Rakib Hossain(Software Engineer and Researcher)

Language Trainer at S@ifur’s

Speaking:
Speaking:
(11 to 14 mins test)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Introduction  Cue Card  Discussion
 familiar Question
Question Example: Question Example: Question Example:
 Name  Talk about a story  What kinds of story
 Address you shared with is favourite to
 Occupation someone. young in your
 Yourself o What is the country?
 Like and dislike story?
o When?
o About?
4-5 mins 3-4 mins 4-5 mins

Part 1:
42 Topics

Part 2:

Recent IELTS Speaking Part 2 Questions: January 2023

1.Describe a special day out that cost you little money/did not cost you much. You
should say:

o when the day was

o where you went
o how much you spend.
o and explain how you feel about the day.

2. Talk about something healthy you enjoy doing. Please tell me:

o what you do
o where you do it
o who you do it with

3. Describe an outdoor activity you did in a new place. You can say:
 o where it is
o what the activity was
o what the place is like
o and if you enjoyed it

4. Describe an important thing you learned (not at school or college). You should say:

 what it was
 when you learn it
 how you learned it
 and explain why it was important.

5. Describe an interesting place in your country that you would recommend to tourists. You
can say:

o where it is
o what it is like
o what you can do there
o and why you would recommend it to tourists.

6. Talk about a friend who played an important role in your life. You should say:

o How you met this person

o How long have you known him/her
o What do you do or did together?

7. Describe an interesting neighbour. You should say:

o who this person is.

o how you know this person
o what he or she does
o and explain why you think this person is intelligent.

8. Describe a time when you saw a lot of plastic waste. You can say:

o where it was
o what it was like
o how much and what kind of plastic / pollution there
o and say how you felt about it

9. Describe a time when you received money as a gift. You should say:

o When it happened
o Who gave you money
o Why he/she gave you money
o And explain how you used the money

10. Talk about food you tried but didn’t like. Please tell me:
 o What it was
o Why you didn’t like it
o Whether you will try it again

Recent IELTS Speaking Part 2 Questions: December 2022

1. Talk about a book or novel you recently read. Please tell me:
o Who wrote this
o What it is about
o Explain if you enjoyed reading it and why
2. Describe an important building in your hometown or city. You should say:
o where it is
o what it looks like
o what it is used for
o and explain why you think it is important.
3. Describe a traditional product in your country. You should say:
o what the product is
o when you tried this product for the first time
o what it is made of
o and explain how you feel about it.
4. Describe an important lake/river in your country. Please tell me:
o where it is located
o how big/long it is
o what it looks like
o explain why it is important
5. Describe a garden or park you enjoyed visiting. You should say:
o where it was
o what it looked like
o what you did (or, were doing) there
o and explain why you liked it.
6. Describe a special day out that cost you little money/did not cost you much.
You should say:
o when the day was
o where you went
o how much you spend
o and explain how you feel about the day.
7. Describe a person you know who loves to grow plants (vegetables, fruits,
flowers). Please tell me:
o who this person is
o what they grow
o where they grow them
o explain why they enjoy growing plants
8. Describe something (special) that you saved money to buy. You should say:
o what it was
o how long it took you to save enough money to buy it
o why you wanted to buy this thing
 o how you got (or, earned) the money
o and explain how you felt when (or, after) you bought it.
9. Describe your favourite childhood friend. You should say:
o who he/she is
o where you met each other
o what you often did together
o and explain what made you like him/her.
10. Describe a (very) intelligent person you know. You should say:
o who this person is
o when and where you (first) met them (him or her)
o what this person does in life (e.g., work/ study)
o and explain why you think this person is intelligent.

1. Person
Talk about a person you like most
 Who is the person?
 When did you meet him?
 Why do you like him?

Talk about a teacher ………….

………..a singer
……………..an artist
…………a writer
…..a sports man
……..political leader
…….best friend…..
…..a photographer

2. Place
Talk about a place you like to visit….

3. Event

4. Things/Objects

5. Food

Part 3:
 Eating habits

1. Tell me about the types of food that people eat in your country.
2. How are the eating habits now in your country different from eating habits
in the past?
3. How healthy is your country’s food?
4. Why do you think different cultures have different table manners?
5. How may eating habits change in coming decades?

