Have you ever sat on the IELTS speaking test? Or maybe are you now preparing for IELTS? In the speaking part of IELTS, you will be interviewed by the examiner for about 10-15 minutes. Since it is a face two face interview, it is important to also pay attention to your body language and eye contacts. However, language skill will still be one important aspect that you need to train. There are three sections in the speaking part of IELTS: (1) Interview on daily topics, (2) two minutes monologue on a certain topic, (3) Follow up discussion in the form of an interview about the topic in section two. Overall, in this test, you only have 10-15 minutes to show off your English-speaking ability. So, here are some tips that might work for you.  

  1. Greet your examiner 

At the beginning of the session, the examiner will as you to show your photo ID and also say “how are you?” to you. After answering the question, you can also ask “how are you?” to your examiner. This small interaction at the beginning of the test might help you to overcome nervousness before the interview. 

 2. Avoid short answer 

Do not answer the question by only saying “yes”/ “no”. Try to elaborate on your answer, but make sure it is still related to the question. You can use the 5W/1H Technique to elaborate your answer. If you are asked to tell about the city where you were born, you could say the name of the city (what), the exact location (where), and how’s the overall condition of the city (how). For example: “I was born in Malang, the 2nd biggest city in East Java. It is a pretty big city with cold weather.  

 3. Don’t beat around the bush 

In some cases, when someone tries to elaborate their answer, they might get trapped in their answer to the point where they do not know how to end it.  Therefore, you have to use conjunctions, such as because, due to, but, in addition, etc. or signposting, such as first, second, third, finally, then, etc. to help organize your thought or idea. For example, 

 4. Note-taking 

In the second part of the speaking section, you will be asked to speak about a certain topic for two minutes. The examiner will give you one minute to prepare your note. Do not write complete sentences to avoid getting trap in your notes, instead try to make notes in the form of bullet points.  

 5. Make it Up 

You may be given an unfamiliar topic. If this situation happens, you have to make up a story to answer the question.  You cannot ask the examiner to change the topic of the question for you. 

 These five tips will not work if you do not do a lot of practice. Therefore, the most important thing to do is doing lots of practices with your friends or English teachers. Ask them to give constructive feedback on your speaking performance, and so you can better of your speaking skill.  Finally, all the best with your IELTS test!