5 Best IELTS Exam Speaking Tips and Strategies
IELTS speaking tips are necessary for all candidates as they give insights into how to improve IELTS listening skills. It is frequently seen that the candidates who follow these IELTS speaking tips and tricks secure a higher IELTS speaking band score than their counterparts.
1. Enhance Your IELTS Grammar and Vocabulary Skills
The very first target should be to work on four important parameters of speaking skills i.e. Vocabulary, grammar, fluency and pronunciation. "As a good speaker, it is important to continuously expand your vocabulary. The more interesting words you know, the stronger your speaking skills become. While perfect grammar is not a necessity, it is recommended that you have a good grasp of the major tenses. Fluency is determined by how confident and comfortable you are while speaking in English. If you are able to speak for an extended period of time, then it is a sign of strong fluency. Additionally, a crucial aspect of fluency is being able to connect your points effectively, so that your listener can follow along with ease. Pronunciation is a complex skill that involves various sub-skills that can be practised. The general rule of thumb is that an average speaker should be able to speak and be understood.
2. Maintain the IELTS Structure
It is crucial to organise your thoughts, which involves structuring. A well-written piece should have a smooth flow of information from the introduction to the conclusion. It is important to maintain logical continuity and a proper conclusion. Before expressing your thoughts in writing, it is necessary to have a good grasp of mind mapping. Here we can understand the importance of constantly practicing and improving on a daily target basis.
3. Attempt Lots of the IELTS Practice Tests
To gain practical experience, it is crucial to participate in mock interviews and seek feedback from language experts, mentors, friends, or online communities regularly. This will help you follow the learn-unlearn-relearn process more effectively. During the process, it is important to be mindful of time and allocate it wisely to address all aspects of the questions. Additionally, staying updated on current events and global issues will prepare you well for the discussion section. You can improve your comprehension and ability to discuss various topics by reading newspapers, magazines, or online articles in English.
It's pivotal to have a mindset where you're fully engaged and invested in the language learning process. A helpful tip is to learn from native speakers, which is now widely available on the internet. There are many great resources you can use, such as videos, podcasts, news broadcasts, chat shows, TED talks, and even films. It's best to start with materials that are light in tone and that you enjoy the most. This way, your learning experience will be more effective. The environment should be conducive to learning. It is important to have an outlook where one can push oneself out of their comfort zone. If challenges are taken, progress will be made.
4. Study Chunk Words and Use Them
While taking care of vocabulary we should also focus on ‘chunk words’, i.e. learning 3 or 4 words together as a single sound. This can help the candidates to memorize the words and use them as per their need. Some of the few examples of chunk words are mentioned below:
| Category | Example | Meaning |
| Idiomatic Expressions | Bite the bullet | To face a difficult or unpleasant situation with courage and resilience, not to literally bite a bullet. |
| Collocations | Break the news | When we want to share important or challenging information with others, we often use the phrase "break the news". |
| Fillers | You know | It doesn't contribute essential meaning to the sentence but is often used conversationally to maintain the flow of speech and is used in all conversations nowadays. |
5. Be a Juggler
To become a fluent speaker, it's crucial to employ innovative techniques such as using role-play scenarios, for example, start pretending to be a juggler, to enhance your language skills. Often, we make an effort to learn new words, but we frequently forget them soon after. Therefore, to ensure that we're accurately learning and retaining new words, let's explore some effective speaking strategies. Start with listening carefully, and if possible, make notes simultaneously. Now repeat the words as many times as possible and finally play with words like a Juggler.
Listen → she is walking in the park after dark.
Notes taken and Repeat → She is walking in the park after dark.
Juggle→ I am studying in the room after dark.
It is surprising to see her walking in the park after dark.
Her walk in the park after dark surprised me a lot.
You can change and fit new words, sometimes you can change the tense. Sometimes even you can change the tone, parts of speech, sentence type and voice. Some apps grant access to a plethora of videos. You can utilize the transcript's timestamp to effortlessly playback phrases and practice repeating them.
If you aim to achieve a band score of 9 on your English proficiency test, it is essential to focus on coherence, grammar, pronunciation, and a wide range of vocabulary. To improve your articulation and fluency, you need to practice regularly. It's highly recommended to record yourself while practising, as it can provide you with valuable insights into your performance and help you identify areas for improvement. It requires constant effort over time to develop IELTS speaking skills without shortcuts.
4 IELTS Speaking Strategies for Band 9
Along with the IELTS speaking tips, it is necessary that the candidates also follow strategies for IELTS speaking success. These strategies when followed to the core can guarantee a very good IELTS speaking band score for the candidates.
1. Make English a Part of Your Routine
The only way to improve speaking skills is through constant speaking practice. The candidates must converse in English with their peers, initiate conversation and seek feedback to ensure that their communication moves ahead flawlessly. The IELTS Speaking Part 1 is marked based on the candidate’s ability to initiate conversation. The candidates can refer to various frequently asked IELTS Speaking questions and answers here.
2. Provide Complete Answers
When an IELTS Speaking question is asked to the candidate, they must always ensure to reply by providing complete answers to the examiner. Incomplete or incorrect answers may result in confusion and consequently result in lower band scores. While answering, the candidates should also keep a note of the IELTS Speaking time constraints.
3. Be Resilient
Learning is a never-ending process. Human beings are susceptible to making mistakes. It is the eagerness to rectify them that is important. The candidates should always be mindful of the mistakes that they are making and correct them timely instead of being nervous and panicking. This is also applicable during the IELTS speaking exam. Instead of panicking, the candidates can apologise for the mistake and continue the conversation. This would help them in creating a positive impact on the examiner.
4. Familiarization with the IELTS Speaking Test Format
Before attempting any examination, the candidate must have a complete idea about the exam structure including parameters such as IELTS speaking marking criteria, possible IELTS speaking questions and IELTS Speaking time. Engaging in IELTS Speaking practice is the accurate methodology for a candidate to get familiarised with the test format.