6. Habits and Likes

1. Talk about a country you want to visit
 Name?
 When?
 How?
 Why?

2. Purchase Something
3. Exercise
4. An expensive activity
5. Website you browse
6. App you like to user
7. Music, you want to listen
8. Something to study
9. Written Activity
10. Television Program
11. A large or small company you want to describe

7. Feeling
1. A happy Experience
2. A time you forgot something
3. A disappointment
4. Angry situation
5. A time you had to use your imagination
6. A time you were late
7. A good news
8. Disagreement
9. A change of plans
10. A time when you saved money

8. Experience
1. An important Decision you took
2. A Wedding
3. Joining a club in your local area
 4. A short or long trip
5. Talk about a team you joined to do work
6. Sports where you joined
7. A good film
8. A conversation with a group of people
9. A school rules that you can remember
10. A mistake
11. Difficult work you did
12. A new dish you tried in a restaurant
9. Story
1. An agreement two of your friends have …… like covid
2. An a conversation…..like covid
3. A time you changed your opinion…. Covid 19
4. An article about health you read…. Covid 19
5. An international news …covid 19
6. You made a promise to someone
7. An interesting story you shared with someone………
8. A moment you can remember or can’t forget.
9. A historical story you can share
10. Something you learn at school life but not from your school, can you
share that story

Part 3:

7 Common Question Types

7 Common Question Types

The seven common question types that appear in IELTS speaking part 3 are:
 1. Opinion – What do you think about ‘this’? Remember to say why you think that way
and give examples.
2. Evaluate – What do you think about someone else’s opinion?
3. Future – What do you think will happen in the future?
4. Cause and Effect – What caused ‘this’ and/or what effects has ‘it’ had?
5. Hypothetical – Talk about imaginary or unreal situations.
6. Compare and Contrast – Talk about the difference and/or similarities between two
things.
7. Past – How were things different in the past and how have they changed?

 Advantage/disadvantage
 Problem

1. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you do?
– Do you like cakes and sweets?
– Do you like spending time by yourself?
– Do you like your house? Why?

Cue Card

Talk about a uniform that you wore in the past. Please say

– Describe it.
– Where and when was it?
– How did you feel about wearing a uniform?

Discussion
– Who bought it for you?
– Why is it important to wear a uniform?
– Does the fashion industry influence the dress style of younger people?
– Is children’s dress style influenced by their peers?

2. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you do?
– Where do you live now?
– What is the most interesting place to visit in your hometown?
– Do many tourists visit your country?
– Do you like long or short holidays?
– Where do you like to go on holiday?
– Do you prefer beach holidays or city holidays?
– Do you have close friends?
– What do you value the most in your friends?
– Do you meet often with your friends?

Cue Card

Describe a new public building you want to visit. Please say

– What building it is
– Where and when was it built?
– Why do you want to visit it?

Discussion

– What types of buildings are there in your hometown?

– Is it a good trend to have skyscrapers in the city?
– Do you think buildings’ shapes and structures will change in the future?
– Would you like to live in a different-shaped building, round or triangular?
– Why is that?
3. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you do?
– Do you like your work?
– What are your responsibilities there?
– Would you like to work there in the future?
– Does your job require full concentration?
– What do you mean by concentration?

Cue Card

Talk about advice you received from someone that was very helpful. Please say

– What was the advice?

– Who gave it to you?
– Why was it helpful?

Discussion

– Do you often get advice from older people?

– Do you like to give advice to others?
– Why don’t many people follow good advice?

4. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you study?
– Why did you choose this course?
– What are some of the drawbacks of using social media?
– Do you use more social media now compared to in the past?

Cue Card

Talk about a singer or a music band which you listen to frequently. Please say

– Who are they?

– When and where did you hear them for the first time?
– Why do you listen to them?

Discussion

– What other music or band do you like?

– Why do you think people listen to music?
– Would you like to sing or play yourself?

5. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you do?
– Do you like your job?
– Where do you stay now?
– Do you live in an apartment or a house?
– How long did you live there?
– Describe your favorite room.
– Why is it your favorite place?
– Do you think people smile a lot nowadays?
– Are their smiles artificial or mostly genuine?
– When do you usually smile?
– Why is that?

Cue Card
Describe a person whom you know well who came up with a new idea or invention. Please
say

– Who is that person?

– Where and when did you meet?
– What was his/her idea or invention?

Follow up question: Why did you appreciate it?

Discussion

– How can people innovate or make new discoveries?

– How do they come up with these innovations?
– At what age do children learn to form their own opinions and make decisions?
– Who helps them?
– Why do they start having their own opinions at a certain age?
– Do you think their opinions are likely to be similar to their parents’ opinions?
– Why is that?

6. Interview
– What is your full name?
– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you do?
– What do you like about your work?
– Does the type of your work change from time to time?
– Do people in your city like to go to parks?
– Do you like to go to parks?
– What do you do there?
– Did you use to go to parks as a child?
– What is your favorite park?

Cue Card

Describe an interesting event you have participated in recently. Please say

– When and where was it?
– What was the event?
– Why was it interesting for you?

