0:00

Hello, everybody. Unfortunately,

0:03

due to some internet problems

0:05

that Shelley is having, we aren't

0:07

able to bring you a brand new episode today.

0:10

However, we are going to be playing

0:12

today an old episode from

0:14

August twenty twenty, if I remember

0:16

correctly. Which was our introduction

0:19

to speak in part three. So two

0:21

and a half year old episode, there's very good chance

0:24

that you haven't heard it yet. And

0:27

we're gonna ask you if you still can

0:29

to send in your responses to those

0:31

part three questions that we featured in

0:33

last week's episode. And

0:35

we'll go over them next week

0:38

when we bring you our next

0:41

brand new episode and go back to our regular

0:43

scheduled podcasting. So

0:45

enjoy this dip into the press

0:48

and we will see you all again next

0:50

week for a brand new episode

0:53

of My Out's classroom.

1:02

Hello, Nick. How are you? Hello.

1:05

Feeling very relaxed today. You

1:08

you look very relaxed, arrested, of

1:10

your holiday. Yeah. Did you go anywhere

1:12

or did you have one of these new stay

1:14

vacations?

1:15

Well, I did stay at home for the for the vast

1:17

majority of the time, but a couple of days I did

1:19

manage to go. So somewhere. So

1:22

on Friday, I went

1:25

to a bog.

1:27

What's that? Like a like a

1:29

march lands. Yeah. Basically, there's this new

1:31

thing in Latvia where they stick down like a

1:34

wooden road over a bog. I don't

1:36

know if you've seen any pictures on Instagram or

1:38

anything. No. Colorado Facebook. So

1:40

basically, yeah, it's just a huge bog in

1:42

the middle of nowhere and they put down like a wooden

1:44

road around

1:45

it, so you can basically just walk across

1:48

it.

1:49

And can you see because in this, like, Mars,

1:51

it's like mud and grasses. Right? There's lots

1:53

of birds and wild Yeah. There's lots of wildlife.

1:55

I mean, it was pretty the

1:58

weather was pretty bad. It was very, very cloudy.

2:00

Mhmm. But, yeah, it

2:03

was nice. It's only like, I think

2:05

it's what, two and a half kilometers. And

2:07

I did two rounds of it, so it's five. And

2:09

then they had this, like, big tower that you could climb

2:11

and see for Myles Big wooden tower.

2:13

So I climbed that as well. Absolutely destroyed

2:15

me. Fitness

2:19

mix. Fitness. So I spent about twenty minutes

2:21

trying to recover at the top of it first and

2:24

then

2:24

like, looked around and was like, well, I can't

2:26

really see much because it's too cloudy and too foggy.

2:29

Well, may maybe I'll have a quick Google

2:31

and we'll put a nice picture of what this bug

2:34

looks like to start up on the Facebook

2:36

page on the blog page for this

2:38

week so that we can get a good

2:40

idea. Sounds nice

2:42

though. Yeah. It was and it was, like, it wasn't

2:44

which was good. Mhmm. And it was just it was

2:46

nice to get in the car and drive somewhere instead

2:49

of, you know, staying in the same place.

2:52

Yes. And you definitely I do

2:54

need to get in someone new. I think

2:55

I said I wanted to walk sixty kilometers

2:57

did not last week.

2:58

Yeah. Yeah. You

2:59

did. I managed forty five in

3:01

a week. So I was walking. You've

3:03

said you've said that with positive intonation. But

3:06

that was fifteen kilometers less than your

3:08

target. But it was still it

3:11

was still 67A day. I was

3:13

still walking an hour every day. Okay.

3:15

That's good. So, yes, my target was very

3:17

very high, but it's I'd put

3:20

my average walking a

3:22

day much higher than it has been for the last few

3:24

weeks. Sound pleased with that.

3:25

Well, you should be pleased with that. And actually,

3:27

that's what, you know, we get a lot students who say, I

3:29

want to aim for an eight so that I'll definitely

3:32

get a seven.

3:32

Mhmm.

3:33

That's a bit what you did, I think -- Yep. -- with your sixty

3:35

kilometers. Right? You set a very high target.

3:37

Mhmm. And I am sure, okay,

3:40

I'm just gonna have a look because Last

3:42

week, when Nick was on holiday, I

3:44

had to work extra hard to cover

3:45

him. I will tell you Nick that last week,

3:48

my average steps. Was

3:50

two thousand one hundred and forty five

3:52

for each

3:53

day. Yeah. For each day. That was

3:55

about eight eight to nine thousand. That's

3:57

terrible. So this week, I need to pick it up. I

3:59

need to get up to six or seven thousand

4:01

a day. Mhmm. I did go for a walk

4:03

last

4:04

night. Pete was cold. Yeah.

4:06

Getting cold, isn't it? Forgot to wear my

4:08

hat and my little ears got cold. It was one

4:10

degree. One. Yeah.

4:12

I didn't really realize I'd been in my flat and apartment

4:15

the whole

4:15

time. It was warm, and then I went outside. And after

4:17

ten minutes, I was like, oh, this was a mistake.

4:21

Right. So welcome back. You've

4:24

got your new intensive speaking

4:26

course that starts today.

4:27

Yep.

4:28

Completely full. We've got eight students. I'm very

4:30

happy. So welcome to

4:33

the three who joined using our

4:35

discount code podcast ten.

4:38

Next week, I will be starting the

4:40

intensive course on Monday, which will be for

4:42

academic reading. So if you are an

4:44

academic student who struggles with headings,

4:46

truthfully is not given information match

4:49

or just time management, Our

4:52

intensive course will cover everything.

4:54

It's running from Monday to Friday at

4:57

four PM GMT. It's

5:01

one and a quarter hours each day, and

5:03

it costs thirty nine ninety nine, but

5:05

not if you use the code podcast ten

5:07

and you get a ten percent discount.

5:11

So that's our news for

5:13

this week. What are we talking about today,

5:15

Nick?

5:15

We're talking about speaking part three.

5:18

We are. And I guess, I don't know about

5:20

you, but for me, as

5:22

a former examiner,

5:24

part three of the test was always my favorite.

5:26

Yeah. Definitely. I agree. Yeah.

5:28

Mhmm. Why is that? Because you get to have

5:30

a chat with the student and find out some

5:32

interesting things and thoughts that

5:35

they have.

5:36

Exactly. It's the only part of the test where

5:38

the examiner is released from their

5:40

cage, their eye ox cage -- Right. --

5:43

in parts one and two, all you can

5:45

do is read the questions on the script,

5:47

which can which is sometimes

5:49

fine, but sometimes can be a little bit frustrating

5:51

when you want the student to speak a bit more.

5:54

Mhmm. But in part three, we are

5:56

released and able to ask follow-up

5:58

questions, which really allows us, I

6:00

think, to test the student. Mhmm.

6:03

So we're gonna go through every

6:05

aspect of part three today. Most

6:07

importantly, we're gonna invite

6:10

you to record your own

6:12

answers to some part three questions. Send

6:15

those to us. And then next week,

6:18

we're gonna go through those on the podcast

6:20

to give feedback. So if

6:22

you want feedback, free feedback from

6:25

two former examiners, just go

6:27

to the blog post for this

6:29

episode. So that's at podcast

6:32

dot my ielts classroom dot com. And

6:34

there will be ten part three questions

6:37

there. And all you have to do is just

6:39

record yourself answering them. And

6:41

Nick and I will choose some interesting ones

6:43

to give feedback on next week. Yeah. But

6:46

don't do that now. That would be crazy.

6:48

Why do it before we've explained to you,

6:50

what we're looking for, and how you can do a

6:52

good job in part 3.

6:54

So, Nick, why don't we start, like

6:57

always, by just giving the

6:59

important facts about the third

7:01

part of the speaking test?

