IELTS Energy 1634: How Can Pei-Yao's Speaking Test Boost Your IELTS Scores?

This is an IELTS Energy podcast, episode 1634. How can Peiyao's speaking test boost your IELTS scores? Welcome to the IELTS Energy podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 22 million times with the IELTS whiz,

Aubrey Carter, and today's featured guest. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams.

Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash my score. Do you know what scores you will get on the IELTS speaking exam?

Listen in today to get a better idea as we share feedback for Peiyao's speaking test and details that will help you improve your scores. Oh, yeah. Fluency is not about speaking perfectly, it's about

communicating comfortably, being able to share your ideas without stress, react naturally in conversations, and express your personality in English. If English still feels like something you have to manage

carefully, you're probably very close to the next level of fluency. But progress becomes much faster once you know exactly where you stand. Take our free two-minute fluency quiz and discover your

English level today. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. Hello everyone, welcome to part two of this.

Very exciting series. Welcome back, Pei Yao. Are you excited to hear your feedback? Yes, sure. Yeah, this is going to be great. So if you missed part one,

Pei Yao completed a full IELTS speaking exam right here on the podcast. She answered the questions from part one, part two, part three. So that's a really great opportunity for anyone out there

to see what exactly the speaking test is like, how long it lasts. So you can go check out part one. And today we are sharing the feedback. I'm going to provide Payal her scores

and some details about things that she did right and things that she can do to improve her scores. So let's dive in here. Payal, before I share your scores,

I would love for you to share just briefly a couple of strategies that you learned in the three keys course in the speaking module that you felt were the most helpful when you took this

practice exam. Yes, sure, I think what comes to my And mine first is that trying to answer directly to the question as soon as possible, and then you tell the rest of the story because at first I

found that I would easily get to go to another path if I came up with a fantastic story. But I might not answer the question directly. So I think that's very helpful.

That's a great point, especially on part three, when you're getting toward the end of the exam and the examiner might need to cut you off early to ask the next question

because they have to ask a certain amount of questions. If you haven't answered the question yet, then you will lose points. So that's a really great strategy.

I'm excited for everyone out there listening to hear this. That's so important. Answer the question directly. Toward the beginning of your answer, right? You can't kind of tell a story and then at the end

get to the point. At the end, answer the question. It's definitely important to answer right away so that you make sure to get all of those points . Okay, awesome.

Thank you for sharing. Let's dive in with your scores here. So you scored an overall six on this practice exam. Fluency and coherence was a six. Vocabulary, seven.

Pronunciation was a five, and grammar was a six. So I'm going to share details for all of those scores, as well as details about how you can increase these scores. So first of all, for that fluency and coherence score,

there were some pauses and hesitation that were pulling that down. And for the pronunciation score, a lack of variety of intonation was pulling down that score

, right? You had a lot of accurate word stress, phonemes, a lot of what you need. to be doing for the pronunciation score, but if you're using a monotone, if your tone isn't

varied enough, you still can't score higher than a five. So this is really important to think about, and we'll go into some details about when you can vary the tone, what you need to do in order to do that.

So my first question for you, Payal, that first set of questions was about your employment. How do you feel that you did on these answers? Um, because it was a familiar topic, so I came up with

ideas kind of smoothly, but I'm not sure if I did use some high-scoring words. I can't really remember. Okay, we'll dive into it, but I agree. I think, you know, on speaking part one,

you will always be asked about either work or study, or home or hometown. So everyone out there listening , you should be prepared for these questions. You want to be ready to answer these.

And you were, right? It was clear that you had practiced talking about your work, talking about co-workers. You jumped right in with an answer. You were able to

describe the company you work for, your colleagues, each of your roles. You had great topic- specific vocabulary. You were able to name the professions, interior design,

graphic design. That's high-scoring vocabulary. And this is important for everyone out there listening. Practice answers to these questions. Be able to describe your job or if you're studying your

home and hometown, because those are guaranteed something about that you will be asked. So you did use some great vocab here. You used a good filler phrase.

You said that's a tricky one when you were asked about co- workers, which gave you a little time to think about how you wanted to answer. So, Payal, I'm curious about

Filler phrases, I know you learned in Three Keys IELTS, and you've heard on the podcast how important it is to use filler phrases. But why? Why are filler phrases so important for your IELTS

scores? In my view, I think it's because that makes whoever is listening to your speech let them know that you are thinking about this question rather than don't know what's going on here.

