Hi IELTS Daily fans! I'm with Jed from Myanmar. Hi! Hi! And he's just about to take one
of our practice speaking exams. I'm Maddy and I'll be his practice examiner. So, have you ever taken the test before, Jed? Yeah, I have. I actually did it back in 2017, and I think it was a good one. And do you enjoy taking the test or is it a bit nerve racking? It was a bit nerve racking, but I was able to stay calm throughout the speaking test. Which I think that they're putting into. Excellent! How long have you been living in Australia now? Total of about 7 years, but it was 2 different blocks of 4 years before and then 3 years another time then. Are you enjoying it? Yeah.
I love it here in Australia. But yeah, the plan is to go back, though. So I'm just enjoying the time I have here. Great! Well, let's get started. Perfect. Do you think that the IELTS speaking test is difficult? Well, I agree with you! The great news is that we've made some fantastic mock exam videos with a real practice exam, with real students, and a real practice examiner. During these videos, I'm going to be looking at what the students do well, how they can improve and also how you guys can use some of their tips, techniques, and ideas in your speaking test. So, today session, we're listening to Jed, and Jed is from Myanmar. He's studying at a university in an English speaking country. So his base level of English is really great. At the end of this test, I'm going to talk about the four criteria related to the band descriptors, the speaking band descriptors. And I talk about those all the time. We're going to look at each band descriptor, and I'm going to point out in our highlight, some of the areas that he does really well. And maybe how he could improve, maybe some little mistakes that he makes. Shall we start? Right! Let's go! Hello! And welcome to this practice exam conducted by IELTS Daily. My name is Maddie, and on your practice examiner. The questions in this test are designed to simulate the IELTS speaking test. Let's start. What's your first name, please? Jed Jedadiao. Thanks, Jed. At the beginning of the IELTS test, you will be required to provide some ID, but as this is a practice test, we don't need to do that today. I want to begin by talking about you. So do you live in a house or an apartment? I live at a college, so it's like a dorm room. It's a studio apartment, I would say, yeah. Okay.
So Jed gave an example of where he lives. And did you notice that his language was a little bit higher than some other examples that we might hear in the exam. So you could say, you live in a house, or you could say, and live in, you live in an apartment. But did you notice that he said, "a dorm room". A dorm room is a dormitory. So he lives with other people, and it could be, "halls of residence", or it could be, "university accommodation". Depending on where you live, just give some language which would show off to the examiner. But don't show off too much. Are there any advantages
to living in an apartment? I think so. I think there are many advantages: Primarily, you get to live with people close to you. You get to see more people. but yeah, there are also disadvantages. It is quite small and you have to be wary of the amount of noise you make. So, yeah. Great. So, Jed talked about the positives of living in a dorm, and he also highlighted some of the disadvantages. So you need to be aware of the noise that you make when you're living with other people. So you have to be considerate when you're living with other people, I did notice a very, very small grammatical mistake. And I think he said, "There is also disadvantages". We know that we should say, "There are also disadvantages". So just be careful of your grammar. Is it a good idea to own a house? I would think so. With the current environment and the housing market, I think it would be a good time to buy a house. And why do some people rent a house? Maybe they can't afford the price of the house up front. So I'm renting a house, reduces the amount of money that you pay. Now, so I think that would be a really good reason to. Jed gave some really good language here. He use words like, "upfront". So if you pay something upfront, that means that you pay it in advance. My only piece of feedback at the moment is that he could speak a little bit more. He could give a little bit more example or he could explain a little bit more about what he thinks, how he feels. At the moment his enters are quite short. It's not bad because he's showing really great language. But I think you guys should just bear that in mind. Please remember: Try to expand on your answers as much as possible. Ok. Let's move on to the topic of local food. What is some traditional food from your country? So I'm from Myanmar. So we have a national dish
called "Lahpet Thoke" And it is pickle tea leaf salad. So you've got pickle tea leaves which not many people know you can actually eat and actually taste good and will have lots of different nuts: will have sesame seeds and will have shrimp. And it's really, really good. And we have many different types of noodles. But yeah, there's too many to list; I love them all. Is homemade food healthier than eating out? Oh, definitely. I think so. Maybe just because my mom cooks really well and I get to see and be part of like, the food that's being made, and like the cooking process, I love that. But some people could argue that restaurants might have better quality or cleaner food because there are government regulations on restaurants,
whereas there's none at home. I think Jed was fantastic here. He gave lots of examples and expanded on his ideas. Let's have a look at some of his really useful language. So he said, "Pickled tea leaf salad", and that's an adjective; it's describing it. Pickled tea leaves, that was wonderful. He said not many people know about this. So he's describing the reality of this particular type of food. So you may say, "Not many people know about a traditional food from my country". And he'd said many different types of noodles. So he started with pickled tea leaves salad, and then he gave other examples. And I think that's a really useful
technique that he has utilized there. He started with one topic and
then talked about something else. That's totally acceptable during the test. So I advise you guys to do that. He said, "and oh, definitely, I think so." "Oh, I definitely think so". And this is kind of a filler phrase, and it's buying him a little bit of time. Do you think that... Do you think something? Ah, yes. Definitely. I think so. And remember, lots of students say. "I think yes". That's an incorrect way of answering a question. We don't say, "I think yes". We always say, "I think so". He also said, "some people could argue". And this is great, because he's acknowledging that other people might think something; they might have a different opinion. So he said, "some people may argue that", "but actually, I think something else". That was really great, and you can use that in your essay as well when you're thinking about two arguments. Some people argue one thing, but I think another thing. He said, "I might have better quality or cleaner food". Great fluency, he didn't stop speaking. I was really impressed with this section, well done, Jed. Is eating out expensive where you live? Yes.
