Lindsay McMahon
"The English Adventurer"
Jessica Beck
"Director of IELTS Training"

Do you get nervous on the IELTS Speaking test and the IELTS Writing test?

When you get nervous it’s easy to spiral downward with anxiety and to lose your ability to think clearly.

Today we’ll show you how to keep it light and easy on these two sections of the test.

How can you reduce anxiety on the Speaking test?

  • Make a light joke: You can do this as long as the joke is relevant and well-placed. Don’t tell a random knock-knock joke.  It can be good to poke fun at yourself sometimes and it will show the examiner that you are flexible and have real communication skills.
  • If you stutter or get stuck, acknowledge it: Say something like “Oh my gosh that was really hard. I am sorry I stumbled there. I am just a bit nervous.” You need to be willing to articulate what’s going on with you. It’s ok to acknowledge that you’re embarrassed. It will help your vocabulary score and it will also increase your fluency score.
  • Tell a funny story about yourself: This can be done in Speaking Part 2, as an example in Speaking Part 3 or on Writing Task 2. It’s important to use personal examples from your own life in Writing Task 2 because you don’t have access to examples and research.

Remember, you are not graded on your ideas on IELTS Speaking or Writing.

You are graded on your English so when you stumble or when you run out of ideas, you have an opportunity to show your fluency.

You have a chance to articulate what is happening with high-level vocabulary.

The examiner doesn’t care how much you know.

They care how well you communicate in English.

Do you have questions about today’s topic?

Let us know in the comments below

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