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This post comes about after we received a question from a member of our private Facebook group (Feel free to join)

Why are the IELTS part 2 questions difficult?

An IELTS speaking examiner that works with us answered this one

To be honest, they aren’t difficult. You are expected to talk about something that is very familiar to you; someone you know, a shop you go to, a book you’ve read. The reason many people find it difficult is because they don’t know how to extend.

So, let’s take an example.

Now, what low level candidates do is answer each bullet point with answer like

I’m going to talk about my laptop.

– Where you got it from

I got it from a department store near my house.

– How long you have had it for

I’ve had it for about 6 months now.

etc etc. You get the idea. After 30 seconds, they have run out of things to say.

Now, higher level candidates will be able to build a story around the prompts. They will be able to tell an anecdote in Part 2 that helps them talk for longer. So, they do something

I’m going to talk about my laptop.

– Where you got it from

I got it from a department store near my house, but it took me ages to find one that I could afford. I mean, I need my laptop for work; I help build websites, use Zoom a lot, but I also play games on it so I needed one that was powerful enough to do all this. The ones I really wanted were about 2500 euros so there was no way I could get one of those so it took me a while to find one that could do everything I needed it to do.

– How long you have had it for

I’ve had it for about 6 months now and it runs like a dream. I press the on button and it boots up in like 3 seconds. My old one took about 30. In the 6 months I’ve had it, I reckon it has saved me a fair few hours as it runs programs like photoshop so much quicker than my old one.

You can see the difference, can’t you?  It’s not about Part 2 being difficult. it’s about having the English level that allows you to talk about something at length and flexibly.

If you need help with IELTS speaking, let us know.  We are running speaking sessions at the moment but they fill up very quickly.  

You can do an IELTS speaking test with an IELTS examiner here and you will get a full report on your speaking and what you need to do to get higher marks.  There is nothing else like it on the internet.