IELTS speaking test part 1 sample: Tips to improve

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This is an IELTS speaking test sample: it’s part 1 – the Introduction and Interview. The student is asked several basic personal questions about her life and has to give short but developed answers.   Listen to the audio and then read how this student can improve her IELTS band score below.

Student’s IELTS strengths

She manages to answer every question and uses a lot of word stress to convey meaning like ‘hot’ and ‘big’. She uses her vocabulary effectively and says a couple of great phrases like ‘come together’, ‘especially during…’and ‘everything is under my control’. Several examples are used well to explain the student’s answers.

Student’s IELTS weaknesses

She has limited vocabulary and so finds it hard to express herself fully and precisely. Her grammar is also limited and she makes some basic mistakes. She relies too much on the present simple when the present perfect could be better. Pronunciation is an issue on several occasions as some words like poverty and heaven are very hard to understand.

What specific things will improve her IELTS Speaking?

She needs to learn and utilise more tenses so that she can talk more precisely about now, the past and the future. She also needs more vocabulary in order to explain more about each topic. More linking words would help her develop complex sentences Some pronunciation training on individual sounds and words could also help people understand her better.

How can she improve her IELTS Speaking overall?

This student has to work on getting better and correcting her mistakes. In the speaking test she will gain mark for trying more advanced language but also lose them if she has lots of mistakes. So, she needs to focus on both. She should learn vocabulary and useful structures for IELTS topics like holidays and hobbies. Then she needs to know speaking phrases for giving her opinion. Learning how to use basic linkers like ‘but’ and ‘however’ will help her make complex sentences. Studying the phonetic alphabet will help her to pronounce words correctly but she should also speak more to become more fluent.

IELTS Speaking Band Score

At the moment, this candidate would score an IELTS Speaking Band score of 4 or 4+ for this 1st section. However, the good news is that improving your IELTS score is possible. This recording was made with this student in her first week of lessons. Now, she has been studying IELTS in London with us here at SGI for 2 months and she is currently at a 6 level overall for IELTS!   Look out for parts 2 & 3 audio of this IELTS Speaking test next week.

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