Maple IELTS Coaching Institute in Ludhiana provides expert training to prepare candidates for the IELTS. Even though only a handful of candidates can manage to score a Band 8, this is certainly achievable. All you have to do is execute well throughout the exam. What will you apply? There comes the need for tips and tactics. Of course, regular and rigorous practice are keys to obtaining the maximum output in speaking. But attaining a band 8 necessitates strategies beyond basic speaking skills. Let’s delve into IELTS Speaking Strategy for band 8.

  1. Keep your body language positive

Confidence is the key to doing the speaking test. If it is so, your body language is the reflection of that confidence. The question arises of what to do and how to do it. The first thing you can do is sit with a relaxed posture once you enter the room at the start of the exam. Everyone has a different sitting style and sits the way you feel most comfortable. What’s more, using hand gestures while speaking is even more important for keeping your confidence high throughout the exam. Do it spontaneously, not forcefully. Do it as if you’re enjoying the conversation to the core. Only then, will your hand gestures automatically.

  1. Practice answering sample questions when prepping for the test

Why is it vital to practice answering sample questions before the test? It does multiple jobs for you. On the one hand, it will develop your fluency unprecedentedly as you’ll face a series of past exam questions. That you are covering a lot of content will give you a boost in your fluency. Speaking is like a knife; the more you speak, the better your fluency will be. On the other hand, your idea-generation sense will expand to a large extent.

Maybe you would never have thought of a question like ‘Why do people go fishing?’ but are provided with one like this. What this situation can bring to the table is it can drag your confidence down, which will result from content-related hesitation. The bottom line is, when you practice at home with somebody else in your examiner’s shoes, this will not only improve your fluency but also familiarize you with a galaxy of situations that you will be facing in the real exam.

  1. Vary your voice

According to Infoplease, there are over 7100 languages in the world. Each of them has distinctive features. In terms of English languages, you may have noticed that it is a language full of variations and diversities, unlike Punjabi. If you have watched an English movie or the news on BBC or CNN, you will notice that the way they speak is not flat at all.

Hence, as long as you speak with a single tone and a flat tone throughout the exam, that will presumably not earn you a band 8, even though your fluency and accuracy are to the point. What can you do to progress in this regard? You may grow a habit of listening to your favorite podcast and news channels. The more you listen, the nicer speaker you’re likely to be. This aspect of speaking is often overlooked by thousands of candidates and teachers alike but is an indispensable part of gaining a high band in IELTS speaking.

  1. Don’t’ learn answers by heart

This is probably the most devastating mistake IELTS candidates make in speaking. A lot of people have miraculous memorization power. Though it is good sometimes in other tests in the academic, IELTS has nothing to do with memorization power.

Nevertheless, examiners can sense it if you speak from your memorization, because they are used to assessing hundreds of candidates each month. And their experience will reveal it all to them. So, the best way to approach the exam is to demonstrate your ability to speak fluently, accurately, and smoothly. If you are mindful of developing your pronunciations, coherence, synonyms, fluency, and grammatical range, this will reach the apex of success in IELTS Speaking. By memorization, you will not be able to go a long way.

  1. Develop topic – specific vocabulary

You might be aware of the fact that lexical resources account for 25% of the total mark in the speaking exam. As the IELTS band descriptor suggests, you need to use a wide range of vocabulary resources readily and flexibly to convey precise meaning. Apart from that, you have to use less common and idiomatic vocabulary skilfully. Interestingly, you can still achieve a band 8 with occasional inaccuracies. And you have to use paraphrase effectively. Having said this, your synonymous knowledge of vocabulary plays a crucial role as well. Let us look at how paraphrasing works.

  1. Buy time when you need time to think

During the test, many candidates become indecisive about the situation or about any unexpected questions. This indecisiveness derives from the confusion in understanding any question or being least adoptive. No matter what the reason is, you will get back on track if you buy some time. Technically you are suffering from a content-related hesitation. You may buy time using the phrases below.

  • I have not thought about it before, but from my experience, I can tell that
  • If I am not mistaken, I would state that
  • I am not quite sure about it, let me think ….
  • That’s a tricky question, umm let me ponder on it a bit.
  1. Asking for repeating the question you are unsure about

There is nothing wrong with asking for repetition when you are confused about any question. You cannot afford to give wrong answers on the test. It may cause a catastrophic hurt for you. If you are not relevant to the question, you will simply end up getting far less than what you expected. Therefore, never hesitate to ask for repetition when you are unsure of what the examiner is actually asking. Let’s look at some expressions you can use to ask for repetition.

  • Pardon me?
  • Sorry?
  • Could you please explain the question?
  • Could you please repeat the question?
  • Would you mind repeating the question?