Hello there, my name is Lar Ryan and I'm an ex IELTS examiner.
Today I'm helping out a little bit here at IELTS Daily.
So today we have Marin from Japan and she's doing a full practice IELTS speaking test.
So let's say you're not fully familiar with the format of the speaking test or the types of questions that you will get in parts 1, 2 and 3.
As well as that, I'm going to give you a little bit more insight into how the examiner thinks.
So I will be analyzing Marin's answers for fluency and coherence, vocab grammar and pronunciation and giving you a better idea of what the IELTS examiner is looking for.
Hello.
Welcome to this practice exam conducted by IELTS Daily.
My name is David and I'm your practice IELTS speaking examiner.
The questions in this test are designed to simulate the IELTS speaking test.
Let's start.
What's your first name, please?
At the beginning of the IELTS test, you need to provide some ID, usually your passport.
But as this is a practice test, there's no need for this today.
Are you ready to begin?
Yeah, I'm ready.
Great.
Well, let's talk about birthdays.
Do you usually celebrate your birthdays?
Yes, I do.
I usually have two birthday parties for my birthday, one for my family and one for my friends and I actually enjoy my birthday party with my friends because they prepare me a lot of presents and they usually do like surprise events, so it really makes me happy.
But also I really enjoy having birthday party with my family because you know it's my family.
So yeah, So far, I'm very impressed with Maren's approach.
She's very confident, she's very relaxed, she's got a nice level of fluency and a lot of accuracy.
Just a few small mistakes with vocabulary so far, and those in particular were when she said I actually enjoy my birthday party with my friends.
Now, what that means is she has two birthday parties and she actually enjoys one of them.
But that, of course, is not what she was trying to say.
Because later on, you might remember that she said she also enjoys the party with her family.
So what she actually meant to say was, I actually prefer the party with my friends.
So, of course, that means she enjoys both of them.
But the one with her friends is the one she enjoys most.
Nice.
And what did you do to celebrate your last birthday?
For my last birthday.
It was my 17th birthday and I actually got COVID on my birthday, so I wasn't able to celebrate my birthday.
But I think after my quarantine, my dad bought me a cake and just with my family, I did a birthday party and yeah, it was great.
Okay, what stands out to me after this answer is that marin has a lovely level of pronunciation, so we don't have what we would call flat pronunciation, because she is pronouncing the stressed, the correct stresses in the sentence.
So she said I wasn't able to celebrate my birthday and for a band seven and higher, we're looking for this sentence stress, so not I wasn't able to celebrate my birthday, but I wasn't able to celebrate my birthday, and that's the type of thing that will separate a student from getting a band six or a band seven and higher for pronunciation.
And what are the most important birthdays in your country?
Most important birthdays um, like most important?
Like what age or what occasion?
Oh okay, maybe i think it's um 20th birthdays.
I guess we celebrate Japanese people celebrate their 20th birthday because it's officially saying that you have become an adult.
They wear traditional Japanese clothes kimono, and they have a big ceremony as a huge group and they take pictures in front of the party hall.
I think that's the most important part.
So this time we saw Marin struggle a little bit with the question and she didn't actually understand what it means.
And really, that's not a big problem.
But you cannot depend on the examiner to explain it to you as David did in the real IELTS test.
So what should you do?
Well, instead of just saying most important birthdays, most important birthdays, you have to ask the examiner directly.
So you will say something like, what does most important birthdays mean?
And if you ask, that's no problem.
The examiner will explain and it doesn't reduce your score.
But it's really important that you ask and don't wait for the examiner to help you.
Should children celebrate their birthdays every year with a party?
Yeah, i mean uh, for me, i guess i really enjoy having birthday parties, not only mine, but for my uh, i really enjoy having birthday parties, uh with my friends.
So uh, i guess, like when you become An adult, you don't really get to meet your family or your friends often.
So I think birthdays are the best time to gather around and spend some time with your families or friends.
So I think it's really, yeah.
So this time we saw that Marin needed to pause a little bit and think about what to say.
And really, that's not a problem at all.
This is what naturally happens when we speak in any language.
So if you need to pause to think of an idea, don't start to panic, don't worry that your score is coming down really quickly.
The truth is that you're thinking of what to say next.
That's normal, and as soon as Marin had her idea, you could see that her fluency was back to perfect again.
So she did really well not to panic.
Just give herself a moment to think about what she wanted to say and then continue.
Now, this is a little bit different when you're pausing to think of vocabulary.
So if you're pausing to think of a word, that does reduce your score more than if you're pausing to think of an idea.
Now I'm going to ask you some questions about going out.
