Collocations for IELTS Speaking: Master IELTS Collocations (Band 7-8.5) With Dialogues, Example Questions & More

​About the Author: Jackie Bolen

I taught English in South Korea for 10 years to every level and type of student, and I not teach in Vancouver, Canada. I've taught IELTS prep to all levels of student. I'm also a former IELTS speaking examiner, so have an excellent understanding of this exam. Let me help you achieve your goals and get you where you need to be!

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/jackiebolen

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/eslspeaking

Email: [email protected]

You might also be interested in these resources. You can find them whenever you like to buy books:

−  Real World English for Academic Situations Inside & Outside the Classroom

−  IELTS Academic Vocabulary Builder

−  Master IELTS Listening with High-Frequency Vocabulary Words

​An Introduction to the IELTS Speaking Test

The IELTS speaking test is the same, whether you choose the general or academic version of the test. It's face-to-face with a real person, as opposed to some other English proficiency tests where you speak into a voice recorder. However, each IELTS speaking test is recorded to ensure quality control.

The test takes 11-14 minutes and consists of 3 parts:

Part 1: The first set consists of general questions about where you work, study or live. There will be two other question sets after that on personal topics such as clothing, holidays, food, etc. It takes 4-5 minutes and will consist of approximately 12 questions in total.

Part 2: Speaking for 1-2 minutes about a topic that will be given to you. You will have 1 minute of preparation time. There may be one short follow-up question.

Part 3: A 4-5 minute discussion that goes into greater depth about the topic from part 2. The examiner has the freedom to ask follow-up questions based on your answers. The discussion will be about general ideas and not personal ones (like in part 1). Think of this section as more of a 2-way dialogue with the examiner.

The speaking and listening portions of the test are the same, whether you choose the general or academic version of it. It's the reading and writing portions that are different. Be sure to check closely which test is required for whatever purpose you're taking the test for. The general test is usually required for immigration purposes while the academic one is most often required for college entrance.

​How is the IELTS Speaking Test Graded?

You will be graded on four things:

Fluency and coherence: How quickly you speak, without pauses or repeating yourself. Is the previous thought connected to the next one and how do you finish off what you're saying?

Lexical resources (vocabulary): To score at the band 7 level, or above, you'll need to be able to speak about all the topics on the test with precision, as well as use things like collocations (words that occur together more often than by random chance), idioms, slang, and phrasal verbs. This book will focus on helping you with this!

Grammatical range and accuracy: To score at the highest levels, you'll need to be able to form a variety of simple and complex sentences accurately. The keys are to use a variety of sentence types and to make few errors.

Pronunciation: You'll need to be able to be understood very easily, without any effort on the part of the examiner. Plus, you'll have to put emphasis on the correct words within a sentence and also within a longer speaking turn.

​Tips for Scoring a Band 7-8.5

For most proficient English speakers, getting a band 7-8.5 on the IELTS speaking test is a very achievable goal. Here are a few tips for getting there!

One of the keys is striking a balance between giving enough detail in your answers to develop topics fully and not talking too much. The examiner has a prescribed