hey Aubry how's it going I'm great how are you Jessica happy New Year happy New Year this is so
exciting so guys we are starting this new year by focusing on speaking this week because we
know that can be the scariest part of the exam absolutely right it takes a ton of preparation
and that's where nerves can really hit you know you're facing a real person you have to think
about so many things not only the great vocab the great pronunciation but timing that's what
we get a lot of questions about and we want to really clear it up so you guys have a very
good idea what to expect on test day exactly so if you have been listening to this podcast
for a while you know that IELTS has changed the way they require examiners to time you on the
speaking test they are much stricter now with how examiners handle the time and that means
examiners have to interrupt you you a lot more often we talked about this last year but we're
going to review these rules quickly today but remember guys you can get a complete outline
of all the IELTS changes go to allearsenglish.com new IELTS it's a free ebook it's over 50 pages of
information so check that out ollersenglish.com new IELTS okay so let's focus on timing timing
timing we had a great question um from actually we have two great questions about this so the first
question was from I think a YouTube subscriber so if you're watching us on YouTube thank you
um this is from Akash so Akash said that he recently to or she they recently took the IELTS
speaking exam and they thought the examiner didn't allow for the full time because the examiner kept
interrupting them during their answers and so they're worried about their results now
Aubry does this automatically mean that this person's going to score low because they were
interrupted no that's the most important thing to know is that if the examiner interrupts you
it's actually a good sign because it means you're so fluent you had tons to say so it's not hurting
your score at all and in fact is boosting your fluency score because you were sharing lots of
detail you were going in deeper so the examiner had to interrupt you so that's the first thing
don't let you don't let yourself think oh my score might be going down instead get a boost of
confidence that from that right I had so much to say I had to be interrupted yeah totally and we're
gonna give you three tips to practice for this new timing this new way of taking the speaking
exam we're going to give you three tips for how to practice that in just a minute um but that's
exactly right guys when the examiner interrupts you it's not about you like I think it's just it
can cause such panic and stress and then you start speaking more poorly right because you're worried
so don't be worried this is about the examiner's requirements for their performance not yours
um now here's another great question will there be a clock in the room uh to watch during the
speaking exam there's not supposed to be there's supposed to actually take down the wall clocks if
there is a wall clock then the examiner will be facing it you the candidate will not be facing it
okay you should not be able to see a clock and I think I think that's good because you can't also
think about watching the seconds and counting the minutes or whatever while you're speaking so nope
even if there is a clock don't look at it but there shouldn't be a clock it's the examiner's
great Bane to be keeping track of these seconds and minutes yeah it's not that easy to be asking
questions and also watching the time closely for an examiner but it's actually so very helpful for
you to not be so stressed about the exact time so you can worry about what you're saying but that
being said that's why it's so important for you to know what it feels like exactly how long you're
supposed to answer the question so instead of worrying about the exact seconds you have a good
idea for the feel of how long your answer should be exactly that's exactly what we're talking about
today guys you have to practice this very precise timing and being interrupted you have to practice
this now is when you worry about the seconds right now is when you practice and worry about all this
so on test day you are ready you know exactly what to expect you have a good feel for how long
or short your answers should be and then you don't worry when the examiner interrupts you yes and as
to this question we got yeah first of all don't be stressed if you're being interrupted but also
that examiner definitely asked all the questions they needed to they did take the full time but
it might not have felt that way because of the changes Jessica was mentioning that it might
feel like you don't have as much time to talk because actually you don't due to these changes
so let's get into how long each answer should be so you guys know exactly what to practice
so in total guys part one lasts for four to five minutes and part three lasts also for
four to five minutes part two is three to four minutes and that's a another timing issue that
is we've talked about that a lot before um but we're focusing on part one and part three today
so think about this guys maximum five minutes for each part right part one there's a total of eleven
questions part three a total of six questions so your answers cannot be that long because again the
examiner has to ask you all of these questions now in that short amount of time so let's get
into this the first important thing that you have to do before the speaking exam is practice with a
