IELTS SPEAKING PART 2
QUESTIONS &
ANSWERS
KEITH O'HARE
Keith runs The Keith Speaking Academy. He has
been working in international education for
over 20 years as a teacher, teacher trainer, and
education manager.
He has helped over 40,000 students prepare
for their IELTS Speaking test with his online
courses.
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How do you handle IELTS Speaking Part 2?
I think there are 2 ways that work really well.
In this PDF, I will show you how to do both and I will illustrate them with a
couple of part 2 questions and answers.
The 2 approaches are
1. The Structure Approach
2. The Free Flow Approach
Let’s look at the first one.
1. The Structured Approach
In this approach, you take the following steps:
Get a general idea of what to talk
about Follow the bullet points
Get a brief idea for each bullet point
Make a few notes
Prepare your first sentence.
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Tip:
Remember when you start speaking, you can look at
your task card and your notes, and use these to help you
talk.
Let’s take an example with a real IELTS Speaking Part 2 Question
"Describe a positive change you made in your life"
You should say,
What it was
Why you made that change
Who you did it with
And explain how you felt about it
Below you can see the kind of notes you may make.
Remember, you are going to follow each bullet point, and have an idea
of what to say for each one.
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Here is the sample answer
You can watch the video of this here: https://vimeo.com/771597531
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Language Key
Coherence phrases in BLUE
Useful Vocabulary in RED
Useful Grammar in GREEN
The positive change that I would like to tell you about is when I
decided to start getting up really early in the morning and going for a
brisk walk.
The reason I made this change, well, is because previously, I was
under a lot of strain at work. I mean, I had a lot on my plate.
I was feeling stressed out, even burnt out a lot of the time, and I noticed
my physical health and mental health were deteriorating.
So I went to see the doctor and the doctor gave me some advice.
He said, basically it's not so much your physical health is the
problem, it's your mental health.
One of the best things you can do is go out into the countryside for one
hour every day, get out of the kind of the rut you are in at work, get out
of that environment, into the countryside, and just do some simple
exercise, walking or cycling.
And so following the doctor's advice, I decided to make this change.
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When it comes to who I did it with, well, I do it alone, actually.
I must admit, my wife was very supportive. She encouraged me to
do this.
She said, "You know, I'll do the school run. I'll look after the kids. You
go and do your walk in the morning." Which I did.
And yeah, when it comes to how I felt about it, I felt absolutely great.
It was really beneficial.
I noticed a marked improvement in my health and wellbeing and
my mental health.
I wasn't lazy all the time.
I just had more energy, so I felt really good about this change.
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Vocabulary
a brisk walk = a walk at a fairly quick pace
To be under a lot of strain at work = to be under stress
To have a lot on my plate = to have a lot of tasks to do
To be stressed out = to feel stress
To burn out = to collapse due to too much stress
To deteriorate = to get worse
To do the school run = to take the children to school
a marked improvement = a significant improvement
2. The Free Flow Approach
In this approach, you follow these steps:
Forget the bullet points
Focus on the overall question
Get an idea of what you will talk about
Decide 1 or 2 details you will talk about
Make a few notes
Prepare your first sentence
Start speaking and then go with the flow
Sometimes, you can produce your best English, by not worrying too
much about all the details and language you want to use, but just
focussing on an idea you want to communicate and start speaking.
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Of course, it helps to have prepared 1 or 2 details, but when you
speak, just go with the flow.
When you go with the flow, your fluency will increase, and Part 2 is a key
part to show your level of fluency.
When you speak like this, you will probably notice your linking words
become very simple, such as the following,
And, then, and, so, and, but, finally.
This is fine, as this represents how we talk in reality in natural
spoken English
Let’s take an example with a real IELTS Speaking Part 2 Question
"Describe a time someone asked for your opinion"
You should say,
Who asked you
Why they wanted your opinion
What opinion you gave
And explain how you felt about it
Below you can see the kind of notes you may make.
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Remember, you are NOT going to follow each bullet point, but you
will have an idea of 1 or 2 details you may talk about.
Here is the sample answer
You can watch the video of this here: https://vimeo.com/771597952
COPYRIGHT © 2022, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY
Language Key
Coherence phrases in BLUE
Useful Vocabulary in RED
Useful Grammar in GREEN
So I'd like to tell you about the time that my father asked me for
my opinion and it was about my wife's birthday present.
So this is a very run-of-the-mill situation where my wife's birthday is
coming up and my father just doesn't know what to buy her.
This is made doubly complicated because we live abroad, so he
can't keep track of what she has and what she doesn't have and
maybe her tastes have changed.
And also, you know, my dad's getting on.
He's 80-odd, so it's hard for him to get out and buy presents and
be creative and so on.
So what happens every year, we go through this routine, he calls me up
and says, "What should I buy for your wife?"
And so this year I said, "Well listen, don't buy clothes because
there's always a problem there with the size, getting the wrong size
and her taste in clothes changes like the weather. So that's difficult."
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I said, "Earrings are a winner.
You can't go wrong with earrings 'cause it's always the same size
and different styles match different clothes and she loves earrings.”
So he said, "That's great, excellent. Could you go and buy them for me?"
And that makes me laugh because then I go out and buy them and
I wrap them up and I present them and I say, of course, "This is
from my father."
I think this is quite a funny situation.
I mean, we go through this rigmarole every year. It's the same
phone call, it's the same answer and it's quite comical.
But I guess I feel flattered. Flattered that my dad is asking for my
opinion, but it's quite amusing also.
So yeah, that's the time that my father asked for my opinion.
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Vocabulary
Run-of-the-mill (adj.) = Ordinary
To keep track of = to monitor and follow progress or
changes To be getting on = to be getting older
Eighty odd = approximately eighty
A rigmarole = a complicated, annoying routine/ procedure
To be flattered = to feel honoured, pleased
Grammar
1) It is quite common in natural spoken English, especially when telling
a story or anecdote to use this format,
I said, “__”
Then she said,
“___” I said, “____”
2) We can also use fronting to add emphasis.
Instead of saying
'Every year we do this’
We can say,
‘What happens every year is, we do this’
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