Sometimes it is hard to hard to understand an IELTS Speaking question. So, what can you do?
Don’t worry or panic. It happens a few times for most candidates, even high level candidates. The IELTS examiner may be from a different country, so it may take one to minutes to get used to his/her accent. Try to stay calm and keep your composure. Examiners will expect that most candidates are nervous. You should know that your first few questions will be either about your home or your school/work. Be prepared in advance to answer these questions. Good prepared answers in advance will help make you more comfortable and confident.
What not to do if you don’t understand an IELTS speaking question
DON’T PAUSE AND SAY NOTHING
A 10 second pause, for instance, will negatively influence your fluency rating. And it may demonstrate that you don’t have the resource (vocabulary/grammar) to handle that kind of question. Therefore, it is important to keep on speaking without long pauses.
USE STRATEGIES TO AVOID STRUGGLING AND HESITATING A LOT
Struggling to answer with a lot of hesitation, false starts, self-corrections, etc. This is pretty bad to do too. You don’t want to say things “I think, uh I think, umm, no I umm (pause) Ok..” Following some of the 6 strategies to avoid this will help you avoid this.
6 Strategies for helping you when you can’t understand an IELTS speaking question
ASK THE EXAMINER TO REPEAT THE QUESTION
It’s perfectly normal in the test to do this a couple of times. The examiner is allowed to say a question two times. Therefore, you can say, “I’m sorry, my hearing isn’t 100%. Can you please repeat that question.” Or you can say, “I didn’t quite get you. Can you say that question once more.”
2. ASK THE EXAMINER FOR A DEFINITION
Ask for a meaning of a word. Don’t just say I don’t understand. Be specific. You need to say the word that you don’t understand. For example, you can say, “what does the word ‘rubbish’ mean?”Then the examiner should give a brief definition, and this will allow you some time to understand and prepare an answer.
3. GUESS AND ANSWER
Guess and give an answer to what you think was askedYou may have understood 75% of the question. So your answer may be relevant enough. Saying something is better than saying nothing.
4. SAY YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND
Say you didn’t understand the question. You can be absolutely honest. Not understanding 2-3 questions of the test isn’t the end of the world. The examiner is giving you a score based on your performance of the whole test in all 3 parts. A couple of missed answers, won’t impact you much.
5. GIVE A GENERAL RESPONSE
Pretend you understand, but that you don’t know what to say about it. A general statement, such as, “My mind is drawing a blank on this topic. I really don’t know what to say. Can you move on to the next question please.”
6. GIVE A GENERAL STATEMENT ABOUT THE TOPIC
For example, if you know that the general topic is ‘playing outside,’ you can say something like: “I haven’t played outside for ages and my memory about this is a blur, so, unfortunately, I can’t think of anything to say at the moment.”
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