Many students ask me if they should speak fast or slow in their IELTS speaking test. Some students think that if they speak more quickly, they will get better results. Before I answer the questions of how fast to talk, lets look more at how your speaking test is assessed.
IELTS Speaking Tips: Speaking Fast or Slow
All this falls under the criterion of ‘fluency‘ which accounts for 25% of your final marks for your IELTS speaking.. Fluency relates to the flow, smoothness and coherence of your speech as well as hesitations and pauses.
FLOW – this is about your ability to keep talking. If you are aiming for band score 6 and above, this will be important. You must show the ability to answer at length rather than just give short answers.
SMOOTHNESS – this relates to how often you break your speech with pauses, hesitations, self-corrections and silences. All of this interrupts the flow and stops the smoothness of your speech. If you are aiming for band score 6 and above, it is important to avoid any long pauses and to avoid repeating yourself.
COHERENCE – this is all about being understood. There is no point having a good flow with smooth speech if you are not talking in any logical order. This means organising your ideas so that the listener can understand and also using some linking devices to help the listener follow what you are saying.
How Fast Should I talk? So, how fast should you speak? As long as you keep a steady pace, you will be fine. Avoid speaking very slow because the listener can get lost in what you are trying to say if it takes you a long time to say it. Alternatively, don’t speak very fast as you may lose your coherence and the words might not be clear or easy to understand. Instead:
- Keep a steady, even pace when you are talking.
- Extend your answers.
- Avoid long pauses.
- Don’t repeat yourself too much.
- Avoid correcting yourself more than once or twice.
- Keep a logical order to what you are saying.
Free IELTS Speaking Tips & Lessons
Click the following link for more Speaking Tips: IELTS Speaking Tips & Lessons
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Hello liz, fist if all I am thankful you about this amazing effort which you paid for us.
Under the discussion about should I speak fast or slow? there is point that don’t correct yourself during speaking please elaborate this point more for me.
Part of the marking criteria of Fluency is about how many hesitations, pauses and corrections you make. When you self-correct, it means you stop the sentence to correct words. At that point, when you stop to correct, your fluency fails. Fluency is the ability to speak without pauses or breaks. If you are speaking in the past tense and make a mistake with the verb, just ignore it and continue speaking to maintain fluency. You’ll have plenty of chances later in the test to showcase your past tense ability. I hope to make a Youtube video about this precise point in the coming months.
Hey Liz,
Firstly, thank you for your amazing content. Secondly, my question to you is regarding my slow pace of speaking. I am taking too many pauses, and it feels to the listener that I am reading rather than conversing. Please share any ideas or tips to improve speech and speak smoothly.
Thank you,
Penny
You haven’t actually stated whether you normally speak at this rate in your own language. If this is your natural pace, then it’s fine and the examiner will soon realise this.
If you are speaking slowly because you lack practice in speaking English, then start improving your fluency now. You don’t need to speak with another person to improve fluency, you can speak on your own, answering questions, then record and listen back to your answers. You won’t improve your fluency if you don’t speak out loud and become used to doing it. It requires determination to practice, particularly if you are on your own. But you can do it.
If you are pausing because you lack vocabulary, then you focus on this by refreshing your vocab before answering questions when you practice. Also, if it is vocabulary related, remember that you should not sacrifice fluency for one word. Fluency is made more difficult when you try to use new words that you are not familiar with. You need to find what is holding you back and then tackle it yourself. Fluency can be improved by a lot of practice and repetition using familiar language.
Lastly, I will say that the more familiar you are with the topics, the easier it will be. Focus on one topic and work to make your answers fluent. I don’t mean by memorising answers, but just by speaking out loud the answers again and again in a natural way. Fluency can be about being natural and comfortable with topics.
Thanks a bunch Liz.
You’re doing great job.
You’re welcome 🙂
Hello liz, I just finished my IELTS GT exam today. I am very worried with my Speaking Exam.. Is there such a thing as speaking too spontaneously? I can’t even remember most of the topics that were asked. Answers just keeps pouring out my mouth, albeit not error fee. I also don’t remember exactly the mistakes I’ve made… the pace of my speaking. I just spoke my heart out and somehow it scares me. I also don’t remember how often I looked away from the examiner. As far as I recall, I just tried to talk to her. BUT I speak really fast even in my native language… my friends often tell me I could be a rapper. Some thoughts please?
It’s fine to speak from the heart and to give answers with instant fluidity. This is great for your score in fluency. When it comes to speed, it is all about how clear you are. If you talk at such a great speed that your words are mixed and the examiner can’t understand, then your score for fluency goes down. This is because that marking criterion is both fluency and coherence. However, if the examiner could understand you throughout, then there’s no problem at all and at least your fluency score will be high. Good luck with your results! Hope to hear you rapping one day 🙂
Greetings Liz, please Does the speaking part 1 requires more talking or short answers for the questions asked?and if it requires long answer, how long should it be?
