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Oxford Online English, IELTS Speaking Exam - How to Get Band 7

IELTS Speaking Exam - How to Get Band 7

Hi, I'm Justin.

Welcome to Oxford Online English!

In this lesson, you can see what you need to do to get band seven in the IELTS speaking

exam.

To get band seven in the IELTS speaking exam, you need to speak at a high level.

There's no other way; no one gets band seven for IELTS without speaking really good English.

However, you also need to know how the exam works, how the scoring works, and how to prepare

for your IELTS speaking test.

In this video, you'll see exactly what to do to get band seven in the four parts of

your IELTS speaking score.

You'll also see some common problems that IELTS candidates have, and we'll share some

practical exercises to help you prepare for your speaking exam and improve your IELTS

speaking score!

But first, I just mentioned “the four parts of your IELTS speaking score.”

Do you know what those are?

Your final IELTS speaking score is actually an average of four different scores.

First is fluency and coherence.

This means whether you can speak without pausing or hesitating, and whether you can answer

questions fully and directly.

Next is lexical resource.

This basically means ‘vocabulary'.

This score focuses on your ability to use a wide range of vocabulary accurately.

Third is grammatical range and accuracy.

To get a high score here, you need to use a wide range of grammar structures without

making mistakes.

Finally, you get a score for pronunciation.

This depends both on how clear your pronunciation is, and whether you use features of native

speech, like natural intonation.

We'll look at these four scores in more detail during this class.

If you want to read the scoring system, you can, and you should!

There's a link underneath the video.

Let's start with your fluency and coherence score, and what you can do to improve it.

To get band seven in your fluency and coherence score, you need to speak without hesitating

much, stay on topic, and use linking words well.

It's okay to hesitate occasionally, for example because you need one or two seconds

to remember a word.

However, if you hesitate often, then getting band seven is difficult.

‘Linking words' here includes very simple connectors, like and, but or for example.

You don't need to use formal or academic language in your IELTS speaking test.

In fact, it could even hurt your score.

So, what should you do?

First, identify your biggest weaknesses.

Here are some common problems which could stop you getting band seven:

You pause and hesitate a lot when you speak You give short answers.

You go off-topic.

You speak in short, simple sentences, without using linking words.

What do you think; what's your number one problem?

It's important to choose one.

To improve, it's better to focus on one thing at a time.

Got an idea?

So, here's what you do.

Choose a common IELTS speaking topic.

Choose one topic and record yourself talking about it for one minute.

Listen to the recording.

Next, check for problems.

For example, if you said your biggest weakness is hesitating and pausing, then listen to

your recording and count the number of times you pause.

Count every time you stop, every time you say ‘um', ‘er' or something like that.

Then, repeat the task, and try to improve.

For example, if you're working on hesitations and pauses, then try to get fewer hesitations

and pauses the second time.

If you're working on giving longer answers, then try to get closer to one minute.

After you improve your answer, set yourself a new challenge.

For example, you can choose a different topic, or you can try to talk for longer.

Try to talk for two minutes without hesitating, or three.

You might need some help here.

For example, students who go off topic generally don't realise they're going off topic;

that's part of the problem.

In this case, you might need feedback from a friend or a teacher.

Use of linking words is more difficult to practice by yourself, but here's a simple

exercise you can do: write down a list of simple linking words, like this:

Do the same activity: choose a topic and speak for one minute.

Try to use all of the linking words on your list.

Listen to your recording, and cross off the linking words when you use them.

If you don't use them all, try again.

If you can use them all, make the task more difficult: make your list longer, and try

to speak for more time.

Practice regularly with different topics, and your fluency should improve.

Next, what about your vocabulary score?

To get band seven for your vocabulary score in your IELTS speaking test, you need to:

use vocabulary to talk about different topics, use some less common vocabulary, use collocations,

use register appropriately, and use paraphrase.

Let's see what these things mean!

‘Collocations' are word combinations.

For example, think about the word complex.

What things can be complex?

You could have a complex situation, a complex question, a complex personality, or a complex

idea.

