How To Prepare For IELTS Speaking

Building confidence for speaking in english can only be achieved via practice. If you have very less time to prepare, don't panic but instead utilize your remaining time the fullest. The first thing you should do to prepare talking in English is to think in English. Most of the people think in their own language and then translate it into english and then speak. Doing so will take more time and the structure of the sentence would not be so perfect as well. If you have someone to talk with you, just keep talking in english with him/her by telling him/her to ask any questions. Or else if you are alone, you can talk in front of the mirror about anything whatever comes in your mind. Be confident to answer basic questions like, what you do for living, what are your hobbies and interest, what do you do in your free time, your studies/work, your hometown etc.

The next thing you can do is to read english magazines or newspapers. Be aware of the recent developments around the world which may help you to give examples while you are speaking. And watch english TV channels or movies to know how speaking in english really sounds.

Do some mock tests before the exam so that you would know exactly what type of questions you may face in the exam. You will also get feedbacks on your speaking, what improvement is needed for you in the mock test. There are some mobile apps (android and iphone) especially designed for IELTS candidates which asks you questions on a varied topic and your answers are also recorded. You can try these mobile apps as well if you have no time for a mock test.

Finally, do not ever memorize the answers, because the examiner are well trained to identify your unnatural tone. In addition take rest well on the day before the exam and take deep breath before you enter the exam hall.

See our other articles on IELTS Speaking: Basic Tips for IELTS Speaking

10 Basic Tips for IELTS Speaking

In this post, I would like to share you 10 basic tips and suggestions for the IELTS Speaking exam based on my experience. Most non - native English speakers get nervous and panic in the exam when they have to speak in english with native english speakers. But preparing yourself well before the exam and following some basic techniques can help you become more confident and speak up your mind in the exam. So I hope the following 10 simple tips may help you in the IELTS speaking exam to some extent.

1. Be Patient and relaxed during exam. Sleep well on the day before the exam and try not to stress yourself so that you could think with a fresh mind and talk well on the exam day
2. Listen Carefully and answer the question asked by the examiner. Do not repeat same thing again and again.
3. Try to use low frequency vocabulary words. Do not use the words such as good, bad, interesting, nice, beautiful, like, comfortable etc frequently for every question. Try to use a varied adjectives so that examiner would not think that you have a limited vocabulary.
4. Be careful with the word pronunciation so as to make sure that the examiner knows what you are saying.
5. Don't go silent if you don't understand the question. Just ask the examiner by saying. "Could you repeat the question please?". If you dont know the answer don't say "I don't know". Instead you can think of it by saying "Let me think", "Well just let me think about this" and say something by starting with "I guess ..." or "I think ..." or "Perhaps ..." or "May be ...".
6. Don't speak too fast or too slow. Keep the conversation going with a moderate pace. Don't pause frequently. Otherwise the examiner will reduce your marks in fluency score.
7. And use sentence linkers such as and, also, in addition, but, however, whereas, despite,on the other hand, because, since, such as, for instance, especially, particularly etc.
8. Use the adverbs that denotes frequency for example  always, often, never, seldom, almost always, never, quite often, occasionally, hardly, rarely, sometimes etc.
9. Use adverbs that denotes the degree for example very, extremely, pretty (good), fairly (enough), quite (often), a bit,  a little, slightly etc
10. Give relevant examples, particularly in part 3 by saying "for example", "for instance", "such as" etc.  In addition to this, if you need to summarise something just start by saying "To Sum Up ...", "In short ...", "To conclude ... " etc.

See our other articles on IELTS Speaking: Prepare for IELTS Speaking in Short Time