The three parts of the Speaking test
The Speaking test lasts 11 to 14 minutes and is a face-to-face conversation with an examiner. It is recorded.
- Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes): familiar questions about you, your work or studies, your home and everyday topics. Short, natural answers of two or three sentences work best.
- Part 2 (3 to 4 minutes): you get a cue card with a topic and some prompts, one minute to prepare and up to two minutes to speak without interruption.
- Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes): a discussion of more abstract questions linked to the Part 2 topic. This is where you show you can explain, compare, speculate and justify.
You are marked on four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
Fluency versus accuracy
Candidates often ask whether it is better to speak fast or to speak correctly. The honest answer is that you need both, but they are separate criteria.
- Fluency is not speed. It means speaking at length without long hesitations, and connecting ideas logically.
- Accuracy means using a range of structures with few errors.
Gurugram professionals often have strong fluency in work topics but slow down noticeably on everyday or abstract ones ("Describe a time you saw a beautiful sky"). Practise unfamiliar topics as much as familiar ones. If you work in a call centre or support role, watch out for scripted phrases ("I completely understand your concern"); they are fluent but not natural in a conversation.
Pronunciation points for Gurugram speakers
Gurugram is home to people from all over India, but many candidates here grew up speaking Hindi, Haryanvi or Punjabi. Every accent is acceptable in IELTS; the examiner assesses how clearly you can be understood and how well you use features such as stress and intonation. Points that speakers from these backgrounds commonly work on:
- V and W. "Very" and "west" use different sounds in English. Practise pairs like "vine/wine" and "vest/west".
- Th sounds. "Think" and "this" are not "tink" and "dis". Put the tongue lightly between the teeth.
- Extra vowels before S clusters. "School", "station" and "speak" should not become "iskool", "istation" or "ispeak".
- Z and J. "Zero" and "visa" use a buzzing Z sound, not J.
- Word stress. Compare "PHO-to-graph", "pho-TO-graph-er" and "pho-to-GRAPH-ic". Wrong stress affects clarity more than most individual sounds.
- Intonation. A flat, even tone can sound bored or uncertain. Let your voice rise and fall to show what matters.
Practising when you have no partner
Your colleagues may be preparing too, but finding a regular partner is hard when everyone's shifts differ. You can still practise well alone.
- Use the Part 2 cue-card timer. On IELTS Learning, cue cards come with a real one-minute preparation timer and a two-minute speaking timer, so you learn what two minutes feels like.
- Record every answer. Listen back for long pauses, repeated words ("basically", "actually") and pronunciation slips.
- Read the AI feedback on your transcript. After each response you get feedback on what you said: range of vocabulary, grammar errors, and whether your answer developed the topic.
- Re-answer the same question. The second attempt, using the feedback, is where most improvement happens.
- Talk through your commute. Speaking quietly in your car on the way down Sohna Road, describe what you see or answer a Part 1 question. It sounds odd but builds fluency.
IELTS Learning has 186 prompts across Parts 1, 2 and 3, so you will not run out of topics.
When to book a teacher
AI feedback on a transcript cannot fully judge the sound of your voice or the feel of a real conversation. That is where a 1-to-1 online session with an IELTS teacher (about 20 minutes, from ₹299) is worth it. A teacher can run a full mock interview, ask unexpected follow-up questions in Part 3, and point out pronunciation patterns.
A practical approach: practise with the platform for a few weeks, then book one session around three weeks before your test and another in the final week. Because sessions are online, you can book a time that fits around office hours or a night shift instead of travelling across Gurugram.
Get started
Try a free Speaking section in the sample mock on the practice tests page, and build everyday vocabulary with Daily Vocabulary. Whether you live in a new sector or old Gurgaon, a few minutes of recorded speaking every day beats one long session a week. Create an account for the full set of prompts.