Shadowing Practice: IELTS Speaking Mock Test | Band 6.5 | Full Test with Feedback - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hi there, my name's Natasha.
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In this video, we're going to review an IELTS speaking test together.
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Let's watch!
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Now in this first part, I'd like to ask you some questions about yourself.
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So let's talk about reading.
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Did you have a favorite book when you were a child?
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Yes, Yes, mainly historical genre.
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I really love to read this kind of book, mainly my dad motivates me a lot to read historical books.
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How much reading do you do for your work or studies?
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Every month I have a target to finish at least two books.
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When I study in the university, at least I read three to four books in a week.
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As I was a postgraduate student,
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they require me to have a lot of academic reference to support my assignment or paper work.
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What kinds of books do you read for pleasure?
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I love to read National Geographic as they often release on a monthly basis.
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And there are always a lot of great stories, fascinating around the world, explaining what sort of phenomenon,
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like what happened recently with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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So that was a solid start.
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Tim was able to answer the questions and expand his answers with relevant examples and information.
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This is a very important skill for IELTS speaking.
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There are some grammar errors, however.
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For example, when talking about studying at university in the past, Tim says, When I study in the university,
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at least I read three to four books in a week, as I was a postgraduate student,
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and they require me to have a lot of academic reference to support my assignment or paperwork.
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So he gets the BE verb correct, I was a postgraduate student, but he uses the simple present verb for study,
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read, and require rather than past simple studied, read, and required.
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The questions are designed to see if you can use a range of grammar including different verb tenses, so getting these right is really important.
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I should mention, if you're looking for live classes that cover skills like grammar and pronunciation,
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in addition to advanced classes that go through each part of the IELTS speaking test in detail, sign up for free at e2testprep.com.
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Let's keep watching.
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Do you prefer to read a newspaper or a magazine online or to buy a copy?
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Yeah, well, I think so.
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When I was a kid, I read a lot of textbooks.
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However, as time goes by, with a lot of advancement in technology.
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I can access e-newspaper easily even on my mobile phone as well
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and they tend to be cheaper as I just need to pay a subscription like 10 bucks monthly
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and I can have multiple resources in just one click.
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Just quickly notice how the question presents a choice.
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Do you prefer X or Y?
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But Tim starts by saying, Yeah, I think so.
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He doesn't state a preference here, so it's a little bit unclear what he means.
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A better way to start would be by saying which one he prefers.
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For example, I find reading newspapers online much more convenient.
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He does a good job of explaining his reasons, though.
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He says he can access them easily on his phone and that they're cheaper, and he ends with a great phrase, in just one click.
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This is a very natural use of an idiomatic phrase.
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Let's keep watching.
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Now let's talk about paying bills.
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What kinds of bills do you have to pay?
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I like this question.
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Since I graduated from university, I feel I'm responsible for all bills in my life, apart from rental and groceries,
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I also have to pay my car bill, including Rachel, where previously my parents helped me to cover it.
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But now it's like 100% become my own responsibility.
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Tim structures this answer well.
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He explains that since graduation, he's taken on responsibility for his bills.
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He gives examples, rental and groceries, and he says he has to pay his car bill.
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Car bill is not very precise, but he clarifies his meaning, saying including rego.
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Now I just want to talk about this word for a second.
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Rego is a slang word in Australia, short for registration.
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A slang word is a very informal word that's used by a particular group of people, and the thing about slang is that people from outside that group may not understand it.
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So it's a good idea not to use too much slang in your IELTS test
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and definitely don't use slang from one country if you think people from another country may not understand it.
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Tim does use a nice idiomatic phrase here.
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Previously, my parents helped me cover it.
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This means that in the past, his parents helped him to pay his bill,
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but by using idiomatic expressions like cover it instead of common vocabulary like pay for it,
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Tim is more likely to score a higher band score for lexical resource.
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Let's continue with the test.
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How do you usually pay your bills?
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In cash or by another method?
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Most of the time I use my bank account to transfer or via BPAY
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as I can easily track them every month on my bank statement for my future reference as well.
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Is there anything you could do to make your bills cheaper?
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Yes, I believe so.
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Since I'm currently working as an accountant,
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I believe every company has a marketing budget that often customers can maximize this in their own way.
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For example, when I'm doing a grocery shopping in Coles or Woolies,
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I often to buy a gift card online that offers me 5 to 10 percent discount.
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In that way I can reduce my grocery bills, which is my second biggest expense.
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The first part of this answer is a little bit confusing.