Where do you like to go out on the weekend?
I usually hang around with my friends near my house because I really I live in the central part of Tokyo.
And many Many people come to the central part of Tokyo and they hang around.
I also go there a lot.
What do you like to do when you go out?
We don't actually do much.
We just go to cafe and we just talk about our daily stuff, and then we go to restaurants and we just have dinner and, just you know, we just talk and talk forever.
Yeah.
Okay, so this is kind of the start of where we see Marin's fluency is starting to go down a little bit.
And the problem really is that she can't think of what to say.
Now, you don't need to have very complicated answers.
But when you can't think of what to say, just go into a little bit more detail about the thing you've already said.
So she said that she goes and hangs out in cafes and restaurants with her friends and basically all they do is talk.
Now, that's fine.
You don't need to have more things you do, but perhaps Maren could have given a bit more information about the types of things that they talk about or even the people that she goes with.
Where do most young people like to go out in your country?
I guess in Tokyo area, many young people go to Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku, I guess.
And I live in Shinjuku, so I get to go to the famous place maybe three times a week.
And not only Japanese people, but many tourists visit those big, you know popular cities in Tokyo area.
Now, in relation to grammar, Marin has been doing great so far in that she's using lots of complex structures and she's using them with accuracy.
But now it's starting to become apparent that she does have an issue with plurals.
Now, in this answer, she said, I get to go to the famous place instead of the famous places.
And earlier she said, we go to cafe instead of cafes.
So it's starting to become a little bit obvious that she does have a problem with plurals.
However, this does not necessarily mean that she's going to get a low score.
It just means that it might prevent her from getting a very high score for grammar.
Now I'm going to ask you some questions about shopping.
Do you like shopping?
Yes, I do.
I don't go shopping often, but I do online shopping a lot these days because of COVID, I guess.
Many of my favorite stores closed.
So yeah, I usually do online shopping.
Now I'm getting a real feel for Marin's fluency and we can see that she's actually got a really good level.
When she uses phrases like I guess, while she's trying to think, or she says yeah to confirm that she's finished speaking, she does it in a very natural way, in the way that a native English speaker would.
So that shows that she's got a really high level of fluency and coherence because she's using these discourse markers to communicate extra information to the listener, who is the examiner in this case.
What's your favorite shop?
I don't have a specific brand that I like, but I usually just go through the website and just choose what I want.
And yeah.
Do you prefer shopping alone or with someone else?
Probably alone because, as I said, I usually do online shopping.
But sometimes I go out with my friends and I do shopping together.
Yeah, that's also fun.
The final question, you kind of answered that, but have you ever bought anything online?
Yeah, like 90 of the time I buy stuff online because you know all the.
I think these days, online shopping malls are really convenient and it's.
I think it's faster and and it's nothing.
I think it's.
I think it's better than actual, like you actually going to the store, because you can see many brands and you know at the same time.
So i think it's really time saving and yeah, i think.
So what happened here is something that happens actually pretty regularly in the IELTS test.
And it makes it look like the examiner isn't listening, because David had to ask a question that Marin had already answered.
But the thing is, the examiner has a set list of questions.
They're not inventing them as they ask them.
They're taking them from a special booklet produced by Cambridge.
So, whether the information has already been given or not, the examiner is still going to ask the next question.
So if you think that's a little bit weird, well it is, but you still just have to answer and say something like well, as I said, and as Marin did, try to add some extra information to this answer.
Okay, in the next part of the test, I'm going to give you a topic and I would like you to speak for one to two minutes.
You will have one minute to think about what you want to say and I will give you a pen and some paper to make notes if you want.
Is that clear?
Okay, so here you are, the pen and paper.
So you have one minute to prepare.
Thank you.
Now I would like you to talk about parents.
Remember, you have one to two minutes for this, so don't worry if I stop you.
I'll tell you when your time is up.
Can you start speaking now, please?
So the question was about describing someone outside your family who is a parent.
So I would like to talk about my sister-in-law and also my brother.
Yesterday I came to Fukuoka and we were on the plane together and the baby kept crying on the plane for the whole time.
I think it was really distracting for other people.
But my sister-in-law was really calm with the baby and she never got mad at the baby, even though she was, you know, whining and she was keep crying and screaming.
But I really thought she was.
She was a really calm person and I really respect her in a way, because if I was the mother I would get mad at the baby once it gets too long the crying gets too long.
So, yeah.
I think... Yeah, that's all.
Okay.
If you were in that situation, how long do you think it would be before you were frustrated?
Probably 30 minutes, because... I don't know, because I'm still a teenager.
I'm still not fully developed.
