How To Improve Your Scores In IELTS Speaking

Everyone knows about the basic criteria that help IELTS candidates to get better scores in Writing and Speaking. There are, however, other factors that may indirectly aid test takers during their speaking tests. So, let’s explore the ways that will help you boost your IELTS Speaking score.

5 Easy Ways to Ace your IELTS Speaking

Keep your Body Language Calm

In the Speaking test, the examiner asks you several questions and you have to answer them. It is understandable that when you have so much in your mind it is difficult to relax. But if you think of it as a light conversation with a friend, the whole process will become easier for you. Remember that the examiner is not there to find faults in your language, instead he is there to observe your strengths as a communicator. Therefore, you can talk in a cool and calm manner rather than becoming a bundle of nerves. 

Speak in an Engaging Manner

No one likes to get bored to death, hence, deal with the questions as if you are excited about them. Examiners take several speaking tests in a day and the last thing they want is a dull conversation. Therefore, once you tempt an examiner into listening to what you say, he will be more interested in finding your positives than negatives, which will ultimately help you improve your score. 

Use Intonations to Break the Monotony 

Adhering to the four basic criteria of speaking is crucial, but presentation is equally important. It is essential to reiterate here that the IELTS Speaking test is more of a conversation than Q & A. Therefore, natural rise and fall in your tone is expected. Voice modulation aids in understanding of the listener and keeps the conversation spry, which helps you grab the examiner’s attention. 

Sound Genuine while Speaking 

Little bit of theatrics may come handy here! How? Well, it may happen that for some questions you have to borrow experiences from others or make up a story; however, while doing so it is important to sound convincing; the way actors do. This confidence will keep you composed and eventually help you establish control over the conversation. 

Avoid Using Fillers

Fillers like umm.., uhh…, so…, actually…breaks the flow of the conversation and makes it difficult to understand the content. Therefore, it is utmost important to eliminate fillers from your speech. Interestingly, you can change this weakness into strength by embracing the pauses and using them to collect your thoughts before we speak.

Coronavirus Lockdown: Tips for easy IELTS and TOEFL Prep at Home

As you are aware, most classes have been temporarily suspended and tests like GRE, TOEFL, and IELTS have been postponed due to Coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown. Also, there is no clarity on when the classes will resume and situations will normalize.

To help you make optimum use of this lockdown time, we discussed in our last blog, a few tips that can help you to prepare for the GRE while at home. When it comes to TOEFL and IELTS, most of you are used to classroom practice and find it difficult to manage it at home. In this blog, we shall discuss a few easy strategies that will help you to overcome this hurdle and boost your prep even when at home:

TOEFL

  • Read news articles, story archives or any other interesting article for about 30 minutes every day and reflect on your understanding of it. While doing this, underline new words, write them down in a book, memorize them and try to use them while speaking. Some of the recommended reading sources are New Yorker, NY Times, Huffington Post, and TOI.
  • Listen more to native English speakers for getting a grip on pronunciations and speed. You can listen to FluentU videos, TED Talks, YouTube videos and podcasts, BBC Radio and NPR. Pause the audio clip after every few seconds and try to see if you are able to understand well and where you are falling short. For good lectures and conversations, go to Gothica on Youtube and practice.
  • For the writing section, pick the topics of your choice and practice timed writing for the essays. For Dilip Oak’s students, you can practice topics on Page 38 of the TOEFL book thoroughly.
  • For the speaking section, speak on any topic of your choice (timed for 45 seconds as per TOEFL requirement) and record it on your phone. For Oak’s Academy students, practice topics from Page 123 of the book, others can browse any topics online. Go back to the recording and check for fluency, grammar, pronunciations, clarity etc. Ask your friends or family to listen to your recording and get feedback. This will help you to improve more.
  • You can take a free practice test on the ETS official website.

 

IELTS

  • Read news articles, story archives or any other interesting article for about 30 minutes every day and reflect on your understanding of it. Read the National Geographic more since many IELTS passages are Science passages. For Oak’s Academy students, you can practice from IELTS Book 2.
  • For listening practice, go for TED Talks, FluentU videos etc. You can also access a lot of listening practice material on https://allieltsmaterial.blogspot.com/
  • For speaking practice, record a timed response (11-14 minutes) on your phone on any topic of your choice, go back and listen to it to know your mistakes and assess your performance. For Oak’s students, you can practice topics from Book 1.
  • or writing essays, Academy students can refer to Book 1 which has a pool of topics for task 1 and task 2. You can also write on any other relevant topic. For the initial one or two attempts, you may write an untimed essay. Once you get a hang of writing strategies, go for timed practice only.