IELTS SPEAKING PART 1

I’d just like` to ask you some questions about your work.

1. What job do you do?

2. Why did you choose that particular job?
3. What do you do every day?
4. What other work would you consider doing?

I’d like to move on and ask you some questions about relaxing.

1. What type of activities help you relax?

2. Do you like to do these activities alone or with other people?
3. Why do you think it is important for people to relax?
4. Do you think people have enough time for relaxing?

Let’s change the topic and talk about your family.

1. Do you have a big or a small family?

2. Do you live together or nearby?
3. What activities do you like to do together?
4. Who is your favourite family member?

IELTS SPEAKING PART 2

IELTS SPEAKING PART 3

1. Is buying clothes a popular activity for teenagers in your country?

 2. How much money should parents spend on their children's clothes?
3. What types of fashion do teenagers like to wear in your country?
4. What influence has the fashion industry had in your country?
5. Are the fashions of today different from those when your parents were young?
6. What do you think will be the effects of the fashion industry in the next ten years?

Useful Vocabulary

● to be on trend: to be very fashionable

● casual clothes: not formal
● classic style: a simple, traditional style that is always fashionable
● designer label: a well-known company that makes (often expensive) clothing
● dressed to kill: wearing clothes that attract admirers
● to dress for the occasion: to wear clothes suitable for a particular event
● fashionable: in fashion
● fashion house: a company that sells (usually expensive) new styles in clothes
● fashion icon: a person who is famous for their sense of fashion
● fashion show: an event where modals show off the latest in fashion designs
● to get dressed up: to put on nice clothes, often to go out somewhere special
● to go out of fashion: to not be in fashion any more
● hand-me-downs: clothes that are passed down from older brothers or sisters to their
younger siblings
● to have an eye for (fashion): to be a good judge of
● to have a sense of style: the ability to wear clothes that look stylish
● the height of fashion: very fashionable
● to keep up with the latest fashion: to wear the latest fashions
● to look good in: to wear something that suits you
● to mix and match: to wear different styles or items of clothing that aren’t part of a
set outfit
● must-have: something that is highly fashionable and therefore in demand
● off the peg: clothing that is ready made
● old fashioned: not in fashion any more
● on the catwalk: the stage that modals walk along to show off the latest fashions
● a slave to fashion: someone who always feel the need to wear the latest fashions
● smart clothes: the kind of clothes worn for a formal event
● to suit someone: to look good on someone
● to take pride in one’s appearance: to pay attention to how one looks
● timeless: something that doesn’t go out of fashion
● vintage clothes: clothes from an earlier period
● well-dressed: to be dressed attractively
PART 1 Time: 4-5 minutes

Now, in this first part of the test I'm going to ask you some questions about yourself. Let’s
talk about your hometown.

1. What kind of place is your hometown?

2. What do young people do for entertainment in your hometown?
3. What is the worst thing about living in your hometown? (Why?)

I’d like to move on and ask you some questions about tourism in your country.

1. What should a visitor see and do in your country?

2. Are there any traditional art or music that you would recommend? (Why?)
3. Tell me about the kind of visitor who come to your country.
Let’s move on and talk about being on time for appointments.

1. Is being late acceptable in your culture? (Why/why not?)

2. Are you ever late for appointments? (Why/why not?)
3. What type of excuses do you think are alright for lateness?
4. How do you feel when someone is late for an appointment with you?

PART 2 Time: 3-4 minutes

Now, I'm going to give you a topic and I'd like you to talk about it for 1-2 minutes. Before you
talk you'll have one minute to think about what you are going to say and you can make notes
if you wish. Do you understand?

PART 3 Time: 4-5 minutes

We've been talking about an important event in your life, and I'd now like to ask you some
questions related to this. First, let’s consider values and the way they change.
1. What kinds of possessions give status to people in your country?
2. Has it always been the same or were different possessions thought of as valuable in the
past?
3. Why do you think people need to show their status in society?

Now we'll discuss the role of advertising.

1. Do you think advertising influences what people buy?
2. Do advertisements give correct information, or do they encourage people to buy things
that they may not need?
3. Is advertising really necessary in modern society?

Now we'll move on to the influence of the internet.

1. Do you think people take notice of advertisements on the internet?
2. How do you think it will change people's buying habits in the future?
3. Are there any disadvantages to shopping on the internet?

IELTS Speaking Sample Answer

PART 1 - Time
Are you good at managing your time?

Actually I'd say I'm not too good! I don't really have a system in place to organize things. I
know some people have an electronic organizer or use some device to plan what they are
doing but I don't do that. But I always make sure I am on time for appointments and things
like that, and I meet deadlines and get things done.

How do you manage your time?

As I said, I don't have any specific system in place to manage my time. For example, if I am at
work and I have a lot of cases, I just go through them each day and decide which I need to
tackle first. At work we do have an online diary which I guess I use, so in that sense I do
manage my time to an extent.

When is it most important for you to manage your time?

