In part two of the IELTS speaking test you will be asked to describe something from your own personal experience: your favourite book, festival, place or a person who has influenced you.

Before you start speaking the examiner will give you a scrap of paper, a pencil and one minute to prepare some notes.

Describe your favourite teacher

You should say:

• when and where they taught you
• what they taught you
• why they are so important to you

So your notes may look something like this:

Preparation tips

To ensure you achieve the best score you can in the IELTS speaking test take some time to do the test on your own before heading to a test centre.

Choose a topic to describe, either from a course book or one of your own ideas.

Take 1 minute to make some notes on a piece of paper

Record yourself speaking on your phone or laptop.

Listen back – when you do this, be positive. The examiner will be listening for all the good things that you do, not all the mistakes!

The “listen back” check list

Did you:

• use a good range of interesting vocabulary?
• use a variety of grammar e.g. conditionals, relative clauses, inversions?
• answer the question fully and logically?
• use clear pronunciation that was easy to understand?

Try re-recording yourself and see if you can do even better and save all your recordings so that you can hear how well you are progressing.

Find out more about the IELTS exam and what it can be used for here:

• All about IELTS

IELTS at International House London

IH London is one of the largest IELTS test centre in the UK, with tests taking place three Saturdays each month throughout the year.

Our language school also offers IELTS preparation courses to help candidates reach their desired IELTS band.