Asking an examiner questions in the speaking exam
You can ask the examiner questions in the IELTS speaking exam.There are numerous ways to deal with problems and it is a good idea to learn these before taking an exam.
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Asking the examiner questions
| FUNCTION | PHRASE |
| Repeat question |
Could you please repeat that? Sorry, I didn’t quite catch what you said? |
| Checking a word (part 1 -3) | Sorry, what does X mean? Could you please explain the meaning of X? |
| Checking the question (part 3 only) |
Are you asking me….? Do you mean….? |
| Engaging the examiner | If you know what I mean. Don’t you agree? Do you feel the same way? |
Useful Discourse Markers
| FUNCTION | PHRASE |
| Buying time | Let me see now, that really is quite a tricky question. Well, I suppose I would have to say that… Oh gosh! I’m really not sure about that, but probably… |
| Extending | Let me cut to the chase, the key point is… Anyway, the thing I really want to say is… What I’m trying to say is… And, well, let me put it this way… |
| Repeating | Let me put it another way Or, in other words… To put it more succinctly… |
| Restarting | How can I put this (better) … Let me start over… Oh, I seem to have lost my train of thought a bit, let me see, oh yes, that’s right, what I mean to say is… |
SPEAKING QUESTIONS
Something I’d like to know is am I allowed to make notes in both the second and the third part?
Only really the 2nd part (you get one minute) most examiners will take away the paper after part 2, and you don’t have time to make notes in part 3, you must answer fairly quickly (no preparation time is given)
And what would you advise me to do if i totally block and can`t come up with normal and logical answer.
Just tell the examiner “sorry I don’t have any opinion about that”
Can I ask the examiner what a word means
Part 1 you can ask the examiner to repeat the question (they can do this 1 time only for each question). It won’t have a negative impact on your grade unless you do this often.
Part 1 and 2 you can ask the examiner the meaning of a WORD
Part 3 you can ask the examiner to REPHRASE the question
if we say “sorry I don’t have any opinion about that”, will it not have a negative impact on the band ?
For an essay yes! For speaking, it is OK one time. The examiner may rephrase it or guide you towards an opinion..maybe saying something
like “Well, do you think it would be bad for the economy”