The three parts
- Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes): familiar questions about your home, studies, work, hobbies and daily routine. Answer in two or three sentences with a reason or example.
- Part 2 (3 to 4 minutes): you get a cue card with a topic and prompts, one minute to prepare notes and then speak for up to two minutes without interruption. The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions.
- Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes): a discussion of more abstract questions connected to the Part 2 topic. This is where you show you can give opinions, compare, speculate and justify.
You are marked on four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
Fluency versus accuracy
Many students try so hard to avoid mistakes that they pause after every few words. Others speak quickly but make the same grammar error again and again. The examiner wants both, but they are separate skills, and you should practise them separately:
- For fluency: answer a question for 60 seconds without stopping, even if you make mistakes. Use natural fillers like "That's a good question" or "Let me think" sparingly instead of silence.
- For accuracy: listen to your recording, write down three errors and say the corrected sentences aloud five times.
Fluency does not mean speed. A steady pace with clear ideas scores better than rushing.
Pronunciation points for Indore speakers
Most people in Indore speak Hindi, and many also use Malwi at home, while the city has long-established Marathi, Sindhi and Gujarati-speaking families too. Your accent is not the problem; examiners do not expect a British or American accent. What matters is being easy to understand. Points that Hindi and Malwi speakers commonly work on:
- "v" and "w": English has two sounds where Hindi has one. "Wine" and "vine", "west" and "vest" should sound different. For "w", round your lips without touching your teeth.
- "z" and "j": "zoo", "easy" and "busy" use a buzzing "z", not "j".
- Word stress: English stresses one syllable strongly. Practise "PHOtograph", "phoTOgraphy", "photoGRAPHic"; misplaced stress makes familiar words hard to recognise.
- Extra vowels before "s" clusters: "school", "station" and "speak" should not become "ischool" or "istation".
- "th" sounds: "think" and "three" need the tongue lightly between the teeth, not a "t" or "d".
- Intonation: many speakers keep a flat pitch. Let your voice rise and fall to show what is important, and drop at the end of statements.
Practising when you have no partner
This is the most common problem: your friends in Indore prefer to chat in Hindi, and practising English with family can feel awkward. You can still practise properly alone.
- Use our 186 prompts for Parts 1, 2 and 3. Speak your answer, and the AI gives feedback on the transcript: repeated words, grammar slips, short answers and missing development.
- Use the real cue-card timer. Part 2 gives you exactly one minute to prepare and two minutes to speak, just like the test. Many students discover they run out of ideas after 50 seconds; the timer trains you to plan four short points and extend each one.
- Talk through your day in English. On the drive home along the Ring Road or while waiting at a signal, describe what you see, what you did at work, or what you will cook. It sounds strange, but it builds automatic phrasing.
- Learn topic vocabulary in phrases, not single words. "Street food culture" and "late-night food market" are useful if you want to describe Sarafa or Chappan Dukan in a Part 2 answer.
Local topics are a gift in Part 2. Indore's food, its record in national cleanliness rankings, festivals such as Rangpanchami, or a trip to Mandu or Omkareshwar are all things you can talk about with genuine detail, which helps fluency.
Practising with a teacher
AI feedback helps you practise daily, but a human examiner-style conversation is different: interruptions, follow-up questions and the pressure of a real person listening. Book a 1-to-1 online session with an IELTS teacher, about 20 minutes, from ₹299. A useful pattern is one session early to identify your main problems, another midway, and a full mock Speaking test a week or so before your exam.
Start speaking today
The free sample mock test includes a Speaking section. Try it on the practice tests page, or create a free account to save your recordings and feedback.