There are others, but that's not the point.

It's not enough to know a word, like complex, you also need to know how to combine the words

you know.

‘Register' means whether the language you use is formal or informal.

In the IELTS speaking test, the most common mistake is trying to speak much too formally.

If you use words in an unnatural way, it will hurt your score.

Your goal is to communicate clearly and naturally, not formally.

Finally, ‘paraphrase' means using a range of language to avoid repetition.

Let's look at an example.

The examiner asks: Tell me about your free time.

You say:

In my free time, I enjoy reading books.

Whenever I have free time, I like to read different kinds of books, especially historical

fiction or fantasy.

I usually have free time at the weekends, so I read books as much as I can.

In many ways, this is a good answer.

However, there's a problem; can you see it?

It's too repetitive.

The candidate uses the words free time and read books too much.

Paraphrase means that you use different language to avoid this.

For example:

In my free time, I enjoy reading books.

Whenever I have some time to myself, I like to sit down with a good book, especially historical

fiction or fantasy.

I don't have to work at the weekends, which lets me read as much as I want.

This answer has the same ideas as the first answer you saw, but it uses a wider range

of language to avoid repetition.

So, now you know what you need to do to get band seven for vocabulary.

But, how can you improve?

First, focus on collocations.

Most IELTS students who we meet have enough vocabulary to get band seven, but they can't

combine the words they know correctly.

Here's an exercise: read something in English every day.

It can be anything: a news article, a blog post, part of a story…

Anything is fine.

In the text, try to find 5-10 new collocations using only words you already know.

The idea is not to learn new words; instead, your goal is to find new ways to use your

existing vocabulary.

You can also use a dictionary to find new collocations.

For example, imagine that you're reading a news article and you see the phrase energy

use.

You already know the words energy and use, so you learn this collocation.

Next, look up the word energy in the dictionary, and find 2-3 more collocations, like:

energy consumption green energy

conserve energy

Keep track of your new collocations using digital flashcard apps like Quizlet or Anki.

By improving your knowledge of collocations, you'll be able to use a wider range of vocabulary

in your IELTS speaking exam, and this will also help you to paraphrase.

It's also important to read and listen in English regularly to build your vocabulary,

although this is a long process.

Next, what about your grammar score?

To get band seven for grammar, you need to do two things.

One: you need to use a range of ‘complex grammatical structures'.

Two: you need to make ‘frequent error-free sentences'.

‘Complex structures' here does not mean that you need to use very formal or academic

language, as we mentioned before.

It means that you need to use different verb tenses, sentence structures, conjunctions

and so on.

For example, imagine the examiner asks you:

What kind of food do you prefer?

You answer:

I prefer Asian food.

I like strong flavours and spicy food, so I particularly like Thai food, Indian food,

and so on.

I'm quite keen on Japanese food as well.

I think Indian food is probably my favourite.

This is a good answer in many ways, but it does not have enough grammatical range to

get band seven.

Can you see why?

There are four sentences all starting with the same word: I.

All of the verbs are in the present tense.

Also, only one sentence has a conjunction.

To get a higher score, you need to use a wider range of grammar, like this:

I prefer Asian food, such as Thai, Indian, and so on, because I've always been a big

fan of spicy food with strong flavours.

I tried Japanese food a few weeks ago, and I like it, although I'd say that Indian

food is probably my favourite.

Think about two things here.

One: the meaning is the same.

You're expressing the same ideas.

Two: you're not using very complicated or formal language.

What changed?

We combined the four sentences into two, using words like because and although.

This will also help your fluency and coherence score!

We've also used a wider range of verb forms, such as the present perfect,

the past simple, or the modal verb would

However, for most IELTS candidates, accuracy is more important for band seven.

Remember that for band seven, you have to produce ‘frequent error-free sentences'.

Think about the words ‘error-free'.

That means no mistakes.

No mistakes with prepositions, no mistakes with the, no mistakes with verb tenses; no

mistakes at all, even small ones.

If you've been studying English for a long time, you probably have some bad habits.

