How the Speaking test works
The Speaking test lasts 11–14 minutes, face to face with an examiner, and is recorded. It has three parts:
- Part 1 (4–5 minutes): familiar questions about your home, studies, work, hobbies and daily life.
- Part 2 (3–4 minutes): you receive a cue card, get 1 minute to prepare and then speak for up to 2 minutes on the topic.
- Part 3 (4–5 minutes): a discussion of more abstract questions linked to the Part 2 topic.
You are marked on four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
Fluency versus accuracy
Many students try so hard to avoid mistakes that they speak slowly, stop, and restart sentences. Others talk quickly but with constant grammar slips. The examiner wants both: a steady flow of speech with good control.
- In Part 1, give two or three sentences, not one word and not a speech.
- In Part 2, use your minute to note four or five key words, then tell a story with a beginning, middle and end.
- In Part 3, give an opinion, a reason and an example. It is fine to say "That's a difficult question; I suppose..." while you think.
Speaking English in Pokhara versus IELTS Speaking
If you work in tourism, as a trekking guide, hotel receptionist or café manager, you probably speak more English than most students. That is a real advantage for fluency. The risk is that "tourist English" relies on short, repeated phrases ("No problem, sir", "Very nice view") and examiners need to hear a wider range of vocabulary and grammar.
Students at Pokhara University or Prithvi Narayan Campus often have the opposite profile: good grammar and vocabulary on paper, but less practice speaking at length. They need to talk more, not learn more words.
Typical Part 1 and Part 2 topics, such as your hometown, a place you like to visit, a festival, a journey, give Pokhara students a great deal to work with: Phewa Lake, the view of Machhapuchhre, Dashain and Tihar at home, a trek you have done. Prepare to describe these naturally, but never memorise whole answers; examiners notice.
Pronunciation points for Nepali speakers
Pronunciation is about being easy to understand, not about sounding British. Speakers of Nepali, and of Gurung, Magar, Newari or Thakali at home, commonly work on these points:
- V and W: Nepali uses one sound for both, so "west" and "vest" can sound the same. Round your lips for W; touch your top teeth to your lower lip for V.
- F and PH: "fan" can come out close to "phan". Make F with the teeth on the lower lip and a steady stream of air.
- Z and J: "zero" may sound like "jero". Hold a buzzing S sound for Z.
- Starting clusters: "school" and "station" sometimes gain an extra vowel ("iskool"). Practise going straight into the S.
- TH sounds: "think" and "three" often become a hard T. Put your tongue lightly between your teeth.
- Word and sentence stress: English stresses particular syllables ("phoTOgraphy", "deVELopment") and key words in a sentence. Flat stress makes speech harder to follow, even when every sound is correct.
Practising when you have no partner
Finding a speaking partner at the right level is hard, especially if your friends are not taking IELTS. IELTS Learning lets you practise alone with 186 prompts for Parts 1, 2 and 3.
- Part 2 cue cards come with a real 1-minute preparation timer and a 2-minute speaking timer, so you learn exactly how long two minutes feels.
- Your answer is transcribed and you receive AI feedback on the transcript: repeated words, grammar slips, short answers and range of vocabulary.
- Reading your own transcript is surprisingly useful. Most students are shocked by how often they say "basically" or "like".
Use a quiet room and a headset microphone if you can. Early morning or late evening is usually best before the street gets busy.
When to book a teacher
AI feedback works on what you said; a human teacher can also judge how you said it, including pronunciation and natural intonation. Book a Teacher sessions are 1-to-1 online, about 20 minutes, from $5. Two or three sessions in the final month, run as full mock Speaking tests, are a sensible way to check your IELTS Speaking practice is working.
Register free to try the Speaking section in the sample mock test, and build vocabulary with Daily Vocabulary. Full Access is $12 for 2 months.