Important IELTS Speaking Tips and Tricks

Learn these important tips and tricks on IELTS speaking: vocabulary, fillers, connectors, pauses, sentence structures, elaboration.

The Most Important IELTS Speaking Tips & Tricks Finally Explained:

There are a few areas where students keep failing time and time again when it comes to the examiner marking scheme for IELTS. Hence, let’s explore all these areas in detail and explore the depth of IELTS Speaking Tips and Tricks!

VOCABULARY:

This is probably the most common area of failure for students. Basic words will destroy any chances of you getting a 7+. Make sure to use advanced and fancier words!

There are tons of words you can use but below we will highlight a quick crash course for vocabulary where you can use these words instantly for your next IELTS speaking exam.

First, let’s look at some phrasal verbs. These are combinations of two to three words. These make you sound fluent and natural since many native speakers use these. Failure to do so will make you sound average.

(Whether you are at work, with friends or simply learning better phrases for your IELTS/CELPIP/OET/PTE/TOEFL/SAT exams, or writing/speaking, HZad Education has you covered!)

Here they are:

1. call off – cancel

2. give away – donate

3. hand in – submit

4. hold up – delay

5. make out – understand

6. put off – postpone

7. set up – arrange

8. talk over – discuss

9. turn down – refuse

10. use up – completely use up some resource

11. get over – recover

12. look after – take care of

13. run into – meet

14. break in on – interrupt someone

15. get along with – make friends with

16. bump into: meet someone unexpectedly

17. burn out: get extremely tired of doing something

18. go off on someone: get angry or mad at someone

19. slack off: working with less effort

20. speak up: express your opinion on something that you feel strongly about

21. tear something down: destroy something

22. wind up: to end up in an unexpected (and usually bad) situation

23. pass something up: to pass on an opportunity

24. rip-off: something that you bought or used which was worth way lesser than what you initially thought: “This expensive shirt was a rip-off”

25. get along with: to be able to make friends or good relationship with someone

26. wipe out: exhaust someone: “The work today wiped me out”

27. chill out: to calm down

28: ask around: to ask question(s) to different people

29. put up with: deal with something unfavorable

30. touch up: to improve something

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Let’s now move on to a quick lesson on INDIVIDUAL WORDS with some of the most common words you can instantly use in almost any speaking conversation. Make sure to use as many of these words as possible in your next exam!

1. absurd: weird

2. foetal: during the infancy (early childhood)

3. fizzle: make a hissing sound

4. fixate: focus on one thing strongly

5. fruitfulness: usefulness

6. lament: showing feelings of grief

7. abrupt: quick

8. lobbying: persuading someone (usually used for politicians)

9. run-up: make something quickly

10. laughingly: doing something while laughing

11. lavish: luxurious and showy

12. clinch: settle something or to confirm

13. flinch: to make a sudden movement in reaction to an uncomfortable situation

14. misperceive: judge something inaccurately

15. MIA (missing in action): someone who disappears from social life suddenly

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16. slump: decline

17. cultivate: grow

18. scrape: to remove something from the surface of an object

19. buzz: excitement

20. peek: take a quick look

21. gigantic: big

22. set up: arrange

23. superficial: not important

24. voyage: journey on ship or aircraft

25. hinder: to stop someone from doing something

26. ample: enough

27. pitfalls: danger

28. tumble: fall down quickly

29. riot: a large fight

30. adolescent: relating to young kids

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Remember… It’s very important that you also use a RANGE OF VOCABULARY. So mix it up! Use the above words in combination with phrasal verbs to make the best use of your newly learned lessons!

Speaking Sentences (Basic to Advanced)

Another important thing you need is NOT to make basic sentences. Try your best to replace all the basic words/sentence structures into advanced ones. Use unique wordings! Here are a few examples:

1. I am starving = I AM FAMISHED!

2. I love this = I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS

3. This is unacceptable = THIS IS DISTASTEFUL

4. That’s a funny movie = THAT MOVIE IS LUDICROUS

5. She is fat = SHE IS OBESE

6. The kid’s laugh is so cute = THE KID’S LAUGH IS HEAVENLY

7. He is so convincing = HIS ARGUMENTS ARE SWAYING

8. He is so handsome = HE IS SO TANTALIZING

9. She is so beautiful = SHE IS SO RAVISHING

10. The food was delicious = THE FOOD WAS SO APPETIZING

11. I hate you = I LOATHE YOU

12. You are my role model = YOU ARE THE PARAGON OF SOCIETY

13. I need this opportunity = I NEED THIS GOOD FORTUNE

14. I want to enjoy this weather = I WANT TO RELISH THIS WEATHER

15. I keep thinking about the vacation = I KEEP DWELLING ON THE VACATION

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Expressions:

I want to emphasize that… you need to emphasize! A very common mistake is students sounding like robots when they speak! Check out my video here that explains this in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv0ZAe2ZlvI&t=12s

You need to be able to speak naturally as if you were talking to a human being and not giving a speaking exam! Here are a few fancy expressions you can use to impress the examiner!