For example:

You forget the ‘s' on 3rd person verbs, so you say ‘she go' instead of ‘she

goes'.

You forget to use past forms, so you use present verbs to talk about the past.

You make mistakes with prepositions, like using at, in or on to talk about time.

You use will to talk about everything in the future, instead of using going to or the present

continuous when you need to.

These are some of the most common examples, but there are more!

The point is: you probably make more mistakes than you realise.

To get band seven for IELTS speaking, you need to get rid of these bad habits.

So, what should you do?

First, identify five common mistakes which you make.

If you don't know, you might need to ask a teacher for feedback.

Next, choose one mistake to work on, then choose a topic and record yourself speaking,

like you did before.

Choose a topic which fits the grammar you're practicing.

For example, if you forget to use past tenses, choose a topic which is about the past.

Listen to the recording and count the mistakes you make.

Only focus on one grammar mistake at one time.

Repeat until you can speak for one minute without mistakes.

Then, try again with a different mistake, or a different topic.

In this way, you can learn to speak more accurately, and get a better IELTS speaking score for

your grammar.

Finally, what about pronunciation?

To get band seven for pronunciation, you need to be easy to understand and use ‘features

of natural speech'.

What does that mean?

For IELTS, this mostly means: intonation, weak forms, word stress, sentence stress,

and linking.

An important point: your accent does not matter for your IELTS score, so long as you're

easy to understand.

You don't have to speak with a British accent or an American accent.

Pronunciation is hard to improve by yourself.

You need feedback from a professional teacher to work on pronunciation.

However, there are some things you can do in your own time.

First, think about the list of pronunciation features we mentioned:

intonation weak forms

word stress sentence stress

and linking

Do you know what these are?

If not, find out!

There are many resources online to help you.

You can also find many free videos on our website and our channel which can help you

to practice these pronunciation points.

Next, choose the point you find most difficult, and work on that with your teacher.

If you can only study by yourself, this will be difficult.

But, here are some tips that could help you: Find English songs, and sing along to them

with the lyrics.

Find videos or recordings of famous speeches, and try to copy them.

This is very good for your intonation and stress.

Find audio sources in English—podcasts, radio shows, YouTube videos—anything will

do!

Try to copy what you hear with the same accent.

This isn't because accent matters, but when you copy the accent, you'll hopefully copy

a lot of the natural features as well.

Also, you should make sure you're pronouncing all English sounds correctly.

For example, can you pronounce ‘th' sounds, or do you change it to a /d/ or a /z/ sound?

Like everything else, you should first identify which sounds you have problems with.

Practice the sounds with your teacher.

Ask your teacher to correct you every time you make a mistake.

This way, you'll improve quickly.

Getting band seven in IELTS speaking is not easy!

Expect that you'll need to spend a lot of time and effort to get there.

Good luck with your IELTS tests!

If you already got band seven: how did you do it?

Do you have any advice to share?

Please tell us in the comments!

Don't forget to visit Oxford Online English.com for more IELTS preparation lessons.

Thanks for watching, and see you next time!

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Hi, I'm Justin. ||贾斯廷

Welcome to Oxford Online English!

In this lesson, you can see what you need to do to get band seven in the IELTS speaking

exam.

To get band seven in the IELTS speaking exam, you need to speak at a high level. Um Band sieben in der IELTS-Sprechprüfung zu erreichen, müssen Sie auf einem hohen Niveau sprechen.

There's no other way; no one gets band seven for IELTS without speaking really good English.

However, you also need to know how the exam works, how the scoring works, and how to prepare |||||||||||||||||准备 Sie müssen jedoch auch wissen, wie die Prüfung funktioniert, wie die Bewertung funktioniert und wie Sie sich vorbereiten

for your IELTS speaking test. ||雅思||考试

In this video, you'll see exactly what to do to get band seven in the four parts of |||||确切地||||||||||||

your IELTS speaking score.

You'll also see some common problems that IELTS candidates have, and we'll share some ||||||||考生|||||

practical exercises to help you prepare for your speaking exam and improve your IELTS 实用的|||||||||||||

speaking score!

