IELTS Speaking Part 1 · music

Has your taste in music changed over the years?

A strong Part 1 answer puts the actual answer in the first clause, adds one reason or one example, and stops. Two or three sentences, roughly forty seconds.

The question, as the examiner gives it

IELTS Speaking Part 1

Has your taste in music changed over the years?

no preparation, about 45 seconds to speak

A band 7 to 8 answer

About 64 words at a natural pace — roughly what 45 seconds holds.

Answer it yourself first

Record your own answer first. A model you have read three times comes out with a flattened rhythm, and examiners are trained to hear exactly that. Read it afterwards for the vocabulary and the shape, not to memorise the sentences.
A band 7 to 8 answer

It has narrowed rather than changed, which was not what I expected. At eighteen I listened to everything and half of it was just to have an opinion. Now I have about five artists I return to and I hardly explore at all. The interesting part is that the music I liked at fifteen and pretended to grow out of has quietly come back.

The words that earn marks

Each one links to how it is pronounced.

  • narrowed

    a precise verb that reframes the question

  • explore

    the right verb for seeking new music

  • artists

    the natural noun in this context, not singers

  • pretended

    honest verb with an audible past ending

  • quietly

    adverb that gives the closing line its tone

  • opinion

    abstract noun explaining the teenage motive

How a strong answer is built

  1. 1Reframe the change in one precise verb.
  2. 2Describe the past state concretely.
  3. 3Describe the present state concretely.
  4. 4Close with the part that surprised you.

Sounds to watch

The ones this answer leans on most.

Straight answers

How long should my answer to “Has your taste in music changed over the years?” be?

About 45 seconds. Long enough for the answer plus a reason or an example, short enough that the examiner can get through the rest of the set.

Should I memorise the model answer?

No. Record your own version first, then read the model for the shape and the vocabulary. A memorised answer changes rhythm and pace noticeably, and examiners are trained to hear it — it usually costs more than the better wording gains.

Does sayit score this answer?

It scores what a microphone can observe: an estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.

What the band on your result means

An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.
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