IELTS Commentry: IELTS Speaking Band 8.0, Full Test with Examiner’s Feedback

The video you are about to watch features Nabial, a student from Zimbabwe, answering questions from Speaking Test 17 in “High Scorer’s Choice” IELTS Practice Tests book series.

Nabial is doing a full simulated IELTS Speaking test with an examiner, who is asking him typical IELTS Speaking test questions. This video shows you what happens on the test day in the real examination room.

IELTS Speaking Test has 3 parts.

In Part 1 you should expect personal questions on familiar topics, for instance about your job or studies, your home, your family, etc.

Part 2 is different, because you receive a single topic to talk about for 1 to 2 minutes, with 4 bullet points you should cover in your speech. Another difference between Part 2 and the other parts is that in Part 2 you get 1 minute preparation time and you can write down some ideas to talk about. This doesn’t happen in Part 1 or Part 3.

Part 3 is a longer discussion where the examiner asks you questions related to Part 2 topic. You are expected to give longer, more elaborate answers and talk in-depth about the topics your examiner brings up.

Here is how you can learn from this Speaking test video

1. Get familiar with everything that happens in the Speaking test. It will help you feel prepared when it’s your turn.

2. Listen to the questions the examiner asks and note how Nabial answers them. Then think about what YOU would say in response to these questions.

3. Spot Nabial’s mistakes and avoid them when you speak.

4. Go over Examiner’s Feedback below to learn how he rated Nabial’s performance and why (he also points out some of his mistakes!)

5. You can even use this as a Listening exercise, and switch on subtitles on YouTube to understand every word on the recording.

Watch the video on YouTube here:

Examiner’s Feedback

This section shows you what goes on in the examiner’s mind when he rates a Speaking test. Make sure you read this before looking at the scores he gave Nabial in every criterion, because this explains the reasons he got those scores.

Speaking Test, Part 1 – 0:18

Nabial spoke hesitantly in this first part, maybe showing that he felt quite nervous. It seems he is a person who speaks slowly anyway, but the hesitancy affects his fluency band. Apart from this, Nabial produced a good Part 1. He answered most questions fully and took up the required amount of time. Nabial used a wide range of lexis in his Part 1 and showed he had access to some complex vocabulary, i.e. “population density” and “irks me”. There were some occasional awkward collocations, i.e. “so extremely popular”, but his vocabulary range allowed him to communicate fully everything he wanted to. In addition, Nabial’s grammar range was excellent and accurate and there were no issues at all here. He had a slight accent, but it did not affect his pronunciation or communicative ability in any way. Finally, Nabial used some mild humour in an appropriate way, which added to how he communicated his ideas and feelings on some of the topics.

Speaking Test, Part 2 – 5:01

Nabial spoke for an appropriate amount of time on the film that he chose, Now You See Me. Again, Nabial was a little hesitant, but this did not seem to be because he was searching for lexis or the right structures. Nabial’s vocabulary was again nearly always appropriate and accurate, though there were some awkward moments, his use of “heists” for example, seemed a little strange, even if it did describe the illegal activities to which Nabial was referring. Nabial’s grammar was again accurate and he used an appropriate range. He used one incorrect plural with “medias”, which stood out, as it was really the only error so far. Again, Nabial’s slight accent had no effect on his communication. As in Part 1, Nabial used some mild humour in an appropriate way, which helped communicate his feelings.

Speaking Test, Part 3 – 7:54
Nabial further showed his good oral ability in Part 3. There was the same hesitancy, this time more to access ideas and develop thoughts due to the more complex questions, but the time taken was appropriate. Nabial gave thoughtful and developed answers and did not need prompting to justify what he said. Nabial showed a good range of lexis, though it became apparent that he over-used the words / phrases “major” and “type of things” a little in this Part and in the two previous Parts. Occasional awkward collocations were apparent again, i.e. “throughout the years” instead of “over the years”. His grammatical range and accuracy was very good. His accent was again non-intrusive and did not impede communication in any way. Nabial did not fully understand the question on the role of advertising at the end, but he gave a coherent answer to what he thought I had asked about. Nabial’s humour was again apparent at appropriate times and he used mild irony, euphemism and litotes (“not the richest”) in order to convey nuance to his meaning.

Nabial’s IELTS Speaking score

The marking of the IELTS Speaking Test is done in 4 parts.

Fluency and Coherence 8
Lexical Resource 8
Grammatical Range and Accuracy 8
Pronunciation 9

Estimated IELTS Speaking Band 8

Need more Speaking tests with Examiner’s feedback? Find them in High Scorer’s Choice book series.