The three parts
The Speaking test lasts 11 to 14 minutes and is face to face with an examiner.
- Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes): questions about familiar topics such as your home, studies, work or hobbies. Answer in two or three sentences, with a reason or example.
- Part 2 (3 to 4 minutes): you get a cue card, one minute to prepare, and then speak for up to two minutes. The examiner may ask one or two short questions afterwards.
- Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes): a discussion of more abstract ideas linked to the Part 2 topic. This is where higher bands are won or lost.
Fluency and accuracy
Speaking is marked on four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
Students often worry so much about mistakes that they slow down and stop. Others talk fast and freely but use the same simple structures over and over. Both cap your score. Aim for steady speech with a few self-corrections, a range of tenses, and some less common vocabulary used correctly.
Pronunciation points for Sinhala and Tamil speakers
Sri Lankan English is clear and widely understood, so this is about fine-tuning, not changing your accent. Examiners do not expect a British or American accent. They do mark how easy you are to understand and how well you use stress and intonation. These are the points students from Colombo most often work on:
For Sinhala speakers
- V and W. Sinhala has one sound between them, so "wine" and "vine" or "west" and "vest" can sound alike. Practise rounding your lips for W.
- F. Some speakers say a P-like sound, so "fan" becomes "pan". Let your top teeth touch your lower lip.
- Initial S clusters. Words like "school" and "station" sometimes get an extra vowel at the start ("i-school"). Start straight on the S.
- Th sounds. "Think" and "this" often become T and D. Put your tongue lightly between your teeth.
For Tamil speakers
- P and B, T and D, K and G. The voiced and unvoiced pairs can blur, so "pen" and "Ben" sound similar. Practise in minimal pairs.
- Z and S. "Zoo" may sound like "Sue". Feel the buzz in your throat for Z.
- Final consonants. Tamil words usually end in a vowel, so an extra vowel can appear after final consonants, as in "lift-u". Stop cleanly.
- V and W affect many Tamil speakers too.
For everyone
- Word stress. PHOtograph, phoTOgraphy, photoGRAPHic. Wrong stress causes more misunderstanding than a slightly different vowel.
- Short and long vowels. "Ship" and "sheep", "full" and "fool".
- Sentence stress. Stress the important words and let small words like "to" and "of" be weak.
Practising without a partner
Finding someone to practise with is hard when everyone in your family is busy and your friends are on different shifts. IELTS Speaking practice in Colombo does not need a partner:
- Choose a prompt on IELTS Learning and record your answer.
- Read the transcript. You will see the fillers, repeated words and unfinished sentences you do not notice while speaking.
- Read the AI feedback on fluency, vocabulary and grammar.
- Record the same answer again and compare.
Speaking to yourself in a crowded train carriage is awkward, so use your commute for listening and vocabulary, and do Speaking at home in a quiet room.
The cue-card timer
There are 186 prompts across Parts 1, 2 and 3. Part 2 cue cards use a real one-minute preparation timer followed by a two-minute speaking timer, just like the test. Use the minute to write five or six key words, not sentences, and plan a short beginning, middle and end. Most students find they run out of things to say after 70 or 80 seconds at first. Regular timed practice usually fixes that. If you get stuck, add a short story, a comparison with the past or a feeling about the experience; local details such as a trip to Galle Face Green or a family visit during Avurudu are perfectly good material.
Speaking with a real teacher
AI feedback is helpful, but nothing replaces talking to a person. Book a Teacher gives you about 20 minutes one to one with an IELTS teacher online, from $5. A full Speaking practice run with follow-up questions is one of the most popular uses, especially in the week or two before the test.
IELTS Speaking practice in Colombo works best little and often: one Part 2 card and a few Part 3 questions most days. Register free and record your first answer.