timer all right because you have to practice being cut off at a certain point what do you
think is the best point to cut yourself off for part one Aubry I think you should set your timer
for 40 seconds and then when that timer goes off you want to practice finishing confidently instead
of that like a a trail off like you're thrown off right finish your answer confidently and then be
ready for the examiner to Jump Right In with the next question yeah totally so what happens on the
test is when the examiner interrupts you it's not like they you know stand up and shout stop
talking or something like it's not it's not like a dramatic like shut your face thing um it's done
politely and calmly and quietly so usually all the examiner does when the examiner is keeping track
of their timer right so the examiner is always glancing at their timer while you're talking
um and when they think that they need to get on to the next question all they do is hold
up their hand and then say thank you or that's enough no they're supposed to just say thank
you and go immediately to the next question so don't like try to keep talking and finish your
answer the examiner needs to move on they have told you that they have told you to stop talking
so just give like a one-word response be like oh thank you great cool nice like any of these
one words just to acknowledge that you're moving on right just finish and move on Let The Examiner
ask the next question so we recommend setting a timer for 40 seconds for your part one answers
and for part two a little bit longer no sorry part three part three a little bit longer right
um because there are fewer questions to answer in part three so no more than a minute set your timer
for a minute and as soon as that timer goes off that's alarm goes off handle it the same way as if
you were interrupted in part one just be like okay great exactly so that sort of confident finish is
just like you were saying just like one confident word and then immediately know the examiner is
going to ask the next question right and I think it's so important this second tip we're going to
give you too that you have to realize you don't have time to think between each question on part
one and part three I've spoken to students in classes where once we get down to it I realize
that's how they're practicing they read a question and they stop and think about it for a while every
time that is not how it is on test day so you have to be thinking about this with your practice
right like I've even um yeah I've had that same experience Aubry where I'll be doing
a mock speaking test with a student and we get to part three and I ask a question and
they're like can I take notes like can I think about this like no you cannot
um so definitely this is just another way that you really have to know this test inside and out you
have to practice exactly what's going to happen on test day so you are a hundred percent confident
and prepared right so yeah in part two you can take notes yes great you have a minute awesome
part two is like this outlier part one and part three it's like question answer question answer
kind of you know more like it is in real life if not exactly like real life uh Party part two is
the the outlier guys that's the only time you get to take notes but yes like Aubrey
said you have to practice answering as soon as the examiner finishes that question why is
it so important to not have that silence or that like reflection thinking time it lowers
your fluency and coherence score right if you have a pause at the beginning of your answer
and aren't saying anything you just can't get a seven or higher for fluency you have
to have some kind of filler phrase you have to start talking immediately it's okay to need a
couple of seconds to think of how you want to answer but while you're thinking you have to
have some kind of filler so that there's no pause exactly exactly that lowers your score
any silence lowers your score all right now tip three what's tip three Aubry ideally if you can
practice with a speaking partner who can pretend to be the examiner right because it is a little
difficult to have a list of questions never have seen them yet ask one answer stop yourself ask
the next one right whereas if you have a speaking partner then you can just worry about answering
the questions and your partner can be asking those questions and paying attention to the
timing so find someone online if you don't know someone else practicing for IELTS or learning to
speak English this is definitely something that can be done over Zoom exactly exactly um we give
speaking tests on Skype and zoom all the time guys so if you're a three-key student you can sign up
to have a mock speaking test with us and we'll keep track of the time um but for now guys be
aware that tomorrow on IELTS energy we are going to do a model of how this goes of how this looks
um really being strict with the time with each other in part one and part three we'll take turns
tomorrow and we'll interrupt each other because I know we'll talk too much so stay tuned tomorrow
guys for how to time that out and how to respond to that um and in the meantime while you wait for
tomorrow's episode guys go to allearsenglish.com new IELTS and get that complete outline of the
changes that IELTS has made awesome thanks Jessica this is really fun I'll see you tomorrow for
those fun practice speaking answers awesome can't wait bye all right bye foreign [Music]