I think it is probably when you are at work. When out of work, it's not really going to affect
things too much, or at least only yourself, if you are late to meet friends or for an
appointment, or if you are getting things done in your house. But at work, it will cause
problems if you don't manage your time effectively because you could miss deadlines or
miss appointments. You could lose your job. So at work is when it is most important to
manage your time.

PART 2

Describe a happy childhood event.

You should say:

● When it happened
● Who was involved
● How you felt at the time

Explain why you remember this particular occasion.

IELTS Speaking Examples - Model Answer

I’m going to talk about a happy childhood event that I remember, and that event was my
13th birthday.

It was 10 years ago now because I’m 23. My birthday is on the 7th May. What happened
was my parents surprised me on my birthday by telling me that they were going to take me
to a theme part that is a few hours from our house. I’d never been before - it had only been
open a few months and they knew that I really wanted to go. As I recall it was a Saturday
that we went. They didn’t tell me until the morning when I woke up that day.

My whole family was involved in the event. I have a brother and a sister so of course they
came as well as my Mum and Dad, and not only that, we also picked up my grandparents on
the way so they could join us. They were too old to go on the rides but it was still a great trip
out for them!
The theme park was really amazing. There was a huge roller coaster which I remember was
really scary but still excellent fun. One particular thing I remember is the ghost train. My
younger sister was not allowed to go on the ride because she was too young and she was
really upset and jealous of me and by brother! I think it was lucky she didn’t though. It was
really realistic – there were real people in there who were actually dressed up as ghosts and
they jumped out just when you weren’t expecting it – it made us jump so many times!

How I felt really depended on what I was doing. Obviously I was excited the whole day, but
I remember that I felt really exhilarated when I was on the rides such as the roller coaster,
and scared but still excited on the ghost train.

The reason that I remember it so well is that I had been so desperate to go to the theme
park and I’d been talking to my friends at school for ages about how I wanted to go. So it was
so great when I found out that I could. Also I remember it so well because all of our family
was together. My Dad was pretty busy most of the time with his work so we didn’t always
have much time to do things together when I was a younger.

So for these reasons, is was a really special occasion that I’ll never forget.

PART 3

First we'll talk about global environmental problems

1.Tell me about some of the environmental problems that are affecting countries these
days?

Well, there are a lot at the moment. Although it has not been proven for sure, there is a
great deal of consensus about the fact that global warming is leading to severe weather
change and this is resulting in many problems. We are seeing a lot of countries with the
same problems that they have always had but on a much larger scale. For example, in the
United States there seem to be far more hurricanes and tornadoes than in the past, with
more devastating effects. There seems to constantly be news of serious flooding in many
countries from Asia to Europe. Forest fires also seem to be getting worse, particularly each
year in Australia.
2. Do you think that governments around the world are doing enough to tackle the
problems?

No, usually I don't think they are doing enough. There are countries that do what they can
do help their people when problems occur and they are trying to come up with measures to
mitigate the effects but when it comes to the major issue of global warming countries are
not doing enough. We see time and again that no agreement can be made on how to reduce
carbon footprints. This is usually because governments know that to make a serious
reduction in carbon dioxide emissions they will have to sacrifice economic growth and they
are not prepared to do this. Governments think very short-term. They know that if there is
economic decline, then they will be voted out.
3. Why do some people not consider environmental problems to be serious?

I think there are several reasons for that. In some cases it is simply because people are not
affected on a day-to-day basis so it does not concern them. They just see it on the news
affecting other people. It does not mean they do not care but they will soon forget about it.
Also, some big organizations can be responsible for putting the wrong information out. For
example, oil companies have a vested interest in making sure people do not believe in global
warming as it could affect their profits, so they play the issue down. Also, some people think
as it is a long-term problem, they will be dead by the time it will affect them so they think it
is not important for them!
Now we'll look at environmental problems and disasters caused by humans.

4. What do you consider to be the world’s worst environmental disaster caused by

humans?

I think that may be the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine. In that case there was an
explosion and nuclear meltdown. It caused great loss of life. The environment was badly
affected and it is still affected today and could be for many years. There are also many
people who are still getting sick from the disaster and no one can live anywhere near the
site. Of course there are many other serious ones, some more recent such as the oil spills in
Africa and the US.

5. Why do you think environmental disasters caused by humans happen?

It could be for different reasons. In some cases it is simply because not enough care is taken.
Maybe procedures are not good enough. It could also be because the drive for profit means
that there is cost cutting and that again could mean that good procedures are not in place.
There is usually a situation when a disaster happens where blame will be deflected and it is
difficult to establish exactly who is responsible. Nobody wants to admit responsibility
because it means they will have to pay compensation. Sometimes a disaster can happen
because of a simple mistake by someone.

6. Do you think there will be more environmental disasters caused by humans in the
future?

I don't think there will necessarily be more. Procedures are always getting tighter so in
theory there should be fewer, but mistakes will always happen so I'm sure they will continue
unfortunately. Governments must continue to prosecute any companies that do cause
environments problems or disasters so that they are less likely to happen again.