Part 1 is only 4 to 5 mins long and during that time you will be asked about 12 questions on 3 different topics. I’m sure you can check your timing yourself to see how long your answers are likely to be if you have a max of 5 mins to listen to the questions and answer them all. Some questions are very simple:
Q. What is your favourite colour?”
In this case, your answer is likely be very short:
A. I would say it’s blue, a deep blue, not a sky blue. Although, I’m also quite fond of dark green too.
As you can see, it isn’t long but it does still showcase language skills. Other questions are not so simple and might require a longer answer:
Q. How could your hometown be improved?
A. Well, I suppose one of the things that would help is to modernise it. As it is, it’s really quite outdated in terms of transport and facilities. There are no public transportation links for any major cities from my hometown which leaves people without private transport really stuck. And in terms of facilities, our closest sports center and swimming pool is one hour away. Improving those two aspects would make all the difference.
As you can see, the answer above is much longer. The examiner will decide how long to let you speak. When the examiner has heard enough of an answer, he or she will interrupt you and move on to the next question. So, keep speaking until you are interrupted. Always answer directly and then add more as required based on the type of question you get.
Hey Liz,
Hope you are doing good. Here is a writer from India. I’d like to ask a question. I am a talker with a lot of hand movements; do this in anyways sends a negative impression to the examiner?? I’d appreciate your response.
Thanks.
Be yourself and be natural. It won’t affect your score. But don’t substitute gestures for language. Always explain precisely what you mean.
Thanks a lot dear Liz for the tips.
You’re doing wonderful work
I’m glad my tips are helping you understand more about IELTS 🙂
Thanks for your explanation and motivation for overall IELTS explanation in the blog Your explanation is so easy and sweet as you look ma’am and i hope you have become well now and recovered from your past health problems.
Thank you 🙂
hi Liz, am preparing for my ielts exams, am afraid I don’t know where to start from and this is my first-time, I real need to pass
Start with one particular skill. Do a practice test which you can get from the BC IELTS website and then do my lessons to learn and understand more. Take it step by step. There is no special place to start – just start.
Hi, Liz. I had just finished my speaking test. Task 1 and task 3 went well but I’m afraid I used extremely simple language for Task 2. Around which band can I score with this? Thank you.
The only way to predict a speaking score is to listen to the whole test from beginning to end. Good luck with your results 🙂
Hi Liz. I am so clueless about the IELTS exam and I really need it for a requirements on college university since I will be studying in USA. What’s the first thing should I need to do? I’m from Philippines btw. Thank you! :))
Go the HOME page and start reading. There is no right or wrong way to start. Read about the test, then do a full test. You can find one free full test on the IELTS BC website. After the test, write down all your concerns etc. Then start learning. Use the HOME page of my site to access free lessons, tips etc for each section of the test.
Hello Mam,
I gave my speaking test today but I am worried that I spoke a little fast. But I could see that she was able to understand my speech. Will my examiner think that I have memorised my answers? Because I did not. I am afraid that I will get a low score.
As long as the examiner could understand, it’s fine. Signs of memorised language are not necessarily related to speed. When a student gets a topic that they have memorised language for, they produce high level answers. But when the topic is changed, their answers suddenly drop to low level English. This is more likely to be a sign of memorised answers and in that case the memorised answers might be dismissed and not scored. I don’t think you should worry. But if your score isn’t as you expect, you could always ask for a remark. Let me know how your results are when they arrive – good luck 🙂
Hi liz..there is no video to show how much speed is enough?
This page explains that there is no such thing as “the right speed”. You are marked on your ability to be understood clearly which means not too fast and not too slow. Just speak naturally.
Is it Okay to request for few seconds once you sit down to catch your breath before the beginning of part 0
There is no reason. You have already had time to catch your breath while you were waiting. When you walk into the exam room, the examiner will ask you to sit down and then do an ID check with simple basic questions to check your ID. After that the test starts.
hlo liz it is important to learn grammer in speaking
Grammar counts for 25% of your marks for speaking and writing.
Hi Liz,
I’m so glad I bumped into your website. It was extremely useful and I managed to score L – 8.5, R- 9, W – 7 and S – 7.5. Great going, keep up the good work.
That’s great – well done 🙂 Glad you found my site 🙂
Hello Liz,
I have give ielts general training exam around 9 times and everytime I am getting 6.5 in speaking. I am able to clear all the other three modules every time but somehow in my speaking I am not getting 7 . Can you help me in this as I am not able to understand where I am lacking as according to me I am doing everything perfect.
Regards
AS
Why don’t you list all the things you think you are doing perfect and then I can see if you are going the right way for the marking criteria.