Proper English Grammar
01SPEAKING · THE STRUCTURE

IELTS Speaking

Three parts. One score.

The test runs eleven to fourteen minutes, one examiner, face to face or by video call. Each part rewards a different kind of English, and most candidates lose marks by answering all three the same way. Here is what each part is for, the answers that work at each band, and the two frameworks worth knowing (and where they stop helping).

Length11–14 minutes
FormatOne examiner, live
Marked onFluency · Vocabulary · Grammar · Pronunciation
1

Introduction

4–5 MINUTES · FAMILIAR TOPICS · ~12 SHORT QUESTIONS

A warm-up on everyday topics, home, work, study, hobbies. The examiner is taking your baseline: what is this candidate’s comfortable level?

What the examiner listens for

  • Natural, fluent answers without over-thinking
  • Appropriate length, not single words, not speeches
  • Everyday vocabulary, basics under control

How to play it

  • Two to three sentences per answer, a reason, a small detail.
  • Present simple and present perfect; save complex grammar for later.
  • Fluency over fireworks. Rhythm and ease win Part 1.

Question“Do you enjoy cooking?”

Yes, I do. I like cooking.

Band 5–6. Two seconds of speech and nothing shown. A wasted question, the examiner learns only that you can say “yes”.
2

Long Turn

3–4 MINUTES · 1 MIN TO PREPARE, UP TO 2 MIN TO SPEAK

You get a task card, one minute to plan, then you speak alone for up to two minutes. The test’s coherence showcase, can you hold the floor without wandering?

What the examiner listens for

  • Two full minutes without running dry or losing the thread
  • Every bullet on the card addressed, not just the easy ones
  • Wider grammar range than Part 1, arriving naturally

How to play it

  • Use the card’s bullets as a roadmap; roughly equal time on each.
  • Develop, don’t list: why it mattered, what it changed.
  • If you finish early, reflect further, never stop at “that’s all”.

A shape for the two minutes

15–20sOpen, name the topic and frame it
80–100sDevelop, each bullet in turn, with concrete detail
15–20sClose, one line of reflection

Task card“Describe a person who has influenced you.”

My teacher influenced me. Her name is Mrs Chen. She teach me English in high school. She was very kind and help me a lot. I learned a lot from her. She is important because she make me interested in English.

Band 5–6. Every bullet touched, but as a flat list. Repeated tense slips (“she teach”, “she make”), no development, no shape.
3

Discussion

4–5 MINUTES · ABSTRACT, TWO-WAY DISCUSSION

The examiner draws out the themes of your Part 2 topic into broader, abstract questions. This is where the higher bands are won or lost.

What the examiner listens for

  • Ideas beyond your own life, societal, cultural, hypothetical
  • More than one perspective; causes, effects, predictions
  • Complex grammar deployed naturally under load

How to play it

  • Front-load your position, then support it.
  • Three to five sentences, no one-line answers here.
  • Generalise: “societies tend to…” rather than “I’d…”.
  • Your grammar showcase: conditionals, passives, modals.

Question“How has technology changed the way people communicate?”

Technology changed communication a lot. Now people can talk to anyone anywhere. Social media is very popular. But sometimes people spend too much time on phones and don’t talk face to face. I think this is not good.

Band 6. A personal opinion, stated and left there. Simple grammar, no second perspective, reads like casual chat rather than discussion.
02RESPONSE FRAMEWORKS

Two scaffolds for a single answer

When an answer needs shape, a clear point, developed and closed, two scaffolds cover almost every question. Pick the lane in the middle slot that fits: an explanation when reasoning is cleanest, an example when a concrete case lands better, or a personal experience when that’s your strongest material.

PREP

The workhorse for “why” questions and any prompt asking for a reasoned point.

P
PointState your position in the first sentence.
R
ReasonSay why, the logic behind the point.
E
Explanation · Example · Experience
P
Point restatedClose by linking back to the question.

“Is it important for children to learn about history?”

PointYes, I believe historical education is crucial for young people.

ReasonIt gives essential context for understanding current events and how societies came to be.

ExplainWithout that foundation, children struggle to grasp why certain political systems exist or how attitudes developed.

PointSo it isn’t about memorising dates, it’s the contextual thinking that serves them for life.

OREO

PREP’s cousin for opinion questions, “Do you think…” and anything asking for a stated view.

O
OpinionOpen with a stated view.
R
ReasonJustify it.
E
Explanation · Example · Experience
O
Opinion restatedReturn to the view, and reframe it slightly.

“Do you think governments should fund the arts?”

OpinionYes, public funding for the arts is one of the more defensible uses of state money.

ReasonMarkets fund what sells now; governments can fund what lasts.

ExplainCultural production is one of the few things a society leaves behind that future generations actually engage with.

OpinionSo it isn’t a luxury; it’s how a country invests in what it wants to be remembered for.

An honest word

PREP and OREO are the field’s standard scaffolds, not my invention, you’ll meet them in nearly every IELTS course you sit in. They’re worth a great deal if your answers currently wander, because they force shape onto your thinking.

But they top out at around Band 6.5. They organise an answer; they don’t deepen it. Past that point the marks come from the content and the grammar, the precise vocabulary, the structures arriving without effort, the second perspective you reach for unprompted. That’s the part a framework can’t hand you, and it’s the part lessons are for.

03WHERE YOUR BEST GRAMMAR GOES

Save the heavy structures for where they count

The same grammatical range reads as confident in one part and forced in another. Part 1 wants ease; Parts 2 and 3 are where the advanced structures earn marks. Deploy them deliberately.

Part 1

Keep it clean

Present simple for habits and preferences, present perfect for experience, past simple when asked about the past. Accuracy beats ambition.

present simple · present perfect · past simple

Part 2

Narrate and reflect

Past tenses carry the story; present perfect bridges to its lasting impact; a conditional opens up reflection (“if I could revisit that moment…”).

past tenses · present perfect · conditionals · relative clauses

Part 3

Show your range

The showcase. Conditionals for hypotheticals, passives and modals for measured speculation, concession clauses for weighing two sides.

conditionals · passive · modals · inversion · concession

Practise the topics, Part 1/2/3 →See the structures band by band →Drill conditionals →

→Speaking is where I work closest

Frameworks get you organised. A mock tells you where you actually are.

Speaking is the hardest part of IELTS to fix alone, you can’t hear your own hesitation, and you can’t mark your own range.

In a lesson we run the three parts properly: I play examiner, push you in Part 3 the way a real one will, and tell you exactly which band each criterion is sitting at and what lifts it. I’m a tutor with extensive experience evaluating spoken English against the criteria examiners mark to, not an examiner myself, which means I can be candid about where you actually stand. Lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English; the first step is a free 25-minute introduction.

Book a free intro → Try the Reading tests