The three parts of the Speaking test
The test lasts 11–14 minutes and is recorded.
- Part 1 (4–5 minutes): everyday questions about you, your work or studies, your home and familiar topics. Short, natural answers of two or three sentences work best.
- Part 2 (3–4 minutes): you receive a cue card with a topic and prompts. You get one minute to prepare and then speak for up to two minutes. The examiner may ask a short follow-up question.
- Part 3 (4–5 minutes): a discussion of more abstract ideas linked to the Part 2 topic. This is where higher bands are decided.
You are marked on four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
Fluency versus accuracy
Many students in Riyadh, especially those who studied English mainly through grammar at school, speak slowly because they are checking every sentence before they say it. Others speak quickly but with frequent errors. The test rewards a balance.
- If you hesitate a lot, practise speaking for two minutes without stopping, even if you make mistakes. Fluency improves first; accuracy follows.
- If you speak fast but make errors, record yourself, read the transcript and fix the same three mistakes each week.
- In Part 3, use phrases that buy you thinking time naturally: "That's an interesting question, I suppose it depends on..."
Pronunciation points for Riyadh's speakers
Pronunciation is about being easy to understand, not about having a British or American accent. These are common points different language groups in Riyadh work on.
Arabic speakers
- /p/ and /b/: Arabic has no /p/, so "pen" and "Ben" or "pull" and "bull" can sound the same. Practise with a hand in front of your mouth: /p/ has a puff of air.
- /v/ and /f/: "very" may become "fery". Touch your top teeth to your lower lip and add voice.
- Short vowels: pairs such as "ship" and "sheep", or "bed" and "bad", need clear distinctions.
- Consonant clusters: words like "street", "spring" or "explained" sometimes gain an extra vowel ("istreet"). Slow down and link the consonants together.
- Word stress: stress the right syllable in words such as "deVELopment" and "ecoNOMic".
Filipino speakers
- /f/ and /p/, /v/ and /b/ can swap, as in "pamily" for "family".
- He and she: Tagalog uses one pronoun for both, so watch for mix-ups when describing people in Part 2.
South Asian speakers (Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali)
- /w/ and /v/ may merge ("wery" or "vork").
- Retroflex /t/ and /d/ can make speech harder to follow; aim for a lighter tongue position.
- Sentence stress and intonation: a flat rhythm can make long answers sound monotonous.
Making the most of Part 2
The cue card is where nerves often show. Use your minute to write four or five key words, not full sentences, and plan a simple path: what, when, who, and how you felt. Then speak in a relaxed, story-telling voice. If you finish early, add a detail or explain why the experience mattered to you; two full minutes shows the examiner your range.
Practising when you have no speaking partner
Plenty of people in Riyadh live with family who would rather not play examiner every night, or work alongside colleagues who share their first language. You can still practise effectively:
- Use real timings. Our Part 2 cue cards include a genuine one-minute preparation timer and a two-minute speaking timer, so you learn exactly how long two minutes feels.
- Speak out loud, every time. Thinking an answer is not practice.
- Read your transcript. IELTS Learning gives AI feedback on the transcript of your answer, highlighting repetition, grammar and vocabulary range.
- Use dead time. Waiting for a metro train or sitting in traffic is a good moment to answer Part 1 questions in your head, then aloud once you are home.
There are 186 Speaking prompts across Parts 1, 2 and 3, so you will not run out of fresh topics.
When a teacher makes the difference
AI feedback is excellent for regular practice, but nothing replaces speaking to a real person under some pressure. A Book a Teacher session, about 20 minutes online from $5, works like a mini Speaking test: the teacher asks questions, listens and then tells you clearly what to change. Two or three sessions in the final month can help a great deal with nerves.
Get started
Try a free sample test, which includes Speaking, and build vocabulary for Part 3 with Daily Vocabulary. When you are ready, register for Full Access: $12 for 2 months.