Focus: Three Step Speaking Strategy
Interactive Lesson
Tips & Examples
When answering Part 1 questions, the speaker needs to answer with enough information that the examiner can use to give them an accurate score. The speaker should try to answer the question using 3 parts.
1. Answer the Question
2. Explain your Answer
3. Give an Example or Elaboration
For Example:
Are you working or are you a student?
Example Answer 1
"Currently, I'm a student studying Economics at the University of Finance. It's a state school with a gorgeous campus. If you have a chance, you should go there for a visit."
Example Answer 2
"Presently, I'm working for Coca Cola. Coca Cola is an excellent company to work for, but it has a dog-eat-dog environment. I'm only working there for a while until I get my own personal business up and running. I'm going to start an accounting firm in hopes of that being my cash cow."
Example Questions and Answers
Do you enjoy your work/studies?
Example Answer 1
“I don’t really like studying at the moment. I’m forced to take a lot of general education classes that are extremely boring, so I skip class quite a bit. My grades are getting pretty low and my family thinks I’m going to drop out, but I’ll keep going. I mean, what would you do in my situation? Everyone needs a degree nowadays.”
Example Answer 2
“I enjoy my work nowadays. In the beginning I was paid peanuts, but I have moved up the ladder and am now in management. I prefer to be the boss rather than breaking my back-crunching numbers.”
Is there anything you dislike about your work/studies?
Example Answer 1
“Yeah, the attendance policy at my school is ridiculous. We are only allowed 2 absences before we fail the class. That means that you must be very careful when you skip class. Also, if we are tarty 3 times that counts as an absence.”
Example Answer 2
“I don’t like how it’s a dog eat dog atmosphere at my work. People don’t like sharing information with anyone because they don’t want anyone else to do better than them. I don’t understand why we can’t all work towards the same goal. To me, that’s a win-win situation for everybody.”
What job would you like to do in the future? Are you planning on staying at your job for a long time?
Example Answer 1
“Since I’m studying accounting, my dream job is to work for a Fortune 500 company. I understand that I’ll have to start at an entry level position to learn the ropes, but I hope to work my way up to management as soon as I can.”
Example Answer 2
“I only plan on staying at my job for another 2 years. I’m currently working on a startup and hope to get that up and running as soon as possible. I’m hoping that will be my cash cow in the future.”
Additional questions you might see.
Do you want to study anything in the future?
Why did you choose this subject/job?
Is it a difficult subject/job?
Are you studying anything (else) at the moment?
* Remember, the IELTS exam is constantly changing. You will need to make sure you are confident talking about all subjects.