I kindly live in Melbourne. So it is quite expensive to eat out, and so yeah, that's why I prefer eating at home. And I... since I live in a dorm, I can eat with friends. So that's a big plus for me. Is it important to support local restaurants? Yeah, I think so. So, when I go out to eat with my friends, have a night out, we usually pick restaurants that are local and not like big, worldwide chains. I think it is the duty of each and every one of us to support people around us in whatever way we can. So yeah. In this section, Jed gave great complexity of structures. He had lots of complex structures, and remember, when you want to get above a band 7, you need to have complex sentences, and if you don't know about complex sentences, I strongly recommend you come and download the IELTS daily app because we have a specific video which focuses only on complex sentences. Well, in Jed's case, he said: Since I live in a dorm. Which means, because I live in a dorm. And then he explained why. And he also said: When I go out to eat with friends, that's a complex sentence because it has a dependent and an independent clause. Really great language. He also said: worldwide chains. Think about those collocations: it's a worldwide chain. Can you think of any worldwide food chains? I know, I know there are many McDonalds or KFC. They are worldwide food chains. And then he gave his opinion on the topic. He said: It is the duty of people. Really fantastic work here, Jed. Excellent. Now, I want to talk about social network. Are you a social person? I like to think so. I do well with people that I already know and people that I am friends with. And I do have quite a few friends, so I would say, yes. But it is also often hard for me to meet and talk to new people. So there. Okay. So another way to say yes, we can just say yes, that's okay. But did you notice that Jed here said: I like to think so. I like to think so. So the examiner may say something like, "are you a nice person?", and you can say, "I like to think so", it's just a different way to say yes. If we said yes every time, it becomes very repetitive. So you could say, "I think so", "I like to think so", "Yes". "Sure", lots of different ways to say yes. Try to vary the language that you use. And Jed also said, "I would say so". "I would say so", which also means yes. This is a great example of using a variety of different words and phrases to show the same meaning. And this demonstrates flexibility of language. Part of the lexical resource mark in your band descriptors, if we look at the band descriptors, it says that you need to use language flexibly and appropriately. And that means using different words for the same thing. Jed is doing a great job here. I would say, yes. Do you use any social networks? I do. I do. I have Facebook, Instagram, all the young people stuff, but I also have LinkedIn. So, yeah. Trying to pad that out a bit, yeah. And why do people use social networks? I think it's a lot to do with sharing your experiences with friends and keeping in touch with them. So a lot of the younger and your... social media platforms that are targeted for younger audiences are more to do it with, like sharing photos or sharing videos, just what you're getting up to in your daily life. And so, like Facebook is for... is probably for the older people, to keep in touch with family and things like that. So yeah. I think those are the main reasons. In this section, Jed spoke about social networks. And did you notice that the examiner moved on to a new topic? So we started with just something about you. then we spoke about food, and now we're talking about social networks. In part one of the test, you might have two or three different topics, depending on the amount of answers that you give, so we've got two main topics here, which were food and social networks. Jed used some extremely high level language, and this might be a little bit too high for you. He said, "So trying to pad that out a bit". So trying to pad that out a bit. This is really difficult for me to explain because he talks about a few different social networks. And when we say, "to pad something out a bit", it just means to fill it. So he has Facebook, he's got Instagram, he's got Twitter, and he might have another social media. If you want to pad something out of it, it means to add something to make it wider. So he added LinkedIn, and he's trying to pad out his social networks. Such high-level language, probably a little bit too high for some of you guys, but that's okay. You can learn it. Go and study it. I think that's really, really, really great of Jed. Well done. Ok, I'm going to give you a topic. And I'd like you to talk about it for one to two minutes. Ok. Before you talk, you'll have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make notes if you wish. We always say that part two
of the test is the hard part. And I think I tend to agree, so just be prepared that you could have any topic, and you do have to speak for over one minute. Let's see how Jed gets on in part 2. Here is a pencil and paper for making notes. And here is your topic. I would like you to describe a time when you changed your plans. Your one minute starts now. Okay. Times up. Remember, you have one to two minutes for this, so don't worry if I stop you. I'll tell you when the time is up. Can you start speaking now, please? Perfect. So... Before I came to Australia, I had actually decided to go to the US. So I was at an education consultant that specialized with universities in the US. And during an expo, one of the colleges said, "we could, we can offer you a scholarship straight up. Like we, we promise we'll give you a scholarship if you come to us". And so that was a pretty sweet deal for me. And I thought, that would be really nice. I'd never been to the US before. But then, my dad said to me, why not explore different options? So then, we went to another expo where different universities came, and this time, it was for Australian universities. And believe it or not, Trinity College was there, and the University of Melbourne was there as well. And they said to me, "We can't promise you a scholarship. We think we can offer you one, but there's no guarantees. But we really want you to come with us" And so I had the decision of like, whether to take, like a guaranteed scholarship, or maybe scholarship. And the decision was hard, but what really made me change my plans was, I had originally lived in
