Are you preparing for the IELTS speaking test?
If so, you'll want to check out these recent questions and answers.
This will give you a better idea of what to expect on test day and help you prepare for the exam.
The questions are all real, and you can see model answers for each of them.
IELTS Speaking Part 1
What is your full name?
Johan Juareg
Can I see your ID?
Yes, here’s my ID card
Where are you from?
I’m from Denmark
Do you work or study?
I work. I have a job in an engineering company.
What is your job?
I’m a technical sales engineer
Do you like it?
Yes, I do. It’s a great job, interesting, challenging, and well paid too.
What do you like about it?
Most of all I like the fact that I get to meet all different kinds of people and help them solve problems through the products we provide for them. Each project I’m assigned to is slightly different and it’s very satisfying when a project is finally completed successfully. I also get to work with a great team of people.
Do you think that you will stay in this job in the future?
I suppose so, well, at least for the foreseeable future. As I said, I enjoy it and am constantly learning new things so I guess it’ll keep me interested for quite some time. Eventually, I’d like to move up to a more senior position but I think I need some more experience before I can achieve that.
What is your favorite snack?
My favorite snack? I suppose that would have to be chocolate. I love dark chocolate and usually eat some every day. Sometimes just a little, but I really love the taste, so bitter and strong.
Do you like to exercise? Why?
Yes, I love it and usually do some form of exercise every day if I can. I’ve always been a physical sort of person and I just like that feeling afterward when your heart is pumping and your body feels tired, but it’s a good sort of tired, you know what I mean, it’s relaxing but exhilarating at the same time.
Do you think that it is an issue today, exercise or the lack of it?
Well, there’s no issue with doing exercise, but there are plenty of people who should be doing some that aren’t at the moment. It’s so beneficial for your overall health, I mean you don’t have to become a fitness addict or do anything extreme, but everyone should do some form of basic exercise just to maintain their health and wellbeing.
Life today is very sedentary for most people, we drive everywhere, and don’t do much manual work or heavy physical exertion like many years ago, so exercising is essential to maintain your body in good physical condition. It’s also a great stress buster at the end of the day - just to relieve all the tension.
IELTS Speaking Part 2
You should say:
- what type of movie it was
- what the storyline was about
- if you liked the movie or not
And explain why you liked it/ didn't like it.
Okay, so the last movie I watched, well tried to watch, was called Aloha, with Bradley Cooper and Rachel McAdams. Honestly, I didn’t watch all of it. I started to watch it but I found it boring. You know how some movies just grab your attention right from the start and others take a bit of time to get into – but this one was different, I just couldn’t seem to get interested in it. I thought the acting in the first part was really bad and the characters seemed a little unreal.
As for what it was about – well, I think that Bradley Cooper was some sort of specialist in something to do with NASA and he was injured in combat and returned to Hawaii where he bumped into an ex-girlfriend. And there was another woman, who was a captain in the air force, or something like that I think, and she had to accompany him everywhere and he seemed to be irritated by her, but she seemed to like him.
Anyway, it all just seemed pointless to me and after about 30 minutes, or maybe even less, I just gave up watching it and did something else. Maybe I didn’t give it long enough for the story to develop into something interesting, but as I said before, I like a movie that pulls you in from the beginning – if it’s long and drawn out, I just lose interest.
I read a review of the movie later and it wasn’t highly rated either, so maybe I was right after all.
Anyway, I can’t say that I liked it, but then I didn’t watch all of it, but the little I did watch just didn’t make me want to watch anymore – and that’s not a good thing, is it?
IELTS Speaking Part 3
In general, what are the qualities of a good-quality film and those of a bad-quality film?
Let’s start with the bad things, like the movie I just talked about, the story doesn’t grab you from the off, the characters don’t seem to have any depth, or don’t appear to be interesting, and the sense that nothing much is going to happen, the lack of any clear context and the pace of the movie is too slow. All these factors contribute to a bad movie overall. In other cases, it can be just bad acting, bad direction, poor quality production, or just an unbelievable plot.
As for the good things, personally a movie that starts strongly, with an event, some action, or something to draw you in and then tells the story from that point on, good actors, special effects depending on the genre of the movie, and a compelling story can all help make a movie interesting and highly watchable.
Some movies don’t even need to have all those elements, for example, an action movie with lots of action and special effects doesn’t necessarily require the most amazing plot, or if the acting and story are fantastic, then sometimes you don’t need a lot of action for it to be interesting. It’s all about how you tell the story.
In your opinion what makes a movie successful?
Well, successful as in financially successful for the production team would mean that the movie grosses a lot of money at the box office and possibly later in streaming sales or through on-demand access TV channels.
The big blockbuster movie successes usually have a star-studded cast, enough action for them to be exciting, excellent production, special effects, glamorous locations, and a plot that is popular with a lot of people. I mean, there’s no point in making a really good movie if nobody bothers to watch it – so most of the big successful movies are based on themes or stories that appeal to a wide variety of the population globally.
Do you think computer technology has changed (the production of ) films in recent years?
Absolutely, it’s now possible to create scenes and special effects that simply weren’t possible before, even just a few years ago, and this is something that producers are increasingly using to make big-budget movies even bigger and more impressive and therefore more appealing to people.
CGI or computer-generated imagery is being used more and more in movies nowadays as it allows the creation and inclusion of amazing scenes in movies that would be extremely costly to produce otherwise. Obviously, not all movies need loads of special effects, but it certainly adds to their appeal when they are used correctly and in the right way.