But first, I just mentioned “the four parts of your IELTS speaking score.” Aber zuerst habe ich gerade „die vier Teile Ihrer IELTS-Punktzahl für das Sprechen“ erwähnt.

Do you know what those are? Wissen Sie, welche das sind?

Your final IELTS speaking score is actually an average of four different scores. ||||||||平均|||| Ihr IELTS-Endergebnis beim Sprechen ist eigentlich ein Durchschnitt aus vier verschiedenen Ergebnissen.

First is fluency and coherence. ||||连贯性 Erstens ist Geläufigkeit und Kohärenz.

This means whether you can speak without pausing or hesitating, and whether you can answer |||||||停顿||犹豫||是否||| |||||||pausar||||||| Das heißt, ob Sie ohne Pause oder Zögern sprechen können und ob Sie antworten können

questions fully and directly. |||直接

Next is lexical resource. ||词汇|资源 ||léxico|recurso Als nächstes kommt die lexikalische Ressource.

This basically means ‘vocabulary'.

This score focuses on your ability to use a wide range of vocabulary accurately. |||||||||||||准确地 Diese Punktzahl konzentriert sich auf Ihre Fähigkeit, ein breites Spektrum an Vokabeln genau zu verwenden.

Third is grammatical range and accuracy. ||语法的|||准确性 Drittens ist der grammatikalische Bereich und die Genauigkeit.

To get a high score here, you need to use a wide range of grammar structures without |||||||||||||||句型|

making mistakes.

Finally, you get a score for pronunciation. ||||||发音 Schließlich erhalten Sie eine Punktzahl für die Aussprache.

This depends both on how clear your pronunciation is, and whether you use features of native |||||||||||||特征|| |||||||||||||características|| Dies hängt sowohl davon ab, wie klar Ihre Aussprache ist, als auch davon, ob Sie Merkmale der Muttersprache verwenden

speech, like natural intonation. |||语调 Sprache, wie natürliche Intonation.

We'll look at these four scores in more detail during this class.

If you want to read the scoring system, you can, and you should! ||||||pontuação|||||| Wenn Sie das Bewertungssystem lesen möchten, können Sie und Sie sollten!

There's a link underneath the video. |||在视频下方|| |||abaixo|| Unter dem Video ist ein Link.

Let's start with your fluency and coherence score, and what you can do to improve it. ||||||连贯性|||||||||

To get band seven in your fluency and coherence score, you need to speak without hesitating ||||||||连贯性|||||||犹豫 Um Stufe sieben in Ihrem Ergebnis für Geläufigkeit und Kohärenz zu erreichen, müssen Sie ohne zu zögern sprechen

much, stay on topic, and use linking words well. |保持||||||连词|

It's okay to hesitate occasionally, for example because you need one or two seconds |||犹豫|偶尔||||||||| Es ist in Ordnung, gelegentlich zu zögern, zum Beispiel, weil Sie ein oder zwei Sekunden brauchen

to remember a word.

However, if you hesitate often, then getting band seven is difficult. |||犹豫|||获得|||| Wenn Sie jedoch oft zögern, ist es schwierig, Band sieben zu bekommen.

‘Linking words' here includes very simple connectors, like and, but or for example. ||||||连接词|||||| ||||||conectores||||||

You don't need to use formal or academic language in your IELTS speaking test.

In fact, it could even hurt your score. |||||prejudicar|| Tatsächlich könnte es sogar Ihre Punktzahl beeinträchtigen.

So, what should you do?

First, identify your biggest weaknesses. Identifizieren Sie zunächst Ihre größten Schwächen.

Here are some common problems which could stop you getting band seven: |||||||||||七

You pause and hesitate a lot when you speak You give short answers. |停||犹豫||||||||| Du machst Pausen und zögerst viel, wenn du sprichst. Du gibst kurze Antworten.

You go off-topic. Du schweifst vom Thema ab.

