IELTS Speaking Test - Part 1

 Speaking Test - Part 1 (Question set 1)

Here are a few more topics that you should study and practice to fluently answer the questions the examiner might ask you in your Speaking Test - Part 1 (Introduction). Keep in mind that the answers provided here are for reference only. You should NOT memorise them or use them in your test. You are encouraged to get ideas from those and then prepare your own answer from your own experience and idea.

Topic - Living place:

Q. Where do you live?
Answer: I live in (...say your area name…) in (...say your town/village/city name...). I have been living there as long as I can remember as it is our permanent residence.

Q. What kind of place is it?
Answer: This a large town where more than 2 million people reside in. It's a beautiful town and the people are nice and friendly. The area where I live in is in the north of the town centre and a magnificent place, especially because of the quiet environment and good neighbours.

Q. What’s the most interesting part of your town/village?
Answer: Well, there are actually more than one interesting parts and facts that I can recall about our town and among them, the most interesting part is that the entire town is an island. You have to take a ferry or a launch or cross a bridge on a bus to reach our town. Perhaps the second most interesting fact of the city is that wind power provides all the electricity we need. If I tell about the most intriguing area of our town, it would be the north part of the town which is the hub of the town.

Q. What kind of jobs do the people in your town/village do?
Answer: That would be tough to answer because the types of jobs people do in our town vary to a great extent. However, construction engineers, IT professionals, fishermen and salespersons would dominate the list, I believe. Many young people run online businesses and a few rich people own hotel chains in our town. Since it is a popular tourist destination, many locals are indirectly involved in the hotel and tourism sectors.

Q. Would you say it’s a good place to live? (why?)
Answer: Having a great neighbourhood where people are nice and the environment is quiet is always preferred by people as a living place. From this regard, our town is a great place to live in. Because it's an island, you can get fresh fishes, vegetables and if you are fond of seafood, you will love our cuisine. Finally, job opportunities in our area is another reason people often move to our town. I am happy to be a resident of this town.

Topic - Accommodation:

Q. Tell me about the kind of accommodation you live in?
Answer: I live in an apartment with my family and the apartment is approximately twenty-five hundred square feet. Our apartment is on the fourth floor and it has four bedrooms, a guest room and a large dining space. The building is located near the city centre and we enjoy a good view from our apartment.

Q. How long have you lived there?
Answer: My father bought this flat almost 3 years ago, and since then we have been living there. Before that, we used to live in a rented flat in the same area.

Q. What do you like about living there?
Answer: We are happy with the apartment we live in and a great lake view from the apartment is the best thing about it. Since the building is located beside a lovely lake, we enjoy the fresh air and can walk by the lake in the morning and evening. I also like the area because almost all the modern amenities we need are present in the vicinity.

Q. What sort of accommodation would you most like to live in?
Answer: Honestly speaking, I prefer a house over an apartment as a place to live in. However, due to increasing housing and accommodation demands, owning or renting a house in the city centre is really impossible. So for the time being, we are happy with the apartment we live in. But if I have a choice, I would relocate to a town and own a large house with a beautiful lawn in front of it.
 

Topic: Colour 

Q. What’s your favourite colour? [Why?]
Answer: My favourite colour is pink and I guess many other girls like me also have a fascination with this colour. Pink, a delicate colour that means sweet, nice, playful, cute, romantic, charming, feminine, and tenderness. Pink is the colour of the universal love of oneself and of others. I love it more than any other colour.

Alternative Answer: My favourite colour is blue - the colour of the ocean and the sky. This colour is associated with depth and stability and symbolizes wisdom, trust, confidence, intelligence, faith, and heaven. From my childhood, I had been attracted to this colour and always preferred blue pairs of jeans.  I believe blue is a colour that suits me and perhaps this is one of the reasons I like it so much.

