What score would you get if you took the IELTS Speaking exam today?
3 Keys student Pei-Yao joins us on the podcast today to find out!
She completes a full IELTS exam and receives feedback in this 2-part series.
Apply the advice she receives to your own answers.
Use it to improve your IELTS Speaking score!
Pei-Yao’s IELTS speaking test
If you missed it, you can hear Pei-Yao’s mock speaking exam here.
Listen to her answers before going through this feedback.
Take note of what impresses you.
Predict what you think she will get for each score.
- Pronunciation
- Lexical Resource (Vocabulary)
- Fluency & Coherence
- Grammar
Pei-Yao’s scores
On this full IELTS mock speaking exam, Pei-Yao scored an overall 6.
- Fluency and Coherence: 6
- Vocabulary: 7
- Pronunciation: 5
- Grammar: 6
We’ll talk about details for each section.
In general, some pauses and hesitation pulled down her Fluency and Coherence score and a lack of variety of intonation is pulling down her pronunciation score.
Speaking Part 1
The first set of questions was about her employment.
On Speaking Part 1, you will always be asked about either work or study or home or hometown, so you definitely want to be ready for questions about these.
Pei-Yao jumped right in with an answer and described the company she works for, her colleagues and each of her roles.
She used great vocabulary here and was able to name these professions – interior design and graphic design.
It is vital that you are able to describe what you do for work and name your position as well as the different positions your coworkers have.
Fluency & Coherence score
Pei-Yao used some good filler phrases like “That’s a tricky one…” to buy time to think of answers.
Filler phrases like this are crucial for your Fluency and Coherence score so you don’t have noticeable pauses.
When asked the question, “Who do you think should pay for services available in a community?” Pei-Yao could’ve used a filler phrase to avoid a pause.
She said, “My mind just goes blank,” and Aubrey notes that past tense should be used here.
Instead, say, “My mind just went blank.”
Rather than pausing after this, be sure to say something right away.
For example, “That is so tough because …” or “I haven’t really thought much about that, to be honest…”
Lexical Resource score
When asked about what she would like to do in the future, Pei-Yao shared that she wants to be a professor teaching in a university about art or digital media.
She shared that she has a passion for this and said that it “would absolutely spark my artistic idea further.”
This is high-scoring vocabulary to use the verb “spark” here because it is less common.
- spark: to cause someone to feel curious, excited, or eager about something.
We often say something will “spark our imagination” which means it makes us excited to learn more about it.
Additionally, when describing a food she loved, she said she picks out the ingredients and then “hands it over to” the chef.
The phrasal verb “hand it over” is higher scoring than “give” and perfect for Part 1 because it’s more informal.
She also used the idiom “a chicken with my head cut off” to describe how chaotic she is in the kitchen.
Phrases like this are perfect for satisfying the requirement of idiomatic language.
Remembering high-scoring vocabulary
Many of these are phrases that you might hear or learn but not think to use during the IELTS Speaking exam.
Pei-Yao shares her process for adding high-scoring vocabulary like that to her active vocabulary so she can access it on test day.
She attends live conversation meet-ups with the All Ears English community to practice using interesting vocabulary.
Practice paraphrasing
Another great strategy she used which helped her score 7 on Vocabulary is paraphrasing and using synonyms.
When she didn’t know a specific word, she had alternatives like “tool” and “component” which helped her avoid pausing to think of the specific word.
This is a skill that must be practiced.
Don’t look up the word you’re trying to think of.
Instead, say it a different way or come up with a synonym.
You won’t be able to look up vocabulary during your speaking exam!
Pronunciation score
Regarding pronunciation, her word stress is great and individual phonemes are usually correct.
However, she needs to add more variety of intonation to score 7 or higher on this score.
The easiest way to do this is to emphasize any interesting adjectives and adverbs and add more details about how you feel.
Adding emotion is one of the easiest ways to avoid a monotone.
For example, when she was asked if she would change her name, this would be a great time to add emotion.
She could emphasize “definitely” and “huge” to vary her tone.
- “No, DEFINITELY not! I love my name! It’s a HUGE part of who I am.”
Speaking Part 2
Another great time to add interesting vocabulary and also boost pronunciation scores is the first thing you say in your Part 2 answer.
She said, “Ok, um, I remember one time a friend of mine who was my classmate…”
Instead, you could have a phrase ready like “I can’t WAIT to tell you about a friend who…”
Takeaway
Think about the feedback Pei-Yao received.
Are you making the same mistakes?
Record yourself to make sure you are varying your tone.
Listen for pauses and hesitation and use this feedback to eliminate them!
For all the strategies you need, sign up for 3 Keys IELTS!
What impressed you about Pei-Yao’s speaking exam?
Share details in the comments.
