IELTS Speaking, Part 3: Practice Questions with Sample Answers

Today we will look at six example questions from IELTS Speaking Part 3. The questions cover the three topics introduced in our Part 2 practice, and include a variety of question types: Indicate a preference; Yes/No; Agree/Disagree; Open-ended. Try answering these questions yourself first and then compare the sample answers below with your own.

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IELTS Speaking Part 3: Practice Questions

1. Is it better to make important life decisions on your own or is it better to consult other people?
2. Do you think good decision-making can be taught?
3. Is watching TV a good way of forgetting about work or study?
4. Should coworkers also spend their leisure time together?
5. Do you agree that English should be the main language of international exchange?
6. What are the difficulties in creating a universal language?

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IELTS Speaking Part 3: Sample Answers and Analysis

1. Is it better to make important life decisions on your own or is it better to consult other people?

There are good reasons for both, I suppose. Ultimately, it’s your life so I suppose you should make the decisions. On the other hand, any decisions you make can affect other people so it seems only right to discuss things with others first. Like many philosophical questions, there’s no simple answer, I’m afraid.

2. Do you think good decision-making can be taught?

Well, if you go to a bookstore you’ll see lots of self-help books that claim to teach decision-making. I’m not sure any of them are effective though. I suppose it depends on the type of decision you mean. If it’s a business strategy, then I’m sure some decisions are better than others and business schools teach this. But if it’s a moral issue then I’m not sure anyone can claim to know the right decision, so how could anyone teach it?

This IELTS candidate scores highly by:

• Giving balanced answers to both questions
• Using a time-buying strategy before answering Question 2: Well, if you go to a bookstore…
• Using it depends and conditional sentences to explore different possibilities
• Using verbs of speculation such as suppose
• Using you in the general sense to mean ‘any person’
• Returning to the original question at the end of each answer

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3. Is watching TV a good way of forgetting about work or study?

Absolutely, yes. These days there’s so much choice available that we can completely immerse ourselves in entertainment. I mean, you can turn on a good drama or comedy show and pretty soon you forget about everything that happened that day. I think that without TV we’d all go a little crazy.

4. Should coworkers also spend their leisure time together?

I’m completely against this. The problem with people going out together after work is that they just gossip about certain people in the office or factory, and this can hardly be a good thing for the company, can it? Another thing is that there’s always the risk that you will say something you regret after a few drinks and then you have to face your colleagues again the next day. So, in short, I would definitely advise people to think twice about socialising with colleagues.

This IELTS candidate scores highly by:

• Using strong expressions of (dis)agreement: Absolutely, yes; I’m completely against this
• Using ellipsis or substitution to avoid ‘parrotting’ the question: Absolutely, yes; I’m completely against this
• Supporting opinions with more than one reason
• Using you, we and they to make general observations about people
• Paraphrasing key elements of the question: entertainment; colleagues; socialising
• Summarising the main argument when an answer becomes quite long: So, in short…

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5. Do you agree that English should be the main language of international exchange?

That’s a very interesting question. I’ve never really thought about it before, actually. We all just assume that it should be English, don’t we? But what other languages could we use? I suppose Chinese is becoming quite an important language, but the pronunciation is too difficult for most people. English is already the main language of universities and business, so maybe it should stay that way.

6. What are the difficulties in creating a universal language?

Do you mean inventing a completely new language? Yes? Well, I mean, er, it’s never been done before, has it? There was Latin, of course, which was used by people all over Europe, but I’m not sure if it was really created for that purpose. Actually, I think there used to be a universal language about a hundred years ago. What was it called again, Esperanto? But that disappeared quite quickly. Er, what I’m trying to say is, I don’t think anyone has ever succeeded in creating a universal language, so I doubt if it will ever be possible in the future.

This IELTS candidate scores highly by:

• Using filler expressions to buy time: That’s a very interesting question; Well, I mean, er…
• Thinking aloud rather than staying silent (both questions)
• Asking a checking question rather than simply asking for help: Do you mean…?
• Using a fluency expression to rephrase an idea: What I’m trying to say is…
• Indicating an opinion at the end of each answer, even when uncertain at the beginning.