IELTS Speaking Part 2 Strategy 1

My name is Kara. In today's lesson, we are going to look at the part 2 of the IELTS speaking section. I'll start by explaining what happens in Part 2, and then later we'll look at a strategy for answering questions in Part 2. Ready? Let's get started.

So, in part 2 of the IELTS speaking section, first you'll be given a question card, pen, and paper. Once you have the question card, you'll have one minute to take notes and think about how you are going to answer the question. When that one minute is up, you'll need to speak for 2 minutes straight.

A lot of students actually consider Part 2 to be the hardest part of the speaking test. That's because this part is not a dialogue, so you must be able to talk for one to two minutes all by yourself.

Okay! Let's take a look at an example of a question card.

As you can see, you'll be given a topic that the examiner will expect you to talk about, and there are also bullet points included to help guide you.

This is just one example of a question card. On part 2, examiners will usually ask you to describe general familiar topics such as people, items, experiences, or places.

To give you a few more examples, the question might ask you to describe someone who has had an important influence in your life, or to describe a website that you often use. You could also be asked to describe an important decision you've made in your life, or to describe a country you'd like to go to in the future.

These questions can be about almost anything. Luckily, there are some part 2 questions that we already know show up often on the real IELTS exam. So, to score higher on part 2, it's definitely important to practice these questions.

But don't worry! You can find all 80 of these common test questions on the "IELTS QUESTIONS" section.

Okay, next let's look at a strategy to answer the questions you'll see in part 2.

When you are given a question card, you'll see there are bullet points provided for you. These bullet points can give you clues about what to talk about in your answer. Technically speaking, you don't have to stick to them if you have something else related to the question you want to talk about, but we recommend that you use them as much as possible to form your answer.

So, now you've got these bullet points, and you've got one minute to prepare. You'll need to think about how you're going to structure your response. Next, I'd like to teach you about ways to structure your answers. Really, there are two ways to do this, and that's because sometimes you might find one works better for you than the other. It all depends on what kind of questions you end up getting on the test. I recommend that you practice both of these ways, and then decide which one works most naturally for you.

In this lesson, I will only talk about the first way. In the first way, the structure of the response is divided into 3 parts.

• Introduction:

  In the introduction, you can rephrase the question a little, and then use a sentence to introduce what you will talk about. Just a simple introductory phrase like, "I'm going to talk about..." or "I'd like to talk about..." will work just fine. The introduction usually takes up around 10 seconds. Or you can say something like, "Hmm..this is an interesting topic. My first thought is.." or, "That's a tough question for me, but if I had to choose, I'd choose..". Then, you'll want to move on to talk about the main points.

• Main points:

  When you've decided what you want to talk about, the first thing you'll want to do is to think about question words like "who," "what," "where," or "when," and then, you can start coming up with basic responses to these questions. You can write down a few of your ideas on your paper. Next, you can start looking at the bullet points, and then choose two of them to talk about. Again, you can write down a few ideas for each bullet point on the card. Finally, you want to focus on questions that start with "why". Usually there is a "why" question on the question card.

• Extension:

  If up to this point, you have still not used all 2 minutes of your time, you can extend your answer by talking about how you feel overall and what you might like to do in the future in regards to the topic. Doing that should help you add another 20 seconds. You can always start with sentences like "Overall, I feel ..", and "I think in the future I will....".

With this structure, you can easily fill up the 2 minute timeframe.

A common mistake many students make is trying too hard to follow the bullet points even if they don't have enough talk about. This problem might cause their answers to come out shorter than two minutes. But you definitely won't have that issue while using this structure.

You got it! Let's use this question again!

Let's begin our answer with an introduction! In the introduction, you can rephrase the question a little, and then use a sentence to introduce what you will talk about. Just a simple introductory phrase like, "I'm going to talk about..." or "I'd like to talk about..." will work just fine. How about some more specific examples?

Or you can say something like, "Hmm..this is an interesting topic. My first thought is.." or, "That's a tough question for me, but if I had to choose, I'd choose..". Here are some more examples.

Okay! So the introduction usually takes up around 10 seconds. Then, you'll want to move on to talk about the main points. The section covering the main points is the most difficult part! So, make sure you listen up and pay attention!

When you've decided what you want to talk about, the first thing you'll want to do is to think about question words like "who," "what," "where," or "when," and then, you can start coming up with basic responses to these questions. You can write down a few of your ideas on your paper. For example, you could write something like this:

What/When/Where/Who:

Laptop, HP, Good configuration, Windows 8

Bought from BestBuy few years ago.

Present from my mom

As you can see, talking about even this kind of basic information should take up at least 15-20 seconds. Here is what I would say:

My laptop computer is manufactured by HP. This laptop has a good configuration and it supports most of the latest software. It came with the Windows 8 operating system and a warranty for three years. I remembered my mom bought it for me as a present. We bought it at BestBuy. I remember it was black Friday, so the computers were on sale and we got a great discount.

Next, you can start looking at the bullet points, and then choose two of them to talk about. Again, you can write down a few ideas for each bullet point on the card. For example, it might look like this:

What I used it for

• Study: take notes
• Entertainment: watch movies, listen to music

How long I have used it

• 1 year
• Want to upgrade

These are just notes that help you remember what you need to talk about. The most important thing is to look at these notes and think about your life experience as you talk. It'll make it easier for you to discuss the topic more naturally.

Now, let me show you how to introduce each bullet point. What I usually recommend for students is to try using phrases like "With regards to.., I'd say.." or, "As for .., I'd say.." to get started. For example:

Finally, you want to focus on questions that start with "why" Usually there is a "why" question on the question card. In this case, the question is "Why is the laptop important to you?" Usually you can repeat some of the things that you said earlier, but this time you'll do it by presenting them as reasons which explain why you feel or know something is true.

Okay! Let's review the structure we learned today again.

• Gives an introduction
• Main points: consider the answers to "who," "what," "where," or "when" questions. Then, spend time talking about 2 of the bullet points, and finally, provide reasons explaining why you have an opinion.

If up to this point, you have still not used all 2 minutes of your time, you can extend your answer by talking about how you feel overall and what you might like to do in the future in regards to the topic. Doing that should help you add another 20 seconds. You can always start with sentences like "Overall, I feel ..", and "I think in the future I will....".

Okay! That's the end of the lesson. And remember, practice makes perfect. You can go to our "IELTS QUESTIONS" section to practice more IELTS part 2 speaking questions and improve your speaking by listening to sample responses by native speakers.