It's not really until we get to Part 2 or the Long Turn where we seem to get into some pressure 1
and have to find our best techniques and strategies for this part of the exam. 2
If you recall, we only have one minute to prepare for this part of the test, and then we should speak 3
anywhere from one to two minutes. 4
And that one minute is really not a whole lot of time to prepare for the information you're given in 5
the test prompt or the task card. 6
First of all, that one minute is really precious. 7
So we don't want to spend too much time trying to write complete sentences or steps, or any type of complex 8
outline. 9
All we want to do is make sure that we have enough content to fill those one to two minutes. 10
And for the most part, we would think that this information needs to be 100 percent completely related 11
to the test product. 12
But guess what? 13
You can actually be off-topic for the Long Turn and you will not lose any marks for this, as you would 14
for Task 2 Writing of the test. 15
So, if we refer to the Speaking Test rubric and look at the band descriptors, we can see that there 16
are four criteria that are used for marking your speaking ability. 17
Starting from the left, we have Fluency and Coherence, then Lexical Resource, which we know is a 18
fancy way of saying vocabulary. 19
After this, we have Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and finally we have Pronunciation. 20
OK, so earlier on we were discussing the issue of a test-taker not staying on topic. 21
And if we look under Fluency and Coherence, we see that the speaker can actually go slightly off-topic 22
and it won't be an issue. 23
Oh, this doesn't mean that you can just discuss your day at Disneyland if you have a topic such as your 24
favorite photo of your favorite family member, unless that family member visited Disneyland with you. 25
If you're completely off-topic, this might lead the examiner to think that you did not completely 26
understand your question and as a result, the test-taker would lose marks. 27
It's important to also point out the fact that you're not even being graded on whether you stay on topic 28
or not for the speaking exam. 29
However, this is absolutely essential for Task 2 Writing as well as Task 1 Writing. 30
To review, Fluency and Coherence just means how smoothly you can speak on the subject. 31
Next, under Lexical Resource, 32
as we said before, we have Vocab and any expressions that you would be using for the Speaking Test. 33
After this, we have Grammatical Range and Accuracy. 34
Not only does this criteria assess your grammar, but also your RANGE of various sentence structures. 35
For example, test-takers should be able to use not only simple sentences, but also compound and complex sentences. 36
sentences. 37
And finally, we have Pronunciation - 38
how easy or difficult it is for the examiners to understand you. 39
Now, if you're getting ready for the Speaking Test, you've probably been all over the Internet, 40
and looked at all kinds of speaking topics you might be given for Part 2 or the Long Turn of this test. 41
And in your research, you've probably noticed that there will be some topics that are going to be relatively 42
easier to speak on than others. 43
The million dollar question is, "are you going to get an easy topic, or a difficult one, on your 44
test day?" 45
Unfortunately, what a lot of candidates try to do - is create a memorized or scripted response that they 46
can somehow attempt to bend and manipulate, no matter what topic they end up receiving, which in the 47
end is not going to work out well for them. 48
You are far better off being authentic and speaking on stories from your past, rather than trying to 49
use some kind of magic formula that's going to give you a high score on the test. 50
One really cool method of being fully prepared for any difficult question would be to write down three 51
different scenarios based on time. 52
What's great about this method is that you have all your bases covered. 53
So looking at your test prompt, you can look at each of the bullet points and then write a story for 54
each bullet point related to stories from your past, present and then your future. 55
Some of the most common speaking topics you will come across are as follows. 56
"Describe a piece of art you like, describe a book that you've recently read." 57
"Describe a piece of advice you recently received." 58
"Describe a time of day that you like." 59
"Describe an exercise you know." 60
"Describe a member of your family that you get along with well." 61
"Describe a gift you recently gave to someone." 62
OK, let's take one of these topics and go and use it as an example. 63
Let's use the topic of books. Once again, the test prompt states: 64
"Describe a book you have recently read." 65
You should say what kind of book it is, what it's about, what sort of people would enjoy it, and explain 66
why you liked it. 67
If we are using the technique for a past, present and future story, 68
one possible way of responding would go like this... 69
First, we could quickly jot down some notes about a book we read when we were young and of course, 70
the title as well. 71
In my case, I'm going to use a joke book called "One Hundred Good Clean Jokes." 72
"This book really stands out to me because when I was young, I remember reading the jokes, memorizing 73
them and then sharing them with my family and friends." 74
"It was a great way to make people laugh and it reminds me so much of my childhood." 75
OK, so this little story from my past will cover the bullet points of the type of book, what it was 76
about, and why people enjoy this particular book. 77
I also explained why I liked it, since it was a great way to have fun with friends and family. 78
Now, the idea here is to also balance our time between each of these stories. 79
We should spend about 40 seconds on the past story, followed by 40 seconds on a story in the present, 80
and then a future story that's also 40 seconds in total. 81
And if you do a quick bit of math, you will see that we've reached the two-minute point for this part 82
of the exam. 83
Nice! 84
Let's continue this example and head to our story in the present for this story... 85
I'm going to go with a book on personal development by the name of a guy called Dave Ramsey: 86
"This is a book about learning how to manage your money hand." 87
"It helps people to get out of debt and increase their wealth and get to a point where they can give 88
to others who are in need of financial help." 89
"This book is funny, it's direct, and it has seven steps to financial freedom." 90
"I think that people would like this book since it's beneficial, has it can help them to get out of 91
debt, start to increase their finances and hopefully at some point be financially free." 92
"People who would enjoy this book would be those that are in debt, struggling month to month, and in 93
need of some financial changes in their lives." 94
OK, so that was my second story based on a book that I'm currently reading. 95
Now, let's look at a book that I would like to read in the future... 96
"A book that I'd like to read someday would be a book on investing and the stock market by one of the 97
world's most famous investors, Warren Buffett." 98
"This would be a biography, because it discusses his life and how he became the most famous investor in 99
the world." 100
"And I think that people would like this type of book because you're learning about the stock market 101
investing and once again, how to increase personal wealth." 102
All right, 103
so here we have it - three different stories that take place in the past, present and future, all related 104
to the points on the task card given for Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking Test. 105
Find some super-boring topics on the Speaking Test online, and give this technique a shot!