Here are the essential strategies to maximise your IELTS speaking test score
Australia, UK, Canada, US, New Zealand, Ireland. If you want to work, study or live at any of these places then the first test that comes to your mind is an IELTS Test.
In this article e akhabaar, We will tell you specifically what is the IELTS Speaking Test Format. 10 IELTS Speaking Tips.
So here are the 4 things that you need to know about the IELTS Test Format. It has 2 main modules. IELTS Academics is for studying abroad and IELTS General Training is if you want to work abroad or for immigration purposes. At the end of the test, you will get a band score from 1 to 9. 1 being the lowest and 9 meaning that you are an expert user of the English language. While booking you can either choose the paper-based test or computer-delivered test. Both the tests are the same but the mode of taking the test is different. Some people find the computer-delivered test better because it is easier to see the word-count, make notes, no handwriting issues etc.. Finally, comes the structure. The test is divided into 4 parts.. Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.
This article focus is the Speaking round. The speaking round lasts for around 11 to 14 mins and has 3 parts. Part 1 is Introduction. For about 4 to 5 minutes, the interviewer will ask you questions to get to know you better. So expect questions about your family, work, interests, what movies you like, what music you like. In part 2, you will be given a topic card and 1-min to prepare on that topic. After that one minute, you are expected to speak continuously on that topic for about 1-2 minutes without any interruption from the examiner. Don’t worry, the topic does not test your GK or current affairs. It will be a general topic like… The last vacation you took your ideal job or describe a well-known person that you admire the most. After you are done speaking, part 3 will be a conversation between you and the examiner. It’ll last for around 4 to 5 minutes where the examiner will ask you questions related to the topic in part 2. Throughout the speaking round, the examiner is testing you on 4 parameters. #1: How fluent you are i.e your ability to form complete sentences. #2: How vast your vocabulary is. #3: Your grammar. And #4: Pronunciation. Even if you have a thick Indian accent like me, it doesn’t necessarily work against your favour as long as you maintain a rhythm and your pronunciation is correct for the examiner to understand you. With these 4 parameters in mind, let’s look at the 10 speaking tips that will help you prepare for this round.
I have divided these IELTS Exam Speaking tips into 2 parts. 5 things to do ‘before’ and 5 things to do ‘during’ the test. So, let’s start with 5 speaking tips that will help you BEFORE you appear for the IELTS Speaking test.
#1: Get to know your speaking style. Open the voice recorder app on your phone, hit the record button and start speaking on random topics like.. My favourite food item, why I love my city, my favourite book etc.. Now play it back and when you do, notice 3 things.. 1. How is your pronunciation? 2. Are you using any cuss words like oh shit, oh f*&k, God dammit! 3. Are you using too much of modern slang, like.. Salty, LIT, Basic, Extra, LOL etc.. Because only when you hear yourself back do you realise what pronunciation you need to set right and what slang you need to cut down.
#2: Develop your vocabulary. Vocabulary is one of the parameters the examiner is testing you on. So open a thesaurus and find synonyms of the words you use often. For example, suppose you use the word ‘Awesome’ a lot. So learn as many of it’s synonyms, like.. Breath-taking, impressive, astonishing .. because the more words you use, the better your band score will be. Another way to improve your vocabulary is to learn how to express your feelings better using this ‘Feelings Wheel’. As you can see, each feeling branches out to multiple specific emotions. So instead of just saying ‘happy’ use a relevant emotion like hopeful, loving, optimistic, powerful.
#3: Do not memorise your answers. Ofcourse we know that Part 1 is going to be introduction but that doesn’t mean that you are going to learn your Intro by heart because an examiner can spot this and might give you zero to less marks if the answer looks prepared.
#4: Know the English equivalent of your local words. See, I am from Hyderabad. So if somebody asks me about my city, I will talk about Biryani, Charminar and Hi-tech city. But the examiner might not know what these are! So whenever I mention them, I follow it up with a quick description of what these are. For example, my favourite dish is ‘Biryani’. ‘Biryani’ is a type of rice pilaf that’s very famous in my city. Similarly, ‘Roti’ is flat-bread. ‘Charminar’ is a monument with four minarets located in Hyderabad. Infact, ‘Hyderabad’ is a city in the Southern part of India. You see what I mean? Instead of the examiner thinking that you are pronouncing something wrong, let the examiner know what that word means or what it’s significance is.
#5: The only way to get a better band score in the speaking round is to speak as much as you can in English. So talk to your friends, find a group with whom you can speak in English with.. or just have random conversations with people especially with the one’s who are trying to sell you something.. either over phone or in the mall
Now, here are the 5 IELTS Exam speaking tips to follow during the test.
#1: Try not to use the same words over and over again. This city makes me happy, the food makes me happy, the people make me happy! Instead, use more adjectives. This city is ‘magnificent’. The food here is ‘delicious’ and the people here are so ‘welcoming’. Did you see that? These are just simple words but they show variety.
#2: When you are given a topic and one minute to prepare, write down bullet points related to that topic during that one minute. For example, suppose your topic is… ‘Describe a well-known person that you admire and why?’ then write down bullet points related to.. Who this person is? What qualities about them you like the most? Why are they famous?… because these bullet points will give a nice structure to your talk and will also act as a guide incase you go blank while speaking.
#3: Maintain a steady pace. Try not to speak too fast because then we sound nervous, make mistakes and pronounce words incorrectly. So maintain a steady pace and may be speed up or slow down at a few places esp. when you are telling a story.
#4: Give a little bit more detail. Don’t just give one word answers. Suppose you are talking about your hobbies.. Don’t just say…’I like badminton!’ Give a little bit more detail.. Why do you like badminton? Whom do you play with? How does it make you feel? The examiner wants to know if you can speak in English fluently. So, speak up! And
#5: Finally, relax. Don’t think of the examiner as an examiner. Think of them as your friend because then you will finally focus on your English and the conversation instead of worrying about how they are judging you or what band score they will give.
Here is the Bonus Tip for IELTS Exam: ‘Give yourself enough time!’ Suppose, you are currently at Band 6 and you want to reach Band 8 then give yourself enough time to reach Band 8 before you appear for the test. It’s not about which location you take the test from, it’s not about how many times you take it. It’s just about how prepared you are. So you go find that friend and start speaking to them in English.