What will I be asked in my IELTS Speaking test? Well, it’s impossible to predict, but what we can tell you is that you need to be ready for anything! You certainly don’t need to be an expert on farming or have a degree in neuroscience to answer IELTS questions; remember it’s a language test, not a general knowledge test. However, the more prepared you are, the more confident you’ll be on test day.That’s why we’ve prepared 20 IELTS topics for Speaking and practice questions for Part 1 and Part 3 of the IELTS Speaking test.
Spin the wheel
Use the 20 IELTS Topics Wheel to randomize your speaking. Click to spin, and then find the relevant section, and get speaking!
Spin to choose an IELTS Speaking topic:
How to
1. Chat with a friend
The easiest way is simply to grab a buddy and ask each other questions. You might choose to ask your friend about art, and your friend can ask you about education. As you speak, listen carefully so that you can give each other feedback on your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Chat to yourself
Don’t have a study buddy? No worries! Grab your phone, hit record, and answer the questions as if you were in a language test. Remember to listen back as well and think about your performance in relation to the criteria:
❒ Did I extend my answers?
❒ Did I use a range of connectives?
❒ Did I use a wide range of vocabulary/
❒ Were my vocabulary choices accurate?
❒ Did I use a range of grammatical structures accurately?
❒ Did I speak clearly and at a suitable pace?
❒ Did I use intonation, stress and chunking appropriately?
3. Set yourself an extra challenge
Choose an aspect of grammar, vocabulary, fluency or pronunciation, and set yourself an extra challenge while you speak. In our YouTube video, Sayli and Alex challenge each other to use particular grammar points, or to use ‘less common’ vocabulary in their responses. Here are some ideas for an added degree of difficulty.
As you answer the questions, try to:
- Use a range of past tenses
- Use the second conditional
- Use at least 2 future tenses
- Use a past modal (E.g. ‘It must have been fun.’)
- Use a relative clause
- Use passive voice
- Use phrasal verbs
- Use dramatic intonation
Adding a challenge like this is a fun way to focus on a particular micro-skill. Keep in mind that it will probably affect your fluency and pace; don’t worry about that. You won’t do it on test day! Consider this just part of your preparation.
4. Practise speaking and chatting!
Our 1:1 tutorials are tailored to suit you. In fact, you choose what you want to work on when you book your session through E2Language.com. You can ask your teacher to spend the whole lesson on Speaking (Let’s spin that wheel!), or you can include writing, reading or listening too. This time is all about you. Our teachers live and breathe IELTS, and their support and feedback is the key to our students’ success. When you join us as a Bronze -level member of higher, tutorials are included in your package. Upgrade to a pakage and book a session today!
However you do it, practising speaking on a variety of topics is an essential part of your test preparation. If you want more, jump into the huge Speaking section on our IELTS course, join our Live Classes or if you’re not sure where to start, get in touch with us and let’s chat!
