Common Difficulties that IELTS Speaking Test Takers Experience

Test-takers of the IELTS Speaking test often face several common challenges. Here are some of the greatest ones:
​1. Nervousness and anxiety

• Challenge: Feeling nervous or anxious can affect fluency and overall performance.
• Solution: Acknowledging your anxiety instead of pretending it's not there may be a useful first step in finding ways to function alongside it. What is the source of your anxiety? What is the worst thing that could happen if you don't get the band score you're aiming for? One thing is for sure: it won't be the end of the world. You can certainly try again, and countless test takers have retaken the test--with more insight from having fallen short previously. The act of recognizing your fears and accepting the worst case scenario may clear the way for you to give your full effort without your inner voice distracting you so much. 
• Practice speaking English regularly and try relaxation techniques like deep breathing to calm nerves before the test. It may also help to remember that the examiner is another human being who, most of the time, will actually want you to do well, and will do what they can to help you get comfortable with the exam.

2. Limited vocabulary

• Challenge: Struggling to find the right words to express ideas can lead to pauses and reduced clarity.
• Solution: Expand your vocabulary by reading, listening to English media, and testing out new words in conversations. Remember that this kind of preparation takes time--think long term, like months or even years.  Most importantly, you can't expect to just read word lists and be able to use them correctly and immediately--what we need to do is to encounter words repeatedly in different contexts and in their different forms (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) before we can fully understand when and how to use them. And this is why reading and listening to 'authentic' materials are critical for you to see words in their natural environment. 'Authentic' materials are texts, audio and video materials that are made for native English speakers, compared to ESL materials, or those designed for an English learner. ESL materials are of course useful to begin with, but an English learner has to eventually move on to authentic materials in order to understand English in the wider world, especially in casual, everyday settings. 
• The tricky part about vocabulary is that we have to learn both their written form and their spoken form and it's highly recommended to always listen to what a word sounds like, instead of guessing its pronunciation based on its spelling, which often leads to pronunciation errors. These days we can do this easily through dictionary apps and websites. There's  also the popular website Youglish.com where you can enter a word and it will look up videos for you so that you can listen to this word used in context. With the availability of apps to help people learn vocabulary, it is highly recommended to find what works for you and maximize the benefits of these tools. 

3. Pronunciation issues

• Challenge: Mispronunciation or unclear speech can make it difficult for the examiner to understand your responses or ideas.
• Solution: Practice speaking slowly and clearly first before trying to speed up, and consider working with a language coach to improve your pronunciation. Pronunciation also goes beyond just making correct individual sounds but also involves how you stress words (rhythm) and the rise and fall of your tone (intonation). One way to improve your rhythm and intonation is to listen to and imitate native speakers. There are many helpful channels on YouTube such as Ted-Ed, SciShow, Nat Geo Kids, Khan Academy and other educational and general interest channels that you can use as practice materials. 

​4. Fluency and coherence

• Challenge: Speaking smoothly without long pauses and organizing thoughts logically can be difficult.
• Solution: Practice speaking about various IELTS topics, which you can find on the websites of Cambridge, IDP and the British Council. Can you speak fluently about environmental issues, education, social media, technology and all sorts of topics involving your personal experiences and general society as a whole? Besides familiarity with common topics, coherence also requires the use of linking words to connect ideas, so that your response is easy to follow. Practice speaking in complete sentences with clear signal words to tell the listener whether you are explaining something, giving examples, adding more points or wrapping up your response. 

​5. Grammatical accuracy

• Challenge: Making frequent grammatical errors can lower scores. Examples of grammatical errors include forgetting to use the correct verb tense, and subject-verb agreement or using a singular verb with a singular subject or a plural verb after a plural subject.
• Solution: Review grammar rules, especially the most basic ones. Get feedback from a teacher about what your habitual grammar mistakes are and dedicate a certain amount of time working on them. If your typical mistake, for example, is about forgetting to use the past tense, read aloud stories written in the past tense so that you can internalize using the past tense in a natural way. Look at your own photos in the past and describe where you were, what you were doing in the photo, who you were with, etc, all while being mindful of using the past tense.
• Grammar is a contentious issue with people on one side telling you that you don't need to study it specifically and another side advocating explicit study. I'd say adopt a balanced approach--do language immersion as much as you can, AND consult a grammar book when you're confused about a grammar rule, or do sentence drills if you are told that you often make a mistake with a certain grammar structure. It doesn't have to be just one way or the other. Maximizing all the advantages from multiple approaches would certainly make studying more efficient, wouldn't it? Start by being able to know what your common mistakes are and then look for both drills and materials that will help you internalize the correct structures. 