Discussion

– What are some social events in your country?

– What benefits do sponsors get from social events?
– What are the advantages and disadvantages of international events?
– Why do you think so?

7. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What subject are you studying?
– Why do you think people choose such a subject in your country?
– Do you like reading books?
– What type of books do you read?
– Are you reading a book presently?
– Would you like to write a book in the future?

Cue Card

Talk about a situation where you had to tell a lie to your friend. Please say

– What was the lie?

– When and where did you lie?
– Why did you do it?

Discussion
– Are you a patient person?
– When did you get impatient recently?
– Why did it happen?

8. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What subject are you studying?
– Let’s talk about numbers.
– Can you memorize phone numbers easily?
– Did you like studying math at school?
– Why is that?
– Are numbers important for your current studies?
– Why or why not?

Cue Card

Talk about a teacher that influenced you in high school. Please say

– Describe him/her.
– When and where was it?
– How did he/she influence you?

Discussion

– What are the main skills needed to be a good learner?

– Do you think it’s easier to study when you are young?
– in your opinion, is it more efficient to study in class or by yourself?

9. Interview
– What is your full name?
– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you do?
– Do you enjoy your job?
– Do you prefer to work in the morning or in the afternoon?
– Do you like to watch movies?
– What genre of films do you like?
– Do you like to watch comedies?
– When did you watch a good comedy?
– Do you think you and your friends will laugh at the same things?

Cue Card

Describe a sports or work team where you participate. Please say

– What is it?
– When and why did you join it?
– Can you give a brief description of the team members?

Discussion

– Explain why you were chosen to be part of this team.

– What is the importance of international teamwork?
– Can you give examples of teamwork among children?

10. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you do?
– Where do you live now?
– What do you do for entertainment there?
– What music do you listen to?
– Do you like to listen to music alone or with friends?
– Do you wear jeans?
– What is your opinion about people who wear jeans?
– Why do you think so?

Cue Card

Talk about a recent celebration that you were invited to. Please say

– What were you celebrating?

– Who did you celebrate it with?
– Why did you celebrate it?

Discussion

– Let’s talk about convocations.

– What are the main reasons for them?
– Did you take part in any graduations?
– How is naming ceremony celebrated?
– Explain about church marriages in your country.

11. Interview

– What is your full name?

– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What do you do?
– Do you like your job?
– Where do you live now?
– Describe your hometown.
– What don’t you like about it?
– Why is that?

Cue Card

Describe an interesting person that you have met. Please say

– Who is he/she?
– Where and when did you meet?
– Explain why he/she was interesting.

Discussion

– What topics do men and women usually discuss together?

– Would you like to change the colour of your hair? Why?
– Why do most people lack confidence when doing public presentations?

12. Cue Card

Describe one of your family members you spend the most time with
You should say:
– Who it is
– What you do together
– And explain why you spend the most time with this member of your family

Discussion

– How many generations usually live together in your country?

– Is it important to visit family members?
– What are the values of family in your country?
– Why is family bonding necessary for happiness in life?
– Do you think the support from a friend is different from the support from a family member?
– Who should be more responsible for educating the children in a family?
– Do you think there are differences between the way men and women care for children?
– Do your parents do household chores equally?

13. Cue Card

Describe an important journey that was delayed.
You should say:
– Why it was important
– What caused the delay
– What happened at the end
– And explain how you felt about the delay
Discussion

– How easy is it to travel around your country?

– Which method of travel do you consider safest?
– Has travel become safer in recent years?
– What do you think people can learn by travelling to other countries?
– What are the pros and cons of low-cost air travel?
– How do you think people will travel in the future?

 Practice 1 and half hour daily in your house.

Grammatical Structures

Opinion

One thing you should not do is start every sentence with ‘I think…’ or ‘In my opinion…’ The
IELTS examiner will be looking for how you vary your language. Below are a number of
ways you could do that:

 As I see it,
 Personally,
 For me,

If you feel very strongly about something you could use:

 I’m convinced that….

 I’m certain that….
 I’m sure that….

If you are less sure about your opinion you could give a weaker opinion by using:
  I guess that…
 I suppose that….
 I’d say that…..

Example Question

What are some of the ways people can help others in the community?

As I see it, there are many ways one can help the needy, but the best way is by making
charitable donations. People can choose a charity and simply donate a sum of money and
leave it to them to help others in need. For instance, I recently gave money to an orphanage. I
don’t have time to help them personally, so I’ll leave it up to them to use the money as they
see fit.

Evaluate

In these kinds of questions, you will be asked what you think about someone else’s opinion.
We will therefore need to use expressions that allow us to agree or disagree.

