Reasons For The IELTS Examiner To Interrupt You in IELTS Speaking

Are you wondering why the IELTS examiner might cut you off during your response to the questions in the IELTS Speaking interview?

Many IELTS test takers are surprised when the examiner interrupts them in the middle of their response to pose a fresh question. Let’s find out why the IELTS examiner might do this and how to deal with being interrupted in the IELTS exam.

Since many test takers are unprepared for interruptions, they become distracted and anxious. This can lead to candidates performing poorly when it happens. Let’s try to understand the reason for the examiner’s interruption and be prepared.

Introduction IELTS Speaking

The Speaking test is an interview between the test-taker and a qualified examiner. It lasts between 11 and 14 minutes.

Test takers must respond to broad questions about themselves as well as inquiries about a variety of common subjects, including their home, family, job, studies, and interests.

Following this, test takers are handed a card that asks them to discuss a specific subject. Before speaking for up to two minutes, they get one minute to prepare. To wrap off this portion of the test, the examiner will ask more questions on the same subject to discuss it in depth.

Why Can the IELTS Examiner Interrupt You?

If you want to discover when and why an IELTS examiner could interrupt you mid-sentence during the 3 parts of the IELTS Speaking examination, let’s go over some of the common reasons now:

The examiner gets around five minutes to ask you a total of seven questions: three regarding your place of residence or your field of study, and four about one particular topic.

• For the test to be valid, they must pose at least seven questions and give you time to answer them.

• IELTS candidates are instructed that to receive a high score, they should elaborate on each topic as much as they can and keep talking until the examiner cuts them off.

The IELTS speaking examiner interrupting you is not being impolite or disruptive to your test. In truth, they frequently have good reasons for changing the questions.

To ensure an accurate and trustworthy result, the examiner only has a limited amount of time to evaluate your English. you will have the opportunity to demonstrate a larger range of English when more varied questions and topics are put forward.

• If the examiner believes that your responses are too simple, they will test you by posing increasingly difficult questions. This indicates that they think you could perform better and raise your score.
• The only other situation in which the examiners may stop you is if you completely go off-topic and it is obvious that you failed to understand the question. In this case, they will make it clear why they are interrupting you.

These distractions may cause you to become disoriented and lose your focus. This is especially important if you lack preparation for the speaking test. You should be aware that examiner interruptions are not always a bad thing.

Does Examiner Interruption Affect My IELTS Band?

Don’t worry your IELTS speaking score is unaffected by interruptions. Therefore, it won’t influence your score if the examiner pauses you to rephrase the question, the examiner is assisting you as you can lose points for straying from the subject.

You shouldn’t worry about it because, for whatever reason, it’s just a technique for the test administrator to keep things organised.

Tips to Deal With An Interruption During IELTS Speaking

If you wish to be fully prepared for the test, you should be ready for interruptions to your speech. You shouldn’t be surprised by this component of the IELTS speaking test and adjust the best you can.

• Once you are interrupted, concentrate on the new question.
• Maintain your confidence regardless of interruptions.
• When answering questions, keep talking until you are interrupted.

Now that you are aware of the reasons why the IELTS examiner might interrupt you, you can be ready for when it happens in the real exam.

IELTS Speaking can be particularly challenging for second-language learners so you must make an effort to be fully prepared for this section of the exam.