This is the second practice speaking test video. Listen and answer the questions from each part of the speaking test. This helps you get used to the length of the test and the types of questions asked.
- Read through the instructions below before you listen to the test video.
- Listen to the questions, pause the video and answer the questions.
- After you finish your test, read through the transcript to check that you understood all the questions correctly (transcript given below video).
Materials Needed:
- pen and paper: for making notes for speaking part 2
- phone or recording device: for recording your answers so you can play it back and check your speaking
- a timer: for controlling the time in each part and making sure you don’t take more than 14 minutes for the whole test
Method:
- Have your materials ready (phone, pen, paper, timer)
- Press record on your phone, start your timer and press play on the video below (do this at the same time). Keep your recording device and timer going throughout the whole test. The test will take between 11 and 14 minutes.
- Part 1
- there will be 12 questions – you must answer each question immediately
- after each question, pause the video and record your answer
- don’t take less than 4 minutes or more than 5 minutes to answer all part 1 questions
- if you finish in under 4 mins, you answers are too short
- if you didn’t finish all 12 questions in 5 minutes, your answers are too long or you hesitated too much before answering
- Part 2
- in part 2, you have 1 min to prepare a talk and your talk must last from 1 to 2 minutes
- have your pen and paper ready
- the cue card (topic card with prompts) will be shown on the screen
- in the video, you will be given one min to make notes – use your pen and paper to prepare your talk
- in the video, you will be given two full minutes to talk (a skip button will appear after 1 minute so you can move to part 3 if you finish early but try and speak for the full 2 minutes)
- Part 3
- there are 5 questions in this part – you must answer each question immediately
- you should give long, detailed answers with examples if possible
- after each question, pause the video and record your answer into your phone
- don’t take less than 4 mins or more than 5 minutes to answer all part 3 questions
- After your test has finished
- listen back to your recording and check your answers – see how you could improve your answers
- read through the transcript and check you have understood all the questions correctly
- listen to the speaking test model answers and see how you can improve your answers
Practice Speaking Test: Video 2
Speaking Part 1
Hometown
Where is your hometown?
Do you like your hometown?
Are there any old buildings in your hometown?
How could you hometown be improved?
Food
What’s your favourite food?
Was there any food you disliked as a child?
Where do you usually buy your food from?
What do you consider is a healthy diet?
Sport
Do you like sport?
Did you play much sport as a child?
What is the most popular sport in your country?
Do you think men and women like similar sports?
Speaking Part 2
A book you recently read
What type of book it is
Where you got the book from
What it is about
And explain why you enjoyed it.
Speaking part 3
What’s the difference between fiction and non-fiction books?
Do you think people read more books today than they did in the past?
How could parents encourage their children to read more?
Why do some adults read books for children?
Why do some people prefer ebooks?
Do you think paper books will one day disappear?
Recommended
Hi Liz,
I am planning to take IELTS exam in few days.
I have prepared lot using your material.
I have stuttering problem. I have informed it to the exam center, and they asked me to inform the exam staff before I go for the exam on that day.
Will my stuttering reduce my marks in any way?
I use the work “OK” repeatedly whenever I stutter.
I am really worried for it.
You should do what your centre tells you and inform the staff before the exam. Also ask the examiner before the start of the test if they have been informed. Tell the examiner exactly what problems you have – mention that you stutter and repeatedly say “ok”. This will be taken into consideration for your marks for both fluency and pronunciation. Be strong. Go into that test feeling confident that you will do your best. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you 🙂
Hi Liz,
I already did IELTS test twice before, but in Brazil. In both cases I got 6.5 in speaking. Now I am leaving in Canada and after 1.5 years living here I did the test again. My marks on Listen, Reading and Writing kept the same as previous, but I got 5.5 in speaking. I know I was a bit nervous, but I was upset with the results. I studied based on your blog here. I am not asking you whether I should ask for a remark or not, but, do you have an idea of how often the examiners actually change a mark when the student request a double-check?
I have emailed you about this. Please check your emails.
Hi Liz,
I have one doubt in speaking part 2 the question what they gave but we don’t know exact meaning of that question at that time how we need to respond to that answer
example question : describe a person who you LOATHE mostly. Explain why.