You speak in short, simple sentences, without using linking words. ||||简单|句子|||| Sie sprechen in kurzen, einfachen Sätzen, ohne verbindende Wörter zu verwenden.

What do you think; what's your number one problem? 你||||||||

It's important to choose one.

To improve, it's better to focus on one thing at a time.

Got an idea?

So, here's what you do.

Choose a common IELTS speaking topic.

Choose one topic and record yourself talking about it for one minute.

Listen to the recording.

Next, check for problems. Suchen Sie als Nächstes nach Problemen.

For example, if you said your biggest weakness is hesitating and pausing, then listen to |||||||||犹豫||停顿||| |||||||fraqueza|||||||

your recording and count the number of times you pause. |||数||||||

Count every time you stop, every time you say ‘um', ‘er' or something like that.

Then, repeat the task, and try to improve.

For example, if you're working on hesitations and pauses, then try to get fewer hesitations ||||||hesitações||||||||

and pauses the second time.

If you're working on giving longer answers, then try to get closer to one minute. Wenn Sie daran arbeiten, längere Antworten zu geben, versuchen Sie, näher an eine Minute heranzukommen.

After you improve your answer, set yourself a new challenge. |||||defina|||| Nachdem Sie Ihre Antwort verbessert haben, stellen Sie sich einer neuen Herausforderung.

For example, you can choose a different topic, or you can try to talk for longer.

Try to talk for two minutes without hesitating, or three.

You might need some help here. Vielleicht brauchen Sie hier Hilfe.

For example, students who go off topic generally don't realise they're going off topic; Zum Beispiel merken Schüler, die vom Thema abschweifen, im Allgemeinen nicht, dass sie vom Thema abschweifen;

that's part of the problem.

In this case, you might need feedback from a friend or a teacher. ||情况下||||||||||

Use of linking words is more difficult to practice by yourself, but here's a simple ||||||||练习|||||| Die Verwendung von Verknüpfungswörtern ist schwieriger zu üben, aber hier ist eine einfache

exercise you can do: write down a list of simple linking words, like this: |||||||||简单||||

Do the same activity: choose a topic and speak for one minute. |||活动||||||||

Try to use all of the linking words on your list.

Listen to your recording, and cross off the linking words when you use them.

If you don't use them all, try again. Wenn Sie nicht alle verwenden, versuchen Sie es erneut.

If you can use them all, make the task more difficult: make your list longer, and try ||||||||任务||||||更长||

to speak for more time.

Practice regularly with different topics, and your fluency should improve. |定期||||||||

Next, what about your vocabulary score?

To get band seven for your vocabulary score in your IELTS speaking test, you need to: ||分数|||||分数||||||||

use vocabulary to talk about different topics, use some less common vocabulary, use collocations, |||||||||||||搭配词组

use register appropriately, and use paraphrase. |使用语域得当|适当地|||改述

Let's see what these things mean!

‘Collocations' are word combinations. 搭配|||组合 Kollokationen sind Wortkombinationen.

For example, think about the word complex. ||||||复杂 Denken Sie zum Beispiel an das Wort Komplex.

What things can be complex? ||||复杂

You could have a complex situation, a complex question, a complex personality, or a complex |||||情况||||||个性|||复杂

idea.

There are others, but that's not the point. Es gibt andere, aber darum geht es nicht.

It's not enough to know a word, like complex, you also need to know how to combine the words Es reicht nicht aus, ein Wort wie Komplex zu kennen, man muss auch wissen, wie man die Wörter kombiniert

you know.

‘Register' means whether the language you use is formal or informal. 语域||是否|||||||| „Anmelden“ bedeutet, ob die von Ihnen verwendete Sprache formell oder informell ist.

In the IELTS speaking test, the most common mistake is trying to speak much too formally. |||||||常见|错误|||||||正式地

If you use words in an unnatural way, it will hurt your score. ||||||不自然|||||| ||||||não natural|||||| Wenn Sie Wörter auf unnatürliche Weise verwenden, wird dies Ihrer Punktzahl schaden.