7:03

So speaking part three eight lasts

7:05

for four to five minutes and

7:07

it is the final part of the

7:09

speaking exam. In part three,

7:11

you'll have a discussion of

7:13

a more abstract nature with

7:15

the examiner. The questions are it

7:18

to the topic of your cue card in part

7:20

two. So if your cue card, for

7:22

example, asked you to describe

7:24

a time when you were angry, Then

7:27

in part three, you may

7:29

be asked questions about expressing feelings

7:32

or positive and negative emotions

7:34

in general. The examiner has

7:37

three sets of possible questions,

7:40

but we'll only ask you two of

7:42

those three sets. And

7:44

finally, the examiner can also

7:47

ask follow-up questions in part

7:49

3, so you need to be prepared

7:51

to justify or explain your

7:53

responses further.

7:55

Thank you, Nick. I see that the holiday has just

7:58

made your reading voice even more clear.

8:02

Right. So they're the basic facts

8:04

about speaking part three. Let's

8:07

just go through a couple of those in a little bit

8:09

more detail. Because I think some listeners

8:11

may have a couple of questions. So let's

8:14

talk about these sets of possible questions.

8:17

As you said, the examiner, they're sitting

8:19

there. They've got like three sets of

8:21

three questions. So that's nine

8:23

questions in total. Can

8:26

you just explain like how the

8:28

examiner decides which set of

8:30

questions to give which student?

8:33

Well, it's generally based

8:35

on your performance in part one and part

8:37

two. And -- Mhmm. -- if the examiner is

8:40

pretty certain that you're not gonna get more

8:42

than a six point five, then

8:44

you're gonna be asked questions from set one

8:46

and set two, which are the easier questions.

8:49

Mhmm. And if you're level

8:52

is sort of a seven, possibly

8:54

a six point five seven. The examiner

8:56

needs to find out more information, basically

8:58

needs to hear more of your

8:59

speech. Then it's very likely

9:01

you'll get asked this question is from set

9:03

one and set three. Let's

9:07

take a quick break.

9:11

Hello. I'm doctor Lisa Hasler,

9:13

hosting creator of the brighter side of Education

9:16

Podcast. Are you a teacher or parent

9:18

concerned about education? Then join

9:20

me every two weeks as I bring you research

9:23

based solutions to address the challenges

9:25

facing our students today. As a

9:27

parent of seven, and teacher for

9:29

twenty years, I understand the struggles

9:32

you're facing. And I'm searching to find those

9:34

answers. In each episode, you'll hear

9:36

from guests like theorists and experts sharing

9:38

their stories of success. Subscribe

9:41

to the brighter side of education wherever

9:43

you get your podcast. And let's start building

9:45

a brighter future for our children together.

9:53

Right. So I guess the the key difference is

9:55

set one. I mean, the examiner doesn't always

9:57

have to use set

9:58

one. I

9:59

use them more or less. Usually, always use

10:01

it. But usually, set one would be for everybody.

10:04

Mhmm. And then, like, as you just said, to

10:06

set two would be if we think

10:08

you're going to be less than seven. Because

10:10

the questions are going to help us maybe understand

10:12

a bit better if you're a six or six point

10:14

five or a five point five or

10:16

but it's that final superset of

10:19

three questions which are there for

10:21

the really high level students. Mhmm.

10:23

So if you're kind of sort of thinking, well, what's

10:25

the difference between these questions. Like,

10:28

how can they be much more difficult or much

10:30

easier? Mhmm. I guess

10:32

if you had a topic about I guess

10:34

if your cue card was

10:35

about, I don't know, describe an app that you think

10:38

is useful. Mhmm.

10:39

Right? The set one questions, would

10:41

probably be questions which just talk

10:43

about computer apps and

10:45

programs

10:46

in general. Mhmm.

10:48

So they would be questions which ask

10:50

you usually questions that

10:52

you can find the answers to

10:54

in the real

10:55

world.

10:55

Yeah.

10:56

So it might be questions like, you know, what

10:58

apps are popular in your country?

11:00

Mhmm. Something like that. Yeah. So

11:02

all you have to do is then think, well, I don't know what

11:04

do people use in my country? Instagram,

11:07

the BBC Weather app Mhmm. --

11:09

is not asking you to a usual imagination

11:12

very much. That's true. Mhmm. You

11:14

know, do why

11:18

do some people not use apps?

11:20

Right. So, again, that's slightly more difficult

11:22

because you have to sort of like

11:23

think of New issue. Mhmm.

11:25

Logic and reasoning, there's some relatively

11:27

easy answers to that question.

11:29

Mhmm. Right? You know, older people generally

11:31

don't use apps as much as younger

11:33

people because they don't understand technology

11:35

very well. Yeah. The

11:37

second set is more or less the same,

11:40

I think. So it might be something

11:42

like, I don't know, they might start

11:44

talking about apps, but not in general now,

11:46

maybe about parenting in apps

11:48

or children in apps. Like, should young

11:51

children use apps or should

11:53

parents control their

11:55

child's use of apps these

11:57

are slightly more difficult, but again, I

12:00

think most people would be able to

12:02

have an opinion or have an idea about those

12:04

questions. Do you think?

12:05

Yeah. For sure. Definitely.

12:06

Yeah. Because you can sort of like everybody knows

12:09

what a parent is.

12:09

Everybody knows what a child is. Everyone knows what

12:11

an app is. So they

12:13

are easy ingredients. The

12:16

part three questions though, they kind of

12:18

leave the sort of obvious

12:21

real world. Mhmm. And then they ask

12:23

you to sort of use your imagination or

12:25

your logic or your critical reasoning.

12:28

So for the topic of apps, maybe

12:30

they would go wider or

12:32

broader and talk about information

12:35

technology in general. Mhmm. And

12:37

they might ask you much more abstract questions

12:39

like, what's the impact of IT on

12:42

people's daily lives? Or

12:45

how does new technology change

12:48

the way that people interact with each

12:49

other? Mhmm. So these types

12:51

of question require a much higher level

12:54

processing --

12:55

Mhmm. -- of your sort like,

12:57

your logical brain. Yep. And

12:59

also a much higher level of language.

13:02

Because now you can't just say, old

13:04

people don't use apps right now.

13:07

You've got to you've got to be using much

13:09

more abstract nouns, much more difficult

13:11

verbs. It just overall --

13:13

Yes. -- if we ask those questions to

13:16

student or band five point five students.

13:18

They wouldn't

13:18

have very much help of -- Yeah. --

13:20

they wouldn't be able to produce any language,

13:22

I don't.

13:23

Thing -- Mhmm. -- which is why we only use

13:25

them for the highest level students -- Yeah.

13:27

-- because if we use those with lower level

13:29

students, it would be damaging for them.

13:31

Yeah. Probably. You know, if you asked

13:34

me the first questions in Russian -- Mhmm.

13:36

-- which apps a popular Russian, I could probably

13:38

give you some answer in my terrible

13:41

a two level

13:42

Russians. Yeah. But if you ask me, what's

13:44

the impact of IT or people's daily lives?

13:46

I would have nothing. Yeah.

13:48

Right? So that's the same for our students. So

13:51

they're the three groups and why

13:53

you may get asked different questions. So, you

13:55

know, if you come out of the exam and you

13:57

think cry That was

13:59

difficult. I had no idea for the final

14:02

questions. Mhmm. That's

14:04

good. Yep. That

14:06

means you've been that means you've been asked the more difficult

14:08

questions. As an examiner thinks you're seven

14:11

or higher --

14:11

Yeah. -- potential is.

14:13

Yeah. So I would say that, you know, until the

14:15

final three questions, you should be able

14:17

to cope with them relatively easily -- Mhmm. --

14:19

extend your answers. If you find

14:21

the final three questions challenging Don't

14:23

worry, even I do --

14:25

Mhmm. -- as an

14:25

examiner and native speaker, which

14:28

we'll talk about later. Okay. The other

14:31

thing I think is really important there is about

14:34

is students being interrupted. Mhmm.