Are you didn't, you didn't hear that question clearly, or something else goes wrong? So I think... That's a big part of it, right? You want the examiner to

know that you aren't hesitating, you know, there's not silence because you can't think of what to say, but you're actually thinking of your answer. But either way, there can't just be silence, there can't

just be pause. and hesitation, we have to fill that silence with something . We have to have things that we can say while we think of our answers, right? So this is

great to be like, that's really a tricky one. And we'll talk about a little bit later in the exam where you could use filler phrases more to avoid that hesitation at the beginning of an answer

because you got thrown some curve balls. You got some difficult questions that you hadn't thought about recently. You needed a little time to think. And instead of saying, you know,

actually, you have to say something. So you need that arsenal of filler phrases so that you can say something to fill that space, right? But I do want to point out

some of the great vocabulary you used in part one. First of all, Spark, you were, you know, when you were asked about what you'd like to do in the future,

you shared you want to be a professor teaching at a university. And you were saying you have a passion for this. And you said that would absolutely spark my artistic ideas

further. Spark is a really high-scoring verb because it's not common , right? This is less common. Everyone out there listening should add it to your vocabulary notebook.

It means to cause someone to feel excited, eager, or curious. And, you know, we'll often say this sparks our interest, which means it makes us excited to learn more about it.

So instead of saying something very low-scoring like, this, I would be excited about this, or this would make me interested, You can use this band nine verb, band nine, because it's

less common. I don't often hear students say that would spark my interest or spark my curiosity. So that's really high scoring. And some other less common chunks you used when you were

describing a food you loved, you said you could pick out the ingredients and then hand it over to the chef. That is much higher scoring than give to use this phrasal

verb and perfect for part one because it's more informal, right? And also the idiom chicken with my head cut off. That was amazing to describe how chaotic you are in the kitchen.

To have a few idioms like this is so vital on the IELTS exam. It pushed up your vocabulary score to a seven to use some idiomatic language, some phrasal verbs, and then to use more informal

vocabulary on part one and some more formal topic-specific vocabulary on part three. So that was really well done. I do want to ask you, Payout, when you learn a word like

spark or an idiom like a chicken with my head cut off. Many of these phrases students hear them or learn them but then they're not able to actually access them on test day. Can you share

your process for adding high scoring vocabulary like that to your active vocabulary so that you can actually use it on the IELTS exam on test day? Yes, though I just started like not long ago, but what I

did was Because I listened to the episode about childhood. I think it's about childhood, which is in IELTS Energy. And I noted down those vocabulary in my notes,

and then I typed it to chat GPT and then asked it to generate as an outline and simple question about childhood, both for part one and part two. And then I

would open that file and see what the example sentences are and what the questions might be and practice some of those. And while looking at those New vocabulary, I will try to add.

Add them into my response. Okay, I love that. So you are using AI, but you're also being proactive about when you're learning this word, these words, you're not just adding them to a list

and then ignoring it, right? We do have to be really thoughtful. We have to use vocabulary a lot in order to have it be part of our active vocabulary so that you can think of it on test day

so that you can use it when you need it, right? You cannot just have long lists of vocabulary that you're not using or you won't be able to use it on your speaking exam.

So thank you for sharing your process. Everyone has a different process. There's lots of different ways to be tracking vocabulary, but everyone needs something that works

so that all of this high-scoring vocabulary you are learning, you actually can use it on test day, right? And I want to share another great strategy that I noticed

you using, which did help you to score seven on the vocabulary score, is that when you couldn't immediately think of a specific word. You had alternatives.

You had synonyms ready, like tool and component, which helped you not pause to think of that specific word. Instead, you just used that instead. And that did not, that does not pull down your score, right

? The examiner isn't like, I'm sure there's a more specific word about that. It doesn't matter. You can use a synonym like this. That helped your fluency and coherence score

because there was no pause as you thought of the exact right word. And it also helps your vocabulary score because it shows you have all of these alternatives,

all of these synonyms you can use. So that was really well done. There's a big difference between understanding English and participating in English. Understanding means you follow the conversation.

You participate by adding your ideas, reacting naturally, and keeping the conversation moving. Many English learners are strong listeners, but hesitant speakers.

once you know your current fluency level, it becomes much easier to close that gap. Take our free two-minute quiz to discover your level and what to focus on next.

Go to allersenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allersenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. And then I want to talk some about the pronunciation score. This was your lowest score on this exam,

and it wasn't about word or syllable stress or individual phonemes. For the most part, those were correct. Every now and then there would be an error,

like saying pronunciation instead of pronunciation, but they were minor and very few. But what was really pulling down your score is that you need more variety of intonation, right?

You need to be showing emotion. You need to be sharing what you feel and think about things through your intonation. So the easiest way to do this is to emphasize any

interesting words, adjectives, adverbs, add details about how you feel so that it is natural to add more emotion to emphasize words, right? This is one of the easiest ways to avoid monotone.

And a lot of these questions, they're maybe not that interesting of questions. You still can't just answer with a monotone or your pronunciation score will be low.

So here's an example. When you were asked if you would change your name, this was one of the questions that was a little tricky. I could tell you hadn't been asked this a lot.

