The Speaking test

Some people think that the most stressful part in the IELTS exam is the Speaking test. If you are one of them, STOP WORRYING! I will tell you what you have to do to get a high score in the Speaking test. 

First, keep improving your general English! How? Try this:

ü  read EVERYTHING in English that you find on your way;

ü  listen to radio/TV/ podcasts every day (if you can);

ü  watch films without subtitles or use subtitles in English;

ü  try social networks or forums in English;

ü  organise with your friends ‘conversational nights’ with a theme every occasion;

ü  talk to yourself…YES!! ‘Talk to the mirror’ it is a very useful technique (and if you can       record  the conversation, much better)

ü  practise, practise, practise

Second, you MUST be aware of …

ü  the structure of the Speaking test;

ü  the skills to be assessed in the interview;

ü  time management when speaking;

ü and other paralinguistic skills that, even when they are not included in the band descriptor,    they may affect your score in your Speaking test.

Structure of the Speaking test. As you may have read in a previous post, the Speaking test is divided into 3 parts. In each of them, you are required to talk or discuss topics of general interest. It is very important that you know what type of answers or language you need to produce in order to succeed in every part of the test.

To know the skills assessed in the Speaking test is crucial. Even when the interview seems to be a normal face-to-face conversation with the examiner, DO NOT FORGET she/he is evaluating every bit of your speech. For this reason, you need to know what sort of language the examiner expects to hear from you and what other abilities you need to demonstrate in the Speaking test- for instance, ‘the ability to speak at length on a given topic using appropriate language’ is one of them.

Time management:  As you may know the Speaking test lasts 11-14 minutes. The first part lasts around 4-5 minutes; the second part between 3 or 4 minutes and the third part about 4 or 5 minutes. It is very important that you know how long every part is. If you are able to tell when you have given a full answer and stop or just move onto another question you will be able to cover all the questions the examiner has prepared for you and therefore, you will have more chance to get a high score. In the case of part 2, time management plays an important role. As you are given a task card with some specific prompts that you should cover, you need to know how to give good responses within the allowed time. If you fail to do this and spend too much time on a single prompt, the examiner may stop you and move onto the third part even if you have not finished answering all the prompts on your task card.

Paralinguistic skills. As said before, even when paralinguistic skills are not included in the band descriptor, they will –in some way or another- influence your score. What are these skills? I would mention ‘body language’ and ‘eye contact’ as the most outstanding skills. On the day of your interview try to look relaxed – this will tell your examiner you feel confident having a conversation and therefore, comfortable using the language. Also, it is essential that you make eye contact all the times. If you wear glasses I would suggest putting them off for the interview. The combination of these two and, of course, a smile on your face will add points to your performance on the Speaking test.