6. Misunderstanding questions

• Challenge: Misunderstanding the examiner’s questions can lead to off-topic responses. This would signal low comprehension or low listening skills on your part. 
• Solution: Listen carefully, and if necessary, ask the examiner to repeat or clarify the question.   
• Examples of ways to ask for repetition or clarification:
  "Could you please repeat the question?"
  "Could you please explain what you mean by...?"
  "Are you asking about...?"
  "Just to make sure I understand, are you asking if...?"
  "Could you rephrase the question, please?"
  "Could you ask the question in a different way?"
  "Could you clarify the last part of the question, please?"

​7. Developing Ideas

• Challenge: Coming up with ideas quickly, especially for abstract topics.
• Solution: Cambridge has said that all IELTS topics and questions are widely tested before they are included in the actual tests. This is to make sure that most test takers, despite coming from different cultures, have come across such  themes, experiences or scenarios, if not personally, then from various types of media such as from movies, stories, TV series, books, etc. Reassure yourself that you have ideas about the world from your own experiences, no matter how limited those may be. Speak from your own viewpoint and develop responses using examples from personal experiences or even from that of your family, friends and acquaintances. You can use expressions like "I'm not sure how it would be like in other places/countries/families/etc, but from my own experience, I would say that..." 
• In Part 3 of the Speaking Test, which deals with abstract topics, you may get asked about a social issue that's not a common problem in your country, for example. Or you might get asked about your opinion on nuclear power plants, artificial intelligence or a topic you never think about. What you can do in such cases would then be to explain why this issue or topic is alien to you. Why do you never come across this topic or why is your experience about it limited? Is it too technical, not something you are interested in, or something you never got around to reading or doing? Additionally, you can speculate or try to come up with possible answers as best as you can, using expressions like, "I don't have a lot of in depth knowledge/experience about this but if I were to come up with an answer, I'd say..." or "This is not familiar ground for me, but based on what I've heard/read/seen on TV, I'd say..."

8. Lack of Practice

• Challenge: Not practicing speaking enough can lead to a lack of confidence and fluency.
• Solution: Engage in regular speaking practice with friends, language partners, or through language exchange platforms. If you have nobody to practice with, compile a list of questions for Part 1, 2 and 3 and then use a mobile phone to record your responses. Find our list of Speaking Part 1 Questions here.
• Prepare to be disappointed in your first recordings and prime yourself to get over this disappointment fast. Remember that even the most well-known eloquent speakers our there have had to hone their speaking skills behind the curtain, way before their fame. Speaking is a skill, much like a sport or playing a musical instrument, and depending on where you are now, it may need huge inputs of time and continuous practice to see some improvement. Watch or listen to your recorded responses and see if you can spot grammar errors and unclear pronunciation. Perhaps your response could be organized better, conveyed with more descriptive language or you might even come up with ideas you haven't thought of in your previous response. 

​All of these challenges usually intersect, that is, they may all affect each other. Lack of practice worsens your anxiety and inability to think under pressure, and a lack of vocabulary will certainly affect your fluency if you're struggling to think of the correct word to describe your ideas. On the upside, lots of practice and getting to know the ins and outs of the test will also make you more confident and comfortable on test day.

Start somewhere, perhaps on getting to know common topics and seeing if you can answer typical IELTS questions on those topics. Keep track of the questions that stump you--the questions you can't answer--and find useful materials about them. Then go back and try again. As they say, rinse and repeat, which is a good way to say repeat a process that works for you.  Through knowing your weaknesses, and doing targeted practice and preparation, you can improve your performance in the IELTS Speaking test.