IELTS speaking exam Part 2

 

IELTS speaking exam   Part 2

This part of the exam is 3-4 minutes long in total.

You will be given a cue card (topic) and have 1 minute to prepare your answer.  You can write notes if you want to.

You then have to talk uninterrupted for 1-2 minutes about your topic.

REMEMBER – You don´t get a choice of topics!

You will be given a score from Band 1 to 9 based on:

1. Fluency and Coherence
2. Lexical resource – accuracy and range
3. Grammar – accuracy and range
4. Pronunciation

 

You may then be asked 1 or 2 follow-up questions at the end.

  

 

EXAMPLE

Describe your favourite season.

You should say:

• when that season is in your country
• what the weather is like at this time
• how it is different from the other seasons
• why it is your favourite and what activities you do at this time of year

 

Follow-up questions might be:

• Are there any traditional festivals in your country at this time of year?
• How does the weather affect our mood and behaviour?

 

How do we go about answering this question?

 

PREPARATION IS KEY.  USE YOUR TIME TO MAKE NOTES

 

Important things to remember:

Make sure you answer the question. (Don´t go off topic).

You CAN follow the guidelines of what YOU SHOULD SAY, but you DON´T HAVE TO.

These are guidelines to help you, as many students worry that they won´t have enough to say for 2 minutes.

However, if you don´t want to answer every bullet point you can talk about something else (as long as it is relevant to the main question)!

 

Have some kind of structure in mind.

Think of an introductory sentence, and what you are going to talk about in the main part.

As with writing an essay, be prepared to give your opinion on things, so learn key phrases for this function (e.g. as far as I´m concerned….., if you ask me….).

Be able to talk about your past experiences and how they relate to the topic. (It´s not necessary but I think it is easier to talk fluently if it is true).

Demonstrate your grammatical range by also referring to the future.

I think it´s easiest to answer the questions in the order they appear on the cue card if you are going to use them.

 

WHEN  – tell the examiner which months you experience the season in your country, and how long or short it is.

WHAT – explain the weather conditions and daylight hours – think about temperature, colours, clothes your wear at this time

HOW – use comparative and superlative adjectives to compare your chosen season to the others

WHY – think of how you feel at this time and what you do, do you see family or friends, are there any festivals, do you celebrate anything?

 

Brainstorm key vocabulary and collocations

changeable weather

torrential/heavy/light rain/flash floods

short days

longer nights

clear skies

mild climate

sunny spells

freezing cold/boiling hot

falling leaves

rustling leaves

holiday periods

bitterly cold

a blanket of snow

heatwave

blistering sun

 

 

 

SO,

It´s autumn at the moment so let´s take autumn (“Fall” in American English) as our example.

OPENING SENTENCES

I always look forward to ….autumn………… because…………………..

I´m going to talk about….autumn…..because it´s my favourite season   

I love the….autumn………………….because of the milder weather

I´m especially fond of …..autumn………because…………………….

 

 

 Example answer

I have always been particularly fond of autumn.  I´m from the UK and I would say autumn is around September, October and November time.  We have 4 distinct seasons, but autumn is the most colourful….. I love the changing colours of the leaves and the rustling sound they make when you walk over them.

As I mentioned, the trees are usually stunning, but, um, it can be really windy and they are blown away too quickly!  I’m sure you know that the weather in UK is very changeable, we could have glorious sunshine one day and it can be dull and dreary the next. But I also like the wintry clothes – hats, scarves and gloves, and a pair of boots, although it´s not quite as cold as it is in December or January.

I much preferred the autumn to the summer as a child too, I got bored in the long summer holidays and always looked forward to going back to school.  I also used to enjoy the Halloween festivities and “Bonfire night”, plus it´s my birthday in October so there were always plenty of celebrations – and of course I liked the presents!

I associate autumn with being with my family. The days become much shorter – which actually is something I don´t like – but we stay at home more than during spring or summer, and just spend time together.  I must admit I also like the anticipation of Christmas.

This coming weekend I am looking forward to the clocks changing as we´ll get an extra hour in bed! What better reason to love the autumn!