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    Speaking Part 1Reported 25 August 2026

    IELTS Speaking Part 1: Mirrors

    The question

    Do you often look at yourself in mirrors?

    Have you ever bought a mirror?

    How to answer it

    This question has come back: candidates reported it on 23 July 2026, 25 August 2026. Questions that repeat across sittings are the ones worth rehearsing properly.

    An odd-object topic, and odd objects are where candidates freeze. The trick is to answer the literal question in one line and then move to habit or context: when you check a mirror, why you would ever shop for one, what you noticed about the one in your hallway.

    What moves the band

    • Frequency language does the work: only in passing, first thing in the morning, hardly ever, out of habit.

    Two answers, two bands

    Both answers below respond to this exact question. Read them in order: the difference between them is what a band is actually made of. They are written by us for this page — they are not candidate transcripts.

    Band 6.5

    What a 6.5 sounds like

    Do you often look at yourself in mirrors? — Yes, I look at myself in the mirror every day, usually in the morning when I am getting ready. I check my hair and my clothes before I leave the house. I think it is a normal habit and most people do it, especially before an important meeting or an interview.

    Have you ever bought a mirror? — No, I have never bought a mirror myself. The mirrors in my flat were already there when I moved in. Maybe in the future, if I have my own house, I will buy one for the bedroom, because I think a big mirror makes a room look larger.

    Why it scores what it scores: Clear, accurate and on topic, which is why it sits at 6.5 rather than lower. What holds it there is that every sentence is the expected one: getting ready, checking hair, a mirror makes a room look larger. The plan asks the candidate to move from the literal answer to habit or context; this answer stays on the literal question and pads it out with generalisations about what most people do.

    Band 8

    What an 8 sounds like

    Do you often look at yourself in mirrors? — Only in passing, really. There's one by the front door and I glance at it on the way out, mostly to check I haven't got toothpaste on my collar. I'm not someone who stands and studies himself — I find that faintly unnerving, actually. The one place I do look properly is a changing room, and even then it's the clothes I'm looking at rather than me.

    Have you ever bought a mirror? — Never, and I've just realised how strange that is, given I'm thirty. Every mirror I've ever used came with the flat. I suppose it's one of those objects you inherit rather than choose. If I did buy one I'd want something old with a bit of foxing in the glass, not the enormous frameless things everyone puts in hallways now.

    Why it scores what it scores: The first answer refuses the frequency question a straight yes and instead grades it — only in passing, glance, not someone who stands and studies himself — which is exactly the frequency language the tips call for, used rather than listed. The second answer does the harder thing: it notices something about the question mid-sentence and follows the thought, which produces natural self-correction and a genuinely specific preference at the end.

    Phrases worth stealing

    • “Only in passing, really”
    • “I'm not someone who stands and studies himself”
    • “it's one of those objects you inherit rather than choose”
    • “something old with a bit of foxing in the glass”

    These are candidate recalls. These are questions reported by test-takers after their exams, not official or leaked IELTS material. Wording varies by test version, location and memory. Use them for timed practice — never as a prediction of what you will be asked.

    Practise these next

    Know the number. Now move it.

    A conversion table tells you where you stand today. Langujet's AI marks your writing and speaking against the real rubric and tells you exactly which criterion is holding your score down.