IELTS Academic Speaking

Overview of the IELTS Speaking Test

The IELTS Speaking test is a face-to-face interview between the test taker and a certified examiner, conducted in a recorded format. It consists of three parts, each designed to assess different aspects of your speaking ability through specific tasks.

Marking Criteria

Your performance is assessed throughout the test based on four criteria:

1. Fluency and Coherence:
   • How well you speak at a natural pace with minimal hesitation.
   • Logical organisation of ideas and effective use of cohesive devices (e.g., linking words, pronouns, conjunctions) to ensure clarity.
2. Lexical Resource:
   • Range, accuracy, and appropriateness of vocabulary usage.
   • Ability to use alternative vocabulary to express yourself when needed.
3. Grammatical Range and Accuracy:
   • Variety and correctness of grammatical structures.
4. Pronunciation:
   • Clarity and intelligibility of speech with minimal effort required to understand.

Key Details

• Time Allowed: 11–14 minutes.
• Number of Parts: 3.

By following a structured approach, the IELTS Speaking test evaluates your ability to communicate effectively in English across various contexts.

Parts 1–3

Speaking Part 1 – Introduction and Interview

What’s Involved?
In Part 1, the examiner will introduce themselves and verify your identity. Following this, you will be asked general questions on familiar topics, such as your home, family, work, studies, or interests.

Duration:
This section lasts 4–5 minutes.

What Skills Are Tested?
Part 1 assesses your ability to:

• Provide opinions and share information about everyday topics.
• Discuss common experiences or situations in response to a variety of questions.

Speaking Part 2 – Long Turn

What’s Involved?
In Part 2, you will deliver an individual long turn. The examiner will provide you with a task card that specifies a topic, along with key points to cover and an aspect of the topic to explain.

You’ll have one minute to prepare your response, during which you can use the pencil and paper provided to make notes.

Using the task card and your notes, you should structure your talk to last two minutes, ensuring your ideas are relevant and well-organised. The examiner will stop you when your time is up and may follow up with one or two questions on the same topic.

Duration:
Part 2 lasts 3–4 minutes, including preparation time.

What Skills Are Tested?
This section evaluates your ability to:

• Speak at length on a given topic.
• Use appropriate vocabulary and grammar.
• Organise your ideas logically and draw on personal experiences to support your response.

Speaking Part 3 – Discussion

What’s involved?

In Part 3, you and the examiner discuss issues related to the topic in Part 2 in a more general and abstract way and, where appropriate, in greater depth.

Part 3 lasts 4–5 minutes.

What skills are tested?

This part tests your ability to explain your opinions and to analyse, discuss and speculate about issues.