The best way to overcome the IELTS speaking test, in my opinion, is to prepare your answer, or prepare the key words and expressions for every hot topic in advance. You can’t be expecting to improvise your answers unless you are the native speakers.
I believe that the IELTS speaking test part 1 and part 3 are more or less the same, which means you can have the same strategy to deal with, that is the ten different answer patterns; on the other hand, you’re supposed to prepare the part 2 according to your own experiences, I mean, you should write down your own answers and memorise them.
In this page, I will put the ten different answer patterns here together. Each one can deal with one type of questions, so that is to say, there are ten types of questions from the examiners. Once you master these answer patterns, you just feel like filling the blanks in the test.
1. Like / Dislike
Questions:
– Do you like …?
– Are you interested in …?
– What … do you like?
– What’s your favourite …?
– What … do you like/dislike?
How to response:
Direct answer, fact, I feel that it’s not only opinion 1, but also opinion 2.
Direct answer, negative fact, bad experience.
Examples:
1. Do you like taking photos?
Yes, I’m really into taking photos, I’ve been in the habit of taking photos for like 5 years now, I feel that it’s not only a good way to record my precious memories but it’s quite fun.
2. Do you like travelling by train?
No, I cannot stand travelling by train, I think it’s really crowded and it’s time consuming, I remember last year I went travelling by train, it just took a long time and there were so many people on the train, it was really squishy.
2. Personal habits
3. Generalisations
Questions:
– Do people in your country …?
– Do Chinese people …?
– Do children …?
How to response:
1. Well, there’s so many people in my country, it’s really hard to say, probably people enjoy …, for example … but personally speaking, ….
2. It’s kind of hard to say but people that I know around me tend to …, but maybe for others, they’ll probably ….
4. Your opinion
5. Explaining
6. Comparing
7. Personal preference
Questions:
– Do you prefer A or B?
– Do you like A or B?
– Which do you think is better, A or B?
How to response:
If I were to choose between the two, I’ll probably go with A because …, you know, whereas, the drawbacks of B.
8. Future plan
9. Giving advice
10. Frequency
Questions:
– Do you often do something?
– How often do you do something?
How to response:
1. I do something a lot, you know, pattern of like/dislike.
2. I do something from time to time/every now and then. Normally, I’ll … because …, but if … then I’ll probably … because ….