The three parts of the Speaking test
The Speaking test lasts 11 to 14 minutes and is a face-to-face conversation with an examiner.
- Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes): familiar topics such as your hometown, studies, daily routine, food or hobbies.
- Part 2 (3 to 4 minutes): a cue card. You get one minute to prepare and then speak for up to two minutes on a topic, such as a person who helped you or a place you enjoyed visiting.
- Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes): a deeper discussion linked to Part 2, where you give and support opinions.
You are marked on Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
Fluency first, then accuracy
Many students who have spent years on objective tests worry about making a single mistake. In Speaking, that worry often makes people pause, restart sentences and give very short answers, which lowers the fluency score.
A better approach:
- Keep talking, even if a sentence is not perfect. Correct yourself naturally if needed and move on.
- Give extended answers in Part 1: an answer, a reason and a small example.
- Use simple linking phrases: "the main reason is", "for example", "on the other hand".
- Once you can speak smoothly, work on accuracy: tenses, articles and plurals.
Pronunciation for students from across India
Students in Kota come from Hindi-speaking states, the East, the South, the West and the North-East. Every background brings its own strengths. A few points that many Indian speakers commonly work on:
- v and w. "Very" and "west" use different sounds. Practise pairs like "vest / west" and "vine / wine".
- Extra vowel before s-clusters. Saying "istation" or "iskool" for "station" and "school" is common among Hindi speakers. Start directly on the "s".
- th sounds. "Think" and "this" are different from "tink" and "dis". Light tongue contact between the teeth helps.
- Word stress. English stresses one syllable strongly: PHO-to-graph, pho-TO-gra-phy. Wrong stress can make familiar words hard to catch.
- s and sh, v and b, z and j. Depending on your home language, one of these pairs may need attention.
- Intonation. Let your voice rise and fall; a flat tone can sound uninterested even when your ideas are good.
The goal is clarity, not a British or American accent. Examiners are used to many Indian accents.
Your Kota experience is great Part 2 material
Cue cards often ask about a challenge you faced, a place you moved to, a teacher who influenced you, a time you worked hard for something, or a friend you met recently. Living in Kota, away from family and adjusting to a new routine, gives you real stories. Talk about them honestly and positively: what you learned, who supported you, what you enjoyed about the city, from the riverfront to the food in your area.
You can also talk about your hometown, so think about how you would describe it to someone who has never been there.
Practising with no partner in a hostel room
Not everyone has a roommate who wants to practise English at 10 pm. That is fine.
- Record yourself on your phone and listen back. Notice pauses and repeated words.
- Use the cue-card timer. IELTS Learning gives you a real one-minute preparation timer and a two-minute speaking timer, so Part 2 feels like the test.
- Read your transcript. The platform's AI feedback works on a transcript of your answer, showing vocabulary range, repetition and grammar points.
- Speak about your day in English for two minutes every evening.
- Practise with a friend from a different state; English becomes your shared language naturally.
IELTS Learning has 186 prompts across Parts 1, 2 and 3.
When to book a teacher
AI feedback is useful for daily practice, but Speaking is a conversation, and a real listener helps. Book a Teacher gives you 1-to-1 online sessions of about 20 minutes, from ₹299. A teacher can run a full mock interview, ask follow-up questions in Part 3 and give clear advice on pronunciation and fluency.
Many students book one session early to find their level and another a week or two before the test. Full Access is ₹999 for 2 months, with teacher sessions booked separately. Register free to try the Speaking tools, and pick up a few new words each day with Daily Vocabulary.