Category: IELTS Speaking

Often students think that more they will be sweet with the examiner, higher are there chances of getting a high score. However, students forget that IELTS is an international test and you will be tested purely on the answers you give. It might be even possible that your marks are reduced because of the attempts that you are making to be over sweet.

Let’s have a look at some of the most common mistakes students make in their speaking test.

1. TRYING TO BE OVER POLITE-: It is good to be polite but then you need not to be a sycophant. Often foreign examiners gets irritated when you try to be over polite. For Example-: if you are constantly saying sir/ma’am, waiting for them to ask you to be seated. It is better that you say a Hi.
2. DON’T TRY TO WELCOME THE EXAMINER-: Often students believe that the examiner is new to their country and they greet them saying, welcome to my country! This is not acceptable. Remember, you are their to give your test and not to show the examiner places in your country.
3. TRYING TO BE A PART OF GROUP-: Although it is good that you are part of a country and there are habits in you that are because of the environment of your country. But it is mostly preferred that you answer questions such as if you are an individual. Saying answers such as, ” Since I am from here ,… i love this or that”; won’t put you in good light.
4. USING STEREOTYPES-: You are about to live in a different country and the last thing that is expected out of you is that you have strongly held stereotypes. For example-; saying, ” Oh! the people of my country are the most hospitable in the world, might just not be the correct thing to do”.
5. BEFRIENDING THE EXAMINER-: Remember, you are giving a test. Asking an examiner who are they or what is their name or where are they from, is not going to help you. It can only lead to they cutting your marks. Just try to be polite and smile.
6. INAPPROPRIATE DRESS-: Now this is something that you must avoid. Wear formal clothes. The simple way out is wear the dress you would wear in a job interview.

REMEMBER, it is your test, do the things you would have done at a job interview. Give respect where necessary but don’t over do it. You must come out as being natural.

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If the cue card question is related to books or the reading capabilities or your favorite books, it is very obvious that the discussion topic will be related to books.
Here are some of the questions that could be asked related to books.

What is the importance of books in your life?

Books are like oxygen to me. I love reading books on different topic, they help me grow intellectually. Even more often there are problems in life, which I believe could be easily solved by reading good books.

Do you think with the coming of computers, people don’t read enough?

If we are taking about reading books, obviously yes. With the coming of internet getting information has become very easy. This has led to a loss of interest in reading and searching books. Even more smart phones have arrived and nowadays people usually prefer reading e-books. However, those who are fond of reading books do read books.

Do you think there is a way out of making children read more?

I believe children these days are more creative and have a different approach towards learning. If we want our children to read more, we need to add graphics and animations in the text books. Rather than putting simple text, we need to add text such that it is combined with certain experiments.

How do book preference have changed as compared to the past?

I believe that a book is always an individual choice. However, on a general level, earlier people loved reading religious book or the books related to philosophy. However, at present people often read either fiction books or autobiographies.

In your opinion, will paper books disappear completely in future?

I believe that the revolution has already started. Most of the schools these days have smart classes and the black board pedagogy has been replaced by online education. It is quite possible that paper books will be replaced at a large extent in future. However, I believe that people will still be interested in reading books because the experience that reading a paper books gives is nowhere to be found.

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Family is one of the most common topic that is asked in IELTS. Although, they often ask it in the part I of speaking section, questions related to it even get asked in the discussion topic.
Let’s have a look at some of them.

What are some of the ways in which family members can be similar to each other?

Although every individual is unique, there are some characteristics that they do inherit from their family members. Usually, family members are alike in their physical appearances. For example-: children look like their parents in their facial expressions, type of color, height etc. some of them even inherit character and behavior from their parents.

It is often seen that daughters are more similar to their mothers rather than to other male relatives. Do you agree. disagree?

We cannot say about every individual, as all of them are unique. There are girls who look like their father or other male relative. These include facial features, hair, color, heights etc. however, mostly girls do resemble their mother in physical appearances.

Do you think people are more influenced by their family or friends and in what ways?

Most people spend their growing years with their family and it is during these years that the personality of an individual is formed. Even after that people usually spend a lot of time with their family members. However, recently it has been seen that people were influenced by their friends. This happens often when individuals spend more time with their friends than family. Rather, I believe that it is the ones with whom we spend more of our times and trust more, have influence on our personality.

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