14:36

Now we spoke about this in our speaking 101.

14:40

Episode six months ago.

14:42

But is it a bad thing if

14:44

the examiner interrupts you in speaking

14:46

part three? It is not

14:49

a bad thing.

14:50

Right. Why

14:51

not? Because the examiner is trying to

14:53

steer you very gently back on topic

14:55

usually

14:56

-- Yeah.

14:56

-- usually. Yeah. Mhmm. I think

14:58

I think it's one of two things. If if you

15:01

the examiner asks you a question and you

15:03

maybe don't understand it fully and you start

15:05

giving an that's not really targeting

15:07

the

15:07

question. Mhmm. They're gonna interrupt

15:09

you just to help guide you

15:11

back.

15:12

To the question To what's been asked. That's

15:14

because the questions have been carefully

15:16

written to see if you

15:18

can produce certain

15:19

language.

15:19

Mhmm. So we need you to be on topic to

15:21

show us if you can or you can. Mhmm.

15:24

I also think that for the very, very high

15:26

level students, it's

15:29

natural when you're answering some of these questions

15:31

to be maybe to give an answer that's

15:33

very, very general. Mhmm. And so the examiner

15:36

may interrupt you to see if you're able to justify

15:38

that point. Or give some supporting

15:41

evidence. It's

15:43

important to know that when the examiner does this,

15:46

it should they should never be quest

15:48

it should never feel like they're interrogating

15:51

you like a police person. Right. So

15:53

you should never be like, why do you think that? Off.

15:56

Well, that's not correct. Like, they can't challenge

15:58

you or or show that they

16:00

disagree --

16:01

Mhmm. --

16:02

with

16:02

your opinion. And if they do that, you should

16:04

complain. That's not what the

16:06

examiner is there for. Mhmm. But what

16:08

we are encouraged to do and actually

16:10

for very high levels is to kind of test

16:13

students. Okay. So you you've

16:15

just told me that people depend

16:18

too much on technology. Can you tell me a little bit

16:20

more about that? Mhmm. So they're

16:22

just checking that you're able to

16:24

extend and develop

16:25

and, importantly, sometimes change

16:28

direction in the middle --

16:29

Mhmm. -- of a conversation. So they're just checking

16:32

that you haven't memorized anything and you're sort of

16:34

able to adapt -- Mhmm. --

16:36

and respond. Of course. Two questions.

16:39

Yeah, which is part of speaking. That's what

16:41

makes a speaker a good speaker. So

16:43

if you're interrupted so if you're basically,

16:46

if you leave the exam room, and you're sweating

16:48

because part three was difficult and the examiner

16:50

interrupted

16:51

you. You probably did a good job.

16:53

Mhmm.

16:54

I guess. Alright.

16:57

So they're the main parts about

16:59

part three. Is there anything you'd add

17:00

there, Nick, about what it feels

17:02

like to be a student in part three?

17:05

I think it can definitely be

17:07

a little bit nerve

17:09

wracking for a lot of students. And

17:11

I think Part three sort of

17:13

the culmination, isn't it? And I think

17:15

how I think your level of

17:17

nervousness in part one and part two can

17:20

have a really big impact on part

17:22

three because part three is so difficult.

17:24

If you've been really nervous in part one and

17:26

part two -- Yeah. -- it can make

17:28

part three even worse because you

17:31

instead of just answering fairly simple questions

17:33

--

17:34

Mhmm. -- Europe being really challenged now.

17:36

So I think it's really important in preparation

17:38

for part three that students just relax

17:41

in part one and part two. You

17:43

know, it's okay to make jokes with the examiners

17:46

to say something funny. Yeah. Or something

17:48

like that just to sort of relax the mood. And then

17:50

when part three comes around, everything's

17:53

a lot calmer and the questions are, are they difficult?

17:56

There's there's not as much stress. I

17:59

always used to try and make students

18:02

feel as comfortable as possible and make,

18:04

like, little jokes, silly jokes Mhmm.

18:08

I mean, I think definitely if students

18:10

struggle in part two, if they don't speak for

18:12

the full two minutes,

18:14

then I think That's

18:16

I think for a lot of students, it's hard for them to know

18:18

if they're doing a good job or

18:19

not a great job. But if they stop speaking

18:21

after a minute in the cue card, they

18:23

know that they probably haven't performed as well

18:25

as they

18:26

can. And I think that then would then carry

18:28

over --

18:28

Yeah. It would. --

18:29

into part 3. Definitely. Although

18:32

I'd say most students, they,

18:34

you know, you see a lot of shaking hands at the

18:36

beginning

18:36

-- Mhmm. -- of the test. You know, when you're reading

18:38

that this is the this is the speaking test for

18:40

the international. Like, when you're recording the official

18:43

information -- Mhmm. -- I watch people and they often,

18:45

like, they're playing with their passport and

18:47

their hands and feet are tapping

18:49

because they're so nervous. Mhmm. Most

18:51

people, I would say though, by part three,

18:54

have kind of

18:56

breathed into the test, would you

18:58

say?

18:58

Yeah. That was more in a lot of cases.

19:00

Yeah. I remember that's how it used to be. Yeah. Mhmm.

19:03

I I think but yeah, I agree. I think

19:05

if you are still suffering from nerves when

19:07

you reach part three, it's gonna it's not gonna be

19:09

easy. It's not because your

19:12

brain, you know, these are high level,

19:14

high reasoning questions and you need

19:16

all of your brain to be focused on them.

19:18

Mhmm. If it's blocked with all

19:20

of the I don't know. What is the chemical that happens

19:22

when your brain gets stressed? I

19:25

can't recall. Cornick. Cortisol. You've

19:27

got flooding around your brain. It's

19:29

not gonna be easy. No. Definitely not gonna

19:31

be easy. So if we know that

19:33

in this part three, the questions are going to be

19:35

more abstracts. They're going to be more difficult. How

19:38

can you prepare for them? Right?

19:40

I guess, part one is relatively simple because

19:42

it's always just topics about yourself.

19:44

Mhmm. Habits, clothes,

19:47

food. The thing about part

19:49

three is that although the topics vary

19:52

-- Mhmm. There is a certain

19:54

amount of limitation on the types of topics

19:56

that are covered. Because remember,

19:58

IELTS can only ask you topics which are

20:01

non emotional -- Mhmm. --

20:04

and can be discussed by a student

20:06

in any country in the world. Mhmm.

20:08

I saw a blog post this week where

20:10

some not blog post,

20:12

a Facebook post, where somebody was saying,

20:14

you know, the questions in America are much more difficult

20:17

than in the other trees. Robin,

20:19

that's just not true. Yeah. They're the same in

20:21

every country, and that's what makes

20:23

the same topics appear again and again because

20:25

we need somebody in I don't

20:27

know, Croatia to be able to answer

20:30

the same questions as somebody in Pakistan.

20:32

Mhmm.

20:33

So I think we've got limited number

20:35

of topics You said a lot, but

20:38

they can be fairly predictable

20:40

and we'll talk about those later. But more

20:42

importantly, the type of language that

20:44

you're going to need to use So the type

20:46

of questions that you're asked is

20:49

more or less the same in any part three

20:51

no matter what the topic. So

20:54

what I've done is I've put together, we'll stay

20:56

on the topic of apps or computer apps.

20:58

Right? Mhmm. And because next got a nicer

21:01

voice than me. Right. You can you should shut your eyes

21:03

and pretend that Nick is the examiner. Mhmm. If

21:05

you want to, you could pause after you ask

21:07

each question and you could practice responding to

21:09

them. What I want you to do

21:11

is, as Nick asked each question, I want

21:13

you to think, what are you actually being

21:15

asked to do here? So,

21:17

you know, if the question now, in IELTS,

21:20

they don't ever use this word in part

21:22

three. But if the examiner asked you,

21:24

can you compare the food that people in your

21:26

country eat today to food

21:28

they ate in the

21:29

past. That sentence

21:31

starts with the word. Compare.

