How do you answer the most common IEL speaking part one questions in 2025?

Are you ready to find out?

Hello, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy here to help you become a more confident speaker of English.

Today I'm going to show you how to answer some of the most common IELTS speaking part one questions this year.

You may have seen me do some reels and shorts giving some sample answers at different levels. Well, today I'm going to go even deeper. Okay? I'm going to give you a simple answer and then an even better answer, but I'm going to explain why it's better and how you can make your answers much better so you can get a higher score in the IELTS speaking test.

Okay, let's look at the first topic which is talking about where you live.

Okay, now remember in part one you want to give short answers but develop a little bit maybe two to three sentences and you're talking about you, your life, your experience. Okay, so let's have a look at the question. First I'll show you a simple answer and then an even better answer. So, do you live in a house or an apartment?

I live in an apartment. It's on the seventh floor and it's in the city center. There's lots of space and also we are close to a park. Okay, a nice simple correct answer. Now, let's see an even better answer. So, I live in an apartment with my family. Um, we actually live on the seventh floor of a high-rise building right in the city center. It's really spacious and there's a great balcony um overlooking our our local park.

Okay, so what made this second answer even better? First thing is connectors.

Simple connectors like so. Just connecting. Secondly, I use what I call emphasis words. words like actually. So instead of we live on the seventh floor, we actually live on the seventh floor.

Right? Just emphasizing right right in the city center. The house is right in the city center. That right is emphasizing. Thirdly, topic specific vocabulary. The examiner wants to know if you can talk about this topic of houses and where you live with that specialized vocabulary. So use one or two words if you can. Here I've got high-rise building, balcony, topic specific vocabulary. Fourth, adjectives.

They really embellish your answers.

Words like spacious having a lot of space. Finally, five adverbs. Adverbs again will just enrichen your communication. Right? Here I said it's really spacious. Really, right?

Adverbs like pretty, really, fairly, quite, and so on. Okay, that is how we've made our first answer even better.

Let's move on. Okay, the next question is about the city where you live. Let's see a simple answer. Tell me about the the city where you live.

Well, I live in Manchester, which is a big city. Um, there's a lot of traffic and to be honest, I find it too noisy.

Now, let's see how we can make it even better.

I live in a pretty big city, Manchester, uh, which is up in the north of England.

There's an awful lot of traffic and traffic jams. Um, especially in the rush hour for me. It's far too noisy. Um, I think I'd prefer to live in the countryside.

Okay, so what made this second answer even better? Again, first of all, notice the adverbs and adjectives, right? I said, I live in a pretty big pretty big.

It just gives it a richer sense, right?

There's an awful lot of traffic, right?

There's traffic. Okay. There's a lot of traffic. Good. There's an awful lot of traffic. Even better. In addition, we've got again topic specific vocabulary. So, vocabulary related to the city where I live. Words like traffic jam, rush hour.

simple just one or two but it shows the width great word the width of vocabulary I have finally I make a comparison but not only a simple comparison instead of saying it's too noisy I say it's far too noisy so it's e exaggerating or emphasizing the comparison right it's easy it's far too easy it's Far too noisy. Really nice.

Let's move on.

Okay, let's look next at the topic of personal routine and preferences. Very often in part one, you may be asked, do you prefer A or B? Okay, so let's have a look u at the question about mornings or evenings and a simple answer first. Do you prefer mornings or afternoons?

I prefer the mornings.

I have more energy and I can get more things done in the mornings. Um, I usually feel too tired to do anything in the evenings. Nice. Let's see how I make it even better.

Well, I'm definitely an early bird. I mean, I've always been an early riser, so I usually get up when the sun rises without even setting my alarm clock. Um, I just feel much more energetic and productive in the mornings, especially compared to the evenings when I feel drained and I just want to disconnect in front of the TV. Okay, so what makes the second one an even better answer? First of all, again, topic specific vocabulary. Things like an early bird.

Um, or an early riser. Okay? Setting my alarm clock. Notice when you're learning vocabulary to focus on the collocation.

To set your alarm clock, right? Is to set the time. Um, so when you're using new vocabulary, think about the collocation. What's the what are the words that go together, right? setting my alarm clock also here I use very very powerful way of making an answer better and it's to use a present perfect tense after the present simple super easy but super effective okay using different tenses overall is good right but here I say I am an early bird present simple I've always been an early rer er present perfect which means something that I began years ago and continue until today. I have always been an early riser. It's easy present simple then the present perfect. This is the state now and this is from the past to now. Okay.

Well, I'm definitely an early bird. I've always been an early riser. And notice when you're speaking we often make the contraction I've been. You don't have to, but it's nice. Second, secondly, thirdly, speaking fillers, words like uh well, I mean, you know, just. So, here I said I mean, um I I'm definitely an early bird. I mean, I've always been an early riser. And then I use the word just. And just is kind what we call a hedging word. It makes it a bit softer.

So instead of saying I feel more energetic, I just feel more energetic. I just feel more energetic.

