IELTS
IELTS Speaking practice: the three parts, what the examiner marks, and how to practise out loud
The short answer
The IELTS Speaking test is an 11 to 14 minute interview with an examiner, in three parts: questions about you, a two-minute talk from a task card, and a discussion. It’s marked on fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, in equal shares. You improve by answering real questions out loud every day and fixing one thing at a time.
By the Chappie team · Updated
Written by the team behind Chappie, the English speaking app. Chappie isn’t an IELTS test and doesn’t give band scores; the last section says plainly what it can and can’t do. The test facts here were checked on ielts.org, the official IELTS site, on 30 September 2026. IELTS is a registered trade mark of its owners, and this page has no connection to them.
What happens in the IELTS Speaking test?
You speak face to face with one examiner, and the conversation is recorded. It takes 11 to 14 minutes and has three parts, always in the same order. The Speaking test is the same whether you’re sitting Academic or General Training.
| Part | What happens | How long |
|---|---|---|
| PartPart 1: Introduction and interview | What happensThe examiner checks your identity, then asks general questions about familiar things: your home, family, work, studies or interests. | How long4 to 5 minutes |
| PartPart 2: Long turn | What happensYou’re given a task card with a topic and the points to cover. You get one minute to prepare (there’s a pencil and paper for notes), then you talk for up to two minutes. The examiner stops you when the time is up and may ask one or two questions. | How long3 to 4 minutes, including the minute to prepare |
| PartPart 3: Discussion | What happensWider questions linked to your Part 2 topic: your opinions, your reasons, what might happen in future. | How long4 to 5 minutes |
What does the IELTS examiner mark?
Four things, and each carries equal weight. Your Speaking score is the average of the four.
| What’s marked | In plain words | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| What’s markedFluency and coherence | In plain wordsCan you keep going at a normal speed without long stops, in an order that’s easy to follow? | What helpsAnswering out loud every day, and joining ideas with small words like “because”, “so” and “but”. |
| What’s markedLexical resource | In plain wordsDo you know enough words and use them correctly? Can you say it another way when the exact word won’t come? | What helpsPractising the same idea in two different ways. |
| What’s markedGrammatical range and accuracy | In plain wordsDo you use different kinds of sentences, and get them mostly right? | What helpsFixing the one or two slips you make most often. |
| What’s markedPronunciation | In plain wordsCan you be understood without the listener having to work at it? | What helpsClear word endings and a steady pace. Your accent can stay. |
Nothing in those four asks for rare words or expert knowledge of the topic. The examiner is listening to how you speak, so a simple, true answer that keeps moving is what you’re after.
IELTS Speaking Part 1: questions and sample answers
Part 1 is small talk with a stranger. The questions are easy, and the usual slip is answering them in three words. Give two or three sentences each time: the answer, then a reason or a detail.
I live in Kandy, in a house near the lake, with my parents and my younger brother. It’s quieter than Colombo, which I like, but the traffic near the town is bad in the mornings.
The answer, then one detail. About fifteen seconds.
I work. I’m an accounts assistant at an export company in Colombo, and I’ve been there for two years. Most of my day is invoices and phone calls with suppliers.
I play cricket with friends on Sundays, and during the week I mostly watch films. Lately I’ve been watching them in English without subtitles, which is harder than I expected.
The names and places are examples. Swap in your own, because a true answer is much easier to keep talking about. Here are more questions in the same style to try:
- What’s your home town like?
- Who do you live with?
- What do you like about your job or your studies?
- What did you want to be when you were a child?
- Do you prefer mornings or evenings? Why?
- What kind of food do you cook at home?
IELTS Speaking Part 2: how do you talk for two minutes?
People dread this part. You’re handed a card and given one minute. After that, nobody speaks but you.
Describe a person who helped you at an important time. You should say who the person is, how you know them, what they did to help you, and explain why their help mattered to you.
Written in the style of a Part 2 card. It isn’t from a past paper.
- 1
Spend the minute writing words
Four or five of them, one for each point on the card: “uncle, A/Ls, maths, patient, B”. A minute is too short for sentences, and reading sentences out sounds flat anyway.
- 2
Follow the card in order
The points on the card are your plan. Say something about each one and you’ll be close to two minutes without hunting for ideas.
- 3
Tell it as a story
What happened first, what happened next, how it ended. A story pulls you forward, and it brings the past tenses with it.
- 4
Let the examiner end it
Keep talking until you’re stopped. If you run out early, add how you feel about it now, or what you’d do differently.
I’d like to talk about my uncle Nimal, my mother’s older brother. He was a maths teacher in Matara before he retired, and he lives two streets away from us. The important time was the year of my A/Ls. I was doing fine in my other subjects, but I’d failed two maths term tests and I’d started to believe I just couldn’t do it. My parents wanted to send me to a big tuition class in town. My uncle said, give me three evenings a week instead. So for about eight months I went to his house after school. He never gave me the answers. He’d ask me to explain each step out loud, and when I got stuck he’d wait. Sometimes he waited a long time. At first I hated that, but slowly I found I could finish problems by myself. I got a B for maths in the end, which was enough for the course I wanted. What mattered more was what changed in my head. Until that year I’d thought some people were good at things and some weren’t. After it, I understood that most things just need time and someone patient. I still visit him most weekends. These days I help him with his phone, so I suppose we’ve swapped places.