21:33

Compare. So obviously, in your

21:35

answer, you are going to need to. Compare.

21:38

Yes. So that's what I want you to

21:40

listen for. What are you being asked to

21:42

do here? You can actually answer the question,

21:44

but what is the function of

21:46

this question, I guess, is what we're looking

21:49

for. Mhmm. So, Nick, I think we've got seven

21:51

questions. So why don't you read we'll give a little

21:53

pause between each one if you do wanna pause

21:55

and answer them so you get some speaking

21:56

practice. Mhmm. But, yeah, what is

21:58

the examiner asking you to do? First

22:02

question, which programs

22:04

or apps are most popular in

22:07

your country? The

22:11

second question, are the types of

22:13

computer programs and apps that young

22:15

people and old people use the

22:17

same or different? Third

22:21

question, what qualities does

22:24

a successful app usually have?

22:28

Question number four. Why

22:30

do you think some people don't use

22:33

apps? Question number

22:35

five. How useful our

22:38

apps for educational purposes.

22:42

Question number six, Do you think

22:44

people will use apps more in

22:46

the future? And the final

22:49

question, do you think IT

22:51

gives people more information

22:53

but not greater wisdom. Guess

22:56

which of the three groups questions that last

22:58

question came from me? Of course, part

23:00

three.

23:01

Greater wisdom. Mhmm. Definitely the

23:03

most difficult set of questions. Alright.

23:05

So let's go through each of those then

23:08

just to look at

23:08

broadly,

23:09

you know, what you're being asked to do. So this

23:11

first question, which programs or apps

23:13

are most popular in your

23:15

country? Mhmm. What is what's the student

23:17

being asked to do there? Basically,

23:20

to identify the

23:22

three most well, I would say three is usually

23:24

a good number. Three most popular app. And give

23:26

a list basically. Right. Maybe

23:29

a little bit of reasoning, like, WhatsApp

23:31

is the most popular app in my country because

23:33

it's used by most people to communicate or

23:35

something like

23:36

that. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. So

23:38

I've noticed that the first question in part

23:41

three of those first three questions

23:43

is usually always an identified question.

23:45

Mhmm.

23:45

So, you know, if it's about food. Now, what types

23:48

of food are popular in your country? Or

23:50

if it's about jobs, what jobs do young

23:52

people like in your country? Mhmm. It's

23:54

usually the easiest question. I

23:56

think it's mostly there for the really lower level

24:00

So if you're a high level student, you know,

24:02

it it says specifically which programs

24:05

--

24:05

Plural.

24:06

Mhmm. --

24:06

so as Nick said, I do think you want a list

24:09

I think three ideas in that list is good

24:11

idea.

24:12

Mhmm. Right? And I would say if you're really

24:14

good student, you're probably not gonna spend

24:16

that much time on this question really.

24:18

Yeah. And also, I think comparing,

24:21

you know, it says most popular, so you

24:23

might need to use some super superlatives,

24:26

you know. I think the most popular is Instagram.

24:28

Another popular app is, but it's

24:30

not as popular. All

24:33

of that type of language is really used But

24:35

definitely, if it says what programs

24:37

or

24:38

apps, try to give more than one. Mhmm.

24:41

Usually, these are just for me,

24:43

they're vocabulary questions really. Yeah.

24:47

Alright. Good. So first question is I didn't

24:49

fight. What about this next one? Are the types of computer

24:51

programs in apps that young people and old

24:53

people use the same or

24:55

different? What are we asking then? The

24:57

key thing here is that the same are different. Right.

25:00

So it's a comparison, basically.

25:02

Exactly. As I said,

25:04

it's a bit strange, but in IELTS, the examiner

25:07

won't ever use the word compare

25:08

Mhmm.

25:09

-- when they ask you to

25:10

comment on some question. Mhmm. So you

25:12

need to be able to reckon nice. But I think most students

25:14

will be able you know, when they hear young people, old

25:17

people,

25:18

there's a contrast there, isn't there? So

25:22

I would say,

25:24

well, I don't know. I mean, I think compared questions

25:26

are relatively easy. I mean, I guess maybe where

25:28

some people can go wrong is that they forget

25:31

to compare. Mhmm. So they could

25:33

start just talking about what young people

25:35

like but then get so

25:37

lost in their hearts and that they never tell us

25:39

what old people

25:40

like. But if that happen,

25:42

I think the examiner would probably prompt you or

25:44

interrupt you.

25:45

Right. What about old people? Yeah. And

25:47

is that the same for old people? Mhmm.

25:50

So remember, the examiner, if if if

25:52

you if you lose a question in the middle

25:54

and this happens quite

25:56

often. It's better to stop and

25:58

say, sorry, what was the question

25:59

again? Mhmm. Or

26:01

pause and let the examiner help you

26:03

then keep on answering

26:05

if you don't know what you're talking

26:07

about. Yes. I definitely.

26:10

I mean, I think it's natural. We all lose the

26:12

thread of the conversation at times. Yeah. So

26:14

don't be afraid. But definitely for that question,

26:16

you're gonna need some language to

26:19

compare things. So lots of or more

26:21

all of the basic stuff we learn at, you know,

26:23

preintermediate. Okay. What about number

26:26

three? What qualities does a

26:28

successful app usually have.

26:31

This one, I think, sounds like a described

26:33

question. Mhmm.

26:34

No. I think it's very similar. It's almost

26:36

like the identified question at the beginning,

26:39

isn't it, like, identify or describe --

26:41

Mhmm. -- for me, sometimes they use different

26:43

words in the book, and I don't really understand what

26:45

the difference teams.

26:47

But but what would a good answer for this?

26:49

Look like. I

26:51

think maybe you would give

26:54

a few examples

26:57

of what a successful app is. So maybe I don't

26:59

know think of a couple of apps and things.

27:01

I think successful app is maybe one that's

27:03

easy to use. That runs quickly

27:06

or something, for example, and then give a

27:08

couple of examples

27:09

maybe. Yeah. And I think what you've just

27:11

done there is really important. Because what you don't

27:14

really want to do is you don't just wanna

27:16

give a list of examples. Mhmm.

27:18

So, you know, you don't wanna say, well, Instagram's

27:20

a successful app

27:22

and I can't think of others as well. Facebook.

27:25

Facebook is a successful app and

27:27

the Guardian

27:28

newspaper, right, they are successful

27:30

apps But what you've gotta do

27:31

is Describe why

27:32

there.

27:33

Describe why. You've gotta go a step. You gotta

27:35

think, okay. Well, why is Instagram successful

27:37

app? I think, as you said, it's easy to use.

27:39

Mhmm. Right? It's probably cheap.

27:43

Free? Free or

27:45

free. It fulfills its purpose. Mhmm.

27:48

You gotta be thinking that step

27:49

above. Just given examples, is not gonna

27:52

be enough to impress the examining part.

27:54

Yeah.

27:56

3. Giving an example to justify

27:58

or support what you're saying -- Mhmm. -- is

28:00

good. But I wouldn't lead with the example.

28:02

I would use I would give,

28:05

like, a description and then use an example

28:07

later. Alright. What about number

28:09

four? Why do you think some people don't use

28:11

apps?

28:13

So here we're gonna be giving reasons,

28:15

suggesting ideas maybe.

28:17

Yeah. Suggestions. I guess when it says,

28:19

why do you think? Mhmm.

