson because it's an
easier one describe an important choice
you made I think is something which most
people could talk about unfortunately
not all of the questions are so easy or
general for example if the question is
talk about a party which you went to
what if you haven't been to a party for
several years what if you don't like
parties this could happen
we hope it won't but it could what can
you do
first when you're preparing for the exam
be strict with yourself don't just
practice easy questions or questions
which you think are interesting when the
most difficult question you can when the
most boring question you can practice
answering these find more difficult
questions find more boring questions and
practice them you need to be prepared
for anything if the worst happens and
you get a topic where you don't have
anything to say you have two options
first you can just lie
the examiner really doesn't care if you
tell the truth or not make up a story if
you can otherwise try to think of a
story from a friend or from the news or
anything which you could use for example
if the topic is talk about a party which
you went to and your friend told told
you about a party that he or she went to
you last week use your friends story to
be clear don't talk about your friend
use your friends story and make it about
you
this is important in other parts of the
IELTS exam it can be okay to say I don't
know or I don't have anything to say
about this but in part two you must
answer the question you can't change the
topic or adapt it okay what other common
problems the IELTS students have during
part two of the speaking test
another common problem I am so nervous
all right
well giving a speech like this makes a
lot of people nervous or uncomfortable
what can you do about this first of all
understand that feeling nervous in this
situation is natural very few people can
feel totally comfortable in this kind of
situation
anything you can do to feel less nervous
well yes there is
first practice making presentations or
speeches in English in front of as many
people as possible maybe in class or
with your teacher practicing speaking
like this is useful anyway but it's also
good to get used to feeling nervous
feeling a little bit nervous doesn't
mean your English will get worse feeling
nervous is natural you can feel nervous
and you can still speak well it's
important to understand this before your
exam okay part 6 let's review what we've
talked about today to get a higher score
in part 2 of the IELTS speaking test you
need to prepare carefully making sure
you have something to say for each part
of the question
you should structure your speech with a
clear beginning and ending
add details to your answer where
possible especially for the last part of
the question
try to speak for around 90 seconds and
practice in advance including boring
questions difficult questions and
speaking in situations where you feel
nervous okay think about the question we
looked at today here it is again what
would you talk about what would you say
what details could you add to your
answer try it for yourself and try to
use some of the things we've talked
about today all right
that's the end of the lesson thanks very
much for watching I really hope you
found this alt advice useful in
preparing for your exam good luck if you
have an exam coming up soon you can see
more of our free lessons on our website
oxfordonlineenglish.com but that's all
for today see you next time