P1
Part 1: Introduction
Answer questions about yourself and familiar topics with natural, well-developed replies. Not too short, not too long.
Coming soonIELTS Speaking
Speaking practice
Start here to learn how the IELTS Speaking test works, how it is marked and what the examiner is listening for. Then choose a practice area to build each skill step by step.
Speaking courses
What would you like to study?
Choose a course. You can switch between them at any time, and your progress is saved (log in to keep it on every device).
Vocabulary
Speaking vocabulary
46 Part 1 topics, each with model answers to every question, idiomatic phrasal verbs and B2–C1 descriptive language, plus a gap fill, drag-the-words, multiple choice and a crossword.
Skills and grammar
Speaking skills
15 lessons that alternate between speaking skills, including the three parts of the test, paraphrasing and pronunciation, and seven language points: the passive, relative clauses, perfect tenses, conjunctions, continuous tenses, qualified language and collocation.
Practice areas
Choose a part to practise
Each practice area focuses on one part of the Speaking test, with the question types, timing and techniques you need for that part.
P2
Part 2: The Long Turn
Use your one minute of preparation well, then speak about a topic card for the full two minutes.
Coming soonP3
Part 3: Extension
Discuss abstract ideas linked to your Part 2 topic. Give opinions, explain reasons and compare views.
Coming soonBackground
The IELTS test
IELTS (the International English Language Testing System) measures how well you can use English if you plan to study or work somewhere English is spoken. It gives you a fair, accurate and relevant assessment based on a well-established standard, and it covers every level of ability, from non-user all the way to expert user.
You can choose between two versions of the test: Academic and General Training. The Academic test checks the English you need for university and other higher education. The General Training test checks the English you need in practical, everyday situations. Both versions have four separate sections, one for each skill: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.
Your results are reported on a 9-band scale that is simple and easy to understand. The same scale has been used around the world for around thirty years.
IELTS is the world's most popular high-stakes English test, with millions of tests taken. Thousands of organisations in more than 140 countries use IELTS results to select applicants, and you can sit the test at more than 1,200 locations worldwide.
4skills tested
9band scale
140+countries
1,200+test locations
Face to face
How the Speaking test is delivered
Unlike most other English tests, the IELTS Speaking test is a face-to-face interview with a real examiner. IELTS has also introduced Video Call Speaking and IELTS Online. With these options the examiner is not in the room with you. Instead, you talk to them by video call, either from a private room at an IELTS test centre or from home. Everything else stays the same: the question types, the timing and the marking.
IELTS keeps a live examiner because a real conversation lets you communicate naturally, which is very different from speaking to a computer. Even if you take IELTS on computer, where you complete Listening, Reading and Writing on screen, your Speaking test is still with an examiner, either in the test centre or online by video call (Zoom).
The guide below was written for teachers, but it gives you a short, clear overview of the whole IELTS test.
Test format
The IELTS Speaking test
The Speaking test assesses your spoken English. The examiner starts with general questions about you, then moves on to more abstract questions connected to a topic you are given during the test. Your performance is marked using the IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors.
The test has three parts, and each one has its own purpose. What the examiner gives you, and what you are expected to say, change from one part to the next.
Introduction
4–5 minutes
You answer general questions about yourself and familiar topics, such as your home, family, work, studies and interests.
The Long Turn
1 minute to prepare · up to 2 minutes to speak
You are given a topic card. You have one minute to prepare, then you speak about the topic for up to two minutes.
Extension
4–5 minutes
The examiner asks further questions linked to your Part 2 topic. This is your chance to discuss more abstract issues and ideas.
Listen to a real test extract
In the video below, you can hear part of a real IELTS Speaking test. It is Part 3, where the candidate answers questions connected to his Part 2 long turn, "An interest you enjoy".
Practice
Online practice tests and Speaking frames
Our online practice test is different from the real Speaking test: instead of talking to an examiner face to face, you respond to recorded audio prompts. Your marker has transcripts of these prompts and uses them to follow your answers in order and check how well each answer responds to the question.
The prompts are set out in Speaking frames. Throughout this course, all longer audio extracts and full interviews use two frames: Academic Practice Test 1 and General Training Practice Test 1.
Download both frames and keep them beside you as a guide whenever you listen to the longer extracts and complete interviews in the course. Audio clips that have been updated include the examiner's question as part of the clip.
Scoring
How your Speaking is rated
The examiner gives you a band score from 1 to 9 for each of four criteria. These four scores are averaged to give your overall Speaking band. The examiner rates your average performance across all three parts of the interview, not just your best or worst moment.
Fluency and CoherenceHow smoothly you speak and how clearly you connect your ideas.
Lexical ResourceThe range and accuracy of your vocabulary.
Grammatical Range and AccuracyThe variety and correctness of your grammar.
PronunciationHow clearly and naturally you can be understood.
What each band means
Each band matches a level of English ability:
| Band | Level | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Expert user | Full command of English. Your language is appropriate, accurate and fluent, and you understand everything. |
| 8 | Very good user | Full command with only occasional, unsystematic mistakes. You handle complex, detailed argument well. |
| 7 | Good user | Good command, with occasional mistakes or misunderstandings in some situations. You generally handle complex language well. |
| 6 | Competent user | Generally effective command despite some mistakes. You can use fairly complex language, especially in familiar situations. |
| 5 | Modest user | Partial command. You can cope with the overall meaning in most situations but make many mistakes. |
| 4 | Limited user | Basic ability, limited to familiar situations. You often have problems understanding and expressing yourself. |
| 3 | Extremely limited user | You understand and communicate only general meaning in very familiar situations. |
| 2 | Intermittent user | You have great difficulty understanding spoken and written English. |
| 1 | Non-user | No ability to use English beyond a few isolated words. |
Adapted from "Overall Band Scores", IELTS Guide for Teachers.
Marking criteria
IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors
Throughout this course we use the official IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors, together with interview recordings from the publicly available IELTS Scores Guide and our own online practice tests.
Please note: only certified IELTS examiners can award official IELTS band scores, and only for tests taken under official IELTS conditions. Your tutor will not give you an official band score.
Instead, your tutor will use the Band Descriptors to highlight the features of your speaking that match each band. This shows you the strengths you already have and the weaknesses that are holding you back, so you know exactly what to work on to reach a higher band.