IELTS Speaking Test # 111
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IELTS Speaking Test # 111 [Band score level 8/9]
Part 1 Topic: "Social media".
Part 2 Topic: "Describe something you liked very much which you bought for your home".
Part 3 Topic: "Creating a nice home" & "Different types of home".
Part 1 - Introduction & Interview
[This part of the test begins with the examiner introducing himself or herself and checking the candidate’s identification. It then continues as an interview. In the interview, the examiner asks the candidate about his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
Topic - "Social media"
Q. Which social media websites do you use? [Why?]
Answer: There are a few social media websites, I use, which include sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Linkedin. I use these websites, mainly to remain connected with my friends, families and office colleagues as well as the issues that are affecting our world around us on a daily basis. They also allow me to maintain personal and professional relationship both with friends and colleagues.
Q. How much time do you spend on social media sites? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I must admit that I am a busy person with my job and with other priorities, and therefore, I don’t really get to spend as much time to spend on social media sites as I would really like to. Still, I would say that I spend at least 30 to 40 minutes a day to see what my friends and others are doing through their online posts, follow the latest trends in life, health and fashion so that I can relax a little outside of my work life. Once in a while, I also update my status, write or share a new post, and upload a worth sharing picture.
Q. What kind of information about yourself have you put on social media? [Why?]
Answer: To tell the truth, it depends on what kinds of social media I am talking about unless they all share personal data of their users, which would not be too surprising! I believe, on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, I have put information like my address, job, interests, (ie. my hobbies and places I like to travel and so forth) and major events of my life. On sites like “LinkedIn”, which is more of a professional networking site), I've mostly put my educational and professional qualifications, skills and expertise.
Overall, I have shared pretty much my address, pictures, qualifications, hobbies, interests and important life events on social media websites I use primarily because they have asked me to and sometimes for the sake of letting others know! This is pretty much scary if we think very deeply about our privacy and how these data could be used to track us.
Q. Is there anything you don't like about social media? [Why?]
Answer: Well, to be honest, privacy concerns and how our personal data are being used for the benefits of large corporations or political parties are two major concerns about social media. And, we should not share sensitive data online, be it social media or other places, to be on the safe side. On a positive note, social media websites are able to bring people together from all around the world to exchange their views and opinions on different issues, and they are useful. So we should be wise to take advantages of it and be careful about its dark side.
Part 2 - Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card
[The topic for your talk will be written on a card which the examiner will hand over to you. Read it carefully and then make some brief notes.]
Describe something you liked very much which you bought for your home.
You should say:
- what you bought
- when and where you bought it
- why you chose this particular thing
and explain why you liked it so much.
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
[Examiner: All right? 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. Can you start speaking now, please?]
Model Answer:
I have never really been much of a person who cares what a home needs, and what it doesn’t. In fact, I leave those matters to the ladies of my home - ladies like my mother, sisters or sisters-in-law, except on some rare occasions. Today, I would like to talk about one such occasion when I really liked something and bought it, when I travelled to one of the tourist cities in my country about a couple of years ago.
The thing, I bought, was a piece of beautiful artwork. By the way, I travelled to the tourist city because I wanted to see my ailing aunt whom I hadn’t seen in a long time. But, even though, I went to see my aunt, I just didn’t want to let the opportunity pass by to visit some beautiful spots in that city, along with some very popular souvenir shops, which attracted many tourists not only from the local population but also tourists from abroad.
Anyway, after entering one such souvenir shop, my eyes got stuck on two beautiful paintings. One of the artworks was of a herd of deer, feeding themselves in a very relaxed mood near a mountain site. The subject of the other painting was a very beautiful sunset, overseeing the calm, blue water of an ocean, and some beautiful looking maple trees on the seashore. The artwork also contained the pictures of some flying birds which were seen to be racing the waves of the ocean. Needless to say, I liked both the artworks, but finally decided to buy the one with the beautiful sunset because I thought that it would perfectly match the interior painting of the living room of my home.
Anyway, I liked the artwork so much because it portrayed nature in such a beautiful manner. I liked it especially because of its extraordinary depiction of light and colour combination. Besides, I liked it so much also because the sunset was presented in a very dramatic fashion as if it was trying to renew its friendship with the ocean after a bumpy relationship between the two.
Part 3 - Details discussion:
Discussion topic: "Creating a nice home"
Q. Why do some people buy lots of things for their home?
Answer: People say that there is no better place in this world than the 'home', and I agree. In fact, home is the place where we spend most of our time in life, and therefore, it is only natural for people to buy a lot of things (even though, a “lot” is a comparative “term” here, in my humble opinion) to make the environment fun and comfortable for living. But, of course, some people like to buy many pieces of stuff for their homes because they see them as some symbols of higher status and recognition in the society, they live. While some have a large family and they simply need many things for their daily life.
Q. Do you think it is very expensive to make a home look nice?
Answer: No, I don’t necessarily think that it is very expensive to make a home look nice, mainly because it is a matter of taste and preferences of individuals. In fact, a very simple and inexpensive item can make a home look very nice if it matches the interior design and colour combination of that home. Besides, there is no such thing, which suggests that only expensive items make a home look nice, unless those expensive items themselves look nice, classy and elegant, and serve a particular purpose.
Q. Why don't some people care about how their home looks?
Answer: In my opinion, we all are different, and we all have different ideas about how our homes should look. But to be more precise, some people don’t care about how their homes should look because they may be too busy with their works and other priorities of life to focus on such “trivial” matters. Besides, some people are just happy to see their homes as a place to sleep and relax instead of considering it as some experimentation of decoration. Then, there is another group of people, who don’t care about how their homes look, because they just don’t like to spend any money on buying pieces of stuff that are not absolutely essential.
Discussion topic: "Different types of home"
Q. In what ways is living in a flat/apartment better than living in a house?
Answer: In my opinion, living in a flat/apartment is better than living in a house in several ways. First, living in a flat or apartment is much more cost-effective because of much lower rent (if we rent it) as well as much lower bills on cooling and heating the place. Secondly, living in an apartment has very little or no maintenance cost unlike the houses, which require regular lawn mowing or cleaning the front yard/back yard. Finally, apartments and flats offer more safety (from thieves or unwanted intruders) because they remain closed from all sides, unlike a house which remains open from above.
Q. Do you think homes will look different in the future?
Answer: Yes, I do think that homes will look different in the future, and that would reflect in the changes in materials, we use, to build our homes. For example, bricks and concrete would probably be completely replaced by aluminium sheets, timbers, fibreglass and steels. Besides, conventional roofs may also be replaced by solar roofs in order to reduce the dependency on electricity and gas. More and more super skyscrapers would probably also be built in a smaller landscape to accommodate more people in a relatively smaller area. Finally, more and more robots, which will be connected to one device so that homeowners can set up a schedule for them to do all the necessary house works.
Q. Do you agree that the kinds of homes people prefer change as they get older?
Answer: Yes, I do agree with the suggestion that the kinds of homes, people prefer, would change as they get older, primarily because the needs of older people are significantly different from that of the young people, as far as the issues of their economic situation, physical and mental abilities and family support are concerned. For example, for most old people, a home should be easily accessible from all directions in order to facilitate their easy movement. Besides, grown-up people prefer homes with more open space with some kind of gardening facilities so that they can keep themselves busy with working in the garden.
