IELTS Speaking Tips

Qua nhiều nguồn tài liệu khác nhau, chúng tôi muốn gom lại đây những mẹo dành riêng cho bài thi nói IELTS.

Keep talking

Speaks at length without noticeable effort or loss of coherence.

In IELTS Speaking, your score goes up when you say more, even if that results in more errors. That’s because IELTS is a test of what you CAN do, not what you can’t. So say as much as you can in response to the question until you run out of ideas or start repeating yourself. It’s not a bad thing if the examiner has to interrupt you.
Example: You know, I wouldn't usually reveal so much to a stranger I've only just met, but, well, you are such a good listener and I feel like I could go on for hours, or at least another fifteen minutes...

Use an idiom or two

Uses some less common and idiomatic vocabulary and shows some awareness of style and collocation

The IELTS examiner is listening for evidence that you can go beyond ‘textbook English’ and start using real, idiomatic English. So impress the examiner by including a few idiomatic phrases like “I’m a bundle of nerves” to mean “I’m nervous”.Example:
I am a bundle of nerves = I am very nervous

I'm cool as a cucumber = I'm not at all nervous.

I'm a bundle of cucumbers = No meaning. Epic fail.

Paraphrase the question

Uses paraphrase effectively

If the examiner asks you a question and you can immediately think of a way to paraphrase it—i.e. express the same meaning in other words—go ahead and say something like “Oh, you mean (paraphrase question)?” This is a very effective strategy to demonstrate one of the core skills that the examiner is listening for. Try to do this two or three times during the test.

Example:
Q: Do you like cucumbers?
A: Do you mean those long, green, oddly-shaped vegetables? To be honest, I've never really liked them.

Courtesy of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yvazv2nUpw

Use linking words to connect your ideas

Uses a range of connectives and discourse markers with some flexibility.

What does this mean in normal English? It means that you use a range of expressions like ‘in other words’, ‘also’, ‘however’ and ‘on the other hand’ to connect your ideas. The key word is a range. The examiner doesn’t want to hear you say ‘on the other hand’ a hundred times! So record yourself speaking and notice if you use a phrase like ‘on the other hand’ too much. If so, use a different phrase instead. Now you can start demonstrating a good range of linking words.

Example:

On the one hand I'd like a job that pays more, but on the other hand, I enjoy the work I'm doing at the moment. In fact, the more you are passionate about your job the more you are paid.

Don't be afraid of mistakes

Frequently produces error-free sentences, though some grammatical mistakes persist

That means it’s possible to make some mistakes and still get IELTS 7.0 or 7.5. However, some candidates score poorly because they worry too much about mistakes. As a result, they speak too slowly and their mistakes become MORE obvious! It’s more important to demonstrate fluency (See Tip #1) than it is to produce error-free speech. Of course, it’s also good to correct yourself if you do notice a mistake.

You can get IELTS 6 with frequent mistakes.

You can get IELTS 7 with some mistakes.

You can get IELTS 8 with very few mistakes.