IELTS Triumph: Hard Speaking Topics

The second part of the IELTS speaking test can be tough, you are given a topic card and you need to talk for about two minutes after preparing for just one minute.

What do you do if you have no ideas about the topics?

For example: If you had no interest in sport how would you deal with this topic card?

Here is advice to help

1. Don’t panic

Of course this is hard to do, when you have paid so much money for the test, and you are in the middle of it. You need to use your minute to prepare carefully. Take a few seconds, and read the card again to see if there is anything you can say.

2. Be honest

Of course you cannot just ask for another card, and you cannot say, ‘I don’t have anything to say about this’, but you can tell the examiner that this is not really your kind of subject. ‘Well, the topic card is about a sporting event, and I really am not interested in sport at all. However, I can tell you about …’

3. Focus on anything on the card that you can talk about

You might have never taken part in a sporting event, but you must have at least seen one. A school sports day, the Olympic on TV, or something similar, the second sentence says ‘why you were involved’. If it is a school sports day, why weren’t you involved? If it was the Olympics why were you watching? What did you see? What happened? Even if you are not exactly on the topic, you will not lose points.

4. Be someone else

I would have difficulty talking about taking part in a sporting event, as I am lazy and don’t like getting up off the sofa, so if I had to talk about it for two minutes I would be in trouble. I do however have friends who are interested in sports, so if I was taking IELTS and got this topic I would pretend to be my friend. Why does my friend like taking part insporting events? What does he get out of it? How does he feel? How many people take part with him?

If you think about the question from the perspective of someone who likes the topic, then it will be easier to talk about.

5. Redefine the question

If you definitely cannot talk about the topic for a full two minutes, then you need to tell the examiner that you are changing the question slightly.

For example:

“To be honest, I do not have much to say about taking part in sports events, as I am quite a couch potato. I am quite interested in watching badminton on TV, as it is our national game, and when China wins it brings the whole country together.”

You have told the examiner that you are moving away from the topic, but you are keeping it related to the topic in some way. Watching sport instead of taking part. Don’t start talking about reading books; keep it on sport at least.

6. Remember what the speaking test wants

This is a speaking test; you are not being tested on how accurately you answered the question. It is testing how well you communicate your opinion. You will not lose points for giving an indirect or unrelated answer. If what you say is clear and logical then you will still get the score you deserve.