Your goal is to communicate clearly and naturally, not formally. ||||沟通|||自然地||正式地

Finally, ‘paraphrase' means using a range of language to avoid repetition. |意译|||||||||重复

Let's look at an example.

The examiner asks: Tell me about your free time. Der Prüfer fragt: Erzählen Sie mir von Ihrer Freizeit.

You say:

In my free time, I enjoy reading books.

Whenever I have free time, I like to read different kinds of books, especially historical ||||||||||||||历史的

fiction or fantasy. ||fantasia

I usually have free time at the weekends, so I read books as much as I can.

In many ways, this is a good answer.

However, there's a problem; can you see it?

It's too repetitive. ||重复 Es ist zu repetitiv.

The candidate uses the words free time and read books too much. |候选人||||||||||

Paraphrase means that you use different language to avoid this. 意译||||||||| Paraphrase bedeutet, dass Sie eine andere Sprache verwenden, um dies zu vermeiden.

For example:

In my free time, I enjoy reading books.

Whenever I have some time to myself, I like to sit down with a good book, especially historical

fiction or fantasy.

I don't have to work at the weekends, which lets me read as much as I want.

This answer has the same ideas as the first answer you saw, but it uses a wider range ||||||||||||||||mais amplo|

of language to avoid repetition. ||||重复

So, now you know what you need to do to get band seven for vocabulary.

But, how can you improve?

First, focus on collocations. |||搭配

Most IELTS students who we meet have enough vocabulary to get band seven, but they can't

combine the words they know correctly. |||||正确地

Here's an exercise: read something in English every day. ||练习||||||

It can be anything: a news article, a blog post, part of a story… ||||||文章|||||||

Anything is fine.

In the text, try to find 5-10 new collocations using only words you already know. |||||||搭配|||||| |||||||colocações||||||

The idea is not to learn new words; instead, your goal is to find new ways to use your ||||||||em vez||||||||||

existing vocabulary. 现有|

You can also use a dictionary to find new collocations. |||||||||搭配 |||||||||colocações

For example, imagine that you're reading a news article and you see the phrase energy ||想象||||||文章||||||

use.

You already know the words energy and use, so you learn this collocation. ||||||||||||搭配

Next, look up the word energy in the dictionary, and find 2-3 more collocations, like: ||||||||词典||||搭配|

energy consumption green energy |消费|| |consumo||

conserve energy 节省| conservar| Energie sparen

Keep track of your new collocations using digital flashcard apps like Quizlet or Anki. |||||搭配|||卡片|||Quizlet|| |acompanhe||||||||||||

By improving your knowledge of collocations, you'll be able to use a wider range of vocabulary |提高||||搭配||||||||||

in your IELTS speaking exam, and this will also help you to paraphrase. ||||||||||||改述 in Ihrer IELTS-Sprachprüfung, und dies wird Ihnen auch beim Paraphrasieren helfen.

It's also important to read and listen in English regularly to build your vocabulary, Es ist auch wichtig, regelmäßig Englisch zu lesen und zu hören, um Ihren Wortschatz aufzubauen,

although this is a long process.

Next, what about your grammar score? Als nächstes, was ist mit Ihrer Grammatikpunktzahl?

To get band seven for grammar, you need to do two things. Um Band sieben für Grammatik zu bekommen, müssen Sie zwei Dinge tun.

One: you need to use a range of ‘complex grammatical structures'.

Two: you need to make ‘frequent error-free sentences'. Zweitens: Sie müssen „häufig fehlerfreie Sätze“ bilden.

‘Complex structures' here does not mean that you need to use very formal or academic

language, as we mentioned before.

It means that you need to use different verb tenses, sentence structures, conjunctions Das bedeutet, dass Sie verschiedene Zeitformen, Satzstrukturen und Konjunktionen verwenden müssen

and so on.

For example, imagine the examiner asks you:

What kind of food do you prefer?

You answer:

I prefer Asian food. |喜欢|亚洲的|

I like strong flavours and spicy food, so I particularly like Thai food, Indian food, |||口味||辣||||特别||||| |||sabores|||||||||||

and so on.

