Ielts speaking--how to improve your bandscore

Chapter Seven:
Determining and analyzing key words
What are keywords, and how important are they in getting your desired
band score in IELTS Speaking?
The ability to identify keywords is always stressed, and its importance is valued
by many who have taken the IELTS examination and those who coach IELTS
takers. Keywords are verbs, adjectives, nouns, and other parts of speech that
carry the meaning of a sentence. Since the questions in IELTS Speaking are read
by the examiner, you have to listen carefully to the whole question and its
meaning, not to the individual words, and focus on the meaning, not on the
words.
Identifying keywords from the questions can help you frame and give a relevant
answer. In other words, keywords guide you to giving the exact answer. The
right answer is crucial in IELTS Speaking because this contains your ideas
expressed using ideas and various sentence structures. There is no point in using
less common words and complex sentence structures when your answer does not
actually give what a question asks for.
A wrong answer means not answering the question at all, thus affecting your
band score. Even if there is an attempt at expressing ideas, as these ideas are not
right, then you might be marked low in each of the four criteria still.
How are keywords determined?

Keywords are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other significant words in a sentence.
In IELTS Speaking, these are the important words in every question that the
examiner asks you. As you listen to the question, extract the keywords
immediately and come up with synonymous words or phrases in your mind to
avoid repeating the words in the question.
In IELTS Speaking part 1, the examiner will ask you general questions about
yourself. It is important that you pay attention to the time reference, which has a
relationship with the verb tense that you are going to employ in your answer. For

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example, in questions where you have to describe a place, event, or situation,
you have to spot the keywords that are usually verbs in past form. For instance,
‘Could you describe the village/town/city in which you grew up?’ Obviously, the
question asks about the past since it has the phrasal verb grew up. In this case,
you have to use a synonymous verb or phrase in past form like (be) raised, spent
most of my younger years in, and matured. In addition, there are options in the
question as to what you will describe so that the description will be
concentrating on the city, town, or village—not the country. Knowing those
keywords will help you start answering the question right away, helping you in
your score in fluency.
However, there are questions that are not explicit in meaning. For example, ‘Can
you tell me something about your hometown?’ Focusing on each keyword like
hometown or the verb tell does not help much in formulating your answer. In this
situation, it is important that you focus on the meaning of the entire question—
not on the words. This question asks you to describe your hometown. So you can
talk about its population, its physical features, and other factual information. A
simple present tense of verbs is appropriate for questions asking for facts.
Sometimes, it is not obvious that the examiner is asking your opinion. Consider
this question: ‘Would you say your job is easy?’ By recognising the keyword
say, it is now clear that the question asks you for your opinion. If you hear this
type of question in your IELTS Speaking test, immediately form your opinion in
your head and start saying your answer with expressions that signal giving an
opinion.
Speaking part 1 also contains questions that ask about the future. An example is
‘What are you planning to do in the next ten years?’ The time expression next ten
years gives you a clue that the examiner wants to know your plans for the future.
As such, you can come up with answers using the future tense of the verb, such
as will and be going to. Therefore, you must listen carefully to the spoken
questions and be aware of the time expressions used because they dictate your
verb tenses. To talk about the future, you can use any of the following structures:
will + adverb + verb
Example:
will certainly become

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there + will (+ adverb) + be + noun
Example:
There’ll probably be electric cars.
Use modal verbs like may, might, could, and should instead of will.

Example:
There might certainly/surely/definitely be electric cars.
We + will + adverb + have + infinitive + noun
Example:
We’ll probably have to use robots in the future to do housework for us.
I’m sure / confident / certain / convinced / positive + that + subject + will + verb
Example:
I’m confident that robots will be like humans in the next twenty years.
I think /guess / suppose / imagine / expect / predict / foresee + noun + will +
verb
Example:
I foresee that most housework will be done by robots.
will be + future continuous
Example:
In twenty years, robots will be doing all human tasks.
There are many types of questions in Speaking part 2. One of the most difficult
tasks is when the examiner asks you to describe something in two minutes. In
this question type, keywords like describe, favorite hobby, and books do not help
much in generating an answer immediately without further analysis. So when
you talk of something you really like, think of questions like ‘What’s my
favourite hobby/book?’ ‘When do I do/read it?’ ‘How often do I do/read it?’
‘Who do I do/read it with?’ and ‘Where do I do/read it?’
In addition, since the question asks you to describe, you can include your

