The three parts of the Speaking test
The test lasts 11 to 14 minutes and is recorded.
- Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes). Familiar questions about you: your work or studies, your home, hobbies, food, weather, transport. Answer in two or three sentences, not one word, not a speech.
- Part 2 (3 to 4 minutes). You get a cue card, one minute to prepare and make notes, then speak for up to two minutes. The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions.
- Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes). A discussion of more abstract questions linked to the Part 2 topic. This is where higher bands are decided: you need to explain, compare, speculate and give examples.
You are marked on four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
Fluency or accuracy?
Many candidates in the Eastern Province slow down to avoid every mistake, and their fluency score suffers. Others talk fast with lots of errors, and their grammar score suffers. Aim for the middle: keep talking, correct yourself briefly if needed, and move on.
Useful habits:
- Extend naturally: answer, give a reason, add an example.
- Use thinking phrases such as That is an interesting question only once or twice, not as a pattern.
- Vary your tenses in Part 2: past for the story, present for how you feel now, future or conditional for what you might do.
Pronunciation points for Dammam's language backgrounds
Pronunciation is about being clear and easy to follow, not about sounding British or American. The Eastern Province has speakers of many languages, and each group tends to work on particular points.
Arabic speakers
- /p/ and /b/: park and bark, pen and Ben. Practise with minimal pairs.
- /v/ and /f/: very, van and fan.
- Short vowels: ship and sheep, bed and bid.
- Consonant clusters: avoid adding a vowel, as in istreet or spring said as sipring.
Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and Urdu speakers
- /v/ and /w/: vest and west, vine and wine.
- Word stress on longer words: deVELopment, PHOtograph and phoTOgraphy.
- Speed: a fast pace with flat intonation can make you harder to follow. Pause at the end of ideas.
Filipino speakers
- /f/ and /p/, /v/ and /b/: fine and pine, vote and boat.
- The th sounds in think and this.
- Often very good fluency, so focus on varied vocabulary and longer Part 3 answers.
Practising when you have no partner
Plenty of people in Dammam live in shared accommodation or work long shifts, so a regular speaking partner is hard to find. Practise alone instead:
- Speak, do not think. Answer Part 1 questions aloud while you make tea or tidy up.
- Record full answers on your phone and listen once, noting one thing to improve.
- Describe your day in English during the drive home, if you are a passenger.
- Use our 186 prompts for Parts 1, 2 and 3. Speak your answer and receive AI feedback on the transcript, which shows repeated words, fillers and unfinished sentences.
The cue-card timer
Part 2 catches people out because two minutes feels long. On IELTS Learning, cue cards come with a real one-minute preparation timer and a two-minute speaking timer, exactly as in the test.
During the minute:
- Write four or five key words, not sentences.
- Plan a short story with a beginning, middle and end.
- Add one detail for each bullet on the card.
Then keep going until the timer stops. If you finish early, add how you felt or what you learned.
Cue cards often ask you to describe a place, a person, an object or an event. Living in the Eastern Province gives you plenty of material: a trip to the Corniche, a new skill you learned at work, a celebration with friends, a journey across the region. Keep five or six flexible stories ready, and practise adapting them to different cards rather than memorising whole answers. Examiners notice rehearsed speeches, and they can lower your fluency score.
Book a teacher for live practice
AI feedback shows your words; a teacher hears your voice. Book a Teacher offers 1-to-1 online sessions of about 20 minutes with an IELTS teacher, from $5. A short session is enough for a full mock Speaking test with honest comments on pronunciation, fluency and how well you develop your Part 3 answers.
Good IELTS Speaking practice in Dammam does not need a classroom. Start with the Speaking section of the free sample mock test when you register.