A student in our course recently posted this question after taking her IELTS Exam:
I have just finished the IELTS test. First, thank you so much. It would have been much more difficult for me if it wasn’t for your course. However, I have some questions about the speaking test. The examiner didn’t seem to want me to talk a lot, and always tried to ask other questions when I was trying to elaborate. Also, in Part 2, when I stopped for the first time, she didn’t stop the timer. Instead, she seemed to be waiting for me to talk more. Does this mean my Speaking test didn’t go well?
Knowing what happens on exam day will solve this situation. For instance, you should know how long your answers should be on each part of the exam.
In Part 1, there are simple questions, and, therefore, your answers shouldn’t be too long.
Plus, the examiner has a job to do. She/he has to ask you a certain number of questions in order to do this job. If you talk for too long, she or he has to stop you.
Being stopped, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. If you are very talkative, the examiner will stop you a lot to ask more questions, and this won’t affect your score.
Nevertheless, for most students, if they talk for too long, they end up repeating themselves or wandering off-topic, and this will hurt your score.
In your IELTS Speaking practice, aim for 3-5 sentence answers in Part 1.
It’s vital to review all parts of the IELTS Exam in the week before you sit the test.
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As to the student’s worries about Speaking Part 2, here’s the deal.
The examiner will not stop the timer before the two minutes is finished. She or he will simply wait for you to keep talking.
If you stop talking before the time is up, the examiner will wait, stare at you for a couple seconds, and then try and prompt you to say more.
So, in your practice, you must develop your fluency for Part 2! In fact, practice speaking for 3 minutes, so you are super confident on test day.
What do you think of today’s advice?
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