What is the IELTS Speaking test?

The three parts, in order

Part 1 is a short interview: the examiner checks your identity, then asks general questions about familiar things — where you live, your work or studies, your family, your interests. It runs four to five minutes, and nothing here is prepared in advance.

Part 2 is the cue card. You are handed a card naming a topic and a few points to cover, given one minute to jot notes, then expected to talk for one to two minutes without the examiner interrupting. They may ask one or two short follow-up questions once you finish.

Part 3 takes the Part 2 topic and turns it abstract. Instead of describing your own experience, you are asked to compare, explain causes, or give an opinion on the wider issue behind it. This part runs four to five minutes and is the one most candidates find hardest, because it rewards reasoning rather than description.

How the examiner marks you

One examiner sits with you for the whole test and marks you against four criteria: Fluency and Coherence (how smoothly you keep talking and how well your ideas connect), Lexical Resource (the range and precision of your vocabulary), Grammatical Range and Accuracy (the variety of sentence structures you use and how correctly you use them), and Pronunciation (how clearly and naturally you are understood). Each criterion gets its own band from 1 to 9, and the four are averaged, then rounded to the nearest half band, for your Speaking score.

The same test for Academic and General Training

Unlike Reading and Writing, which differ between the two versions of IELTS, Speaking is identical either way: the same three parts, the same timing, the same criteria. If someone tells you General Training Speaking is easier, they are describing a myth, not the test.

A conversation, not an exam paper

There is no written component and nothing to fill in. The only physical objects in the room are the cue card in Part 2 and the pencil and paper you use to prepare it — everything else is spoken, which is also why the test is recorded rather than marked purely on the examiner’s notes.