The above question totally based on loathe word if we don’t know meaning of that kind of question means what we need to do
On the whole, the cue cards contain only simple language. Topics are usually written in a way that even the low levels understand. You cannot ask the examiner to explain. You can see that the cue card might be either – love or hate. So, when you start your talk, you can say “I do not know the meaning of the word “loathe”. I guess it is either love or hate. So, I will talk about someone I love and someone I hate …”
You are not marked on understanding. You are not marked about being on topic. You are not marked about ideas. So, it is fine to do this. You have explained at the start and your talk makes sense. As long as you don’t completely change the main topic and start talking about a sport you like or your favourite food, it is fine.
Hey Liz,
First of all, thanks a ton for the beautifully structured blog. I am practicing all the sections from your blog and it definitely improved the way of my preparation. I have been practicing for the speaking section and I just noticed that, when I talk, I keep talking on and on without thinking about the vocabulary. When I’m speaking I am not able to introduce amazing vocabulary. I certainly know them, but how to incorporate them while talking? My speaking test is in 3 days. Thank you.
Vocabulary is only 25% of your marks and it isn’t something you should be focusing on when you are in the test room. Your focus should be on chatting and expanding answers so that the examiner hears a full range of English. It is an informal speaking test so being chatty is the key. Talk until the examiner stops you. People also struggle to understand what is considered “high level” language. For grammar, this would mean using a range of tenses – using conditional statements etc. For vocabulary, the words “thanks a ton” is actually high level – it is how native speakers speak – that’s what it is all about. It sounds to me like you have a strong level of English/ In which case, don’t sacrifice your score in fluency because you want to remember a single word. Good luck 🙂
Hi Liz!
Firstly thank you for precious advice.
I’ve received my result today and I just got 6.5 speaking. I was pretty sure that I spoke at length and there’s no unusual gap during my speak. The part 2 was one of the topic you posted also so I had a kind of preparation in advance. But I didn’t learn by heart.
My overall is 7 but I’m not quite satisfied with speaking part. Should I ask for the re-mark? Because the process takes quite long and the fee is a problem also.
Thank you so much
IELTS speaking is marked based on fluency, grammar, vocab and pronunciation. For this reason, there is no way to indicate from a written message how well you did with the specific questions you were given in your test. This is a decision you will need to decide on your own. If you go for the remark – good luck. If you take the test again, look at how you use and present language in the speaking test – also look at the range of language you use (particularly in reference to tenses and other grammar features.)
Hello Liz,
I can’t thank you enough for your lessons, they were very helpful to me today. I did the speaking test today,the questions are:
Part 1: what is your name?
What may I call you?
Do you work or study?
What’s the most interesting part of your studies?
Can’t remember the rest
Part 2: describe the most interesting old person you know?
Part 3: do you think older people favor ideas/things in there youth?(forget the exact question)
What lesson do younger people learn from older people?
What advice do you think younger people should give to older people?
Do you think it is important to learn different cultures?
Do you think tourists care about culture or not.
Forgot a few more.
My warmest regards
Glad my lessons helped 🙂 Good luck with your results 🙂
Hi liz, thanks for such amazing videos. I have my speaking test tomorrow. The only problem I am facing when I am practising speaking is that my pace of answering is very slow. The examiner will have to wait very long for my answers. 😛 Can you tell me how can I improve this? Even if I know what I have to talk, it is slow. Thanks.
You should have asked me a long time ago about improving fluency – not the day before your test. Review all my model answers and lessons: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-speaking-free-lessons-essential-tips/. The examiner will not wait for you in part 1 or part 3. The examiner will interrupt you and move on to another question. You will have to go into the test determined to talk and be chatty. You should not worry about mistakes or which words to use – just talk and talk!
Hi Liz, first of all thank you for the amazing guide you are. I have been following your blog and guidelines for ielts test. I jave one query. During my cue card speaking, when i was about to finish, the examiner was indicating to speak more. So i did for some more time until she interrupted. I would like to know if that is a bad thing?
It is not good or bad – it is normal. You are allowed 2 mins for part 2 and the examiner will telling you that you could continue speaking if you wanted.