But still, I think she was really...
She was so patient.
I was so surprised because she was so patient with the baby.
Yeah.
So at this point, I'm starting to get a pretty clear idea of what band scores I would give to Marin.
So far, I'm thinking an eight for fluency, a seven for vocabulary, and she's got a great range of vocabulary.
She uses it very naturally, and she uses it with a lot of accuracy.
But there are a few small mistakes.
For example, in part two.
Just there she said Once the crying gets too long.
But it would be once the crying goes on too long.
And then for grammar, I'm thinking a band seven.
Now for both grammar and vocabulary, she's getting a seven and she's got a great level.
I'm sure you can see that yourself.
But to go higher than that again it requires a lot more range and a lot more accuracy.
Now, in relation to grammar, what i heard her say was the baby was keep crying, instead of the baby kept crying, and then she was keep crying and screaming, but again she kept crying and screaming.
So we're seeing small little mistakes like this, as well as the ones that we saw previously.
Then for pronunciation, i'm thinking it's about band eight, because she's got such natural intonation and she's able to really infer her meaning by using the various features of connected speech.
So what we're looking at here is my initial impression, and that doesn't necessarily mean that these are the scores she will get.
They're still all of part three to go, so they might go up or they might come down, but these are just my initial impressions of what scores she will get.
So we have to listen to part three, we have to see her performance there and then make a final assessment.
I want to stay on the topic of parenting.
Do you think people take care of their parents as much these days as they did in the past?
I think.
Well, let me talk about the Japanese culture, because I'm most familiar with Japanese culture.
I think in the past it was more like As you graduate from the universities, you need to go to work and you need to take care of your parents as soon as you start earning your own money.
But these days, not only in Japan, but I think it's a universal thing, but I think people started to live for themselves rather than for their parents.
I also think that I should live for myself rather than me earning money for my parents, because it's my life, and my life is not just about taking care of my parents just because they took care of me for the past 10 years, 10 or 20 years.
So yeah, compared to the past, I think individualism is really popular these days.
Okay, so this is pretty typical in part three, because the questions get more challenging and you can see that Maren really struggled here with ideas.
She couldn't think of how to answer the question.
Now initially she actually did really well.
She was able to take a full 10 seconds to think about what she was going to say and she used cohesive devices, like I think.
Well, and these types of kind of cohesive devices, noises or words that will allow the examiner to understand that she's trying to think of what to say.
Now, if you just sit there in silence, the examiner won't know that.
So this is actually very well done here by Marin.
And how do you think communication with parents has changed over the years?
I guess maybe because of all the social medias and all the internet things, specifically teenagers, they don't really try to talk to their parents a lot because they're so focused into their and online like internet life.
They prefer talking to their online friends rather than talking to actual friends or families.
So yeah, I think as people started to think like you're living your life for yourself, communication also has become more difficult, I guess within your own families or close friends.
Okay, so this is the second question in a row, and we can see that Marin is really starting to struggle with what she should say.
Now the impression that I'm getting is that Marin has lots of ideas coming at her, but she doesn't know which ones to discuss.
So what I would recommend for Marin here is to just begin by deciding on a clear, simple answer to the question.
So she might want to begin by saying communication has become worse, communication has become less common, or something very simple.
And then for the rest of her answer, she would just expand and explain that point.
So, instead of speaking and kind of coming back to the answer later, start with a clear, simple answer.
Once you have that done, you can just explain it and develop on that further.
Okay.
What happens to children when their parents are too strict?
Can you repeat the question?
Sure.
What happens to children when their parents are too strict?
Well, for that, I would like to mention about the Asian culture.
I think.
Well, it's a little bit stereotypical, but Asian parents tend to make their children study hard so that they can get into good universities, and therefore they get into good big corporations or companies.
But I think, looking at the recent data, there are many teenagers committing suicide because their parents are too focused on their education rather than their personal lives.
So I think if the parents are too strict on their children, it really affects them mentally, mentally and also physically.
And I feel like it kind of influences their personalities also.
So, yeah.
Okay, so at this point I'm starting to reevaluate the band score that I gave for fluency and coherence earlier on, because this is becoming a pretty consistent pattern where Marin is just struggling with ideas every single time she's asked a question in part three.
So the fluency and coherence score is definitely coming down in my estimation.
Now, she might be able to recover by the end of the test, but it's not looking likely at this point.
Okay.
And how can parents educate their children well?
That's a hard question.
I think communication is the main, the main point.
It is really important because for me, I think my family is my comfort zone.
And so if I don't get to communicate with them well, I will feel really nervous and I will feel uncomfortable.