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feelings when you do your hobby / read the book, or you can add your opinion
about the hobby/book. Lastly, include a story related to it. Look at the example
and see how it is answered:
Question: Describe your favourite hobby. (Cue card questions are not included
here.)
Answer:
I am really fond of reading inspirational books. The latest book that I’ve read is
written by Rick Warren. It’s called The Purpose Driven Life. I usually allocate an
hour to read the book daily before I go to bed. Babies have lullabies, and I have
this book to induce sleep. I feel that my day is not complete without reading a
book. It’s so interesting because I usually share my thoughts about the principles
I have discovered with a friend who shares similar interests. After reading the
book, I learned a lot of basic guidelines on how to simplify my life and make me
feel comfortable and at peace. Once, I suffered from problems of insecurity as I
tend to compare my achievements to those I know and have relationships with,
and because of the book, I recovered my self-esteem. After all, when this life is
over, what is counted is not earthly gain.
In IELTS Speaking part 2, you might be asked to describe your favourite movie
or film. To describe this, you have to include a summary of the story and your
impression along with the questions on the cue card. Here, again you have to pay
attention to the tense of the verb used in the question. Below is an example.
Question: Describe your favourite film or movie.
You should say the following:
1. When you watched it,
2. Who you watched it with
3. Why you liked the movie
Obviously, the verbs found in the questions are in past form, so your answer
should be using the past simple form of the verb.
Sample answer:
When I was a student, our teacher used to ask us to give a critique on different
movies adapted from Shakespeare’s works. I was not really interested in
watching movies, but since it was a requirement for my subject Literary

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Criticism, I lazily complied and watched the movie The Taming of the Shrew
with my classmates. I was not actually impressed by the story, as it was simply a
movie of how a strong-willed woman was tamed by a husband and turned into
an obedient spouse by the end of the story. But what I can’t forget is the strong
relationship we had.
Speaking part 3 questions ask you for your opinions. It is then important to have
opinions in this phase. Without the mentioned element, your mark will be low
despite excellent grammar structure and the use of less common words. Take a
look at the sample questions below and take note of the words used and other
keywords that indicate opinion. Keywords/phrases are underlined in the
following sentences:
1. Do you think governments should protect old buildings? (opinion)
2. Would you say sightseeing is interesting?
3. What is the hardest part of travelling to places without historical spots?
Both questions 1 and 2 are answerable by a yes or no, as the questions start with
a helping verb. If your answer is yes, do not just say so; justify your reasons.
Question 1 asks you to decide if the government should protect historical spots.
The phrase ‘historical spots’ gives you the idea, and you can associate it with old
buildings, museums, and other old structures.
In question 2, you have the word say. This implies that it requires you to give
your opinion about whether sightseeing, which is our keyword, is interesting or
not.
Question 3 asks for information but is general in sense. This does not ask
information about you. So your answer should also be general. So you will be
talking about the challenges, especially in activities you can do when you travel
to a place with limited places of historical interest.
Sample Answers
Question 1:
Yes, I think the government should preserve buildings with historical
significance because they help people understand the nation’s heritage. The old
structures speak of the past, so people can have a glance of what happened in the

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olden times. Therefore, preservation should be an active movement.
Question 2:
Sightseeing is really an interesting activity because it helps us relax. When we
see something beautiful, green, and unique, we are physically energized and feel
a different atmosphere from our workplace or homes. Seeing spots with
historical importance is also a way for us to learn new things.
Question 3:
Planning and deciding on activities for your stay are the most difficult challenges
when you visit a place without historical spots. In fact, one of the reasons we
visit some places is to see the structures, places, and landscapes mentioned in
our history books. Without them, such a trip would be boring.
Common questions in IELTS Speaking part 3 ask a candidate to compare and
contrast two things. For example, ‘Has the fashion style in your country changed
in recent years?’ The question asks you to say ‘Yes, it has changed’ and create
contrasting points between the fashion style ten years ago and now or ‘No, it
hasn’t changed’ and illustrate the similarities of fashion ten years ago and now.
Look at the sample answer below: