The 3 biggest mistakes made in IELTS speaking | IELTS Exam | (2024)

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The IELTS speaking exam is the one place where you have control so make sure you are confident enough to take advantage of this and score a high band.

The examiner will feed you the questions but you must take the opportunity to use this part of the test to really show what you can really do in English.

Students often worry about the speaking test because they don’t know what answers the examiner expects. I used to be an examiner and I can tell you that when I did IELTS speaking tests, I knew exactly what the questions were that I had to ask but I NEVER had any idea about the answers. I was only looking for good, sensible and interesting answers from the candidate.

Treat it like a conversation. If you were having a conversation with a stranger you would be alert to their questions and provide them with the best answers that you could. You would not be thinking about what they might be looking for. A key here is ‘listen’. Listening to the questions is important. When you are nervous it is very easy to worry so much about what YOU will say that you fail to hear the question. Part of oral communication is listening. So make sure you listen well to the question and then reply with a good, rounded answer.

Remember that the examiner has questions to ask so give him/her space to answer these – don’t make your speaking test a long monologue that is not natural and it won’t show you as a competent speaker.

Here are my top 3 mistakes that students make in the speaking test

1. Not saying enough:
   The examiner can only assess what they hear. I have examined students who I knew could probably get higher bands but I wasn’t able to give them a high band because they didn’t give me enough speech to assess. Take the opportunity to speak and perform your best English.
2. Saying too much:
   If the examiner can’t get a word in edgeways then you may not score well. This is, in essence, a conversation so you have to listen and respond not just respond…and respond…and respond.. Also this kind of long, long answer often becomes a ramble and loses focus. How much can you say about ‘Do you like watching movies’ before it just gets boring?
3. Thinking too much about words and phrases and not giving a fluent answer:
   If you worry too much about how you are going to answer and concentrate too much on the vocabulary and grammar then you won’t give a spontaneous reply. Listen and reply as quickly and as best you can. If you’ve prepared well for the IELTS exam and have a good enough level of English for your band then the grammar and vocabulary will come naturally once you relax a little. If you haven’t prepared well and don’t have the right level then the best thing to do is not take the test until you are really ready.