28:21

Is basically saying, look. There's no

28:23

real Mhmm. Yeah. There's no real answer

28:25

to this, but I just want you

28:27

to make some

28:28

suggestions. So I think for

28:30

this type of answer, you know, why do you think some people

28:33

don't use apps?

28:33

Mhmm. We

28:34

don't really know. Mhmm. So,

28:36

I guess, in our answer, we're gonna use

28:40

So so it's gonna be things like, well, some

28:43

people might not Mhmm. -- be

28:45

able to use the technology. Mhmm.

28:47

Some people just might not or other

28:49

people may not know how to download

28:51

them. Lots of suggestion language.

28:54

I think it could be because Yeah.

28:57

It may be because it could be because it

28:59

might be because well, there are

29:01

some people who may

29:02

not, you know, It's just all of that language

29:04

to show.

29:05

We don't really know, but we're able

29:07

to suggest. Yeah. Mhmm. Alright.

29:09

Number five, how useful are apps for educational

29:12

purposes?

29:13

This is designed to get a little bit trickier now, aren't

29:16

we? A little bit more abstract. Yeah.

29:18

I think this one, you'd be you'd

29:20

be looking to give an assessment of a

29:22

situation. Maybe think about some real

29:24

world examples.

29:26

Yeah. I mean, it says it doesn't

29:28

it doesn't say r. Apps

29:30

useful. It

29:30

says how useful. It says how

29:32

useful. So that's probably on a scale,

29:35

right, from not very useful at all

29:37

to extremely useful. So

29:39

we're gonna need to see, I think, for a

29:41

really good answer here. Some nuance,

29:44

that's a difficult word. But something that's

29:46

not just black or white maybe.

29:49

You know, I guess that they can be

29:51

useful if they are monitored by

29:53

teacher and if we can be sure that the content

29:55

is good --

29:56

Mhmm. -- but the other hand, I

29:58

think some apps is they're

30:00

not regulated.

30:02

The information inside them is not very good, and they

30:04

can actually be damaging. Mhmm. Right?

30:06

So I think, yeah, how useful is is a

30:08

a more difficult answer? Yeah. Definitely. Question

30:11

number six, do you think people will use apps more

30:13

in the future?

30:14

Good old fashioned prediction question.

30:17

Yes. My favorite lesson, if

30:19

when I was a teacher still in a classroom,

30:22

Future predictions was always my favorite lesson

30:24

for speaking part three.

30:25

Mhmm. Because I just think you can teach

30:28

loads of great language

30:30

like verbs -- Yeah. -- I agree -- Mhmm. --

30:32

to give high level predictions and it's just

30:34

fun to predict the future. It is.

30:36

I agree. I like this lesson as well. Yeah.

30:38

So, you know, language like, you know, I

30:40

think there's if it's possible or

30:42

there's every probability or there's a high

30:45

chance -- Mhmm. -- that we will use more

30:47

apps. Anything you can do

30:49

that can show the examiner, you've got some

30:51

specific language for predictions. Mhmm.

30:53

Thinking, ding, your scores going up. Yep.

30:56

By the way, thinking, ding is the opposite of.

31:01

Alright. And then this final question,

31:04

Oh. This is a yoga question. I mean,

31:06

this is like a yoga question for a star.

31:10

I am the philosopher. Do you think

31:12

IT gives people more information but

31:14

not greater

31:15

wisdom?

31:15

Well, this is a degree, our disagree question, isn't

31:18

it? Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. And

31:20

I guess that one of the

31:22

key most basic things that you should have

31:24

in your tool belt for speaking

31:26

is just some

31:28

some stems or language that

31:30

help you say whether or not you

31:32

agree. You

31:33

know, I totally agree or I Partially

31:35

agree.

31:36

Partially agree or well, to some extent.

31:39

Mhmm. But yeah,

31:41

that is

31:42

I mean,

31:42

I don't know. Do you have an answers to that question? I'm

31:44

not sure that even I do.

31:48

It's a hard one, isn't it? I would probably agree.

31:51

Yeah. I would as well. To be honest, as well.

31:53

Because I

31:53

think the the problem we've got at the minute with

31:55

the internet is that there's so much information

31:57

that goes around, but there's almost no way of people

32:00

knowing what's true and what's not true. Yeah.

32:02

Watch this really interesting I think

32:04

it was a YouTube documentary where I was on holiday

32:06

--

32:07

Yeah. -- about, like, the quality

32:09

of the information on the Internet. Is

32:12

just completely

32:13

useless. Like, ninety nine percent of it is completely

32:15

useless.

32:16

Really? And

32:16

we just feel our heads with this sort of nonsense

32:19

information that's not important. Wow.

32:22

I hope we're not in the ninety nine percent.

32:25

Myles darsen dot com, filling people

32:28

with uses in the making. I

32:31

think that's totally right. I mean, I think, actually,

32:33

compared to some of the part three

32:34

questions, that is

32:36

That's a particularly difficult question,

32:38

isn't it? What

32:38

is is particularly difficult, but at least

32:41

is interesting.

32:42

Mhmm. True. And at least we all have

32:44

some connection with IT -- Right.

32:46

-- rather than I still think the worst

32:48

or most difficult question I ever saw was

32:50

will we use the world's oceans differently

32:52

in the

32:53

future?

32:53

Yep. That's that's an awful question. I agree.

32:56

I hate it. And

32:57

That's a difficult question because I have no idea about

32:59

the world's oceans. But at least you have some idea

33:01

about IT.

33:02

Yeah. Mhmm. Very philosophical, clearly

33:04

no correct answer, so it's just about whether

33:07

or not you're able to give some type of

33:09

opinion.

33:09

Mhmm. And we're gonna talk about that in

33:11

a in a minute. But what we should

33:13

learn from this section of the podcast is

33:16

that there are certain things you you're

33:18

probably going to be asked to do in part

33:19

three. Yeah. Right?

33:20

You're probably gonna be asked to identify or

33:22

describe or suggest or predict

33:25

or compare. Mhmm. So you need to make

33:27

sure you've got language that can

33:29

help you do those things. Doesn't matter

33:31

what the topic is, you still need the

33:33

same language to compare or to agree

33:35

or to predict.

33:37

So That's the type

33:40

of language we need. Let's move on then

33:42

to something which is maybe more difficult

33:44

for students to understand if they don't have

33:46

any guidance or any

33:48

feedback --

33:48

Mhmm. -- which is really what the

33:51

responses we are looking for in

33:54

this part of the test look like.

33:55

Mhmm.

34:02

Hello. My name is Sheedy, and my

34:04

favorite lesson, my highest class from as

34:06

introduction to complex sentences.

34:10

Hi. Hi, Subaraj. My

34:12

favorite, my IAS

34:14

classroom, BB0 eleven

34:16

is

34:16

in Russian.

34:17

Hey, this is George, and my favorite

34:20

my IELTS platform lesson is

34:22

hedging.

34:23

This is my IELTS. This is

34:25

my IELTS platform. This

34:26

is my IELTS platform. This

34:29

is my IELTS classroom.

34:32

So I'm gonna read

34:34

you, so I've invented some different students

34:37

responses. These are just based on things that students

34:39

used to say to me in the exam. Right?

34:42

And we're gonna decide if

34:44

they are good answers for

34:46

these questions or the question they

34:49

could be improved in some way.

34:51

Alright? So the first question we're gonna

34:53

look at is the question. Do you

34:55

think that people today are too

34:58

dependent on technology? Now,

35:01

just to be very clear before we start, Nick,

35:03

every time we use the word

35:04

two.

35:04

So if we say two dependent Mhmm. --

35:07

what does that word to usually signify

35:09

in English?

35:11

Like, if I said the room is too hot.

35:13

Well,

35:14

I guess, what type of question is it

35:16

like? Do you mean not?

