IELTS Speaking: The Three Parts Explained, with Tips for a Higher Band

The IELTS Speaking test is a face-to-face conversation with an examiner, lasting 11 to 14 minutes. It is the same for Academic and General Training. Many candidates lose marks not because their English is weak, but because they don’t understand what each part is testing. Here is what to expect — and how to do better.

How you are scored

The examiner gives you a band for four criteria, each worth 25%:

• Fluency and Coherence — speaking at length without long pauses, and organising ideas logically.
• Lexical Resource — a range of vocabulary, including less common words and natural expressions, used appropriately.
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy — a mix of simple and complex structures, with few errors.
• Pronunciation — being easy to understand: sounds, word stress, sentence stress, intonation. Your accent itself is not a problem.

Part 1 — Introduction and interview (4–5 minutes)

The examiner asks simple questions about familiar topics: your home, work or studies, hobbies, daily routine. The aim is to relax you and check basic communication.

Tip: answer in 2–3 sentences — answer, reason, example.

Part 2 — The long turn (3–4 minutes)

You receive a task card with a topic and three or four prompts. You have 1 minute to prepare (you can make notes) and then speak for 1–2 minutes. The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions.

Tips:

1. Use your minute to write key words, not sentences.
2. Cover every prompt, but spend most time on the last one — it usually asks you to explain why.
3. Tell it like a story: set the scene, describe what happened, say how you felt.
4. Keep going until the examiner stops you. Two full minutes shows fluency.

Part 3 — Discussion (4–5 minutes)

The examiner asks more abstract questions linked to the Part 2 topic: society, trends, advantages and disadvantages, the future. This is where higher bands are decided.

Tips: give your opinion, explain it, and consider another view.

• Opinion: I’d say that … · From my perspective, …
• Explaining: The main reason is that … · This is partly because …
• Balancing: On the other hand, … · That said, …
• Speculating: In the future, it’s likely that … · I imagine that …
• Buying time: That’s an interesting question — let me think…

Seven ways to raise your band

1. Don’t memorise answers. Examiners are trained to notice, and memorised language does not count towards your score.
2. Extend your answers with reasons and examples, especially in Part 3.
3. Use natural spoken language, such as “to be honest”, “I’d say”, “pretty quickly” — not written phrases like “furthermore”.
4. Self-correct calmly. “He go— he went” shows control; don’t panic over small errors.
5. Vary your tenses: past (stories), present perfect (experience), conditionals (hypothetical), future (predictions).
6. Work on stress and intonation, not accent: stress the important words in each sentence.
7. Record yourself and listen back. You will hear hesitations and repeated words you don’t notice while speaking.

How to practise at home

Practise with a timer: 1 minute to prepare, 2 minutes to speak, every day. Our IELTS Speaking Clinic gives you more than 30 model answers across all three parts, and in the speaking mock test you can record your answers and get AI feedback on fluency, vocabulary and grammar.