Melbourne before, in Australia. And it was when my dad did his PhD year, and I was... I'll see for four years, and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. I found the people to be very nice. I like the climate, I like the things you can do in the city. So I thought I would prefer it if I came to Melbourne. And so yeah, that from then on, it was a pretty straight road, it wasn't as bumpy as I thought it would be. I have been here for about almost three years now, and I do not regret my decision. And it's perfect and with, like the current situation around the the world as well, I think I made the right decision, and I am very happy. Great. Thank you! Okay... What did you think of Jed's part two? I thought it was wonderful. I thought he was fantastic, actually. I don't know what you think. Maybe you can leave your ideas in the comments. What did you like about his speech? What did you not like about his speech? I'm really struggling to find things to criticize or to pick up and give feedback on. I've got a couple of things that I just want to talk about. He made one extremely small mistake, which was a language mistake. And he said: "I went to an education agency
who are specialized with". The collocation and the preposition with the word, "specialized", is usually to "specialize in". And not to specialize with something. So that was a really small mistake. I am being very picky now, but I know the examiner is going to be picky as well. Just be careful, but excellent. He had excellent, really, really high level complexity of grammar. Great structures throughout. Before I came to Australia, believe it or not. He told the story as he went through, and really importantly, He didn't spend time looking at his notes, and that's a really critical
part of your speaking. Don't spend all your time looking down. I say it again and again. It will be better if you tell a story. Just talk to the examiner like your talking to a friend. What else did he say? He said: I thoroughly enjoyed it here. Thoroughly. It's a great way to use an adverb to describe something. he thoroughly enjoyed it rather than really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. He used the word, "thoroughly". Pronunciation of the word, "thoroughly", very difficult to look at and pronounce. But in reality, thoroughly is quite easy to say. What else did he say? He said: It was a pretty sweet deal for me. What great language that is. It was a pretty sweet deal, it was perfect for me. That's what it means. I am so impressed with Jed at the moment. I hope you guys are too,. If you are impressed, make sure that you leave
some ideas in the comments. What did you like? And tell me which parts of his language did you really enjoy? Let's move on to part three. But remember, at the end of part two, the examiner may ask you a very brief question. About this topic, let's see if the examiner asks him now. Now, let's talk about planning. Why do people plan? Why do people plan? I think it's just to... sort of head your bets against things that may go wrong in the future. Or like it may also be, just personally, for a sense of security. Cause if you already have plans of like, let's say a five year plan or something, even though it won't, everything won't go according to plan, you still have an idea of where you want to go and where you want to be and what stage you're in. So, yeah. Did you notice that the examiner didn't ask an extra question? A very short question at the end, that's okay. It may, may not happen, it doesn't always happen. The examiner has gone straight into part three, when we're talking about planning. Let's listen to Jed's answers. Let's talk about planning. Why do people plan? Why do people plan? I think it's just to sort of head your bets against things that may go wrong in the future. Or like, it may also be, just personally, for a sense of security. Cause if you already have plans of like, let's say a five year plan or something, even though it won't, everything won't go according to plan, you still have an idea of where you want to go, and where you want to be, and what stage you're in. So, yeah. Part three is always going to be the really hard part, because the questions become harder, and Jed's doing a great job
of thinking on his feet. Thinking really quickly, he's giving some great answers and some excellent language. He said: It sort of to hedge your bets. To hedge your bets, high-level language, which means to mitigate your risk or to reduce your risk. Learn it, study it, see if you can use it in your test. What situations require
people to make disaster plans? So I think disaster plans, what situation.... I think even if there is no situation. Disaster plans are usually good, a usually a good idea especially for organizations or countries where... If... the likelihood of a disaster actually happening maybe low. But if you don't have a plan in place for that contingency, the risks that arise when that disaster actually happens is huge, and like the cost can be really large as well. So I think countries, organizations, and even regular people should have disaster plans in place. Just on the off chance that things go red. I don't know if you noticed in this section, but I think Jed found this
question quite difficult. The question was about what situations do people