An invented example of about 215 words. At an unhurried pace that fills two minutes.
IELTS Speaking Part 3: how do you give an opinion?
Part 3 moves from your own life to the wider world. If your card was about someone who helped you, expect something like “Do people help their neighbours less than they used to?” Any opinion will do, as long as you explain it.
A shape that carries most Part 3 answers: say what you think, give a reason, give an example, and if there’s time, mention the other side.
“I think it depends on…”
An honest way to start when the answer isn’t yes or no.
“One reason is that…”
Moves you from the opinion to the explanation.
“For example, in Sri Lanka…”
A real example from home is easier to talk about than a general idea.
“On the other hand…”
Shows you can see the other side.
“That’s a good question. Let me think.”
Buys a few seconds without going silent.
“I’m not sure, but I’d guess that…”
For questions about the future. Nobody expects you to know.
I think it depends on where you live. In my village people still help each other all the time, because everyone knows everyone. When my father was ill, our neighbours brought food for a week. In Colombo it’s different. I lived in a flat there for two years and never learned the name of the family next door. So I’d say the habit hasn’t gone, but city life makes it harder.
Opinion, reason, example, the other side. About thirty seconds.
How do I practise IELTS Speaking at home?
Reading sample answers won’t move your score much, because the test is spoken. Fifteen minutes a day out loud is the practice that counts. Start with the official sample questions on ielts.org, then run this each day:
- 1
Five Part 1 questions (3 minutes)
Two or three sentences each, with no notes.
- 2
One Part 2 card (4 minutes)
Set a timer: one minute for notes, two minutes of talking. Record it on your phone.
- 3
Listen back (3 minutes)
Pick one thing to fix: a long pause, a word you kept repeating, a tense that slipped. One is enough.
- 4
Say it again (2 minutes)
The same card, with that one thing fixed.
- 5
Two Part 3 questions (3 minutes)
Opinion, reason, example. Standing up helps some people.
With nobody to practise with, these ways of practising alone work for IELTS as well, and ChatGPT or Gemini in voice mode will play the examiner if you give it the right prompt.
Which mistakes cost marks?
Memorised answers are the big one. They come out faster and flatter than the rest of your speech, and the first follow-up question leaves you with nothing prepared. Very short answers are next: “Yes, I like it” gives the examiner nothing to mark. Then there’s the long word used wrongly where a plain one would have been right, and the silence when you need a moment. If you do need one, say so (“Let me think about that”) and the conversation stays alive.
If the words vanish under pressure even though you know them, that has its own cause and its own fix: why you understand English but can’t speak it.
Can Chappie help with IELTS Speaking?
Partly, and it’s worth being exact about which part. Chappie has no IELTS mode. It won’t give you a band score, it doesn’t use official test questions, and it can’t tell you whether you’re a 6 or a 7. For that you need a mock test with a trained teacher, or an official practice test.
What it gives you is the daily speaking. You talk out loud, in conversations such as interviews and meetings or one you describe yourself, and after each answer you see notes on your pronunciation, grammar, word choice and fluency, which sit close to the four things the examiner marks. The explanations can be in Sinhala, Tamil or Hindi, which helps when a grammar point is hard to follow in English.
So a sensible plan uses both: official questions and a mock test to learn the format and find your level, and something that gets you speaking every day in between. There’s more on what Chappie is and what it costs.
Practise it
Take the task card above, set a two-minute timer and say your answer out loud. Then try the same story in Chappie and see what it would fix.
Questions people ask
How long is the IELTS Speaking test?
Between 11 and 14 minutes, in three parts: 4 to 5 minutes of questions about you, a long turn of 3 to 4 minutes including one minute to prepare, and a discussion of 4 to 5 minutes.
Is the IELTS Speaking test the same for Academic and General Training?
Yes. Both follow the same three parts, with the same timings.
How is IELTS Speaking marked?
On four criteria with equal weight: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. Your Speaking score is the average of the four.
How many words should I say in IELTS Speaking Part 2?
The task is measured in time: you talk for up to two minutes. At an unhurried pace that comes to roughly 200 to 250 words.
Can I practise IELTS Speaking alone at home?
Yes. Answer Part 1 questions out loud, then record a two-minute talk from a task card and listen back. A teacher or a mock test is still how you find out your band.
Is a Sri Lankan accent a problem in IELTS Speaking?
IELTS describes the pronunciation criterion as speaking in a way that can be understood without too much effort. Work on clear sounds and a steady pace.
Does Chappie give IELTS band scores?
No. Chappie isn’t an IELTS test and has no IELTS mode. It gives feedback on pronunciation, grammar, word choice and fluency while you practise speaking, which are close to the areas the IELTS examiner listens for.