IELTS Speaking Mock Test # 32
Part 1 Topic: “About yourself and studying English”.
Part 2 Topic: “Describe a competition (or contest) that you took part in”.
Part 3 Topic: “Competition in education” & “Competition in other areas in life”.
Part 1 – Introduction & Interview
Q. What is your name?
Answer: I am Isabella Milena. You can, however, call me simply “Isabella” if it’s okay with you. This is what my friends and family members call me.
Q. What nationality are you?
Answer: I am “German” by birth, and I am very proud to be a German.
Q. What part of your country do you come from?
Answer: I am from Bavaria, which is a landlocked federal state located in southwestern Germany. Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With over 13 million inhabitants, it is the second-most populous state in our country.
Q. Do you work or study?
Answer: I am currently an undergrad student at the University of Augsburg. My major is “history”.
Q. What do you like about your studies?
Answer: I like my major, which is “history”. The course outline and lectures in the class are exciting as I learn every day from my studies. In fact, the courses are well designed, and the lectures are highly informative. I love to learn new things, and my major allows me to look at world history from a different and new perspective.
Q. What do you like about learning English?
Answer: Well, English is an international language and learning this language will enable me to read more books, talk to a lot more people and watch more history-related documentaries. So, it is really important for my personal growth, and I like the way people use this language in their everyday life. I believe that a second language is always helpful, and as an international language, English opens a host of opportunities, and I like the way this language teaches me many aspects of history. Perhaps the most exciting feature of this language, which motivates me to learn more about it, is that I will be able to use it anywhere in the world.
Q. How often do you use English?
Answer: Umm… I do not speak English often, as the German language is widely used in my locality and the college I am studying in. However, I use it whenever I need to talk to a friend who is from a different country or whenever I go out of my country. Moreover, I would like to believe that whenever I watch a movie or documentary made in English, I use this language one way or another.
Part 2 – Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card
Topic:
Describe a competition (or contest) that you took part in.
You should say:
- when the competition took place
- what you had to do
- how well you did in the competition
and explain how you felt about participating in it.
[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.]
Model Answer:
Thank you for this nice topic. I took part in an inter-class debate competition a few months ago at our university, and I would like to share this experience with you.
The debate competition began in the morning and took around two and a half hours. Different information and theories were discussed in the debate to battle with the opposition teams. The debate’s topic was ‘the impacts of climate change on the European continent and who is responsible for the problem’. It was organised by two of our class teachers.
I had to deliver a 10-minute speech against my opposition team in the competition and present some counter logic against their arguments. But the preparation for the speech was really difficult. I had to collect the required information on climate change from various sources and cross-check the references, as any misinformation could hurt my team’s performance. Anyway, I was happy with my performance at the end.
My teammates told me that I had delivered a great speech. Actually, I pointed out some of the key factors on environmental problems and how they are having detrimental impacts on climate change. I also focused on some ordinary issues that my opponents did not consider at all while preparing their speeches and logic. My team members also supported me and helped me with some information that I included in my final speech. It was a remarkable moment in my life to win the debate competition, as it motivated me a lot.
Initially, I felt nervous as it was the very first debate completion I participated in at my university. But once I gained the confidence to continue my debate, I was smooth, and I was happy that our team won. It was, in fact, very exciting for my team and me.
Part 3 – Two-way/ Detail Discussion
Q. Why do you think some teachers use competitions as class activities?
Answer: Some teachers use competitions as class activities (such as quizzes, games, debates and assignments) among the students in order to bring out the best among them by maximising and exploiting their true potentials, as no good student would like to lag behind in his or her classroom. Besides, competition as class activities may prove to be very effective as they may discourage complacency among the students by raising the level of consciousness about the value of good grades. Finally, competition improves teamwork and collaboration among the students, which ultimately enhances their social skills and mental toughness.
Q. Should we teach our children both competition and cooperation? Why?/Why not?
Answer: Yes, we should teach our children both competition and cooperation for their proper growth. Competition among children helps them realise their true potential by encouraging them to work hard as well to secure the top and respectable positions among their peers. Besides, competition prepares the children to face real-world challenges when they grow up. On the other hand, cooperation among the children helps them improve collaboration, social interaction skills, positive and beneficial peer comparisons and teamwork. Cooperation also helps the children to become responsible and productive citizens by encouraging sympathy and compassion for each other.
Is competition good in the workplace? Why/Why not?
Answer: Yes, competition in the workplace, in my opinion, is often good primarily because the idea of being regularly compared to peers is a stronger incentive to work longer and harder in order to keep the current position(s) and even improve further. In the same way, competition may also increase efficiency as the employees try to become more and more productive in their work processes by employing more innovative techniques and methods. Finally, competition in the workplace also increases a certain level of healthy collaboration among the employees.
Q. What kind of contests/competitions do people in your country like to take part in?
Answer: People in my country are usually very social and friendly, but they never shy away from any friendly competition or professional competition whenever an opportunity arises. Anyway, people in my country like to take part in different kinds of sports competitions, polling competitions in order to choose the parliament members, admission test competitions to secure a position at different schools/colleges/universities and competitions to obtain an important job position at an important office, among others.
Q. What kinds of people, in your opinion, are competitive?
Answer: I think that several kinds of people, depending on their surroundings and circumstances, in my opinion, are competitive. The first kinds, of course, are those people who are surrounded by “successful” – financially or otherwise – friends and family members. The second kind, who are competitive, are those people who are very afraid and “embarrassed” to lose. Then, of course, there are those people who have failed continuously one after another and want to succeed by defying all the odds. Finally, there are those who are “born” to be competitive and thus become a “leader” at some points of their lives, one way or another.
Q. Are there many competition programmes on TV nowadays? Why is it so?
Answer: No, I don’t really think that there are many “competition” TV programmes nowadays, apart from some “fake” reality shows and cooking shows, primarily because they are not financially profitable enough. Besides, these days, there aren’t just enough viewership for TV programmes that focus on competition except for sports. Finally, I also think that there are not many competitive TV programmes on TV nowadays because there are certainly some lacking in raw talent among the TV crews and members who aren’t just brilliant enough to make such TV programmes interesting enough for the masses.