I'm quite keen on Japanese food as well. ||喜欢||||| Ich bin auch ziemlich scharf auf japanisches Essen.

I think Indian food is probably my favourite.

This is a good answer in many ways, but it does not have enough grammatical range to ||||||||||||||语法||

get band seven.

Can you see why?

There are four sentences all starting with the same word: I. |||句子||开始|||||

All of the verbs are in the present tense. ||||||现在时|现在|

Also, only one sentence has a conjunction. ||||||连词

To get a higher score, you need to use a wider range of grammar, like this: ||||||||||更广泛|||语法||

I prefer Asian food, such as Thai, Indian, and so on, because I've always been a big |喜欢||||||||||||||| Ich bevorzuge asiatisches Essen, wie Thai, Indisch und so weiter, weil ich schon immer groß war

fan of spicy food with strong flavours. ||||||味道 Fan von scharfem Essen mit starken Aromen.

I tried Japanese food a few weeks ago, and I like it, although I'd say that Indian |尝了||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||embora||||

food is probably my favourite.

Think about two things here.

One: the meaning is the same. Erstens: Die Bedeutung ist dieselbe.

You're expressing the same ideas. |表达|||

Two: you're not using very complicated or formal language. |||||复杂||正式|

What changed? Was hat sich geändert?

We combined the four sentences into two, using words like because and although. |合并|||句子||||词|||| Wir haben die vier Sätze zu zwei kombiniert und dabei Wörter wie weil und obwohl verwendet.

This will also help your fluency and coherence score! |||||流利度||连贯性| Dies wird auch Ihrem Sprachfluss- und Kohärenz-Score helfen!

We've also used a wider range of verb forms, such as the present perfect, ||||更广泛||||时态||||| Wir haben auch eine größere Auswahl an Verbformen verwendet, wie z. B. das Präsens Perfekt,

the past simple, or the modal verb would |||||情态动词||

However, for most IELTS candidates, accuracy is more important for band seven. ||||考生|准确性|||重要||| |||||precisão|||||| Für die meisten IELTS-Kandidaten ist Genauigkeit jedoch für Band sieben wichtiger.

Remember that for band seven, you have to produce ‘frequent error-free sentences'. ||||||||写|频繁|错误||句子 Denken Sie daran, dass Sie für Band sieben „häufige fehlerfreie Sätze“ produzieren müssen.

Think about the words ‘error-free'.

That means no mistakes.

No mistakes with prepositions, no mistakes with the, no mistakes with verb tenses; no |||介词正确|||||||||| Keine Fehler mit Präpositionen, keine Fehler mit dem, keine Fehler mit Zeitformen; nein

mistakes at all, even small ones. Fehler überhaupt, auch kleine.

If you've been studying English for a long time, you probably have some bad habits.

For example:

You forget the ‘s' on 3rd person verbs, so you say ‘she go' instead of ‘she

goes'.

You forget to use past forms, so you use present verbs to talk about the past. |忘||||||||||||||

You make mistakes with prepositions, like using at, in or on to talk about time. ||||介词|||||||||| Du machst Fehler mit Präpositionen, z. B. wenn du at, in oder on verwendest, um über die Zeit zu sprechen.

You use will to talk about everything in the future, instead of using going to or the present |||||||||||||||||现在时

continuous when you need to. 持续||||

These are some of the most common examples, but there are more! |||||||例子|||| Dies sind einige der häufigsten Beispiele, aber es gibt noch mehr!

The point is: you probably make more mistakes than you realise. |观点||||||||| Der Punkt ist: Sie machen wahrscheinlich mehr Fehler, als Ihnen bewusst ist.

To get band seven for IELTS speaking, you need to get rid of these bad habits. |||||||||||摆脱||||

So, what should you do?

First, identify five common mistakes which you make. |找出|五|常见的|||| Identifizieren Sie zunächst fünf häufige Fehler, die Sie machen.

If you don't know, you might need to ask a teacher for feedback. Wenn Sie es nicht wissen, müssen Sie möglicherweise einen Lehrer um Feedback bitten.

