12 IELTS Speaking Tips

Learn 12 important ways to get a higher score on the IELTS Speaking section. Find out what to do and what NOT to do from an experienced IELTS trainer and understand how to increase your IELTS Speaking score, easily and immediately. You're guaranteed to learn something new here -- and that can make all the difference!
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TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In today's lesson, I'll give you 10 important tips to do well and to get a higher score on the speaking section of your IELTS exam, or actually on any oral speaking test where you're sitting with a live examiner. Okay? So these tips don't apply actually to the TOEFL where your answers are recorded, but it's for any English exam where you're sitting with a real examiner. Okay?

Now, the IELTS, of course, the speaking section of the IELTS test is about 11 or 14 minutes long, has three different sections, and so on. And the IELTS is an exam which is a... It's an English proficiency exam. It's used for immigration purposes, for example, to Canada and Australia. It's used for admission to universities where English is the medium of instruction, and it's also used for professional certification purposes. So lots and lots of people, millions of people do the IELTS exam. And if you're one of them, these speaking tips will really help you. They're general tips; they're not about the specific sections. They apply to all sections of the speaking test. Okay? Let's get started.

So, the first point is: during your speaking test, be formal. By that, I mean treat it like a job interview. And just as in a job interview, you'll be on your best behaviour and so on, behave that way. Don't take it very casually. Okay? Take it seriously and be formal.

Next, give a full answer whenever possible. Now, remember and just think about it: you have about 11 to 15 minutes to use the best English that you know and that you've studied all your life. Okay? So, obviously, you want to try to show off during your English test. So, when I say give a full answer, I mean, in the first section when they ask you some questions about you, about your family, about your background, if they say, for example: "Where are you from?" Don't just say: "Tokyo", because that's just a one word answer. Try, as much as possible, to give sentences. Give full sentences. All right? Full answer. So that you can show when you use the full sentence that you know grammar, you know vocabulary, and all these other things. So, instead of just saying: "Tokyo." Say: "I'm from Tokyo, the capital of Japan." Or: "I'm from the capital of Japan, Tokyo." Now, you've given a lot more information. So, obviously, you get much more marks if you kept doing that throughout. Right? Give full answers, using sentences, not just words.

Next: be polite. What we mean by that, for example, if the examiner asks you something and you didn't understand, it's okay. Just ask for the explanation in a polite way. Don't just say: "What?" Or: "Sorry?" Say: "Excuse me? Could you please repeat that?" Because that's also using English, and that's what they want to know: can you use English? And by being polite, you're not just showing that you know the language, but also that you know the culture of the language, which is being polite. Okay? So remember to do that.

Next, maintain good posture. Why do I put that? Nobody's filming you. Right? So, why do you have to maintain good posture? Because your posture actually affects your... The way you speak. It affects your confidence, the confidence with which you speak, it affects the way your voice is projected. So you want to make sure that you don't, for example, lean on your hand when you're speaking or anything like that. Okay? Make sure that you sit straight and don't put your hand anywhere near your face, even if you're nervous, because that will affect the quality of your voice and the way it's projected. Okay?

Next. Number five: speak clearly. Now, what I mean by this is: don't worry too much about your accent. Everyone has an accent, and as long as you do your best to enunciate the words clearly, that's all you can do. If you need to improve your pronunciation, work on that before your exam. If there are some very specific pronunciation errors that you tend to make or that people from your country tend to make, then obviously, work on those beforehand. For example, if you are a Spanish speaker and you say: "Jess", instead of: "Yes", then that's a big mistake that you want to correct well before you come to the exam. So, work on those pronunciation issues before, and then afterwards, don't worry about your accent, just speak as clearly as you can. Okay?