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Tim says companies have a marketing budget that customers can maximize.
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The meaning is not very clear here.
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Perhaps we can guess that he means companies have promotional offers or something like that.
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Remember that to score a six in lexical resource, your meaning needs to be clear, but to score an eight, you need to convey precise meaning.
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But luckily, Tim gives an example to explain what he means.
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He mentions shopping in some Australian supermarkets, Kohl's and Woolies, and says he buys a gift card that offers a discount.
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The last sentence is great.
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He uses a signal phrase, in that way, to introduce the result and explains why it's important using a great comparative phrase,
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my second biggest expense.
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So by giving the example, Tim has explained what he means more clearly.
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Let's move on.
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Now let's talk about sleep.
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How many hours do you usually sleep at night?
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Normally I sleep eight hours,
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however these days I have so much activities apart from work and sport activities.
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I only can sleep for about five to seven hours.
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However, I feel it's enough because it's all about the quality of sleeping rather than the time length of sleeping.
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Do you sometimes sleep during the day?
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When I was primary school, I always took a nap for at least one or two hours.
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However, this changed when I grew up because I feel it's kind of a waste of time.
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I can use my time to do something more productive during the day.
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Let's talk about Tim's pronunciation for a moment.
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You can probably hear that sometimes Tim mispronounces words.
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For example, here he says, hours with an h sound at the beginning whereas the correct
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pronunciation is to start with the ow vowel sound hours have a listen uh
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when i was primary school i always took a nap for at least one
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or two hours minor mispronunciations like this don't stop us from understanding tim's meaning though
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so he could still score well on pronunciation one thing tim
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does quite well is use stress he He places the stress on the correct syllables of the words, and he stresses the most important words in the sentence.
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Listen to his final sentence again.
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I can use my time to do something more productive during the day.
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Because he stresses the correct syllables of the words and correct words in the sentence, his speech has quite a natural rhythm,
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and this helps him to be understood more easily.
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Let's see how Tim finishes part one.
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What do you do if you can't get to sleep at night?
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Most of the time I read a book and watch Netflix
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or just simply browsing on the phone because that's the moment I can help sort of my me time.
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I just spend between 5 to 15 minutes and magically all this method can help me sleep easily.
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There are a couple of great uses of vocabulary in this answer.
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He says, I can have my me time.
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Me time is an idiomatic expression that he uses very naturally and accurately here.
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It means time that you spend by yourself doing something that you enjoy that makes you feel calm or relaxed.
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which is a great way to describe reading a book or watching Netflix.
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I love how he uses the word magically to explain how doing these activities helps them to sleep easily.
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I think Tim could score well for a lexical resource, but sometimes there are grammar issues, which means his score for grammatical range and accuracy might not be as good.
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For example, he says, all this method, but he's talking about several different activities,
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so he needs to use a plural here, all these methods.
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Tim can practice avoiding mistakes like this to really improve his score for this criterion.
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So that was speaking part one.
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Tim's pronunciation is fairly clear, and he's used some effective idiomatic and less common vocabulary.
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He generally answers the questions with relevant ideas, explanations and examples, and overall,
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his fluency has been good, despite some hesitation.
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Although Tim made grammar errors, so far they haven't stopped us from understanding his meaning.
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However, to get a better score for grammatical range and accuracy,
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I'd advise Tim to revise the use of verb tenses, prepositions and plurals.
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Before we move on to part two, don't forget to click the subscribe button.
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That way you won't miss any of our new videos covering everything IELTS related.
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All right, I'm going to give you a topic now, and I'd like you to talk about it for one to two minutes.
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Before you talk, you'll have one minute to think about what you're going to say, and you can make some notes if you wish.
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Do you understand?
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Yes, thank you.
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So here is your topic, and you can use pencil and paper for your notes.
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So I'd like you to describe a time when you enjoyed visiting a member of your family in their home.
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So I just want to pause here to show you the task card.
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It says, describe a time when you enjoyed visiting a member of your family in their home.
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It tells you to say who you visited and where they lived, why you made this visit, and what happened during this visit,
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and to explain what you enjoyed about this visit.
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Let's see how Tim responds.
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All right, so remember you have one to two minutes for this, so don't worry if I stop you, I'll tell you when the time is up.
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So can you start speaking now, please?
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All right, I would like to share an experience when visiting family members in my home.
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I was born in Jakarta, however my family migrated to Singapore a long time ago.
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So I often visit them at least once or twice a year, especially after COVID-19 pandemic.