35:17

Well, guess, in in in English, and anytime

35:19

you hear the word too. Mhmm. It

35:22

means that there's something negative

35:23

There's a yeah. There's a problem. There's something negative

35:25

about

35:26

it. There's a problem. Yeah. So if I said the room's

35:28

very hot -- Mhmm. -- that could be good or bad.

35:30

Yeah. Could.

35:31

Right. If if you're doing hot then

35:33

Yeah. Right. Or if I said, like, it's

35:35

a problem. Right? So if I say, oh, this Jumper

35:38

is

35:39

expensive. Fact is too expensive.

35:41

I'm not gonna buy it. I'm not gonna buy it.

35:43

Don't have enough money. Mhmm. So this question

35:45

that people are too dependent on technology

35:47

-- Mhmm. -- means not just that we are

35:49

very dependent that we use technology a lot.

35:52

It's saying,

35:53

no, we depend too much is

35:55

a bad thing. Mhmm. Right? So I

35:57

just wanna make that clear because I think students really

35:59

struggle with that word

36:00

too. True. Mhmm. That makes a big

36:02

difference to a question. It's not very

36:04

dependent. In fact, too dependent is

36:06

like an

36:06

opinion. Mhmm. Alright. So let me ask you

36:09

the question and you can give me good

36:11

or bad answer. Mhmm.

36:13

Do you think that people today are

36:15

too dependent on technology?

36:19

Yes. Definitely. I know that

36:21

I couldn't live without my phone. It's

36:24

the first thing that I look at when I wake

36:26

up in the morning and the last thing I look at

36:28

at night. I use it all day

36:30

for everything from reading news and

36:32

watching TV to ordering

36:34

food or booking a taxi. Okay.

36:38

That was terrible acting blah. Let's

36:41

imagine that a student that was their answer.

36:43

Mhmm. Okay. Listeners, do you think that would

36:45

be a good answer or and not

36:47

such a good answer for this question.

36:51

Drumroll. Okay, Nick, what would you say?

36:53

Was that good or not good?

36:59

Very bad. Thank you for answering that

37:01

question, people.

37:04

Yeah. Exactly. The question

37:07

said, do you think that people are too

37:09

dependent?

37:09

You are not people. You are person.

37:12

You are one person. So

37:14

this is the first, and I guess classic mistake.

37:16

Yeah. It's a very common mistake. Yeah.

37:19

Yeah. I would say usually for students

37:21

who maybe don't prepare well. Because if you do

37:23

prepare, you should know that in part

37:25

three, we do not want personal emails.

37:27

So that was actually what I was gonna say, like, as

37:29

soon as anybody used to use a personal

37:32

example in part three, I was like, you haven't

37:34

prepared for that illness test. I remember

37:36

one time I had a student who Really

37:40

nice guy. I

37:43

have really interesting stories to tell.

37:45

About his family and his grandparents and the

37:47

Holocaust and stuff.

37:50

But every single question in part three, he

37:52

used his grandparents. In the answer.

37:54

Really? Yeah. Every single one.

37:56

Yeah. I'd never forget it because I was like, your

37:58

English is really good, but you are just -- Yeah. -- destroying

38:01

your chance here.

38:01

And this is this is great example

38:03

because to be honest, I think if I was the

38:05

examiner for the student -- Mhmm. -- and they said, I

38:08

know that I couldn't live without my phone is the first

38:10

thing I look at when I wake up in the morning and the

38:12

last thing I look at at

38:13

night. I might give them that. And I would

38:15

say, okay, that's you. But now let's move on

38:17

to talk about people.

38:18

Do you think this is true for most people.

38:20

All people for all. Yeah. All most people. Mhmm.

38:22

If they didn't, I would interrupt

38:25

them with that

38:25

question. Right. I am a hundred percent not gonna

38:28

let you keep on talking about how

38:30

you use your mobile phone

38:31

Mhmm. -- in this part because we've

38:33

already had section one and section two

38:35

where you had the opportunity to talk about yourself.

38:38

Yep. I know that you can do that

38:40

obviously because I'm giving you these difficult

38:43

questions in part three. So now I

38:45

want to see if you can use a different style of English

38:47

which is talking think about trends.

38:50

Yeah. So this,

38:52

the idea is here. Well,

38:55

not not great to be honest. We'll talk

38:57

about that in a minute, but not terrible. It's

39:01

not going to affect your vocabulary score,

39:03

your pronunciation score or your grammar score. But

39:05

in terms of your fluency and coherence to be

39:07

able to go up to an eight, we need everything

39:09

to be relevant. Yeah. And if

39:11

you're talking about your personal life in part three,

39:14

that is not relevant. So what was

39:16

the easiest way that we can turn this

39:19

Oh, definitely. I know that I couldn't live without

39:21

my mobile phone from a personal to

39:23

a more general response. I

39:25

would say, I think I

39:27

know that most people probably couldn't live without

39:29

their fans. Just change

39:32

eye to to most people. Mhmm. Yeah?

39:34

Or eye to people in my country. Mhmm.

39:36

Or eye to anything that is not you.

39:39

Right. And if you do that,

39:43

then the same ideas suddenly become

39:45

a hundred percent better. Mhmm.

39:47

And you're not too personal. Yeah.

39:49

Alright, Nick. Let's see your acting is probably better

39:51

than mine. Why don't you I'll ask

39:53

so it's the same

39:54

question. Right? So I'll ask again, Nick,

39:56

you can do second student that I've invented.

39:58

Okay. Do you think that people are

40:00

too dependent on technology today?

40:04

Yes. People spend all

40:06

their time on their phone. Social

40:08

media is a real problem. People don't

40:10

talk to their friends face to face anymore.

40:13

All they do is use Facebook or Weibo

40:15

or other social media apps and don't meet

40:17

them in real life

40:18

anymore. Right. So

40:21

this student

40:22

is talking about people, so they're already

40:24

a step above the previous

40:26

student. Mhmm. Right? But

40:28

Here's the thing what that I've noticed is that

40:31

students have got some ideas

40:33

which they are just desperate

40:35

to pull out at any stage of the

40:37

writing or the speaking test.

40:39

Mhmm.

40:39

Right? And for me, this

40:41

question was about technology.

40:44

Right? Are people too dependent

40:46

on technology? Yeah. And

40:49

this student has given an

40:51

answer that is only about social

40:53

media. Social media, which is one

40:55

type of technology. Mhmm. And

40:57

also, it is true that people

40:59

spend a lot of time on social media

41:01

today. They don't speak with their friends, but does that

41:03

have anything to do with being too dependent?

41:06

Yep. Tough

41:07

topic. Tough topic. Right?

41:10

This would be another student who I would probably

41:12

interrupt. Mhmm.

41:14

And they would be really confused because they would probably

41:16

be very happy in middle of their prepared

41:19

speech about social media, they'd probably

41:21

be ready to tell me something else about how,

41:23

you know, there's more crime than

41:25

last week's episode. Right? It's more crime

41:28

because I'm on social media. And maybe, obviously,

41:30

shocked when I said, okay, that's true. But what

41:32

about technology in general? Mhmm. And

41:34

do you think we spend we're too dependent

41:36

on that technology. Yeah. Right?

41:39

Really try in part

41:41

three to engage with the questions.

41:43

Mhmm. Some questions you

41:45

may have heard before and you may actually

41:47

have ideas that you already have.

41:50

But if you just try and use

41:52

the same nine ten ideas

41:54

for every question, you're

41:56

gonna fall short and you're not gonna be able

41:59

to get anywhere near. I don't think.

42:01

We're definitely not near an eight for Thomas'

42:03

response. Yeah. So what we really

42:05

want is an answer which

42:07

really focuses on

42:10

this question.

42:10

So for something like this about, you know, too dependent

42:13

on technology, my answer would be something

42:15

like, you know, yeah, I think we really are too dependent

42:17

on technology. As we use it in

42:19

almost every aspect of our lives,

42:22

not just social

42:22

media.

