2.1.7 How to Avoid Traps

Trap 1 - Memorized vs. Unplanned Answers (in Part 1)

Most Common IELTS Speaking Part 1 Topics

• Work/study
• Your home
• Your hometown

When examiners asks you questions about your work/study, home or hometown, they are expecting that that may have planned an answer for these types of questions. Therefore, examiners will often ask another question that is less predictable to see your response. Also the examiner may ask you more difficult questions related to the topic.

Important

1.  Examiners are trained to spot memorized answers!
2. Examiners will compare your memorized answers to you unplanned answers and they will based their score on your unplanned answers. 

Remember, a chef is only as good as their worst dish - not their best dish! In other words, your memorized answer is not your real level. Your real level is your unplanned answer.

Trap 2 - Difficult Questions (in Part 3)

Examiners are trained to ask more difficult questions in Part 3 of the Speaking Exam especially if/when they are trying to decide if you are a Band 7, 8, or 9 student. These questions come at the end of the test when you are stressed, feeling tired and/or just want the exam to finish!

Famous people today

Example questions:

What kinds of people are most famous in your country today?

Why are there so many stories about famous people in the news?

Do you agree or disagree that many young people today want to be famous?

Advantages of being famous

Example questions:

Do you thing it is easy for famous people to earn a lot of money?

Why might famous people enjoy having fans?

In what ways could famous people use their influence to do good things in the world?

You need to remember that the Examiner is testing your ability to answer Band 7, Band 8, Band 9 questions (near the end of the test) because they have to separate the test takers according to these levels. The main way the Examiner's are trained to do this is to ask really difficult questions at the end, during Part 3, to see how you react to them.   

Trap 3 - Topic Specific Words (Parts 1-3)

Examiners are trained to ask you a range of different topics so that you can't just memorize a list of Band 9 words and put them into every answer and "cheat the test." 

Examiners are more impressed with simple topic-specific words than a more complex word that doesn't help you answer the question. This is why many students perform lower than expected even though they have memorized lists of high-level Band 9 words. Therefore, it is important that you use simple topic specific words that you already know.