Hey Liz,
I had my speaking test today and in part 1 I had a question – have you ever given money to children..
My answer was- once I visited an orphanage in a school field trip and donated 100$ to underprivileged children…
But I forgot to say ‘yes I have’ in the beginning
Will that affect my score??
It is nothing to worry about.
Hello Liz, thank you for you lessons. Although, there is this one thing I am confused about.
Yesterday I gave my mock test for IELTS and during my Speaking test Pt. 2 , was asked about something adventurous I did.
While sharing my story, I happened to mention some stuffs which weren’t, say legal. It just slipped out of my mouth. If I mention something not legal like got drunk or high and drove at night. Or using words like darn/damn. Will that affect my score?
The examiner doesn’t care about the subject matter – you can talk about what you want. Using informal language is 100% fine. The word “darn” and “damn” are completely acceptable.
Hi Liz! Your materials And videos were extremly helpful!! Thanks a lot! My exam was today, and the Cue Card in task 2 was about my favourite toy from childhood. I had to describe the followings:
-what was it
-how I played with this
-who I played the game with.
And in part 3, there were questions about toy industry. For example: how much is the toy industry influenced by television commercials, programmes and stuff.
hi Liz
can you please upload tentative topics for speaking and writing for ielts exam in feb 2018. That would be a great help .
thanks
Rajveer
Follow this page: http://www.ieltsliz.com/recent-ielts-questions-and-topics
Hello Liz,
I just took my ielts speaking test a few hours ago, although, the first 2 parts went great the 3rd part was surprisingly annoying. The examiner was not cross questioning, but was actually arguing with me on points. The examiner hardly let me speak in section 3 and keep throwing argument questions at me. Finally the examiner said time is up. After the test, the examiner said “This XYZ point is what i needed.” I thought IELTS speaking is judged on your ability to speak Englist and there is no right or wrong ideas. I am so confused !!!
What was the XYZ point mentioned? It probably contained key language. IELTS speaking ideas are not scored at all so the examiner was probably referring to language.
Hi Liz
Thank you for your prompt reply,
The part 3 question was “What do advertising agencies do in common to attract people?”
My response was “They adopt many similar strategies such as attractive visual for foods commercials
before i could elaborate further the examiner said “Every one uses colour visuals its not the days of black and white films” what else ?
I said they appoint popular iconic charaters like actors or athletes to represent their products which is a norm these days to boost sales. as they have a lot of fan following
Again before I could elaborate further the examiner stopped me and said, “popluar people are not frequently used ” what is the common factor ??
By then the time and exam was over !! Later unofficially the examine said “Dont you think that advertisments use family and good looking people for their ads.” so i replied sorry madam with all due respect i have to disagree because why would an ad resquesting for donation or contribution to local charity use good looking and happy people.
You have shown the examiner that you can discuss in English. She pushed you and you replied quickly, easily and with excellent vocab on an unusual topic. It is her job to push and challenge in order to test your English. She doesn’t need you to finish the answer, she needs to test you. I would expect very good results from this. Let me know when your results arrive 🙂
Im keeping my fingers crossed.
Thank you so much Madam, it is certainly a relief after disucssing my concerns with you. Certainly, I shall share my results with you.
Thank you once again
Liz, my examiners stoped me at the middle even I haven’t finished answering..will it be problem?
See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/why-the-ielts-speaking-examiner-stops-your-answer/
Hi Liz,
Firstly, let me thank you very much for the invaluable lessons that you have shared for free on your website 🙂
Secondly, if you can find some time, please make some other full simulation tests like the one above. (I think that 3 or 4 more tests would be ideal for individual practice.)
All the best 🙂
Yes. I plan to do that in the future.
these tips are so helpful but I am curious to know whether using alot of natural fillers and speaking fast will make me lose score
You should speak at a natural pace. If you speak very fast and the examiner can’t understand, it will be a problem. Using fillers is a natural part of speaking informally so that’s fine.