Q. Do you like the same colours now as you did when you were younger? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, pink has always been my favourite colour. My father bought me a beautiful pink doll when I was only 4 years old and my parents painted my room pink in my childhood. Since then I am in love with this colour and interestingly it is still the same.

Alternative Answer: White and red were my favourite colours up until I turned 19. Strangely, I started realising the importance of blue colour when I started travelling extensively. I watched a movie titled ‘Blue’ and then did some extensive research on this colour. Besides, my fascination with the blue pair of jeans also enhanced my weakness in this colour.

Q. What can you learn about a person from the colours they like?
Answer: I believe the choice of colours often represents some personality traits and this tells a lot about a person. For instance, people who choose black as their favourite colour are often artistic and sensitive and those who love the green colour are often affectionate, loyal and frank. Clearly, these are generic descriptions but provides the clue to assessing different personality types that exist within a group. More scientifically speaking, the choice of colours defines someone's preference and could be used to speculate that a person's life experience and preferences.

Q. Do any colours have a special meaning in your culture?
Answer: White is considered the symbol of peace and red for violence in our culture. Interestingly, red is sometimes referred to as the colour of friendship and sacrifice which contradicts the earlier meaning of this colour! As far as I know, Green, in our country, represents nature and prosperity while yellow is the colour of sunshine and happiness. Finally, black is considered something gloomy and sad and relates to the dark past in history. However, black is often revered, by some people in our country, as the colour of intelligence and mystical world.

Topic: Flowers

Q. Do you like to have flowers in your home? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: This is an interesting question and I would be delighted to answer that. In fact, whenever we have a special occasion at our home, we buy flowers and consider it an integral part of the celebration. For instance, if it’s a birthday or a marriage anniversary, we buy different types of flowers and love to have them at our home. Flowers are refreshing and enhance the appeal of the celebration.

Q. Where would you go to buy flowers? [Why?]
Answer: If I need to buy some common types of flowers, I go to a nearby floral shop that sells a good variety of flowers and flower bouquets. It offers fresh flowers and home delivery. However, if I need to purchase a flower which is not so common like chocolate cosmos or night lily, I order them from a large online shop which specialises in making bouquets for different occasions and has a great variety of flowers.

Q. On what occasions would you give someone flowers?
Answer: In our country, we can give someone flower almost on any occasion to congratulate or wish good luck to this person. Perhaps giving flowers in a sad and mournful event is not recommend and apart from that, I can present someone flowers anytime for any occasion.

Q. Are flowers important in your culture? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Flowers are extremely important in our culture. They represent purity, innocence, happiness, selflessness and good fortune. A large number of people offer flowers to the deity they pray to while others find it a source of freshness and beauty and give them to their dear and near ones.
 

Topic: Friends

Q. Are your friends mostly your age or different ages? [Why?]
Answer: Most of my friends are about my age. Only two or three of them are junior to me by five to six years. As my friends are mostly from my class, it's natural that we do not have a noticeable age gap. For junior friends, they are from my neighbourhood and were my playmates in my childhood. So they became good friends of mine over time despite the age difference.

Q. Do you usually see your friends during the week or on weekends? [Why?]
Answer: As I am still a student and have a few good friends in my college. So I mostly see them during the weekdays when we have classes to attend to. If we have something special to do or a plan to execute, we even meet on weekends. As for my friends from my neighbourhood, I mostly see them in the evening on weekends.

Q. The last time you saw your friends, what did you do together?
Answer: We watched a movie together at our house. That would be around two weeks ago and we watched the latest Avengers series movie. After the movie, we had numerous conversations and we talked about our plans after we graduate from college. Since I was preparing for my IELTS exam, we did not meet afterwards. But we will hopefully meet again within two to three days.

Q. In what ways are your friends important to you?
Answer: My friends actually represent me. As it is commonly believed, a person could be judged by the companies he keeps, and this is true in my case as well. They are my friends because we are like-minded. They often inspire me to attain excellence and carry on in my troubled days.