You haven't thought about answering about your name, if you would change it, how you got it on IELTS. So there was some pause, some hesitation there. But when you were asked if you would change it, this would

have been a great time to add. some emotion. If instead you said something like, no, definitely not. I love my name. It's a huge part of who I am. And instead you sort of used

a monotone and you used some high scoring but very formal vocabulary about how it's an inherent part of you. And instead, because this is part one, you want to stay pretty informal. And something like this,

that's very much a part of you, You definitely have an emotional tie to allow emotion to show in your voice. And the way to do that is just to punch those interesting

adjectives, right? You're emphasizing them. Definitely not. You can tell that I feel some passion about this. It's a huge part of who I am. Just because I give some space to these adjectives and

emphasize them more, you can tell how I feel about it. And if instead I use a monotone and just say, no, I definitely would not change my name. It's, you know, a very inherent part of me.

When the emotion isn't there, I can't really tell how you feel about it. And your pronunciation score stays low when your tone just stays the same, right?

So that's one of the biggest ways you could raise your scores is to add some intonation. And another great place to do this is the start of your part two answer.

This is a great place to add interesting vocabulary and also boost pronunciation scores That first thing you say when you answer part two. Payow, do you remember how you started your part two answer

? I'll tell you, you said, okay, I remember one time a friend of mine who was my classmate. And it was very flat, very monotone, right? And no high-scoring vocabulary.

And this is a lost opportunity. You have a minute to think about that answer. You want to start it in an interesting way. with not only Interesting vocabulary, but also interesting intonation.

And this is something you can prepare in advance. Think about all of the different ways you're going to start this answer. You're always asked to describe something.

You might be describing a person, a situation, something that happened in the past. You want to have something interesting to start with, like, I can't wait to tell you about what happened or my friend.

And you're sharing the emotion of what you felt. Or if it's not a great story, I'm kind of dreading having to tell you about this, right? Start it in an interesting way, with interesting

pronunciation, and that is going to boost your scores. You also really want to avoid starting that answer with something like, okay, that's pulling down your fluency and coherence score.

And you've had a minute to think and be ready. So be ready to dive in right away with the start of that answer in a high-scoring way, right? Okay, the last answer that I want to highlight here was one

that was difficult for you. You probably haven't thought about this a lot. The question in part three was, who do you think should pay for services available to people in a community?

Now, everyone out there who heard your speaking exam, there's a good chance that they also thought, huh, I haven't thought a ton about that. Or maybe people have thought about it, but it might not be

something you talk about often with people. That's normal. The examiner expects that. That's not a problem. But what we can't do is have just a pause or a hesitation.

Now, the first thing you said was, my mind just goes blank. So first of all, be sure when we use this to say, my mind just went blank, past tense. Oh, my mind just went blank.

Can you repeat the question, please? No problem. That gives you a little bit of time to think. But then after I repeated the question, there was still

quite a long pause, right? This is where Those filler phrases are so vital because you have to say something. So you could say something like, that is so tough because I haven't really thought about it

much, to be honest. Or you could say something like, I actually have really strong views about this, but it's kind of awkward to talk about. Any of those types of fillers, it doesn't matter what it is

, you have to have it ready ahead of time. Practice saying it ahead of time so that while you're saying it, You're actually thinking about how you want to answer this

question. So have fillers for tough questions like that ready, right? But Payal, you did an amazing job on this speaking exam. I know how nerve-wracking it is to not only take the IELTS

exam, but to take it on a podcast that's going out for everyone to hear. So a certain amount of nerves would definitely be expected, which, you know, I think this is a really great chance,

though, to see how when we are Experiencing that nervousness, that anxiety, which we are probably going to feel on test day as well. How much more difficult it makes everything.

Thinking of that interesting vocabulary, using those great filler phrases, right? You have all of this that you've practiced. You need to be able to put yourself in these kind of stress

-inducing situations where you feel nervous, where you feel anxiety, and practice using those strategies, using that high-sc oring vocabulary, even when you feel nervous.

So I think that's one of the biggest takeaways here. I'm glad Payal had this opportunity. Everyone out there listening, find a speaking partner, find someone where you can practice these questions

in a situation that's a little bit more nerve-wracking than just you by yourself, right? That's easy. There's no nerves there, no anxiety, right? And we need to know that we can use these strategies

and do all of this when we're nervous as well, right? So Payal, what do you think? Do you feel more ready now for testing? day? Yes, yes, totally. I feel actually I am not as nervous

as I thought I would be. Amazing. Yeah, that's good, right? To see that as well. Be like, I thought I would be more nervous, actually. Awesome. I love it with Payal. Thank you so much for

joining us for this series. I think this is going to be extremely helpful for everyone listening at home. Think about your own answers. Are you doing some of the things Payow did right?

Are you doing some of the things she also needs to work on? And then it can help everyone boost their scores and be ready for test day. Thank you so much, Payow, for joining me for this series.

An amazing job on your speaking exam. Thank you so much, Aubrey. Thanks, Payow. Bye-bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy. Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated

band score at allearsenglish.com. Slash my score.