Thank you for all the help. Does it affects my score if I speak slow (like you), particularly stressing on some words, speaking them slowly like you do at the start with the words ‘pause’, ‘start’ the video etc.? I find it difficult to maintain a flow when speaking complex sentences with interlinking words, so all I can think of is to go slow and have short sentences. How will it count towards my score?
You should speak at a natural rate. This means to speak as you normally do. My lessons are for students of different levels so I tend to speak slower in my lessons so that everyone understands. You should aim for your normal pace. When you go into your speaking test, don’t worry too much about making mistakes – your aim should be fluency and chatting to the examiner. It is an informal speaking test – be natural.
Thank you for your prompt. I’ll try to be natural. One more thing I am confused about is the difference between ‘pause’ and ‘silence’. You said silence is detrimental for the score and shows influency. Can you give an audio example or point me to a link where I can see the difference? Is being quiet (thinking what to say next) for 2-3 seconds count as a pause or silence?
Silence is termed as a long pause. When it seems that the person has completely stopped. A pause is only temporary as you collect your thoughts – just a few seconds. If you don’t understand the question, don’t sit in silence. Say “Could you repeat that please”.
Thank you. I’ll keep your advice in mind.
Thank you so much Liz! I just had my speaking test this morning at Karachi, Pakistan. Let me share my experience, please don’t mind if it’s long. Examiner asked about me, my job nature, whether i like my job or not, what’s good about it, do you celebrate birthdays and are they important, how did you spent your birthday. Cue Card: Talk about when you had a new job or work. Related Qs were: Advantages and disadvantages of shifting or change, do children get affected more or adults, difficulties faced, positive changes at work affect family life, does change in workplace affects you?
That’s all I can remember. I recall that I made some grammatical mistakes when mixing past and present tenses and did aa’ um’ twice or thrice in the whole talk. I do feel, on 1 or 2 follow up questions, that I lost the track of what was asked.
Liz’s tips that greatly helped: Be relaxed! Feel like you’re talking to a new classmate or colleague. 2. Don’t repeat words; get around them 3. Always give direct answer (Yes/No) first and then give explanation. 4. Use intonation. 5. Speak naturally, fluency will catch you automatically.
What did I miss? 1. Cue card: I made too many points; I think 2-3 would be good; my 2 minutes were up and there’re 3 points remaining. 2. I was hasty in giving responses; It’d better to pause a little. 3. I used contractions on few occasions only. 4. I think I’ve used present tenses in few sentence when I was explaining the past.
Anyway, it was a great experience and thank you once Liz! I’d only gone through your material and I bet it’s better than RoadtoIELTS one! No offense.
Thanks for sharing 🙂 In speaking part 2, you don’t need to cover all the cue card prompts. It’s good to use contractions in speaking. I hope you do well 🙂
Hello dear Liz , I want to tell you that my speaking ielts test was today and i was asked about jewellery . I dont know if its new topic or no but i thought that i should write to you about it .
Well i I also have a question to you about my test , i said a common arabic word which is insha allah which means in the god wellings , and i unfortunately used it one time at my speaking test , how this will affect my test ?
Thank you again
Don’t worry about using a word from your own language. Of course, it isn’t the best thing to do but it doesn’t make you lose marks. If you said “insha allah which means in the god wellings” and you provided the explanation – it can even add to your score. Certainly don’t worry – it can happen to anyone. About the topic if Jewellery – it’s new. Do you remember the questions for it? I’ll be able to post some sample answers 🙂
He asked me about what do i prefer , gold or silver
And the second one if i have ever wear any jewellery and the third one is about if i gave any one jewellery as a gift or no !
I appreciate your nice answer
Thank you again
Here are some sample answers for those questions:
1) Q. Do you prefer silver or gold? A. It’s hard to say. I suppose if I had to choose, I’d go for gold.
2) Do you ever wear jewellery? A. Yes, I wear small earrings most days and also a necklace but when I go out in the evening I wear large fancy earrings and also bracelets.
3) Have you ever given jewellery as a gift to someone? A. Yes, I once gave a necklace to my mother. It was Mother’s day and I wanted to get her something that she would wear and always remember me by.
You can see that these answers showcase the vocabulary of jewellery, particularly the answer to the second question.
