300 IELTS Speaking questions.
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What do you usually do in your free time?
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What the band here is, and is not
An estimate from two criteria
sayit's band is an estimate built from two things a microphone can actually measure — fluency and pronunciation. Lexical resource and grammatical range are marked by a human examiner and are not measured here. Use it as a trend across a fortnight, not as a verdict on one take.Three parts, three different skills
IELTS Speaking Part 1
4 to 5 minutes
Part 1 is the warm-up interview. The examiner checks your identity, then asks short, personal questions about three familiar topics — where you live, what you do, and something ordinary such as food, weather or music.
Practise Part 1IELTS Speaking Part 2
3 to 4 minutes
Part 2 is the long turn. You are given a card with a topic and three or four prompts, one minute to make notes, and then you speak alone for one to two minutes.
Practise Part 2IELTS Speaking Part 3
4 to 5 minutes
Part 3 is the discussion. The examiner takes the theme of your Part 2 card and moves it away from you: not your journey but travel, not your teacher but education.
Practise Part 3What each half band sounds like
- 5.0
You can keep a conversation going, but the listener is doing some of the work. Meaning arrives; ease does not.
Getting the message across
- 5.5
You are understood almost all the time, but hesitation and sound slips keep interrupting the flow rather than punctuating it.
Understood, with effort
- 6.0
You talk at length without long silences. Slips happen and sometimes a word has to be worked out, but the conversation does not stop for them.
Keeping going
- 6.5
You speak at a steady pace and are understood without effort. The occasional wrong sound does not change the word, and the listener stops noticing your accent.
Steady
- 7.0
You speak at length without noticeable effort. There are still slips, but you repair them mid-sentence without breaking the rhythm, and the listener never has to reconstruct anything.
Comfortable
- 7.5
Effortless to listen to. You vary pitch and pace on purpose, and the emphasis tells the listener which part of the sentence is the point.
Deliberate
- 8.0
Fluent, precise and easy. Hesitation appears only when the idea is genuinely hard, and the accent no longer affects clarity at all.
Fluent and precise
- 8.5
Everything at 8.0, sustained across the whole test, including the topics you have never thought about.
Near-expert
- 9.0
Complete command. The question of clarity does not arise, and the speaker uses the language as flexibly as a well-educated first-language speaker.
Expert user
sayit's band is an estimate built from two things a microphone can actually measure — fluency and pronunciation. Lexical resource and grammatical range are marked by a human examiner and are not measured here.
Find a question — all 300 of them
300 questions
- Where is your hometown, and what is it best known for?hometown
- Do you like living in your hometown? Why, or why not?hometown
- How has your hometown changed since you were a child?hometown
- What would you tell a visitor to see in your hometown?hometown
- Do you work, or are you a student?work
- What do you like most about your job?work
- Would you like to change your job in the future? Why?work
- Is your work stressful, and how do you deal with that?work
- What subject are you studying, and why did you choose it?study
- Do you prefer studying alone or in a group?study
- What was your favourite subject at school, and why?study
- Do you plan to study anything new in the next few years?study
- What kind of home do you live in?home
- Which room in your home do you like best, and why?home
- Would you like to move to a different home in the future?home
- Do you prefer living in a house or a flat?home
- What do you usually do in your free time?hobbies
- How did you first get interested in your main hobby?hobbies
- Do you feel you have enough free time during the week?hobbies
- Is there a new hobby you would like to take up?hobbies
- What kind of food do you enjoy most?food
- Do you prefer eating at home or in restaurants?food
- Can you cook? Who taught you?food
- Has the food you eat changed much in recent years?food
- What is the weather usually like where you live?weather
- Which season do you like best, and why?weather
- Does the weather affect your mood at all?weather
- Do you check the weather forecast? How often?weather
- Do you enjoy travelling? Why, or why not?travel
- Where would you most like to travel next?travel
- Do you prefer travelling alone or with other people?travel
- How do you usually plan a trip?travel
- How often do you use your phone during the day?technology
- Which apps do you use most, and what for?technology
- Has technology changed the way you study or work?technology
- Do you ever take a break from screens? How does that go?technology
- Do you play any sports at the moment?sport
- Did you play much sport at school?sport
- Do you prefer watching sport or playing it?sport
- Do you think children should play more sport?sport
- What kind of music do you like?music
- When do you usually listen to music?music
- Have you ever learned to play an instrument?music
- Has your taste in music changed over the years?music
- Do you like reading? What do you read most?reading
- Do you prefer paper books or reading on a screen?reading
- What did you like to read as a child?reading
- Where do you most like to read?reading
- Do you have a large family or a small one?family
- Who are you closest to in your family?family
- How often do you see your wider family?family