I can be absolutely myself with my friends, can share anything with them and they are by my side whenever I need them. From this regard, they are important to me to a great extent. I can recall numerous occasions when they selflessly supported me. I believe friends make life worth living and more colourful.
 

Topic: Neighbours

Q. How well do you know the people who live next door to you?
Answer: I know my neighbours very well. Mr and Mrs Patrick, who live adjacent to my house, are more than our neighbours and in fact, they are like close friends. Mr Albert, who lives across our house, is a great person and I often visit him to play chess with him. I have a few neighbours who are close family friends. Thus some of my neighbours are intimate and dear to us and we have a great relationship.

Q. How often do you see them? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I see them almost every day. Every time I go out, I see someone waving his hands at me and I do the same whenever I see them. Besides, some of our neighbours who walk in the park in the morning often exchange greetings with me. In terms of visiting each other, we go to their house, and they also visit us quite frequently - I would say at last once a week. Since our neighbours live close to us, we see them more frequently and have more conversations with them than our relatives.

Q. What kinds of problem do people sometimes have with their neighbours?
Answer: I believe the dispute with the fence and boundaries is a common issue among neighbours and that could be sometimes the reason for their animosity. Besides, lack of mutual respects, irrational behaviour, letting pets run wildly could be a few other reasons people do not have a healthy relationship with their neighbours. Sometimes jealousy can crack their bond as well.

Q. How do you think neighbours can help each other?
Answer: Neighbours are often more important than relatives in the sense that our neighbours would be on our side whenever we need their help and they share our happiness and sorrows alike. Thus a good neighbour can be helpful in a tremendous way by extending his or her supporting hands in times of distress and discomfort. They look after our property when we are away and can also become our good friends over time. To cite an example, when my grandfather became severely ill all of a sudden in the middle of a night almost six months ago, my neighbours came to our help and we could have been in great turmoil without their prompt support and assistance. Thus good neighbours are a blessing for us.
 

Topic: Your favourite place

Q. What place do you most like to visit? [Why?]
Answer: The place, I like to visit the most, is called the “White Cliffs of Dover” in Kent. I like to visit this stunning coastline, which has been saying ‘hello’ and ‘farewell' to thousands of people crossing the English Channel for centuries because of its gorgeous geology with dazzling white chalk faces, sharp edges rising 350 feet above the sea level along with the layers of wild and lush grasses.

Q. How often do you visit this place? [Why?]
Answer: I like to visit this place, one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, if not the most, twice a year because visiting beautiful places is one of the few things that I really enjoy out of my very busy work life, and White Cliffs of Dover seems to top the list of those places which helps me relax the most because of its stunning natural beauty.

Q. Why do you like it so much?
Answer: I like visiting this place so much because of its unique feature. In fact, there are very few places on this earth where one can see such a long stretch of coastline which is completely made of white chalks. I like it also because this place, standing tall as the guardians of the island, has witnessed many historical events such as the unsuccessful Roman invasion of Julius Caesar and being on the frontline of the First World War and the Second World War.

Q. Is it popular with many other people? [Why?]
Answer: Yes, it is popular with many other people because of Dover Castle the largest castle in the UK, and the Bronze Age boat apart from the stunning looking White Cliffs are the centre of attractions to many visiting tourists. In fact, in the past few years, an average of 3.4 million people chose Dover for a day trip, and of them, over 500,000 people chose to stay there overnight.

Q. Has it changed very much since you first went there? [In what way?]
Answer: Yes, it has changed since I visited this place last time as people can enjoy an annual plant fair event now where beautiful flower plants, as well as vegetable plants, are displayed for the public view. Besides, the number of visitors had also significantly increased since I visited there last time.

 

Topic: Leisure
 

Q. Do you have any hobbies or interests? [What are they?] 
Answer: I have a number of hobbies such as watching movies, gardening and reading story books. While I enjoy having all of those hobbies, depending on my location, mood and weather condition, the most special one to me is “reading storybooks”.