So I think well, I think communication and spending a lot of time with your families is really really, really important.
Okay, it's starting to look like Marilyn is getting a little bit disappointed with her previous answers.
And this is affecting her.
And really, it will happen to you in the IELTS test.
The purpose of part 3 is to really push you to your limits and see what you're capable of.
That's how the examiner can tell apart a band 8.5 to a 9.
He has to, or she has to, discover exactly where your limit is.
But don't let that faze you.
You can't get disappointed and distracted during your test.
You just have to focus on each question one at a time.
And what happened to Marilyn here is she didn't actually answer the question she was asked.
She started talking.
I think in the middle of it, she even forgot what the question was about.
And if that happens to you, don't worry.
Just stop, say, sorry, could you repeat the question, please?
Make sure you know what you're talking about and don't just ramble and say whatever words are coming to your mind.
Okay, and what is the most difficult thing do you think about being a parent?
I think as soon as you become a parent, you have to have a lot of responsibilities, like financially and you know, not only money stuff, but also you need to guide them to the good way so that they can become your children could become good people.
Sorry, I forgot the question.
Sure.
What is the most difficult thing about being a parent?
And you probably will have less free time if you have your children because you need to play with them once you get home.
So I think that's a really That's a big part that you're sacrificing.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, thank you.
This is the end of the practice IELTS speaking test.
Well done.
So earlier on I told you that I was thinking Marin would get a band 8 7 7 8, so overall 75.
But really the way she struggled so much there in part 3 didn't do her any justice.
So, even though she has a very good level of fluency, her inability to answer and develop the questions has definitely brought down her fluency score.
And unfortunately, that also brings down her overall score.
So the final scores that we would look at here for Marin would be 7 for fluency, 7 for vocab, 7 for grammar and 8 for pronunciation.
In the comments below.
Make sure to let us know if you've learned anything new or if you were surprised about any of the feedback.
Hello.
Hello.
Welcome to this practice exam conducted by IELTS Daily.
My name is David, and I'm your practice IELTS speaking examiner.
The questions in this test are designed to simulate the IELTS speaking test.
Let's start.
What's your first name, please?
My name is Marin.
At the beginning of the IELTS test, you need to provide some ID, usually your passport, but as this is a practice test, there's no need for this today.
Are you ready to begin?
Yes, I'm ready.
Great.
Well, let's talk about birthdays.
Do you usually celebrate your birthdays?
Yes, I do.
I usually have two birthday parties for my birthday.
One for my family and one for my friends.
And I actually enjoy my birthday party with my friends because they prepare me a lot of presents.
And they usually do like surprise events, so it really makes me happy.
But also, I really enjoy having birthday party with my family because, you know, it's my family.
So, yeah.
Nice.
And what did you do to celebrate your last birthday?
For my last birthday, it was my 17th birthday.
And I actually got COVID on my birthday.
So I wasn't able to celebrate my birthday.
But I think after my quarantine i my dad bought me a cake and we did um just just with my family i did a birthday party and yeah it was great and what are the most important birthdays in your country most important birthdays um like most Like what age or what occasion?
Maybe I think it's 20th birthday.
I guess we celebrate.
You know, Japanese people celebrate their 20th birthday because it's like officially saying that you have become an adult.
They wear traditional Japanese clothes kimono, and they have a big ceremony as a huge group and they take pictures in front of the party hall.
And yeah, I think that's the most important birthday.
And should children celebrate their birthdays every year with a party?
Yeah, for me.
I guess I really enjoy having birthday parties, not only mine, but I really enjoy having birthday parties with my friends.
So I guess when you become an adult you don't really get to meet your family or your friends.
So I think birthdays are the best time to gather around and spend some time with your families or friends.
So I think it's really, yeah.
Now I'm going to ask you some questions about going out.
Where do you like to go out on the weekend?
I usually hang around with my friends near my house because I live in the central part of Tokyo and many, many people come to the central part of tokyo and they hang around and and yeah, i also go there a lot.
Yeah, what do you like to do when you go out?
We um, we don't actually do much, but i, We just go to cafe and we just talk about our daily stuff.
And then we go to restaurants and we just have dinner and, just you know, we just talk and talk forever.
Yeah.
Where do most young people like to go out in your country?
I guess in Tokyo area, many young people go to Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku, I guess.
And I live in Shinjuku.
So yeah, I get to go to the famous place, you know, maybe three times a week.
Yeah, and not only Japanese people, but many tourists visit those big big, know popular cities in tokyo area.
Yeah, now i'm going to ask you some questions about shopping.
Do you like shopping?