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My parents normally came to Australia to see me in here,
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however now they're getting older and they're afraid of virus.
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Also I tend to be proactive
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when planning this trip by asking them in advance what's their availability
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and how's their work looks like as my dad's still actively working although he's almost 70 years old
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and when i came to my hometown normally they always bring me to visit relatives and our grandparents
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so tim started very well there was a moment where his fluency decreased
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and you might have seen
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that he was struggling a bit to think of what to say but he managed to recover quite quickly
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and was able to start speaking more fluently again.
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And this is really key.
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Something may go wrong in your speaking test.
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You may suddenly forget an important word, or you may not know how to answer a question.
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The important thing is not to let that one small mistake ruin your whole test.
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Did you see Tim look back at the task card to prompt him with what to talk about next?
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This is a great strategy, and it's also why I always advise students to make notes about the prompts on the card, even if they feel very confident.
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You never know when you may suddenly lose focus and your notes can help you get back on track.
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Let's see how he finishes his answer.
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And it happened most of the time during a festive season like Christmas or Chinese New Year.
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Also, I sometimes contribute to their church activities activities by doing
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a volunteer job like even a simple job like cleaning the church
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and packing the food
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and prepare all the amenities for the church member I really
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enjoy to have a this kind of social activities as my parents also introduced me to most of their relatives
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and friends proudly about what I'm doing doing and where I am right now,
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although I don't get so much opportunity to stay longer in my hometown.
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Now I do want to pause here and draw your attention to the task card again.
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The task card said, describe a time when you enjoyed visiting a member of your family in their home.
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So it's asking you to talk about one specific event.
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However, here Tim speaks more generally about what usually happens when he goes to visit his parents in Singapore.
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Now, this is not wrong.
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You won't lose any marks because you talk about something a little bit different to what's on the task card.
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But I think in this case, Tim made the task a bit harder for himself.
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The Part 2 task card is always about one specific thing, one event or experience or one thing you like or enjoy.
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So in your answer, try to talk specifically about one experience.
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It will help you to focus your ideas and explain them clearly.
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Let's keep watching.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Do you visit your parents often?
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At least twice a year.
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This final response here was perfect.
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Tim's answer is brief but relevant.
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He doesn't try to explain his answer.
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He just answers competently with a strong downwards intonation at the end to show he has finished his statement.
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If you answer the final question in part two in this way, your examiner will be very happy because it will help them to move on to part three quickly.
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Let's see how that goes.
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All right.
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So we've been talking about a time when you enjoyed visiting a member of your family in their home.
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And I'd like to ask you one or two more general questions related to this.
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So let's consider first of all family occasions.
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When do families celebrate together in your country?
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We celebrate both Christmas and Chinese New Year.
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So these two public events are the most important for our family.
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and I'm so excited that I'm going to celebrate with them in the next couple of weeks soon.
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In Chinese New Year, we call this 2024 as a dragon year.
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How often do all the generations in a family come together in your country?
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I'm sorry, would you mind explain further the question?
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Sure.
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So, all the different generations in a family like grandparents and parents and children,
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how often do they all get together in your country?
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So here, Tim didn't quite understand the question, so he asked Andy to clarify it,
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and then she was able to rephrase it and give him some examples of what different generations means.
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This is great.
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If you're not sure what the question is asking you, it's a really good idea to ask the examiner to repeat or explain it.
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Let's listen to that rephrase question again and see how Tim answers it.
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Sure, so all the different generations in a family like grandparents and parents and children,
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how often do they all get together in your country?
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I will say at least once a year
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and also depending what sort of tradition or religion they're adopting in their family members.
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For instance, in my family members, Chinese New Year is one of of the most important event
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when my grandma was alive she always organized this moment at least three months before the event
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and I was always the only grandchildren who helped her to cook
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and order the food even went to the fish market
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and however after she passed away I feel this This tradition is not much,
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it's no longer practiced by younger families,
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especially with probably they have a lot of new activity or they are too busy.
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Tim once again does a really good job of answering the question and then extending his response here.
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Notice how Tim immediately answers at least once a year and then qualifies his answer.
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This is an excellent strategy.
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Start general, get specific.
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So if you struggle to know what to say in part three, try that.
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Answer generally, then relate the question to one specific example from your own life.
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Let's keep watching.
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So you're seeing a change in the culture,
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are you, from from before to now yes definitely with more and more people nowadays are suffering
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from cost of living pressures especially after covid 19 pandemics where everyone tried to
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focus to get more money as according to abc news also
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the younger generation born in the year 90s are struggling financially more than previous generations.
