Did you know that the second part of the IELTS Speaking test can be the most difficult for candidates, even Native Speakers.
But don’t despair it can also be the easiest part, and the most enjoyable.
There is a valid reason for this part of the IELTS test, and I will explain this below.
One reason for Part 2 is to allow the candidate speak at length and meet the fluency criteria.
A second reason is to allow the examiner to grade your ability for the follow up questions in Part 3.
They are trained to listen carefully for language range, grammar accuracy and pronunciation is normal speech.
They can then chose the best question sets in Part 3 that allows you to display your real language ability. So it’s important to fill that 2 minutes the best you can.
Part 2 Structure
You are given a set of prompts and a question.
The prompts are not particularly challenging, but follow a pattern to give you ‘ideas’ and ‘structure’ for your 2 minute talk.
This gives the examiner ‘a further opinion‘ to your level, ready for Part 3.
One way to do well in this section is to try and relax.
A relaxed candidate always performs better and responds well.
If you don’t understand something, always ask the examiner to repeat the prompt question.
The examiner can’t help you directly, but repetition might help you understand the prompt better.
Other tips are
- Don’t give the examiner an opportunity to ask ‘can you say anything else about that’.
- Speak for the full 2 minutes until the examiner stops you.
- Don’t hesitate too much, you are allowed to make some mistakes, it’s natural.
- Connect your sentences and use the structure given in the prompt.
- Attempt to use complex sentences rather than short, simply ones.
and
- Don’t be afraid to correct yourself.
What if you really don’t understand the prompt or even worse the prompt doesn’t apply to you?
If you’re preparing for IELTS, and feel you cannot answer some of the speaking questions properly, simply because they really do not apply to your current life experience, then don’t worry as you’re not alone.
For example:
Q. Talk about an object you own that is especially valuable or important to you.
Problem: I have a quite spartan lifestyle and I don’t have any emotional attachment to any objects I own.
Q. Talk about an object that has had great influence in your life, and explain how it influenced your life.
Problem: While I could talk for hours about books that I love, I don’t really feel that there is a book that has truly influenced my life.
Describe an activity you enjoyed with a group of people.
You should say:
what you did
who the other people were
where and when you did this
and explain why doing this with a group of people was enjoyable
The activity I enjoyed took place a few years ago in London at an activity park called G0-Ape. The activity was basically climbing up a tower and then following a course using a variety of tight-ropes and platforms between tall towers and posts which were between 15 and 25 foot above the ground. There were probably about twenty-five of these in total and some seemed more challenging than others. I think that your personal experience and how you felt about heights probably made some feel more difficult than they really were, and your nerves definitely played a part.
It was a corporate team-building exercise and so I was with other English lecturers involved in the online design of the University’s new pre-sessional programme. It was quite a small team, so there were 7 of us. As we were working remotely, this was the first day that we had really met, and so it was a good activity to get to know each other.
So, the activity happened in Alexandra Park in North London. It was late spring and it was a fine, sunny day so a great opportunity to be outside.
As I said, we didn’t really know each other before this day and this was a team building event in an activity area and it took place in the summer
I think it was really useful to do this activity because it’s quite difficult to find out about a person’s personality if you don’t get the chance to meet them in person, and when working on a collaborative project it’s really quite important to be able to get on with people to make progress. You need to be aware of the positive and negative quirks that make people tick. So , yeah, it was a good team building exercise, we kind of gelled quite well through the mistakes we made and exposing the fears we had. Overall, we had a great laugh and I’d recommend it to anyone.
Solution to this problem
IELTS is a test of your language ability, not intelligence or knowledge.
You may think the IELTS test is an interrogation, but you don’t really need to answer with the truth.
However, I would feel more comfortable with the be honest approach, even if it does not directly answer the question.
You would probably be able to answer more naturally, and therefore be more fluent.
Which one do you think is a better strategy?
You can use tips and information on this website to help make it easier to obtain a higher score, but remember you still need to work at learning the language to be successful.
Please share to someone you know and in the meantime take a look at my Facebook Page and Website for IELTS answers and you can also join my Facebook Group here too.
Good Luck
Jonathan
I’m Jonathan I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world. I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams. Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be. If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.
Was this helpful? Leave a comment :)