1. miss out: failing to use the opportunity of something

2. misrule: inappropriate use of power by a country’s leaders

3. neck and neck: very competitive

4. expedient: something convenient to do even if it is immoral

5. face-value: the assumed value of something

6. tell me about it: said when you have experienced something that the other person is telling you about

7. you’re telling me: said to express you are in agreement with the other person

8. pandora’s box: when you open a pandora’s box, you open a bunch of problems

9. deadbeat: not willing to work; lazy

10. half-wit: an informal way to tell someone they are not smart

11. diehard: someone unwilling to change in their belief

12. icebreaker: a conversation starter

13.: insofar as: to the extent that

14. streamline: to make a process more efficient

15. advantaged: a position where you are in the advantage

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Fillers:

Never ever ever ever use fillers! These are things like:

you know…

ummm

so…

like..

These words spell death for your marks, since it just shows you are taking long pauses to think with very basic words.

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Take Pauses!

Wait… In the last point, I just said don’t use fillers. But I didn’t say don’t take pauses. Pauses are empty spaces between your sentences or between your main ideas where YOU SHOULDN’T SAY ANYTHING FOR A SECOND OR TWO. Think of Barack Obama. How he pauses between ideas is the gold standard that should be applied in IELTS speaking. Pauses also show that you have confidence. Speaking non-stop, on the other hand, shows nervousness.

Use Connectors:

Using good connectors like “Furthermore, Likewise, Moreover” is way better than using basic connectors like “and, but, so”. Using no connectors at all is the worst thing you can do! Here is our lesson on the best use of connectors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfKflCZ08V4&t=213s

IELTS Speaking: The most important tips and tricks include not using basic words or fillers. Here is the detailed lesson.

Make Sure to Keep Talking:

The idea here is to explain that in the examiner marking scheme, there is a certain mark for elaboration. The more you talk, the more you score. If you talk too much, and the examiner stops you, that’s great! You don’t lose a single mark for this! But you lose marks if you speak less!

A good thumb of rule is to do 2 to 3 sentences per question in parts 1 and 3. Whereas for part 2 (cue cards), use two points per bullet point.

Define your answers as much as you can. It’s better to speak more than to speak less!

One final thing before you go.

An important part of your speaking exam will be how you prepare for it before going to the exam room itself. Of course, things like having proper sleep the day before, practicing with others for many weeks before your exam, using multiple practice tests to answer questions, etc. matter, and you probably already understand that.

However, what a lot of candidates ignore is using the valuable minutes right before entering the room with the examiner. When you are waiting outside the examiner’s room waiting for your name to be called, you likely have other candidates who are sitting with you. Ask them to practice with you! They will say YES a hundred times over; I guarantee you that! They desperately want the same thing you do, to pass their speaking exam.

Also, realize that this is the time when you have just completed the writing, reading, and listening test and you probably haven’t said a word for hours! This means your tongue and lips haven’t had a proper warm-up! You are not special if you do this. Every single public speaker (the good ones) or comedian, basically any expert required to go to the stage for public speaking, will do some sort of warm-up. If the experts need to do it, you need to do the same!

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Now that you have learned these valuable tips, let’s see if you can apply them to this free IELTS Speaking Practice Test:

Have a go at it!

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Part 1

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– What is your full name?
– Where are you from?
– What is your dream job?
– What’s an unexpected problem you’ve had to face and solve on your own?
– What is your preferred University?
– What degree do you hope to earn?

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Part 2

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Tell me about your first experience with a college campus. You should include:
– Why you were there or around it
– What it was like
– Who you met (if any)
– When you went
– Where the campus is located

Part 3

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– What does the “college experience” look like to you?
– How has college changed since a family member or someone you know
attended it?
– How can we positively influence the youth when they are in college?
– Is post-secondary education better than professional work experience?
– How can we monitor the success of education?

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