Q. How did you become interested in (whatever hobby/ interest the candidate mentions)?
Answer: I became interested in some hobbies since my early high school days. In fact, my school would declare nice “awards” for the best storytellers in order to encourage students like me to take part in the storytelling competition from our favourite storybooks. I became interested in “gardening” rather recently after learning how we could stop the greenhouse effects by planting more trees. As for watching movies, I became interested in it as long as I remember. This is entertaining, educational and one of the most popular hobbies in our country.

Q. What is there to do in your free time in (candidate’s hometown/village)?
Answer: During free time, where I live in Dubai, one can visit the Dubai Coffee Museum in the Al Fahidi neighbourhood in order to enjoy some of the best coffee in the world but also to learn about the history of coffee as well as the history related artefacts. Besides, one can also enjoy public sandy beaches in Dubai during his/her free time.

Q. How do you usually spend your holidays?
Answer: I usually spend my holidays by visiting my parents and relatives who are living outside of Dubai. I also like to take my family to one of my favourite restaurants in order to enjoy some of my favourite dishes. And finally, sometimes I enjoy sports competitions on TV on holidays. 

Q. Is there anywhere you would particularly like to visit? [Why?]
Answer: Yes, I would like to visit many places in the world, given that I have enough money and time. But one place, which I would really like to visit, is “Niagra Falls” in Canada, and the reason is obvious. I want to visit it because it is a geographical wonder and one of the most famous waterfalls in the world.

 

Topic: Television

Q. How often do you watch television? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I am studying to pursue a post-graduation degree at one of the leading Engineering universities in China, and I also work at a shopping mall after my school hours until 9:00 pm. By the time, I arrive home after finishing everything, either it is a bit too late to do anything, or I am just exhausted. Therefore, I don’t really get to watch TV often unless there is a valid reason to do so.

Q. Which television channel do you usually watch? [Why?]
Answer: As I have mentioned earlier, I don’t really have much time to watch TV, but when I do get some time and opportunity, I like to watch “Discovery” and “AXN Asia”. I watch Discovery mainly because it allows me to learn about some of the most amazing and coolest things in the world, and I like watching AXN because it helps me to improve my English by offering subtitles for the contents the channel shows.

Q. Do you enjoy the advertisements on television? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I don’t exactly enjoy watching advertisements on television simply because I think of them as a waste of time. Besides, I also think that most advertisements have poor contents and try to deceive prospective customers into buying something that they don’t need.

Q. Do you think most programmes on television are good? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Well, it depends on what kinds of programmes I am watching.  However, having said that, I would say that many programs on television are not good because they offer a few educational perspectives. Even the news shows these days are not “objective” enough to offer the values of “news” and therefore, are not trustworthy. 

 

Topic: Entertainment

Q. Do you prefer relaxing at home or going out in the evening? [Why?]
Answer: I usually prefer going outside in the evening. I think the evening time is suitable for meeting friends outdoor and doing some exercises rather than staying at home. I have been doing this for a very long time and if I stay home during the evening, I feel bored.

Q. When you go out for an evening, what do you like to do?
Answer: I mostly like to walk in a park or spend some time with my friends in the evening. I often take my bicycle and ride it for an hour or so once or twice a week. Sometimes, I go to a movie with my friends and have fun.

Q. How popular is this with other people in your country?
Answer: Walking in a park, hanging out with friends and riding a bicycle as part of the outdoor activity are common among people in my country. Many young and elders do these often in the afternoon. Families often visit the theatre in the evening and spend some quality time together.

Q. Is there any kind of entertainment you do not like? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I guess I hate to see people wasting hours after hours in front of a television set. I do believe that television is a great media to get news and watch entertaining programmes, but some people are addicted to watching TV and they spend almost 6-8 hours a day watching television programmes. I just dislike this as I believe this time could be better utilised.

Talk about a time when you received money as a gift

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