In Part 1 of the IELTS speaking test you have to talk about 3 topics – your hometown or your work/study AND two more familiar topics. In my last blog I gave some tips on Part 1, work/study. Lets’ take a look at topics and how to make up questions.
Topics for Part 1
Free time
Daily routines
Family
Schooling
Sports
Hotels
Shopping
Music
You can make your own questions by using the following starters:
Describe what you do in your free time, describe your daily routine and describe your family
Tell me about your free time, your daily routine, your family
What do you think about having free time, changing your routine, your family
You can also use the 5W + H formula and make up Who, What, Where, When, Why and How questions:
Who do you remember from school, what did you enjoy most at school, what school did you go to, where did you go to school, when did you go to school, why did you enjoy/dislike school, how has school changed since you were there?
Because the topics are familiar you should have very little trouble talking about them. It’s a good idea to make notes about each topic when you are practicing answers or write things you would like to say. However, you must practice saying your answers out aloud as this is a speaking test and you will be tested on how well you speak.
You can record yourself on audio to see how you sound, practice with a friend (get them to ask you the questions), or practice with a teacher or online coach. There is a great free audio that you can listen to on our samespeak english conversation site that will give you an idea of how to record questions on MP3 that you can listen to and practice giving spoken answers to. The more questions you are asked, the more practice you will have in answering. Remember to practice giving long, full answers. Do this again and again. It doesn’t matter if you do the same question frequently, as you will give better and better answers with more and more information. The more often you practice this, the better you’ll get.
In my next blog I will talk about more things that will help you prepare for the IELTS speaking test in Part 2.
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Sometimes it’s really that simple, isn’t it? I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this myself/earlier, though.
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