- Do families in your country spend much time together?family
- How did you meet your closest friend?friends
- Do you prefer a few close friends or a big circle?friends
- How often do you see your friends?friends
- Is it easy to make new friends as an adult?friends
- What does a typical weekday look like for you?daily routine
- Are you a morning person or a night person?daily routine
- What time do you usually get up, and why?daily routine
- Has your daily routine changed recently?daily routine
- Do you enjoy shopping, or do you find it a chore?shopping
- Do you shop more online or in actual stores?shopping
- Who do you usually go shopping with?shopping
- How do you decide whether something is worth buying?shopping
- How do you usually get around your city?transport
- Is public transport good where you live?transport
- Can you drive? How did you learn?transport
- How long is your daily journey to work or college?transport
- Do you have a pet, or would you like one?animals
- Did you have any pets when you were a child?animals
- What is your favourite animal, and why?animals
- Are pets popular where you live?animals
- Do you enjoy art? What kind?art
- Did you learn to draw or paint at school?art
- Have you been to an art gallery recently?art
- Do you think art classes matter in school?art
- How often do you watch films?films
- Do you prefer the cinema or watching at home?films
- What kind of films do you like?films
- Do you watch films in English? Do you use subtitles?films
- Do you spend much time outdoors?nature
- Is there a park or green space near your home?nature
- Do you prefer the mountains or the sea?nature
- Has the countryside near you changed in recent years?nature
- How many hours do you usually sleep?sleep
- Do you sleep well most nights?sleep
- Do you ever take a nap during the day?sleep
- What helps you fall asleep when you cannot?sleep
- What is the most important festival where you are from?festivals
- How do you and your family celebrate it?festivals
- Do you enjoy public holidays? What do you do?festivals
- Have festivals changed since you were young?festivals
- How long have you been learning English?languages
- What is the hardest part of English for you?languages
- Do you speak any other languages?languages
- How do you practise speaking English?languages
- Do you know your neighbours well?neighbours
- What makes someone a good neighbour?neighbours
- Is your neighbourhood quiet or busy?neighbours
- Have you ever helped a neighbour with something?neighbours
- Do you like taking photographs?photography
- What do you usually take photos of?photography
- Do you ever print your photos?photography
- Has your phone changed the way you take photos?photography
- What kind of clothes do you usually wear?clothes
- Do you follow fashion at all?clothes
- Do you prefer comfortable clothes or smart ones?clothes
- Where do you usually buy your clothes?clothes
- Are you usually on time, or often a little late?time
- How do you manage your time during a busy week?time
- Do you use a calendar or a planner?time
- What time of day do you work best?time
- Is your home noisy or quiet?noise
- What sounds do you find relaxing?noise
- Does noise bother you when you are working?noise
- Is your city noisier than it used to be?noise
- What is your favourite colour, and why?colours
- Do you think colours affect people's moods?colours
- Do you wear bright colours often?colours
- What colours did you choose for your home?colours
Showing the first 120. Narrow it with a topic or a search term to see the rest.
The four criteria, one page each
Pronunciation
Measured here from your audio
Fluency
Measured here from your audio
Vocabulary
Not measured here — real advice anyway
Grammar
Not measured here — real advice anyway
Coherence
Measured here from your audio
Intonation
Measured here from your audio
Word stress
Measured here from your audio
Common mistakes
Measured here from your audio
Straight answers
How long is the IELTS Speaking test?
Eleven to fourteen minutes in total, in three parts: a short interview of four to five minutes, a two-minute long turn with one minute of preparation, and a discussion of four to five minutes. It is face to face with a human examiner and it is recorded.
Is the Speaking test the same for Academic and General Training?
Yes, identical. Only the Reading and Writing papers differ between the two versions, so every question, cue card and model answer on this site applies to either.
What does sayit actually measure?
Fluency and pronunciation, from your audio: pace, long pauses and where they fall, filler words, pitch range, and every sound against its target in IPA. It does not measure lexical resource or grammatical range, which are marked by a human examiner, and the band it shows is an estimate built from the two criteria it can hear.
How accurate is the band estimate?
It is calibrated to those two criteria and capped at 8.5, deliberately, because the criteria we cannot hear are the ones that separate the top of the scale. Treat it as a trend: one take can be off by half a band, and two weeks of daily takes is honest.
Can I use these questions for a mock test?
Yes. Take one Part 1 set, one Part 2 card with a real one-minute preparation, and four or five Part 3 questions on the same theme, and you have the shape of the test. The timings on every page here match the exam.
Are these real IELTS questions?
They are original questions written to the format and difficulty of the test, not past papers. Recycled exam items are copyrighted and, more importantly, memorising them is the habit examiners are trained to hear.
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