Yes, i do uh, but i don't uh, i don't do.
I don't go shopping often, but i i do online shopping a lot these days because of covet, i guess many uh, many of my favorite stores um closed and uh.
So yeah, i usually do online shopping.
What's your favorite shop?
I don't have a specific brand that i like, but i usually just go through the website and just choose what i want.
And yeah, do you prefer on shopping alone or with someone else?
Probably alone because, as I said, I usually do online shopping.
Yeah, but sometimes I go out with my friends and I do shopping together and yeah, that's also fun.
The final question you kind of answered that, but have you ever bought anything online?
Yeah, like 90 of the time I buy stuff online because you know all the.
I think these days, online shopping malls are really convenient and I think it's faster and it's nothing.
I think it's.
I think it's better than actual, like you actually going to the store, because you can see many brands and you know the same time.
So i think it's really time saving and yeah, i think.
Okay, in the next part of the test, i'm going to give you a topic and i would like you to speak for one to two minutes.
You will have one minute to think about what you want to say and i will give you a pen and some paper to make notes if you want.
Is that clear okay?
So here you are, the pen paper, so you have one minute to prepare.
Thank you.
Now, I would like you to talk about parents.
Remember, you have one to two minutes for this, so don't worry if I stop you.
I'll tell you when your time is up.
Can you start speaking now, please?
So, the question was about describing someone outside your family who is a good parent.
So, I would like to talk about my sister-in-law and also my brother.
So Yesterday I came to Fukuoka and we were on the plane together and the baby was keep crying on the plane for the whole time.
So I think it was really distracting for other people.
Sister-in-law was really calm with the baby and she never got mad at the baby, even though she was, you know, whining and she was keep crying and screaming.
But i i really thought she was.
She was a really um, calm person and i really uh, respect her in a way, because If I was the mother, I would get mad at the baby once it gets too long the crying gets too long.
So yeah, I think, yeah, that's all.
Okay.
If you were in that situation, how long do you think it would be before you were frustrated?
Probably 30 minutes, because... I don't know, because I'm still a teenager.
I'm still not fully developed.
But still, I think she was really...
She was so patient.
I was so surprised because she was so patient with the baby.
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
I want to stay on the topic of parenting.
Do you think people take care of their parents as much these days as they did in the past?
Hmm.
I think um Well, let me talk about the Japanese culture, because I'm most familiar with Japanese culture.
I think in the past it was more like as you graduate from the universities, you need to go to work and you need to take care of your parents as soon as you start earning your own money.
But these days, not only in Japan, but I think it's a universal thing, but I think people started to live for themselves rather than for their parents.
I also think that I should live for myself rather than me earning money for my parents because well, it's my life, and my life is not just about taking care of my parents just because they took care of me for the past 10 years, 10 or 20 years.
So yeah, compared to the past, I think individualism is really like popular these days.
And how do you think communication with parents has changed over the years?
I guess maybe because of all the social medias and all the internet things.
Specifically teenagers.
They don't really try to talk to their parents a lot because they're so focused into their online internet life.
They prefer talking to their online friends rather than talking to actual friends or families.
I think, as people started to think you're living your life for yourself, communication also has become more difficult, I guess within your own families or close friends.
What happens to children when their parents are too strict?
Can you repeat the question?
Sure.
What happens to children when their parents are too strict?
Well, for that, I would like to mention about the Asian culture.
I think it's a little bit stereotypical, but Asian parents tend to make their children study hard so that they can get into good universities, and therefore they get into good big corporations or companies.
But I think, looking at the recent data, there are many teenagers committing suicide because their parents are too focused on their education rather than their like personal lives.
So I think if the parents are too strict on their children, it really affects them mentally and also physically.
And I feel like it kind of influences their personalities also.
Yeah.
And how can parents educate their children well?
That's a hard question.
I think communication. is the main point.
It is really important because for me, I think my family is my comfort zone.
And so if I don't get to communicate with them well, I will feel really nervous and I will feel uncomfortable.
So I think well, I think communication and spending time, spending a lot of time with your families, is really, really important.
Yeah.
Okay, and what is the most difficult thing do you think about being a parent?
I think as soon as you become a parent, you have to have a lot of responsibilities, like financially, and not only money stuff, but also you need to guide them to the good way so that your children could become good people.
Sorry, I forgot the question.
Sure.
What is the most difficult thing about being a parent?
And you probably will have less free time if you have your children because you need to play with them once you get home.
So I think that's a really That's a big part that you're sacrificing.
Yeah.
Great.
All right.
Well, thank you.
This is the end of the practice IELTS speaking test.
Well done.
