IELTS Academic Speaking Test - Sample Questions and Answers

I have seen that many people face difficulties while answering questions in IELTS Speaking Test in Astana, Kazakhstan. In IELTS, speaking is generally the same for both Academic IELTS and General IELTS takers. So, the nature of questions and the expectations of answers from you is the same irrespective of the fact that you are appearing for General or Academic IELTS.

In Astana, Kazakhstan, an attempt has been made by the Government to introduce English as the third language after Russian and Kazakh. So, there is a rise of English speakers especially in the big towns such as in Astana and in Almaty, but, still, there is much to be desired.

Many young people who manage to speak English suffer from being unable to maintain fluency, lack of words & vocabulary and above all, lack of practice. Many people who speak English resort to translation of words from Russian language (their first language) and their speech suffers. You can see it on sentence construction, words placement and order, choice of words etc.

In this background, it's always a challenge to Kazakhstani students to get a good band especially in the Speaking section of IELTS. They simply fumble during the test, making all kinds of mistakes. But, that does not mean they don't try, or should not try. I appreciate their efforts and this blogpost is to help them.

In this post, I have taken few sample Speaking Questions from Past Papers of IELTS Test published as Cambridge IELTS 6 with Answers published by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. If you search on Google as Cambridge Practice Set 6 Speaking Questions, you should find plenty of them.

So, let us look at Test 1, Speaking Part - I.

1. Do you enjoy Dancing? (Why?/Why not?)

It's an easy question. Anyone can answer it. If you like dancing, you should say, "Yes, I like it" and if you don't, then, No. But, IELTS speaking test is not a test only about saying yes or no. There is where the tricks lie. I mean you are expected to show your speaking ability. This is where I would help you.

So, what should be the ideal good answer? Any answer which uses a lot of English words on the topic of liking or disliking dancing. That's it.

Look at the Sample answer below.

   <<Maybe you should try first, I will come back with an ideal (and one of such examples) answer on this one in my next post>>

Until then, keep on practicing to enhance your ilets speaking practice.