Question Type 1: Basic Description Questions. Ielts speaking test. Part 1

Activity
Practice saying the full sample structure with your own points and details for the following questions:

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  · Tell me about the house / flat you live in.
  
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  · Tell me about your city
  
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  · Describe your hometown.
  
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  · What is your main ambition?
  
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  · Tell me about your job. 
  
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  · What makes you happy
  
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  · Tell me about your family.
  

Question Type 2: Liking
A very common type of questions in Part One is the "liking" questions. For example: "Do you like animals?"
As an examiner I have asked this style question hundreds of times. A common response might be something like:
"Yes. I like animals. I like cats and dogs because they are very lovely.”
If you have read and understood what has been written so far in this book, you should be starting no see the problems with this answer. This answer lacks all the features common in native-speaker style English. The answer focuses I00% on content.
Expressing likes and dislikes is actually quite a large area of the English language and as a result there is a wide range of language available to express these functions. When the examiner asks, "Do you like animals?" your answer should display some ability to express these functions using a range of appropriate language.
“I like” and “I don’t like” do not display any ability to skillfully or flexibly express these functions. In most cases, the examiner probably used "like" or “don't like" in the question, so candidates who use these words are simply recycling the question words in the form of a statement.
For these questions, the first step is to find some alternative language for "liking". The following expressions can be used for all general topics:

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  · I’m fairly / pretty keen on...
  
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  · I’m quite / pretty fond of
  
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