It doesn't really mean anything, but it's one of these speaking filler words which is really powerful, right? I think I use it later. I say, I just want to disconnect. I just want to disconnect.

Finally, notice the adverbs and adjectives here. adjectives I'm using.

Energetic, productive, uh, drained, tired, really tired. Um, really nice adjectives. Again, they kind of embellish the answer. Lovely. Let's move on. Okay, the next question is about free time, hobbies. Let's look at a a simple answer. What do you do in your free time?

I try to relax.

I like walking.

I go to the park with my dog.

We walk around.

Yeah, I like it a lot. Very nice. Let's make it even better.

So, whenever I get free time, I tend to take my dog for a walk in the local park.

We'll stroll around for half an hour or so or until he gets too tired. Um, he is getting on a bit. Yeah. So, that's my favorite way to spend my free time and unwind.

Okay. So, what made it better? A lot of the same things. One of the first things is very often we say I usually do this.

I usually do that. Um, you can change that. You can say I tend to I tend to I tend to take my dog for a walk or I typically take my dog for a walk. Okay, just a nice variation. Again, topic specific vocabulary about free time. Um, stroll, unwind, to relax. Okay, nice easy to use words here. One of the techniques I use in this answer is to add extra information. When you're speaking, it's different from writing. There's less structure. So, we tend to say something and then add something, then add something and add something. And so, it becomes a complex sentence as we're adding bits of information. Here I say, we'll stroll around. We will as in habit. He will stroll around for half an hour or so and then I add or until he gets too tired and then I add more. He's getting on a bit. He's getting on means he's getting old.

So, it's just simple adding information.

It actually in spoken English, this is creating more complex structures. Okay, it's really easy to do. Add bits of information. Don't worry too much about linking. If you can, it's good, but you don't always have to. All right, great.

Let's move on to our final topic.

Okay, another very very popular common topic, work or study. Okay, here's a question and a really nice simple answer. Uh, what do you do? Do you work or are you a student?

I'm a student.

I'm studying French at the university.

I'm in my first year.

Um, it's an interesting course and the teachers are are really good. Yeah.

Okay. Now, let's level up the answer.

So, I'm an undergraduate student at Manchester University. Um, I'm studying French. As a matter of fact, I've been on this course for around six months now and I'm loving it. I mean, it's challenging for sure. Um, but the teachers, even though they're pretty strict, are really supportive.

So, how have we made this even better?

We're doing a lot of the uh tricks that we've talked about so far. Let's have a look. We're using these speaking fillers or what I sometimes called emphasis words like as a matter of fact. Yeah, I can say I'm studying French or I'm studying French as a matter of fact.

Just emphasizing I mean I use for sure. And these are all kind of simple speaking fillers. They're helping connect. They're making it sound like natural spoken English. This is where you become more natural and not just robotic. Okay. I also do this thing with um present simple, present perfect, different tenses. I'm studying French.

I've been on this course for six months.

I have been on this course for six months. I'm studying. And then you kind of go back in time. I I started six months ago until now. I've been contraction. I've been on this course for six months.

Also, I do something here about adding information. Do you remember last time I talked about adding information? Here we do it particularly with a relative clause, right? So, it's the teachers comma, are really supportive. The teachers are really supportive. The bit in commas is the extra information.

The teachers, even though they're pretty strict, are really supportive. Okay, it it's a it's a more complex way of adding information, but it's it's easier to do written. It's a little more challenging spoken because you need to be more fluent to make it work. The teachers, even though they're pretty strict, are really supportive. If you say this slowly, you would have to put they at the end. But the teachers, even though they're pretty strict, they are really supportive. So, you can add the they at the end if you feel you're going too slowly. The important thing is extra information, extra language for the examiner to see how good you are, how good you really are in English.

Great. So today I've shown you how to make your IELTS speaking part one answers even better. So you can show the examiner just how good you really are.

So just to remind you the different things you can do. You can use simple connectors. So well emphasis words speaking fillers. I mean as a matter of fact you can use or think about topic specific vocabulary.

Think about adjectives and adverbs.

Pretty good. Fairly good. An awful lot of traffic. Think about different tenses, especially the present simple and the present perfect. I'm a teacher.

I've been doing this job for donkeys years. Think about adding extra information and also making comparisons.

All of these, of course, don't do all of them in one answer, but use them and think about them as you're practicing and then you'll really be able to show off the language you've got to the IELTS speaking examiner. Build your confidence.

That's it. If you want all of this information, kind of a summary, there is a PDF you can download for free from the website. Um, if you enjoy the work I do on YouTube, think about becoming a member on YouTube. Just for $2 a month, you can get access to, well, emojis, extra badges, lots of extra little videos that will give you a bit of a more intimate connection with me and more information um, about learning English and preparing for IELTS speaking. So, come and join me. Join the membership. It helps me. It supports the work I'm doing on YouTube and I really really will appreciate it. That's it for today. Thank you so much for watching.

Can't wait to see you soon. Take care, my friend. Bye-bye.

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