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IELTS Speaking Mock Test 4

Part 1 Topic:  "Family". 
Part 2 Topic:  "Describe a teacher who has influenced you in your education". 
Part 3 Topic:  "Developments in education", "A national education system" & "Different styles/methods of teaching and learning". 

PART 1 - Introduction:

[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- Family:

Q. Do you have a large family or a small family? 
A. I come from a small family. I live with my parents and two siblings. As I recall, we used to live with our grandparents, uncles and aunts many years ago. But now we have a nuclear family as we live in a city which is far away from our grandparents' house.

Q. Can you tell me something about them?
A. Yes, sure. My father is a doctor and he has been practising medicine for more than 15 years. He is a devoted doctor and possesses an exemplary personality. People think that he has a very controlled personality but we know that he is very kind. I am proud to have such a great father. He is my idol and perhaps the greatest influence in my life. My mother is an angel and she is the most kindhearted woman I have ever seen or met in my life. She is a teacher in a school and she teaches literature. She is my best friend and I adore her very much.

My brother is 3 years senior to me and he is working in a telecommunication company as a "System Analyst". He is around 28 years old and a very good friend and mentor to me. My younger sister is only 14 and she is busy with her homework, study and computer. She is very sweet and helps my mother often to finish her household chores. I love her very much and she talks a lot to me. In our house, I am her best friend and I often help her with her homework.

Q. How much time do you manage to spend with members of your family?
A. I live with my family and spend most of my time with them except for the time when I do have classes to attend and when I play football with my friends in the evening. 

I have a close relationship with my parents, younger sister and my brother. We often go out together to watch a movie or to go shopping. I sometimes play computer games with my sister and brother. On average, I spend 5-7 hours with my family members on a typical day and that's excluding the sleeping hours.

Q. What sorts of things do you like to do together?
A. I like to discuss my plans with my parents. I often seek their advice on important personal issues. They discuss their experience, tell me about interesting historical events they know about and teach me morality and the importance of being honest in life. My dad recommends good books to me and then we discuss these books in our free time.

I do everything with my brother John. We hang out together, watch movies, read books, sometimes we fight, we often complain to our parents about what I or he should not have done, play football and the list goes on! Though he is very friendly, he often scolds me whenever he thinks I did something wrong. Besides, I play computer games and chess with my sister and she often seeks my advice regarding things she can’t decide alone. We watch cartoons and documentaries on History Channel together.

I love to talk to my mother and she is very fond of classical music and I have become a fan of her favourite singers. So I often listen to music with her. There are many more activities that I actually do with my family members and those are the frequent ones.

Q. Did/ Do you get on well with your family? [Why?]
A. Yes, absolutely I go pretty well with my family. They are the most precious things I have in my life. They care for me a lot, they help me in my difficult times and my whole existence is surrounded by them. Whoever I am now and whoever I will become in the future would be because of my family and their unconditional love, care and affection for me.

I feel a strong kinship with my family. They share their thoughts and life experience with me. They always try to support me no matter what, and all the mutual understanding makes us a perfectly happy family.

PART 2 - Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card

Topic: 

Describe a teacher who has influenced you in your education.

You should say:

• where you met him/her
• what subject he/she taught
• what was special about him/her

and explain why this person/teacher influenced you 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?]

Click here for the answer to this Cue Card Topic

PART 3 - Detailed-discussion

Discussion topics:

Developments in education:

Q. How has education changed in your country in the last 10 years?
A. I live in a developing country where the education sector went through numerous changes including the government’s increasing budget allocation in the education sector, more women enrollment in higher studies, changes in academic syllabus and so on.

During the last 10 years, the most significant and noticeable change in the education sector in my country is the transformation of people’s mentality regarding the necessity of education. Only a few decades ago, many parents showed little or no interest in sending their kids to school. But that has radically changed and nowadays almost all parents send their children to school. This is a giant leap in my opinion in terms of the advancement of our overall education sector. The government has allocated a big portion of its budget to ensure better infrastructure, study materials and salary of the teachers in schools and it has been proven effective to build a solid ground to make an educated nation. During the last 5 years, our literacy rate has almost doubled and I give major credit to the government for ensuring free education at the primary schools.

Moreover, around 100 to 180 new colleges and universities have been established in the last few years. We had only 4-5 engineering universities back in 2005 but we have more than 40 such educational institutions now. More emphasis has been given to vocational education and thus a large portion of the underprivileged population has come under the vocational education system.

Q. What changes do you foresee in the next 50 years?
A. If you ask me about the type of changes that might take place in the next 50 years, I would need to rely both on my past experience and imagination! My best guess is that education would be more practical than theoretical in the future. Women's participation and performance in education would excel to a great extent. More women would be in research and higher education than their male counterparts.

I guess, education would be expensive, and private institutes would have more demand than the public and state-owned ones. More foreign students would come to study here and the number of universities would increase by manyfold. Moreover, digitalization and computer-based education system would replace many traditional education systems and online education would be a very popular form by that time. Finally, academic curriculum and subjects offered in the colleges and universities would see a dramatic change and technology would be the most important and demanding subject in this era.

Not sure if I will be alive to see those changes, but I hope for many positive changes within the next 50 years in my country including a 100% literacy rate, more engineering and research-based education system, some of our universities ranking in the "World’s Best Universities" list, and we are renowned as a country for the excellent education system.

A national education system:

Q. How do the expectations of today’s school leavers compare with those of the previous generation?
A. Well, school graduates nowadays are expected to study further and get involved in a part-time job to gain practical experience. The job market is pretty competitive compared to the past. Getting a good job requires talent, some practical experience, good grades in school, soft skills and many other criteria. The competition in public service or government jobs is even higher. In the past, there were very few school graduates in my country and hence securing a job both in the public and private sectors was not that tough.

Nowadays, the education requirement for a job is much higher than in the past. Twelve class degree is not enough to get a decent job now. Recruiters are looking for candidates with prior job experience and at least a college degree. Thus the school leavers nowadays have no other option but to continue their studies. Getting a part-time job besides the study is a dream for many.

The population in my country has almost doubled in the last decade and that is pretty obvious that the competition the school leavers nowadays face is tremendous. Among the school leavers, many decide on their major in college or university while others prefer vocational education. This facility was very narrow in my grandfather’s generation.

Q. What role do you think extracurricular activities play in education?
A. Extracurricular activities sharpen the minds of students and enhance their creativity. Activities that require physical movements keep their body fit and thus the importance of extracurricular activities is immense. It is often observed that young students who have interests in sports and games outperform others in many fields. Extracurricular activities like singing, debating, and painting can be very handy in terms of career enhancement. Students, who are engaged in some kinds of extracurricular activities, possess better leadership and social skills. Finally, from my experience, I can say that such students have better knowledge about the world than students who are solely focused on academic lessons.

Different styles/methods of teaching and learning.

Q. What method of learning works best for you?
A. I prefer to work in a pair for the complex topics and subjects. The group discussion, in particular, works best for me. When I study in a group, I can discuss my views and learn the opinions of others. Thus the discussion is always helpful and I can better perform in an exam and remember the details for a long.

Q. How beneficial do you think it is to group students according to their level of ability?
A. If a group comprises students of similar calibre and talents, it is proven to be more effective. Similar abilities of students in an assembly can be advantageous from mainly two points of view. They are franker to participate in any discussion and value each other's opinions. Secondly, they understand each other better and work together pretty well.

If a group is formed with different levels of students, chances are a highly talented student would get bored with the silly discussions by the others while a dull student among a highly talented group would not dare to opine whatever he/she thinks.

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