For agreement we can use:

 I couldn’t agree with you more.

 That’s so true.
 That’s for sure.
 That’s exactly how I feel.
 No doubt about it.
 I suppose so./I guess so.
 You/they have a point there.
 I do agree with it…..

For disagreement we can use:

 I don’t think so.

 I’m afraid I disagree.
 I totally disagree.
 I beg to differ.
  I’d say the exact opposite.
 Not necessarily.
 That’s not always true.
 That’s not always the case.

Remember that you will have to extend your answers with explanations and examples.

Example Question

Some people say that people helped others more in the past than they do now. Do you agree
or disagree?

I don’t think so. When it comes to my parents’ generation I think they are quite sceptical
about helping other people in the community, but my generation are regularly doing things to
improve it, such as volunteering for various environmental and charitable organisations.
Young people are actively encouraged to help out in the community and I don’t think this
happened in the past, so I’m afraid I’d disagree.

Future

You are often asked to predict how a certain topic will change in the future.

For making future predictions we normally use ‘will + verb’, however this is quite simple and
the examiner will be looking for your ability to use more complex structures to predict the
future. More complex structures could include:

 X plans to…..
 It is predicted that….
 X intends to….
 I foresee…..
 It is foreseeable….
 Conditionals- If X + verb…..
 It is likely that…
 It is probable that….
 It is unforeseeable that….
  I envisage….

As always you will have to explain why you think this will occur in the future. You may also
want to use future conditionals to extend your answer.

Example Question

Some people say that working from home will be quite common in the future. Do you agree?

It is foreseeable that more people will work from home in the future. If the internet
becomes faster and there are more programs, such as Skype, that allow people to work from
home more easily, I’d predict that more people will stay at home. If you think about it, most
people don’t need to be physically present to do their jobs and I envisage that face to face
meetings will be a thing of the past.

Cause and Effect

You may also be asked to discuss what has caused a certain situation and what effects this
has. This language will also help you in IELTS writing task 2.

To talk about cause and effect you can use:

 …because…
 …as a result….
 …resulted in…
 …as a consequence…
 …due to….
 …caused…
 …led to….
 …means that….

These are just some examples and the form of the words may change depending on the words
around them in the sentence. Only use them if you are sure your sentences are grammatically
correct.

Example Question
How does advertising influence what people choose to buy?

I think advertising has a big influence on what people purchase and often leads to them
always sticking with the same brand. For example, I always drink Coca Cola and I believe
this is because I grew up watching all those ads on TV and I instinctively buy it as a result. I
mean, why would companies spend so much money on adverts, unless it led to more sales?

Hypothetical

The second conditional is used to talk about ‘unreal’, ‘unlikely’ or ‘impossible’ situations.
You might get asked a question about an ‘unreal’ situation, for example ‘If you were mayor
of your city, what would you do to improve it?’

The grammar we use for this is:

If + (subject 1) + past participle, then (subject 2) + would + verb

Example Question

If you could choose any country to live in, where would you choose?

If I could live in any country, I would probably choose Australia. The weather is great; the
people are super friendly and just imagine living beside all those beaches. If I could choose
another country, it would have to be Italy, for the architecture, the culture and its fascinating
history.

Compare and Contrast

To compare two things, use a comparative adjective + than e.g. He’s taller than his sister.

Some comparative adjectives are irregular:

Good- better

Bad- worse
Far- further

For short adjectives, add –(e)r. If they end in –y change to –ier. For example:

Hard- harder

Cheap- cheaper

Easy- easier

Lazy- lazier

For longer adjectives, use more. For example:

More interesting

More difficult

Example Question

Do you think primary school children should learn a second language or should they wait
until secondary school?

It’s obvious that the earlier children start a language the easier it becomes in later life.
However, some parents might think that subjects like maths are more important than
languages at primary level. They may also think that a foreign language is less important than
their first language and this should be prioritised.

Past

 We may use the present perfect continuous to talk about something that started in
the past and continues up until the present. Example: They have been developing the
city centre for the past five years. For this tense we use the structure has/have + been
+ present participle (verb-ing).

 Used to + infinitive to talk about past habits or states that are now finished.
  Would + infinitive to describe past habits.

 Past simple to talk about things you did in the past that you no longer do or are no
longer true.

 Past continuous to talk about the background of a story or how you felt at a particular
time.

 Past perfect to say something happened before something else in the past.

Example Question

How has teaching changed in your country over the past few decades?

In the past, teachers simply lectured students and the students just listened to what they said.
We were given lots of facts to learn and there was no room for creativity or freedom of
expression. I remember learning lots of things without thinking about the theory behind it.
Now, there’s been a movement towards students thinking for themselves.