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I think because of this reason,
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we tend to spend more time to work rather than have a quality time with family or friends.
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Here, I think Tim could have used a signal phrase at
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the beginning of his answer to show why he's talking about money issues.
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For example, he could have said,
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By adding that phrase, I think one factor is that,
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he could show that he's giving a reason for his opinion.
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So we would know why he's talking about financial pressures, and we would be able to follow his answer more easily.
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Also, the way Tim introduces his information from the news is quite formal.
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According to ABC News Australia, this is something you might write in an essay, but it's less common to say it in a conversation.
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It would be more natural to say something less formal like, I saw in the news recently that,
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let's now watch the end of this speaking test.
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Let's think about everyday life in families.
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Do you think it's a good thing for parents to help their children with their schoolwork?
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I believe so.
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I think home education is the best education as
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children can have a motivation from their parents and also can gain an insight of what is the purpose of doing something.
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Like I mentioned previously, I love reading historical book
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because of my dad he influenced me a lot
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when i was kids how important is it for families to
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eat together at least once a day um i think that's
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a great idea for them to gathering in the same dining
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table every night however um i feel as the child grow older they often to have a
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their own business with their friends, they back home too late.
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As a result, they don't have much time to see their mom and dad to have a dinner together.
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All right.
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Well, thank you.
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That's the end of the speaking test.
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You're welcome.
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So that's the end of this IELTS speaking test.
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Although Tim had some good ideas in these last two answers, and he still managed to extend his ideas a bit,
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His fluency and his grammatical accuracy have decreased.
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There are quite a few small grammar mistakes, so these two answers are a bit harder to follow, but this isn't uncommon in Part 3 for a lot of students.
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Remember that Part 3 is designed to test whether you can use more complex language to analyze and explain ideas and opinions.
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It's a good idea to fix any basic grammar issues you have, so that in part three, you can really focus on using more advanced grammar,
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such as if clauses, passive verbs, and complex sentences.
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Overall, Tim has a very solid foundation of English to work with, including some excellent vocabulary and good pronunciation.
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My advice would be to spend some time revising and practicing grammar
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because this will help him to speak more accurately and more confidently.
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Remember, if you're looking to practice your speaking skills, you can sign up for free at e2testprep.com.
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We have live classes that cover skills like grammar and pronunciation,
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in addition to more advanced classes that go through each part of the IELTS Speaking Test in much more detail.
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We also have plenty of bonus practice questions in our course materials.
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Check it out today!
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And that's it for this video video.
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If you liked it, be sure to click the like button and subscribe for more IELTS videos.
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Thanks for watching and good luck with your IELTS preparation.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 289 sentences and 3631 words to shadow. The speech runs for 26:12. The speaker talks at a steady 139 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- grammar /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ (noun) — A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
- phrase /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ (noun) — A short written or spoken expression.
- pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ (noun) — The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken.
- verb /vɝb/ (noun) — A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
- vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ (noun) — A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning.
- resource /ɹɪˈzɔːs/ (noun) — Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel.
- accuracy /ˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/ (noun) — The state of being accurate; being free from error; exactness; correctness
- topic /ˈtɑpɪk/ (noun) — A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
- relative /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/ (noun) — Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family.
- formal /ˈfɔɹməl/ (adjective) — In accordance with established forms.
- introduce /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/ (verb) — To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else).
- discount /ˈdɪskaʊnt/ (noun) — A reduction in price.
- extend /ɛkˈstɛnd/ (verb) — To increase in extent.
- expense /ɪkˈspɛns/ (noun) — A spending or consuming, often a disbursement of funds.
- productive /pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/ (adjective) — Capable of producing something, especially in abundance; fertile.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
- book in (verb) — To check in (to a hotel).
- go through (verb) — To travel from one end of something to the other.
- think about /ˈθɪŋk əˌbaʊt/ (verb) — To ponder.
- do for (verb) — To doom; to bring about the demise of someone; to injure or harm someone.
- grow up (verb) — To mature and become an adult.
- look for (verb) — To seek.
- move on (verb) — To continue; to proceed; to go on.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 41 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, occasion /əˈkeɪ̯ʒən/, preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, registration /ˌɹɛd͡ʒ.ɪˈstɹeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, accuracy /ˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/, accurately /ˈæk.jə.ɹɪt.li/, examiner /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like grammar, phrase, pronunciation.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has explained · has been · haven't stopped |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are designed · be understood · was born |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | bills, which is · issues, which means |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.