A Complete Guide on IELTS Speaking | IELTS Luminary
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A Complete Guide on IELTS Speaking

  • For both Academic and General Training IELTS, Speaking part is always same.  

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  • Regardless the exam is computer based or paper based, Speaking part will be always face to face.

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  • Test duration is from 11 to 14 minutes.

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  • IELTS Speaking test has three parts:

1. First Part is a question-answer session. You will be asked about your everyday life. This section lasts for 4 to 5 minutes.

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2. You will be given a card with a particular topic in the second part of IELTS Speaking. You will get 1 minute to prepare your answer, and then you will need to speak for up to 2 minutes.

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3. In the third part, the examiner will ask you few more questions related to the topic that you have just talked about in Speaking Part 2. It's your opportunity to demonstrate your speaking skill flexibly in this part, because this part goes relatively long. Speaking for 4-5 minutes in this part.

A Few Things that You Must Remember

Simply nonstop speaking will not give you expected marks. You need to resort to some strategies. You have to avoid some practices and you must demonstrate some skills that prove your natural flow of speaking. Your speaking marks will depend on how well you communicate with the examiner, it will not depend on:

  • how high level/advanced/difficult and fancy words you use in your conversation

  • how the complex grammar structures you use in your speaking

  • whether you speak in British, American or Australian accent.

Therefore, just focus on how smoothly you can communicate with your audience. 

What an examiner expects from you

Let's take a look at the marking criteria that examiner will look into your speaking before he/she marks you.Those criteria are:

  1. Fluency and Cohesion

  2. Vocabulary

  3. Grammar 

  4. Pronunciation

Each of these criteria bears 25% marks of your IELTS Speaking test. That means if you fail to ​meet one of these requirements, you will lose 25% marks of your total Speaking test.

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Now let's get introduced with the three different parts of IELTS Speaking exam.

IELTS Speaking Part 1

This part is all about question-answer of your daily life. The examiner might ask you about your work, study, hobby etc. You might be asked whether you work or study, for example, "what do you do", or "what do you study". The examiner may also ask why you selected this particular subject for study, or "what is your aim in life?" You might also be asked about your hobby, for example, "what do you do in your leisure time?" 

Click on the question title to go through a complete guide on this part.

IELTS Speaking Part 2

This part will be a little longer than the previous part. It's called a cue card session. It's very interesting. You will be given a card that will include some points on a particular topic. You will be allowed to think for one minute to organize your answer before your start speaking, after that you will be required to speak for around 2 minutes. Click on the title to read our detailed discussion on how to address this question effectively.

IELTS Speaking Part 3

This part is almost like part 2, but you will not be given any cue card here. You will need to speak for 4-5 minutes in part 3. The examiner will ask you further questions on the topic that you have talked about in the previous part. As you are getting relatively longer time here in this part, it's your opportunity to impress the examiner with your prolonged period of confident speaking. Click on the title and check the detailed discussion how you can maximize your score in this part.

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