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So, this question came from a member of our private Facebook group (Feel free to join)

We asked the IELTS speaking and writing examiners that work at upmyielts.com and this is the list they came up with.  This is not all the topics, but it is the most common 10 that they could think of.

THE TOP 10 IELTS SPEAKING/WRITING TOPICS

1. Health
2. Environment
3. Education
4. Development
5. Globalisation
6. Public Transport
7. Criminal Justice
8. Youth Crime
9. Technology
10. Government Spending

So, how can you prepare for these when they cover so many topics?

Well, you can’t really, can you?  There is just too much to cover.  However, it is a really good idea to read a newspaper (online or actual paper).  We don’t mean in the week before your exam; that is just silly.  Read a paper every day.  You don’t need to read it all, but doing this will give you enough of a global perspective to answer very general questions about the above topics.  A good one is www.theguardian.com

In the exam

IELTS speaking and writing are very generic in terms of the topics and questions they ask.  In the speaking exam, if your Part 2 (the long turn), was about a job you wanted to do when you were a child, then Part 3 will also be about the world of work.

You may be asked about jobs in your country, salaries, the future of work, whether certain jobs should be paid more etc etc.  Reading a newspaper will give you this kind of knowledge so you can answer these kinds of questions.  Start now, even if your exam is 12 months away.  Get into this habit and you will find IELTS writing and speaking much easier because you will have more knowledge to use.

If you want your IELTS writing assessed by an IELTS examiner or you want to do a full IELTS speaking test with a speaking examiner, you can book one here.