You are starting to learn IELTS and want to know more careful about it? In this article, I would share with you the full and updated information of IELTS test particularly IELTS Speaking Test.
You can also read about other skills here:
- IELTS Reading Test
- IELTS Listening Test
- IELTS Writing Test
And now, let’s start with Speaking skills
Format of the IELTS Speaking Test
Part 1: Introduction & Interview
In this part, the examiner will ask you some general questions about yourself such as your home, family, education, job, interests/hobbies, and a range of similar topic areas.
The questions on familiar topics will give you chance to convey a lot of information about yourself and your life. This part lasts between 4-5 minutes.
Part 2: Individual Long Turn
In this part, you will be given a task card (cue card) and asked to talk on a particular topic for about 2 minutes. You have one minute to organize your mind and prepare yourself before speaking at length, for 1-2 minutes. This part will last between 3-4 minutes.
The examiner then asks one or two rounding-off questions.
For example:
| Describe a TV program that you watch or know about You should say: When it is on and which channel it is on What kind of program it is What kind of people watch it And say if you think that program is popular in other countries or not, and why |
Part 3: Two-way Discussion
In this part, the examiner and candidate engage in a discussion of more abstract issues and concepts which are thematically linked to the topic prompt in Part 2.
The discussion lasts between 4-5 minutes. In this part, the candidate’s ability to justify opinions, analyze, discuss, and speculate about the issues will be assessed.
The follow-up questions related to the above topics could be:
- Why do you think some countries produce TV programs for another country?
- What factors do you think TV program producers consider for preparing a certain program?
However, recently it is understood that the above format is not fully observed by the examiners. The reason might be that the examiner cannot be sure of the candidate’s ability and level of proficiency from only part 1.
Moreover, most of the candidates are fully prepared for this part and sometimes they memorize certain samples.
Therefore, examiners may ask candidates their names, candidate numbers, and directly start with Part 2. So, as preparing yourself for some general questions, such as the reason for taking IELTS test, your country, your town, your past studies, and your plans for future; be mentally prepared to skip this part if ecessary.
How Speaking is assessed?
The speaking proficiency is evaluated on the following criteria:
- Fluency and Coherence: Express your ideas and opinions coherently and clearly, without long pauses and hesitations.
- Lexical Resource: Use correct expressions and wide range of vocabulary.
- Grammar & Accuracy: Use wide range of structures with the minimum number of mistakes.
- Pronunciation: Make sure your conversation is understood.
The Result is translated into a score on the IELTS nine-band scale. There is no pass mark for the IELTS exam. Different universities and colleges will have their own IELTS score requirements.
| Band 9- Expert User The candidate has fully operational command of the language and is fluent with a complete understanding of English. |
| Band 8-Very Good User The candidate is a good user’ of English with only occasional mistakes with accuracy and appropriateness, but his overall command of English is excellent and he can handle complex detailed arguments well. |
| Band 7-Good User The candidate is a ‘good user’ of English. He can use English well in most situations but occasionally make mistakes with accuracy and appropriateness of language and has misunderstandings in some situations. |
| Band 6-Competent User The candidate has effective command of language despite some inaccuracies and misunderstandings. He can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations. |
| Band 5-Modest User The candidate is a ‘modest user’ of language. .He has some command of English and can cope with the overall meaning in most situations, though he is likely to make some mistakes. He is able to handle basic communication in his won field. |
| Band 4-Limited User The candidate is a ‘limited user’ of language. He has a basic ability to use English in familiar situations. He may have frequent problems with understanding and expression and is unable to use complex language. |
| Band 3-Extremely Limited User The candidate is an ‘extremely limited user’ — this means that he can express and understand only general meaning in very familiar situations. He will have frequent breakdowns in communication. |
| Band 2-Intermittent User The candidate is an ‘intermittent user’ — this means that no real communication is possible except for expressing the most basic information using isolated words or short basic sentences in familiar situations. He will have a lot of difficulty understanding spoken and written English. |
| Band 1-Non-User The candidate is at the lowest level and means he is a ‘non-user’ — this means he does not have the ability to use English except for a few isolated words. |
| Band 0-Did not attempt the test The candidate has no assessable information and production. |
You may want to know details of description of each band level, let’s read the article Description of IELTS Speaking Band Scores.