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.
- Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes): familiar questions about you, your home, studies, work and interests. Answer in two or three sentences, not one word, and not a speech.
- Part 2 (3 to 4 minutes): you receive a cue card, have one minute to prepare, then speak for up to two minutes. The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions.
- Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes): a deeper discussion linked to the Part 2 topic. You give opinions, compare, and speculate.
You are marked on four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
Fluency or accuracy?
Students often ask which matters more. The honest answer is both, but fluency is where many lose marks first. Stopping to correct every small mistake, or searching for the "perfect" word, breaks the flow. Examiners prefer a natural answer with a small slip to a slow, careful answer full of long pauses.
That does not mean speed. Speaking very fast to sound fluent often makes pronunciation unclear. Aim for a steady, comfortable pace with natural pauses between ideas.
Pronunciation points for Sylheti and Bengali speakers
Your accent is not a problem. IELTS does not ask you to sound British or American. It asks you to be easy to understand. These are the areas Sylheti and Bengali speakers commonly work on:
- V and W. Bengali has no separate /v/ and /w/ sounds, so "very" can become "bery" and "west" can sound like "vest". Practise "very well", "wave", "video" slowly.
- Z and J. "Zero" can become "jero" and "zoo" can sound like "joo". Let the /z/ buzz.
- P and F. Sylheti often softens /p/ towards an /f/-like sound and /k/ towards a breathy sound, so watch pairs such as "pine" and "fine", "copy" and "coffee".
- TH sounds. "Think" and "this" often become "tink" and "dis". Put the tip of your tongue lightly between your teeth.
- Consonant clusters. Adding a vowel before or inside clusters, as in "iskool" for "school" or "istation" for "station", is very common. Try starting directly on the /s/.
- Word stress. Stressing the wrong syllable, for example "deVElopment" versus "deVElop", can confuse a listener more than any single sound. Check stress in a dictionary when you learn a new word.
- Flat intonation. Bengali questions and statements use pitch differently. Let your voice rise and fall to show what is important.
Pick one or two of these, not all seven at once.
Practising when you have no partner
Your relatives in London may be happy to chat on a video call, but they are not examiners. Here is how to practise IELTS Speaking in Sylhet even when no one is free:
- Record yourself. Answer a Part 1 question, then listen back. You will hear your filler words immediately.
- Use a real cue-card timer. IELTS Learning gives you one minute to prepare and a two-minute speaking timer, just like the test. Many students discover they run out of ideas after 50 seconds.
- Read your transcript. Our AI feedback shows a written version of what you said, with comments. Repeated words like "actually" and "basically" stand out on the page.
- Think aloud in English. Describe what you see on the way to Bandar Bazar or during a walk by the Surma. It builds the habit of forming sentences without translating.
- Shadow British speakers. Repeat short sections of our Listening audio, copying rhythm and stress.
Topics you can make your own
Cue cards often ask about a place, a person, a celebration or a journey. Sylhet gives you plenty: a visit to the tea gardens, the hills near Jaflong, a wedding with relatives flying in from the UK, a festival, a favourite teacher. Personal, specific stories are easier to talk about for two minutes than general ideas, and they sound more natural.
Practice tools and teacher sessions
IELTS Learning has 186 Speaking prompts across Parts 1, 2 and 3, with AI feedback on your transcript. When you want a real conversation, Book a Teacher gives you a 1-to-1 online session of about 20 minutes from $5. A full mock Speaking test with a teacher is one of the best ways to calm nerves before test day.
You can try Speaking in the free sample mock test, with no card needed. Full Access is $12 for 2 months: create your account and start practising today.