Next, choose one mistake to work on, then choose a topic and record yourself speaking, Wählen Sie als Nächstes einen Fehler aus, an dem Sie arbeiten möchten, wählen Sie dann ein Thema und nehmen Sie sich selbst auf.

like you did before.

Choose a topic which fits the grammar you're practicing. Wählen Sie ein Thema, das zu der Grammatik passt, die Sie üben.

For example, if you forget to use past tenses, choose a topic which is about the past. Wenn du zum Beispiel vergisst, Vergangenheitsformen zu verwenden, wähle ein Thema, das sich mit der Vergangenheit befasst.

Listen to the recording and count the mistakes you make.

Only focus on one grammar mistake at one time. Konzentriere dich immer nur auf einen Grammatikfehler.

Repeat until you can speak for one minute without mistakes. 重复|||||||||

Then, try again with a different mistake, or a different topic.

In this way, you can learn to speak more accurately, and get a better IELTS speaking score for |||||||||准确地||||||||

your grammar. |语法

Finally, what about pronunciation? |||发音 Was ist schließlich mit der Aussprache?

To get band seven for pronunciation, you need to be easy to understand and use ‘features |||||发音||||||||||特征 |||||||||||||||características Um Band sieben für die Aussprache zu erhalten, müssen Sie leicht verständlich sein und 'Features' verwenden

of natural speech'. |自然的|语音

What does that mean?

For IELTS, this mostly means: intonation, weak forms, word stress, sentence stress, |||主要||语调|||||| Für IELTS bedeutet dies hauptsächlich: Intonation, schwache Formen, Wortbetonung, Satzbetonung,

and linking.

An important point: your accent does not matter for your IELTS score, so long as you're ||||口音|||||||||||

easy to understand.

You don't have to speak with a British accent or an American accent.

Pronunciation is hard to improve by yourself. 发音|||||| ||||||você mesmo

You need feedback from a professional teacher to work on pronunciation. |||||专业的|老师||||

However, there are some things you can do in your own time.

First, think about the list of pronunciation features we mentioned: |||||||特征||提到

intonation weak forms 语调||

word stress sentence stress

and linking

Do you know what these are?

If not, find out! Wenn nicht, finde es heraus!

There are many resources online to help you. |||资源||||

You can also find many free videos on our website and our channel which can help you ||||||视频|||网站|||||||

to practice these pronunciation points. ||||要点

Next, choose the point you find most difficult, and work on that with your teacher. |||要点|||||||||||

If you can only study by yourself, this will be difficult.

But, here are some tips that could help you: Find English songs, and sing along to them

with the lyrics. ||歌词

Find videos or recordings of famous speeches, and try to copy them. ||||||演讲|||||

This is very good for your intonation and stress. ||||||语调|| Dies ist sehr gut für Ihre Intonation und Betonung.

Find audio sources in English—podcasts, radio shows, YouTube videos—anything will |音频|来源|||播客||||||

do!

Try to copy what you hear with the same accent. |||||||||口音

This isn't because accent matters, but when you copy the accent, you'll hopefully copy |||口音||||||||||

a lot of the natural features as well.

Also, you should make sure you're pronouncing all English sounds correctly. ||||||发音||||正确地

For example, can you pronounce ‘th' sounds, or do you change it to a /d/ or a /z/ sound?

Like everything else, you should first identify which sounds you have problems with.

Practice the sounds with your teacher.

Ask your teacher to correct you every time you make a mistake. ||||纠正|||||||

This way, you'll improve quickly.

Getting band seven in IELTS speaking is not easy! ||||雅思||||

Expect that you'll need to spend a lot of time and effort to get there. 预计|||||||||||努力|||

Good luck with your IELTS tests!

If you already got band seven: how did you do it? |||||七|||||

Do you have any advice to share?

Please tell us in the comments!

Don't forget to visit Oxford Online English.com for more IELTS preparation lessons. |||||||||||备考|

Thanks for watching, and see you next time!