42:23

Mhmm. You know, I often wonder what would happen

42:25

if there was a huge natural disaster

42:27

and a power cut. I think that almost

42:30

every part of life will come to a standstill.

42:32

We wouldn't be able to use our phones to communicate

42:36

Even simple things that I think like

42:38

using water probably relies

42:40

on a lot of technology to make sure it's delivered

42:42

to us. So although I think there's a

42:44

lot of benefits to technology, I

42:46

do think that now it's such an integrated

42:49

part of our lives that I don't think we could live

42:51

without

42:51

it. Very

42:52

good. Thanks. So

42:54

I don't expect you to have that

42:56

level of language.

42:57

Right? But if you but some of the people who

42:59

are listening to this do have that

43:01

-- Mhmm. -- level of language, And if you

43:03

do and you really want to, you know, if

43:05

you're going for CLP10 and you want a seven

43:07

point five, don't

43:10

make sure you're talking in general and don't

43:12

just recycle those same

43:15

story but boring ideas about social

43:17

media and not communicating if the question is

43:19

about technology in general?

43:20

Yeah. Alright.

43:24

Okay. We're gonna do one more example of

43:26

a not great answer sir. Mhmm. Okay? Which

43:28

is so just a slightly different question.

43:30

So Nick, you can be the actor again. So I'll be the

43:32

examiner. Mhmm. I hope everyone likes my exam the

43:34

voice. Are you

43:35

ready? So what

43:37

impact do you think technology has on

43:39

our daily lives? Yes.

43:42

People use technology a lot. I

43:44

think most people use at at least

43:47

one item of technology every

43:48

day. Right.

43:51

So That was surprising. Oh, I know. Surprised

43:53

by that. Yes. What

43:56

was the years? But it's what impact does

43:58

technology

43:59

have? And I said, yes. Yes.

44:02

Right. Exactly. So first of all, they haven't

44:05

responded --

44:05

Mhmm. -- correctly.

44:07

And I think that's because what what's happened

44:09

with this? So the question is what impact does technology

44:12

have on our daily

44:13

lives?

44:13

It's not even there. It's not a closed question. Is

44:15

it? It's not It's not a closed question. It

44:18

says what impact are you gonna have to give me an

44:20

impact? So yes, yes, it includes

44:22

the examiner. Something has gone wrong -- Mhmm.

44:24

-- when this question was asked,

44:26

this student has heard the word

44:29

daily

44:29

lives. Mhmm. So what have they answered?

44:32

What question have they answered? I I think

44:34

they probably think something like, do people use

44:36

technology? In their daily lives

44:39

or something like

44:39

that. So that's I think that's what's happened.

44:41

I think, you know, the students heard daily lives

44:43

and they've said, yes. We used you

44:45

know, all the time in our daily lives every

44:48

day. Mhmm. But that's not the question. This is

44:50

question about the

44:51

impact. Mhmm. That technology has?

44:53

That's a much more difficult question because

44:55

it's not asking for a

44:56

fact. It is.

44:57

Yeah. Do we use, but it's asking you to think,

45:00

okay, well, what effect is this technology having.

45:02

Mhmm. I

45:02

mean, I guess the easy answer is it's making our daily

45:05

lives a lot easier. Yeah. So you've

45:09

gotta make sure that you listen to the question

45:11

carefully. Mhmm. And you gotta make sure that

45:14

when you answer it, you're really targeting

45:16

that question. Mhmm. Not

45:19

with personal example, not with some

45:21

old idea that you're trying to recycle and

45:23

definitely you need to be on top of it. Mhmm.

45:27

But we're not saying

45:29

that these questions are easy.

45:30

Yeah.

45:31

Right? Even if you know that's what you need to do,

45:33

sometimes questions can be difficult. Sometimes

45:36

students say to me, you know, Shelley, I know what

45:38

I should do, but

45:40

I just don't have any ideas. So

45:45

Well, what would you say, Nick? If the student came to and said,

45:47

you

45:47

know, I can speak, but I don't have any ideas

45:49

for part three. I think

45:51

one thing that they could do definitely is

45:53

just to

45:56

try to answer

45:58

the question without really answering the question.

46:01

And by that, I mean, giving some

46:03

answer, giving suggestions, it's

46:07

a good way to do

46:07

it. So if

46:08

you don't you can even you can even say to

46:10

examiner don't know the answer to this question.

46:13

I've never thought about it before.

46:14

Definitely. That's But then Mhmm. That's

46:16

a good thing to do. Yeah. It's a really A hundred percent.

46:19

But then I do think you probably need to

46:21

at least try and explore the

46:23

question.

46:23

Yeah. Of course. You you still need to use some

46:25

vocabulary connected to that topic.

46:28

Yeah. And you still need to give a suggest and

46:30

of an answer, you know, when we're gonna

46:32

use modal verbs and stuff like

46:33

that. I think maybe it could be

46:35

because Right. Yeah.

46:38

Yeah. Exactly. So, I mean, at the end of the day,

46:40

like, you can definitely if you've got nothing,

46:42

if you've got no ideas, do not

46:44

ever sit in silence. Mhmm. This is the

46:46

worst thing that you can do. You

46:48

need to say, oh, wow. Okay. I don't

46:50

actually I mean, all of these questions I think I

46:53

mean, let's take the last one. Do

46:55

you think IT gives people more information

46:57

but not greater wisdom?

46:58

Mhmm. Well, there's two parts

47:00

of that question. One is relatively easy.

47:02

Mhmm.

47:03

You know, does IT give people

47:05

more information? That's clearly true.

47:07

Yeah. So you could start by saying, okay,

47:09

wow. Okay. That's a really difficult question. I'm

47:11

not sure where to begin. But what I can

47:14

say is that I do know that IT gives people more

47:16

information. Whether or

47:18

not it gives them more wisdom I don't

47:20

really know. And then you can at least

47:23

try and give some ideas

47:25

about explanation

47:25

why you think

47:27

Why may maybe it does give us more wisdom

47:29

because we've got more information to choose from.

47:31

But on the other

47:32

hand, we can't remember things. Sometimes

47:34

talking through your brain process.

47:37

It's

47:37

actually a good way of answering the question. It's a

47:39

great way of answering the question. But I'm

47:41

gonna be honest with you. The

47:44

truth is is that if you're looking for a seven

47:46

or higher -- Mhmm. -- you should have

47:48

some ideas about these topics.

47:50

Mhmm.

47:51

It shouldn't be a surprise to you that the

47:53

examiner is asking you about technology

47:55

-- Mhmm. -- or about culture because these

47:57

are the types of topics that repeat again and

47:59

again and again. And if those are things

48:02

that you don't have any idea about, at

48:05

the weekends, during the week, you

48:07

should be listening to podcasts, reading

48:10

articles, looking

48:12

at writing part two questions because

48:14

they're often very very similar topics,

48:17

I think, to speaking part 3. Yeah.

48:20

And just brainstorming ideas yourself

48:23

or, like, to asking your friend, what

48:25

impact do you think technology is happening on

48:27

the world today? Even if they aren't to you

48:29

in your native

48:30

language. It

48:31

still gives you ideas, doesn't it? It's all

48:33

about ideas and you've got to start understanding

48:36

that part of your IELTS result

48:38

is not about your language it's about your

48:40

general knowledge of the world, particularly

48:42

the English speaking world, which can be very

48:44

different to other to other cultures.

48:47

And the types of trends and

48:49

problems and things which are happening there.

48:51

Mhmm. So because

48:54

I am a nice person. Mhmm. Well, not

48:56

just because of that, because I wanna help,

48:58

basically. I've gone through

49:00

well, I've thought about all of the really difficult

49:03

part three questions. Although

49:05

they are always different, I think

49:07

they kind of come back to the same topics

49:09

again and again and again. Right? So I'm

49:11

gonna give you a list. Maybe you wanna make a note

49:13

of these. And if or maybe

49:15

just wanna make a note of some of the topics

49:17

that you just don't actually have much knowledge

49:20

about. Yeah. And then you could go away

49:22

this week and try and find

49:24

out some information about these topics.