Good luck with your results 🙂
Hi. thanks for very useful videos. i have one question. can i tell the true in speaking? for example if in tpoc is describe a forign country i have recently visited can i say i havent been to forign country but i would like to go somewere
Perfect. That is the right technique. Just be direct and be honest. Of course, you can lie if you want but it’s not easy to talk about something that isn’t true in a test. so, say “I haven’t had the luck to go abroad recently but if I had the chance, I’d probably go to ….”. You can do this in any part of the test. It also shows the use of second conditional: If I had the chance, I’d go to …. – this will help with your score in grammar.
Hi Liz madam,
Thank u so much for ur link.For cue card can I start this way-I’m gonna speak about my cue card.my topic is …..?Please give me ur answer. my speaking test will be held on 27th October & another part on 29th.So give tips or link for that &pray for me
See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-speaking-part-2-how-to-start-your-talk/
Thanks
Hi Liz;
Just wanna ask about the question “Describe the member of your family who is the most successful”.. Can I just simply say “Myself”.. Because in my family I’ve got the good job and career and financial status compared to them.. is it ok? of should I choose between them rather than me?
Thanks
There is no right or wrong answer. However, it is usually better to talk about other people and show your powers of description.
First of all let me start with thanking you – Liz. I just started preparing for IELTS General test, starting yesterday. This blog of yours is indeed incredible. Kudos to you.
Secondly, I am not sure if this a right forum to check for a study partner. If there is someone who wants to join me, give me a shout. Thanks!
I’m glad my blog is useful. I don’t currently have a “find a study partner” page but you can try posting and see if anyone responds.
Hi Liz,
I always have problem if someone asked me about my hometown, as i am originally from Baghdad however i was born and raised in United Arab Emirates, therefore, I won’t be able to answer about Baghdad as I have never been there. Could you please advice me with the above concern?
My speaking test is tomorrow, fingers crossed 🙂
Thanks ,
The examiner is only interested in your English language and not factual information. Give any answer you want. Just talk about a place you know so you can showcase your language skills.
Many Many thanks to you Liz, you’ve been part of my ielts journey which ended today. I referred to most of your you tube videos; some of ’em more than once :). You’ve got all the stuff i needed right there. Thankyou for making it easy for me. With Love, Suma, India.
hi. i am looking forward to getting serious study partner. unable to find anyone. would there be anyone?
are you ok for Skype talk?
if you are ok with skype
Where to get model answer for this speaking session
Sorry this video doesn’t come with a model answer. Only the first video does.
Liz
Hi Liz.
Thank you very much for your help.
This website is very helpful, in fact I’ve been reading your useful tips and suggestions and i hope all I’ve learnt on it will come into handy.
By the way, my speaking exam day is due on Feb16, 2016.
I’m so grateful for that!
Sorry to reply so late. I hope your test went well !!
Liz
Hello Liz
Im taking the academic IELTS test
All the the materials you’ve displayed here are for the academic or for the General IELTS test ?
Thank you in advance
There is only one speaking test. All students have the same speaking test with the same scoring.
All the best
Liz
I faced problems related to writing task pls hepl me how to improve
All my tips and model answers are given in the writing sections of this blog.
All the best
Liz
Hi, Liz!
I have a problem with grammar. I tend to use the wrong tenses in speaking.
Do you have any suggestions on how to improve it?
My friend told me that in IELTS speaking test part 2, the examiner does not mark based on grammar. is that true?
thank you 🙂
The four criteria (fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation) are marked throughout. This means in all parts the examiner checks all criteria.
All the best
Liz
Hello Liz,
Is it essential to speak a bit slow (and clear) in the speaking component, and is it advisable to start with “I’m going to talk about….” in task 2? Some friends of mine told me that they launch their answers with answering the question directly. (i.e. Q: Say something about a book you enjoyed reading. A: I love reading books, but I particularly enjoyed reading Book Thief by ….” or should I answer “Today, I’m going to tell you something about my favorite book entitled Book Thief…”)
You can start in any way you want. My suggestion is only a suggestion. Please remember there are no questions in speaking part 2, only a topic with guidelines. Good choice of book, by the way 🙂
Liz