How to Answer IELTS Speaking Part 1?

In the IELTS speaking test you will be marked on your English language ability in four different areas. These are:

1) Style and ability to express yourself in English
2) Vocabulary range and accuracy
3) Grammatical range and ability
4) Pronunciation
All the above can be greatly improved through practising pre-written answers to the speaking questions shown below.

How to Answer the Introductory Questions in Part 1 of the Speaking Test

The introductory questions are asked at the beginning of Part 1 of the Speaking test for two reasons:
1. To confirm the identity of the Candidate for Examiner and for the DRD recording (DRD means Digital Recording Device).
2. To provide some simple warm up questions to help the candidate to start thinking in English.

Tip: It is important to remember that this part of the test is not rated so there is no need to try and provide good answers. You just need to show that you understand the questions asked by the examiner and can provide simple, yet effective answers in grammatically and stylistically correct English.
You should also keep your answers short so that you will have more time for the rated questions in part 1. The more time you spend answering the introductory questions, the less time you will have to show your English ability in the rated section of part 1.

The Introductory questions:

Below is an example of how to answer the introductory questions:

Explanation of the APPROPRIATE answers to the introductory questions

Explanation: You are being asked a simple question to confirm your identity. So you only need to confirm your full name.

Explanation: Examiners are unlikely to use your name in the interview, so do not worry about your name being possibly difficult for foreigners to pronounce. Simply give the name that your friends and family call you by. 

Explanation: you are being asked a simple question to find out which part of your country you are from. So you only need to confirm your home town or province, and where it is in your country. 

Explanation: The examiner is asking to see your identification document-either your national identification card or your passport, so you need to have this ready (placed on the table in front of you) to five to the examiner to look at.

Example of BAD answers to the Part 1 introduction questions:

Explanation: You are being asked a simple question to confirm your identity. So you only need to confirm your full name. You are not being asked to start a conversation.

Explanation: You are being asked a simple question to confirm your identity for the Digital Recording Device. So you only need to confirm your full name. The examiner is already in your country and probably also lives in your country, so does not need welcoming. Also this answer is unprofessional – you should avoid being emotional in the Speaking test.

Explanation: You are being asked a simple question to confirm your identity. So you only need to confirm your  full name. You are not being asked to start a conversation.

Explanation: You are being asked a simple question to confirm your identity. So you only need to confirm your  full name. You are not being asked to start a conversation.

Explanation: You are being asked a simple question to confirm your identity. So you only need to confirm your  full name. You are not being asked to start a conversation. It is also unprofessional to talk about how the examiner looks.

Explanation: You are being asked a simple question to confirm your identity for the DRD recording. So you only need to confirm your full name. You do not need to provide any additional information and will make the examiner’s job more difficult as you have answered questions in Part 1.

Part 1. Topic Questions:

In Part 1, after the introductory questions, you will be asked 3 questions based upon questions about your daily life. Each topic has three questions to answer on that topic.
As the examiner is allowed 4-5 minutes for part 1 this means that after the introduction there is approximately 1 minute for each topic, therefore you should allow this time limit to allow time to answer each question, and so earn maximum possible marks.
Tip: You should allow 15 seconds to answer each question to give yourself enough time to
answer all the questions and to show that you have the required range of English ability.
Each of the three topic questions which you will be asked will use the same following format:

And here is a sample topic question:

On the next page (Page 2 ) is a sample answer followed by explanations as to why the questions were answered in that way.