IELTs ACADEMIC: SPEAKING

Part 1: Transcript
QUESTION:1

Can we talk about an aspect of your home town? How easy is it to travel
around where you're from?

MODEL ANSWER:

Ah, yes. I'm from XX. The most beautiful place on earth! It's quite a small
coastal city. There's about XX number of people who live there and we have
quite a good transportation system. I'd say most people travel by car – our roads
are pretty modern but people who don't have a car usually catch a bus. The bus
travels to most parts of the city and it's quite cheap. For example, to travel by
bus from one end of the city to the other it costs about £2 and that's pretty cheap
compared to what I pay here in England.

QUESTION: 2

Ok. Which kinds of public transport do you use most and why?
MODEL ANSWER:
Actually, that's a difficult question to answer because back home, I have my
own car...I sure do miss that. When I was young, I used to catch the bus to
school. In my city all students under 16 who lived more than four...maybe it was
3....anyway about 3 or 4 kilometres from the nearest public high school were
given a bus pass which allowed them to catch the bus to school for free. The
problem was there was never enough seats to allow for all the students so
usually most students had to stand up in the bus all the way until they arrived at
school...but it was much better than having to walk I can assure you of that!
Occasionally, I caught the taxi but it was a very rare thing...taxis are about 4 or
5 times more expensive than regular bus fares so taxis were only used if there
was no other option.

QUESTION 3:

But what about here? Do you use public transport here in England?
MODEL ANSWER:
Oh yes, here I mostly use the underground. It's totally different from back home.
At XX we don’t have enough people to warrant an underground rail system...at
least I think that’s the reason we don’t have one. That’s been a really interesting
part about living here, getting used to the rail system.

QUESTION 4:

How do you compare public transport here in England with public transport
back home?
MODEL ANSWER:
Well, actually, back home public transport is always late. It’s not unusual for
the bus to be...like 15-20 minutes late. We have a saying, “If you want to arrive
on time and you’re catching the bus, prepare for one hour of travel”. Well, here
the underground is always on time. It's been interesting in that it's always on
time and extremely reliable.

QUESTION 5:

Ok, let’s move on to the topic of movies. Do you enjoy watching movies?
MODEL ANSWER:
Yes, I do enjoy movies...do you know anyone who doesn’t like movies? I don't!
I must say that I’m a bit of an action person. I love action movies...I like it when
the tough bad guy gets beaten. I love happy endings...the hero always gets to
win!
QUESTION 6:

How often do you watch movies?

MODEL ANSWER:
Well, it's actually been quite a while since I've been to the cinema to watch a
movie. I think the last movie I saw was Action Force - a real action movie
which I enjoyed immensely. It's actually too expensive to go to the movies these
days...and besides, if I wait for a while...I can watch it at home...besides I'm too
busy studying at the moment...there's really not enough time to watch movies!

QUESTION 7:

Ok. Let's talk about what you like to do in your free time. What sorts of
activities do you like to do in your free time?
MODEL ANSWER:
Free time...we’ll I don’t have too much of that nowadays...but when I do...I
enjoy reading. I mostly enjoy reading business books and magazines...my father
has a business back home and once I finish my studies, I'm going to return home
and help him with the running of it...I enjoy studying about business and
learning about new ideas and ways of making a business more successful and
effective.

Part 2: Transcript 
QUESTION 1:

Ok, good. I'm now going to give you a topic that you will need to speak about
for 1-2 minutes. You can take notes if you want.
You have 1 minute to prepare what you want to say. I want you to talk about the
best holiday you have ever had.

Ok. You have a maximum of 2 minutes to speak so if you go over 2 minutes, I

will ask you to stop. Can you please begin speaking now?
MODEL ANSWER:
The best holiday I have ever been on is a very difficult question to answer
because I’ve been on so many excellent holidays...I guess I’ve been very lucky.
In the summer time back home, when I was young, my family used to go to the
beach and we’d camp under the stars...that has always been an excellent
memory for me. But I'd have to say that the most wonderful holiday I've ever
had was when I was 19, when I went to Minnesota in the United States for a
summer camp experience. It was just so much fun! I met over 200 teenagers and
we participated in some excellent camp activities!

Let me see...we had swimming in the lake, where the camp was situated. We
also had water skiing, which was excellent fun...it was really difficult to hold on
to the rope while the boat pulled us around the lake! Another fun activity was
camping. We...our dorm...went on a 3-day canoe trip...I think there were about
10 of us in our group...which took us to the Canadian boundary waters. There I
saw some of the most beautiful alpine scenery I've ever seen in my life! The
lakes were so clear and we could drink the water from them by dipping our cups
as we canoed along...it was just amazing. I wish everyone could witness the
incredible beauty we saw on that trip. Let’s see, what else? Ahh yes, there was
basketball and volleyball which we played in the big indoor gymnasium. Some
of the Americans were really good basketball players...they even had
cheerleaders at some of the games! I got to know so many people, in fact I still
write to some of the people I met there...you know, isn’t email a great way to
keep in touch? There were other things but I can’t think of them at the
moment...I will say this: I would love to go back there again in the future. Now,
of course I’m too old to be a camper but it would be excellent to be a staff
member, they are always looking for volunteers. If you volunteer at the camp
they pay for your food and accommodation for the whole summer - and that’s
around 3 months in America.