need to make disaster plans? I'm not sure he completely answered the question, but that's okay. Because in the test, remember, in IELTS, if you don't answer the question properly, there is no right or wrong answer. All the examiner is looking for is your ability to speak as much as possible. He tried to buy himself some time. He tried to stall by kind of repeating the question. And I could see him thinking on his feet Now at a band 9 level, it is okay for you to hesitate slightly when you're looking for ideas, when you're looking for content. At a band 8, you're okay to be looking for words, occasionally. In this example, Jed is looking for content. He's trying to buy some time. I just don't think that he answered the question completely. I think the examiner would probably be looking for words like: earthquakes, natural disasters, financial crisis, These are situations when people would be needing to make disaster or emergency plans. So just a bit of feedback there for Jed: Try to be a little bit more prepared in the test, listen to the question carefully, and carefully consider your answer. But at the moment, he is doing super well. Is it possible to avoid such disasters? I don't think so. You can plan for it, and you can minimize the amount of damage that is caused by the disaster. But disasters in their own nature, they are disasters, the unexpected. So you can't, I don't think you can avoid them. So with the pandemic this year as well, No country has fully successfully avoided it. It's just happened and the difference is in how we respond to it and how we've planned steps to minimize the costs. Did you notice that in this question, it says: such disasters, and one of the problems of Jed's previous answer, we didn't actually give any specific examples. So this would be a bit more difficult for him to answer, but he answered it really well. And he said: I don't think so. Remember, earlier, I told you that if you want to say yes, you can say, "I think so". And if you want to say no, you can say: I don't think so. Good language for you to learn and to utilize in your test. He said: you can minimize the amount of damage. He said: With the pandemic, no country has avoided the pandemic. And he used a specific example with the corona virus pandemic, which was really great, I think the examiner is listening for examples, Why do some people enjoy being spontaneous? I think it's good to have a little bit of variety in your life. While planning is good, you can't plan every single thing. And life also tends to get a bit boring if you expect everything that's coming your way. So, yeah, I'd recommend a few nights here and there, just going up for a walk, seeing where the road takes you. Thank you very much. That is the end of your speaking test. In this example, Jed used excellent language again, but I'm gonna teach you a new idiom here. The idiom is: Variety is the spice of life. Variety is the spice of life. So in your test, you could say something like: Well, they say that variety is the spice of life. So you could go out for a walk and do other things that you wouldn't normally do. and that was talking about spontaneous. Don't forget that the word, "spontaneous" is quite a difficult word to pronounce. And the noun of it is, "spontaneity". Spontaneity. So some people like spontaneity. They like being spontaneous, spontaneity and spontaneous are difficult words to spell. So be prepared for them in the test. Seeing where the road takes you, that was another great piece of language which Jed used. You can see where the road takes you. Wonderful. That's the end of Jed's speaking test. I don't know what you think, but I think I can imagine what you think. I was thoroughly impressed by Jed's speech here. Let's talk about his scores, and you'll see the scores on the side of the screen. I think that he would score a band 9 for fluency and coherence. He gave lots of expanded answers, and he was able to give examples and spoke clearly and fluently without stopping. His lexical resource, he used flexible language and lots and lots of variety within his speech. High level, idiomatic and less common words were used throughout. Super impressed with this, I would award him a band 9 as well here. Now,
grammatical range and accuracy, this is one where I find it a little bit tricky, because if you noticed, I highlighted a couple of mistakes throughout Now those mistakes may fall in the lexical resource mark because you remember, he said something like, "specialized with", and that would be an example of a collocation. In this case, he may score a band 8. Okay. So between the lexical resource and between the grammatical range and accuracy, you may find that one of those would be awarded a band 8. His overall pronunciation would be abandon 9. I would really struggle to give him a band 8 overall, that's too low, I think a band 8.5 would be very, very, very comfortable for him. I do think, though, however, that he has the ability and in this test, because he did so well, I think he can probably score a band 9 overall. He came across as almost a native speaker. Really high level language, lots and lots and lots of pieces of language that you could take away and utilize in your test. Did you enjoy Jed speak? Did you think it was useful? Are you impressed or were you impressed by his answers? I was definitely impressed. If you want to come and look at other sample mock exams, we have lots of them from students all across the world, you will see that we've got people from Sri Lanka, from Cambodia, from India, from Australia. All sorts of different people and I hope these videos will be very, very useful for you. Take care of yourselves, and I look forward to seeing you in the next session. Come and watch our other videos on Youtube which are speaking videos sample answers and writing ideas. Bye for now
