Are you one of them who thinks IELTS speaking test is one of the hardest sections of IELTS exam?
Well, don’t get afraid of face-to-face communication involved in IELTS speaking. In fact, according to me, it is one of the easiest as well as a scoring section of IELTS. But, How? How one can put an impression on the IELTS examiner in just 11 minutes? And so many questions like that may be running in your head. Prepare with IELTS Free Preparation Course to excel not in the speaking section only but also in listening reading and writing sections.
Speaking tests are just to test your fluency in English without any grammatical mistakes. Examiners don’t expect you to give logical or structured answers. You are only tested on the basis of following skills-
- Fluency in English without hesitation
- Vocabulary Usage
- Avoid Grammar Mistakes
- Pronunciation
Below are IELTS Speaking Tips that can help you to increase your score. Opt these tips in your exam or while preparing for exam and feel the improvement.
Tips For IELTS Speaking
- Don’t Learn Answers
Don’t utter memorized answers as it does not leave an impression on examiner. Especially in first part of speaking when you are asked about yourself, they expect accurate English with high level of fluency.
- Voice Should Be Clear & Audible
Don’t get nervous while speaking, be confident and keep you voice clear and audible. Afterall, speaking is all about testing your ability to speak English fluently without any pauses and hesitation. IELTS speaking test allows you to talk about your real-life experiences and your thoughts and opinions on a particular topic on which you can speak easily as it is all related to you. So, walk in confidently with a smile to leave an impression.
- Don’t Use Complex & Unfamiliar Words
It is one of biggest myth related to IELTS speaking exam that difficult vocabulary can gain you high band score. You may want to impress examiner with complex vocabulary but there are higher chances of mispronouncing of the words or using those words in wrong context as mistakes can affect your final band score.
Tip is to prepare vocabulary according to general IELTS topics will be helpful in this case. This will enable you to use range of relevant vocabulary.
- Use Mix Of Grammatical Structures
Use from the available grammatical structures for getting excellent band score. Ensure to use right form of tenses i.e. past, present & future in order to gain full marks for grammatical skills. For this, tip is to practice daily by recording your speeches to improve your mistakes while speaking and make yourself more confident on exam day. Your speaking skills are marked on the basis of the following assessment criteria:
- Lexical Resource
- Fluency and Coherence
- Grammar Range & Accuracy
- Pronunciation
- Give Yourself Some Time To Think
There is no negative marking in taking a pause while speaking. In fact, it is suggested to take some time to think before you start to speak. You can stuff these pauses with useful phrases like
- That’s an interesting question
- That’s a good point
- Let me see
- Let me think
- My perspective regarding this is…
- In my opinion
- Avoid Overstuffing Of Fillers
Avoid using excessive fillers while giving your IELTS speaking test as it reflects that you are not able to deliver your ideas properly. For stealing some time for giving answers, try to use phrases instead of fillers. Fillers also shows the examiner that you have lack of vocabulary skills or cannot access appropriate language to deliver your ideas in a better way. Some of the commonly used fillers that one must avoid in their speaking section are Like, You Know, Ahh, UMM, Yeah and so on.
- Practice General IELTS Topic
It is good to practice vocabulary according to some general IELTS topics. You can start practicing it with your friends, colleagues and family. It will help one to boost up their confidence, enhance the vocabulary and speaking skills. Also, it will add numerous words in your vocabulary, after that you can shift to preparation of complex IELTS topics. Initially start from these IELTS topics
- Education
- Favourite book or hobbies
- Family Life
- Crime & Justice
- Internet & Technology
- Sports
- Travel & Tourism
- Don’t Speak In Monotone
Your speaking should have variations, expressions and adequate pauses to make it interesting. Don’t speak in monotone constantly as it makes the content of the speech boring and difficult to understand. Due to your monotone, sometimes examiner misses out the important message that you want to deliver. It also increases the flow of conversation. So, don’t use Monotone
- Don’t speak in monotone.
- Give certain pauses and emphasis on important words
Use hand gestures to maintain a rhythm of conversation
