IELTS Speaking Part 1: Questions, Format and How to Answer (2026)

What happens in Part 1

The examiner checks your identity, then asks questions from a script. The first set is almost always about you: do you work or study, where do you live, what's your hometown like. After that come two more short topic sets, usually three or four questions each.

You can't choose the topics and you can't ask for a different question. What you can do is ask the examiner to repeat a question you didn't catch. That costs you nothing.

The whole Speaking test runs 11 to 14 minutes across three parts. Part 1 is the warm-up, but it's still scored, and a nervous first two minutes is where plenty of candidates quietly lose half a band.

How long should a Part 1 answer be?

Two or three sentences. Around 15 to 25 seconds.

One-word answers give the examiner nothing to score. A 90-second monologue about your hometown eats the time they need for the other topics, and they'll cut you off, which rattles most people. Aim for the middle.

Here's a shape that works for almost every question:

• Answer the question directly. "Yes, most days."
• Reason: why? "I commute by train, so it's the only quiet time I get."
• Detail: one small, real specific. "At the moment I'm halfway through a crime novel my sister lent me."

Think of it like a text message to a friend who asked a question. You wouldn't send one word, and you wouldn't send an essay.

Topics candidates reported this month

IELTS doesn't publish its question bank. These are topics recent candidates reported after their test, with the questions as they remembered them. Each page shows who reported it, when, and how exact the wording is, plus an answer plan.

• Study and work: Do you study or work?
• Hometown: Where is your hometown?
• Home: Do you live in a house or a flat?
• Neighbourhood: How long have you lived there?
• Reading: Do you prefer reading on paper or on a screen?
• Music: Do many people like music?
• Watches: Do you wear a watch?
• Mirrors: Do you often look at yourself in mirrors?
• Science: Did you enjoy science at school?
• Walking: Do you remember a long walk in your childhood?
• Social media: When did you start to use social media?
• Sleep: How many hours do you sleep?

The full, dated list lives on the recent IELTS questions page. Several of the topics above include two written sample answers at different bands, so you can see exactly what the extra band is made of.

What the examiner is actually scoring

Every part of the Speaking test is marked on the same four criteria, each worth a quarter of your band:

• Fluency and Coherence: can you keep going without long pauses, and do your ideas connect?
• Lexical Resource: do you have the words for everyday topics, and can you get around a word you don't know?
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy: a mix of simple and complex sentences, mostly without errors.
• Pronunciation: can the examiner understand you without effort?

Notice what's missing: being right, being interesting, having a clever opinion. "I don't really like music, honestly" is a perfectly good start to a band 8 answer. Just keep talking.

Five Part 1 mistakes that cost marks

1. Memorised answers

Examiners hear the same "my hometown is a bustling metropolis with a rich cultural heritage" dozens of times a week. A memorised answer sounds memorised: flat rhythm, words you'd never use in conversation. It can pull your score down, not up. Prepare ideas, not scripts.

2. Answering a different question

"Do you like cooking?" is a yes/no question. Answer it first. Candidates who launch straight into a prepared paragraph about food often never actually say yes or no.

3. Repeating the question back

"Do I like cooking? Yes, I like cooking." Once is fine. Every time, and it starts to sound like a stalling tactic. Start with the answer.

4. Freezing on an unfamiliar topic

Never worn a watch? Say so, and tell them why. "Not really, my phone does the job" is a complete, natural answer. There's no wrong answer about your own life.

5. Forcing big words

Rare vocabulary only helps when it fits. "I'm quite fond of" works. "I'm an ardent aficionado of" about a sandwich does not. Natural beats impressive.

How to practise Part 1 in 15 minutes a day

1. Pick one topic from the list above.
2. Record yourself answering its questions, out loud, no notes.
3. Listen back once. Mark any answer under two sentences or over forty seconds.
4. Redo just those answers.

Want someone to mark it? IELTS Speaking practice on Langujet gives you an AI band estimate on all four criteria, with notes on fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation. When you're ready for the whole thing, sit a full IELTS mock test and see where Speaking sits against your other skills.

Next up in the test: the cue card. Read the Part 2 guide, then the Part 3 discussion guide.