49:27

Right? If if you want help, if you email

49:29

us, I will say, okay, you know, you can look

49:31

here like the Guardian, free

49:33

economics podcast. I've got loads

49:35

of podcasts that help with these, but

49:37

I would say this is the list of the

49:39

main topics you could get in.

49:43

Not just part three speaking, but also

49:46

writing part two. Mhmm. Right? So the the

49:48

first one we've already looked at is technology. They

49:51

love technology. There's loads of questions about that.

49:54

The second main topic is modern lifestyles.

49:56

Mhmm.

49:58

When when IELTS says modern lifestyles.

50:00

What do you think that actually means?

50:02

Do you think that's actually fairly connected to technology?

50:05

Yeah. To be honest. Yeah. I

50:07

think a modern lifestyle in

50:09

the eyes of IELTS is people

50:11

working long hours, using technology,

50:14

probably being quite stressed, Yeah.

50:18

Okay. Social change is quite a common

50:20

topic about how things are changing in societies,

50:23

education, how we learn. Leadership

50:27

is a topic that comes up again and again

50:29

in speaking part

50:30

three. What makes a good

50:32

leader? Mhmm. What

50:32

qualities do they have? What responsibilities do

50:35

they have?

50:38

Cities or urban life?

50:39

Very big one. Yeah. So, like, what

50:42

problems are facing cities? Why people

50:44

move into cities? Occasionally,

50:47

these questions look friendlier, but I would hate these

50:49

questions. You get questions about the feel like

50:51

films or arts. Right? So

50:54

It's usually about historic films. Mhmm.

50:57

Should films about history be accurate?

50:59

Mhmm. Right? Or, like, what's And

51:01

also about creativity, you know, what benefits

51:04

do creative people give to

51:06

society? Mhmm. Communication

51:09

and the news, like how we're communicating

51:11

with each other, the types of news

51:13

we read.

51:14

Mhmm.

51:15

Culture language and identity, how

51:17

is language and culture connected.

51:20

Mhmm. Success and

51:22

money. There's a lot about, you know,

51:25

why do people want does money make

51:27

you

51:27

happy? Why do people want to be

51:29

reached here. What would a society

51:31

look like with no money? I

51:34

remember that question. Business and advertising, you

51:36

know, does advertising really influence

51:39

us -- Mhmm. -- classic task two question

51:41

for

51:41

writing? Yeah. Environment.

51:45

Oh, the environment? We joke about that's a big

51:47

one. We joke about the environment because it appears

51:49

all the time. I think that would be one of the easiest

51:51

questions. That you could get about the environment.

51:54

Right? So, you know, at the very least, before

51:56

you sit IELTS, you should know what

51:58

climate change is and how it's

51:59

caused to grow. What were global

52:02

warming, the connection with carbon. Right?

52:05

You should know deforestation --

52:07

Mhmm. -- not just the words but actually how it works.

52:09

I've noticed that students learn the words but they've

52:11

got no idea what it actually is and what it

52:13

does. No. Losians tell me that, you know,

52:15

climate change causes global warming. And I'm

52:18

like, but they're the same thing. Right? So

52:20

at least have a little read at the weekend

52:22

about the environment. Mhmm. And then the last

52:24

sort of general big topic is health. Mhmm.

52:26

Right? Who's responsible for the

52:28

health, individual, governments, those types

52:31

of things. Yep. So that list

52:33

of topics should be enough for you

52:35

to think, okay, I don't really know very much

52:37

about language and identity or language

52:39

and culture. So I'm just gonna go away and

52:41

Google it. That's right. A bet you can

52:43

find how is language connected to culture?

52:46

Oh, here's an article. That's

52:49

the type of thing if you want a really high

52:51

school that I do think you you have

52:53

to be able to do.

52:54

Mhmm.

52:57

But and then if you don't have any ideas,

52:59

at least you've got some idea about the general

53:01

topic. Mhmm. So then you could kind

53:03

of say, well, I'm not really sure. I do know that

53:05

language is definitely part

53:09

of a personal identity Like, you could talk in

53:11

general if even if you don't know the answer

53:13

to the the main question.

53:15

Yeah. And just to be clear, we're not asking

53:17

the examiner doesn't expect you to know the

53:19

answer to all the questions in part three.

53:22

Some of them are really difficult, but we do expect

53:24

you to be able to, like, give some response.

53:30

Right. The last question then, Nick, is

53:33

for these types of

53:35

questions, is it necessary, like, you

53:37

know, When you've when

53:39

you've answered the question, is it necessary to

53:41

give a summary at the end to remind

53:43

the example of what you've just told

53:45

them? I would say no, not really. I

53:47

don't think so. Yeah. You don't really have time in

53:49

part three. In five minutes, it's not a long

53:51

time to answer

53:52

six. Potentially, six are more questions. Yeah.

53:55

And I think what happens is is that students

53:57

a lot of students are told that they should do that.

53:59

Yeah. So they may you know, like, if it says, you

54:01

know, what are the main health problems facing you

54:03

also Society today. Mhmm. And then

54:05

maybe you talk about obesity and you

54:07

talk about, you know, diabetes and staff

54:10

on cancer. In the end,

54:12

some students then start saying, so I think that

54:14

obesity and cancer are the two main problems

54:16

facing my society today. Mhmm. There's

54:18

nothing wrong with that. Yeah.

54:20

Especially if you've had a very short answer.

54:23

But don't be surprised if a mean

54:25

examiner like me interrupts you

54:28

because it's like

54:29

Yeah. I know. I just heard you say that two minutes

54:31

ago. Yeah. I haven't got time to

54:33

listen to you summarize.

54:34

Mhmm. Come

54:35

on. Next question. Mhmm. So Summaries

54:37

are fine, but they're not

54:39

necessary. Not really necessary. Yeah. Mhmm. No.

54:41

I don't think they are. So I guess,

54:43

in summary from today, part

54:46

3,

54:47

It is if you want a high school

54:49

going to be tricky --

54:50

Mhmm. -- you need to make

54:52

sure that you know you've got

54:54

some language to answer all the different types of

54:57

questions, compare, predict, assess,

54:59

agree. You need to make sure you've

55:01

got some background information on

55:04

these IELTS topics. It's

55:06

not necessary, but it's gonna help you

55:08

a lot. And

55:11

finally, don't be personal.

55:14

Be as specific as you can to the question

55:16

that you're asked. And if the exam interrupts

55:18

you, it's okay. Don't

55:21

get flustered.

55:22

They just wanna redirect you slightly --

55:24

Yeah. --

55:25

for any reason and it's always a good one.

55:32

My IELTS Classroom broadcast is

55:34

production of My IELTS Classroom

55:36

Limited. Nick and I

55:38

do not represent IELTS, and

55:41

everything you heard in this episode

55:43

is our own personal opinion. You

55:46

can find the show notes and transcript

55:48

for this episode on our blog.

55:51

That's blog dot my

55:53

iult classroom dot com. And

55:55

if you're looking for our video courses,

55:58

speaking lessons, and marketing service,

56:00

you can find that at WWW

56:03

dot myi classroom dot

56:05

com.

56:06

If you have question or query or

56:08

just want to chat, you could email

56:11

and I at hello my

56:13

else classroom dot com. Our

56:15

fieze is by

56:16

heartbeats, and our artwork is produced

56:19

by David

56:19

Brown. Have a great week,

56:22

study hard, and remember. This

56:25

is my aisles classroom.

56:27

Thanks for listening. We'll see you next

56:29

week.