Last Day Strategies : IELTS Speaking

If you don’t want to miss out on hitting 7 or more band score in your IELTS Speaking test, then these tips are a must to go through!

Being prepared is good; but being confident compliments your band score!

IELTS Speaking test is an assessment of the aspirant’s ability to communicate effectively and clearly in English. The purpose of the test is to assess the aspirant’s speaking skills that whether he/she will be able to communicate fluently in English or not. 

Of course you need to be fluent in your pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar altogether for scoring the highest band score. 

Fluency comes with practice, and practice is follows a clear understanding of Dos and Don’ts in the IELTS Speaking Section. 

So, here are the major Dos and Don’ts in the speaking section that you can go through and incorporate in your test.

Let’s begin!

Dos in the IELTS Speaking Section 

Practice Speaking 

“Practice makes a man perfect” 

The say is still relevant. Whether it is a general exam or an IELTS Speaking examination, every exam requires concrete preparation. Preparation helps avoid doubts and get the concepts clear. Furthermore, it helps you point out the weaknesses and strengths. 

Therefore, it is important to practice before 24 hours of the examination. 
Your last minute preparation can include conversing with the other competitors at the Centre. It is an effective way to gear up for your turn. Furthermore, before a week of speaking examination, you can practice speaking with your friends and family. 

Keep the flow natural 

It is the most common mistake the students make. Either they spoke very loud or very slow. Keep the flow natural. The examiner here wants the student to speak in a natural tone. 

Speaking too low or too loud can make you feel nervous, and it gets reflected in your body language. 

So, focus on yourself and adopt the accent you are comfortable to converse in. 

Stress upon using accurate grammatical structure

Believe it or not!

You can get your marks deducted in case of incorrect grammar use.
The majority of the students lose their grip over grammar owing to nervousness. To sway away from this fear, you can practice by recording your speech and listening to it. It will help you know your strengths and weaknesses. If you happen to encounter a mistake in your speech, then record it again to improve your performance.

Getting nervous is natural; but grabbing the pace soon can turn the ball in your court.

Ask the examiner to repeat the question

Yet again, it is something that the students fear the most. You know what-
It is better to clear the confusion than to miss the desired band score!

Sway away the hesitation as you don’t want to miss the score. If you didn’t understand the question, ask the examiner to repeat the question.
Yeah of course, you can do it!

Although, it is acceptable to ask the examiner to repeat the question, refrain from bombarding the examiner with too many questions as it could cast a negative impression. 

Be polite while asking the question.

Do take time to think 

Many students begin shooting the answers as soon as they receive the question and end up landing haywire…

It can affect your score. 

When you receive the question, always take a minute or two to think about the topic and organize the answer. As I mentioned in the initial chapters of the book- you can use phrases like-
•    That’s an interesting question, let me think….
•    The question is tricky, I think….
•    I am not sure, but I would say…
Remember, do not start every answer using these phrases, else it could make the examiner believe that you have come prepared to manage such questions. 

Practice uniqueness and keep the flow natural, as I stressed above in this context. 

Don’ts in the IELTS Speaking Section

Never go off the topic

It is excellent if you can speak at length on a topic, you can go off the topic real quick. It is a dead-end.  Listen to the question asked and the points you are required to talk about in the test. Do not talk about something that is irrelevant to the question. Speaking off-topic will not only affect your fluency but your band score too. Avoid this practice.

Don’t Take Long Pauses 

Though pauses improve the overall structure of the answer; only the calculative ones. Unnecessary long pauses can distract the examiner and cast an impression that you are clueless about the topic. The long and too many pauses can affect your fluency and eventually the band score.

Don’t Fake an Accent 

It is one of the most common mistakes that the students make to impress the examiner. 

Well, the fact is- If you fake an accent, it gets clearly apparent.
The examiner is smart enough to note the things, so be calculative in your speaking test. Avoid doing something which can affect your band score. 

Focus on speaking in your natural tone and avoid using slang or informal language.

Don’t stay mum

In the IELTS Speaking test, do not give any opportunity to the examiner to cut your marks. If you are nervous, take a deep breath, think about the question for a minute or two and speak.

Standing dumb before the examiner is not going to fetch you your desired score. It does not matter whether you have an original or sarcastic idea running in your subconscious mind. It requires language to get expressed before the examiner. 

Remember, you are judged on how you speak not on what you speak. 

Do not memorize the answers in advance

Though it is next to impossible to do such a thing in the IELTS Speaking examination, still, if you memorize the beginning and the end of an answer, it will seem artificial. 

You need to answer the questions as naturally as you can. The examiner immediately catches a fake accent and language. Furthermore, doing so will make him believe your incompetency in speaking naturally in the English language. This in turn will affect your band score.

These are some of the points that you should keep in mind before appearing for your IELTS Speaking test. 

Unlock IELTS with Richa aims to help the IELTS aspirants by highlighting not only the imperative things one needs to follow to score well, but also acquaint the students with the aspects to avoid. It aims at Concentrating on both sides of the coins is important to help students master IELTS.