Understanding IELTS

Techniques for English Language Tests

Week 2: Making notes for Part 2 of the Speaking Test

There are many different ways to use the one minute preparation time in part two of the
speaking test. Let’s look at the sample question from Step 2.9:

You need to make sure that you address all the key points in the task so one possibility is
to write down notes for each point like this…

Wild animal – wild pig/boar

1. Appearance
• Dark colours – brown/black fur
• Size – similar to a large dog but fatter
• Teeth or fangs coming up out of its mouth
2. Habitat
• Lives in forests near Barcelona
• Sometimes goes into city
3. Like/don’tlike
• Can be dangerous
• People hunt them
• Nocturnal – looks scary at night
• Great! City wildlife in 2015
 Understanding IELTS
Techniques for English Language Tests

Some people prefer to use mindmaps or spider-graphs like this…

…while others prefer just to make a list of some key words they plan to use in their talk:

brown/black fur

fangs

nocturnal

hunt

forest

There is no one best way – the important thing is to try different methods and find the
one that works best for you.