IELTS Online: Course

Modules

Activity - Understanding what the question asks you to do

Listen to the following example questions for Part 1 of the Speaking test carefully and decide what each one asks you to do. You may need to tick more than one box (e.g., describe and explain).

The first two have been done for you. You can find a transcript of the questions at the end of the activity.

This question asks you to:

	describe		explain
	give a preference		suggest

This question asks you to describe and explain the different things you do in your job.

This question asks you to:

	give a preference		compare or contrast
	give a reason		suggest

This question asks you to say which films you prefer. You would be expected to give reasons.

Now you try!

This question asks you to:

	describe		give a reason
	give a preference		suggest

This question asks you to:

	describe		give a reason
	give a preference		suggest

This question asks you to:

	describe		give a reason
	compare and contrast		suggest

This question asks you to:

	give a preference		suggest
	give an opinion		compare or contrast

This question asks you to:

	describe		give a reason
	suggest		give an opinion

This question asks you to:

	give a preference		suggest
	give an opinion		give a reason

Now that we have looked at identifying what questions in Part 1 ask you to do, let’s look at how to answer them.