IELTS Speaking: the three parts and the cue card

The three parts

Part 2: how the cue card works

The card gives you a topic, a few points to include, and one part of the topic to explain. You get a pencil and paper for notes during your minute. Then you speak for up to 2 minutes, and the examiner stops you when the time’s up.

Being stopped is just the clock, not a sign you did badly. Use your notes to keep going, and don’t worry about covering every point perfectly.

How Speaking is scored

Certificated examiners score you across the whole test on four criteria: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. They count equally, and their average is your Speaking band.

Each criterion carries the same weight, so a strong vocabulary can’t fully make up for answers that are hard to follow, and the other way round.

Speaking topics and practice

Part 1 sticks to familiar subjects about you. Part 3 takes the Part 2 theme further, into more general and abstract questions. So practise explaining and giving reasons, not just describing.

The official Speaking sample tasks cover all three parts, so you can hear how the test runs and try the timing yourself.

It may not be on the same day

Listening, Reading and Writing are taken in one sitting. Speaking can be the same day or up to about a week before or after, depending on the centre. Your booking confirmation gives the time.