The first, fifth and ninth months of each year are the fixed month for changing questions in the IELTS speaking test, which means that the examinees who take the test in these months will face a large wave of new questions. What should they do when facing such a situation?
1. Lay a good foundation for IELTS speaking
Whether it is a question changing month or not, and no matter how the examination questions change, candidates need to consolidate their spoken English foundation, so that they can cope with the changes with the same. Speaking of the basics of IELTS speaking is nothing more than vocabulary and grammar. And these two are just the difficult hurdles for many examinees. At this time, the examinee needs to abandon the method of rote memorization and think of some better methods of preparing for the test for effective memory. For example, the method of memorizing roots and affixes and the method of associative homophonic memory can be used for memory, which can not only remember well but also be fast. Another example is grammar. In fact, the grammar of spoken IELTS is relatively simple, but if you want to perform well in the exam, you need to master various sentence patterns, such as common inversion sentences and adverbial clauses.
2. Pay attention to the practice of pronunciation and intonation
The exercises of pronunciation and intonation should be paid special attention to by examinees. The reason why they are not classified as basic parts here is that they are important enough, so I hope you can pay attention to them. The pronunciation of IELTS spoken language is one of the four scoring standards, and the examinee's grasp of pronunciation will directly affect the score. Therefore, as long as the examinee can pay more attention to the pronunciation and intonation in his daily practice, no matter how the topic changes, he/she can be recruited by the examiner if he/she speaks fluent spoken language. Therefore, candidates need to pay special attention to some difficult sounds, such as "th" tongue biting, consonant turbidity and other issues.
3. Focus on breaking through the old problems
Because it is the month of changing questions, there will naturally be some new questions and some old questions still exist, so as long as the examinee has grasped the key old questions, the exam will be half successful. But in the breakthrough of old questions, candidates need to pay attention to the accumulation of materials and the key points and ideas of topics, rather than just remembering these topics. For example, the topic of place needs to explain the place, its characteristics, impressive things and other issues. At this time, candidates can also refer to the previous question bank for preparation.
4. Pay attention to the performance of the examination room:
When all the above points are ready, the examinee needs to pay attention to the problem of playing on the spot, and must overcome the tension, otherwise all your preparations will fall short. At this time, the examinee can adjust his/her mind to cope with the exam with the most relaxed mind. If his/her mind is in a state of high tension, it will often be blank and lose his/her normal thinking. Therefore, even if he/she encounters a new question, he/she should not panic. He/she should keep calm and carefully think about whether there is material similar to the old question that can be used all the way.
Although the IELTS speaking test is only a short ten minutes, not all candidates can get satisfactory scores, which will be affected by many factors. So, can accent be one of the influencing factors? What do candidates know about accent?
First of all, let's understand some common sense of accent that candidates must master.
1. Pronunciation is not equal to accent
There are four scoring criteria for IELTS speaking: pronunciation, fluency, grammar and vocabulary. The proportion of pronunciation is only 25%, but in fact, pronunciation is the most critical link in the process of dialogue with foreigners. If the pronunciation is slightly vague, the examiner will misinterpret the meaning of the examinee's real expression by mistaking it for another word.
The accent is different. It is a difference between different regions, such as American accent and British accent. However, it is not easy for many candidates to imitate American accent or British accent in order to get higher scores. Moreover, if the examinee who has the idea of imitating accent wishes to use English accent when meeting British examiners and American accent when meeting American examiners, it is unnecessary. Because IELTS examiners come from all countries in the world and are not limited to the United Kingdom and the United States, there is no need to imitate the British accent or American accent.
In fact, most examinees' blind admiration for accent is mainly due to their distrust of their spoken English ability. In fact, there is no "superior" among different accents. As long as it does not affect the examiner's understanding. This is obviously different from pronunciation. Candidates should be clear about it.
2. "Standard accent" does not exist
When preparing for the IELTS oral test, Chinese examinees often ask, "What kind of accent do you like?" In fact, there is no so-called "standard accent" in the IELTS speaking test, and there is no need for candidates to imitate standard British English. Candidates should not worry about whether they have a "standard accent", but should pay more attention to the preparation of these aspects, such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and so on. Only by targeting can they make a breakthrough.
3. IELTS accent does not affect oral scores
Most examinees tend to have such a misunderstanding in the IELTS speaking test, that is, they will lose points if their accent is too strong. In fact, the problem of accent will not affect the score and communication effect. A genuine London accent will not add points to the oral English test, and the dialect accent will not lead to the deduction of points. For example, Indian candidates have a strong accent, but their average oral score is 6.2, while Chinese candidates only have 5.3.
The standard of IELTS oral evaluation mainly depends on the content, fluency, proper use of vocabulary, accurate expression of meaning with appropriate vocabulary, and grammatical errors. There are requirements for pronunciation, but there are no requirements for accent. The accent will not be incomprehensible to the examiner, and the pronunciation is not standard. Therefore, accent is not a factor restricting the high score.