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    Speaking Part 1Reported 6 August 2026

    IELTS Speaking Part 1: Music

    The question

    Do many people like music?

    What music do you listen to?

    Is music difficult to learn?

    Did you have music lessons at school?

    How to answer it

    Name genres and one artist rather than saying 'all kinds of music', which is the single most common Part 1 answer in the world. The school-lessons question is in the past — one clean past-simple answer with a detail (a recorder nobody could play) is enough.

    What moves the band

    • Taste lexis: I'm into, I've got a soft spot for, it's not really my thing, on repeat.
    • Difficulty lexis: it's a slog at first, picking it up by ear, it takes years to get anywhere.

    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 many people like music? — Yes, of course. I think music is popular all over the world and everybody listens to music, especially young people.

    What music do you listen to? — I listen to all kinds of music. It depends on my mood. Sometimes I listen to pop music, sometimes rock, and when I am studying I prefer something calm and relaxing.

    Is music difficult to learn? — I think it is quite difficult, because you need a lot of practice and patience. Some people have a natural talent, but for other people it takes many years to play an instrument well.

    Did you have music lessons at school? — Yes, we had music lessons in primary school. We learned some songs and a little bit about famous composers, but it was not a serious subject.

    Why it scores what it scores: Well controlled and appropriately brief, and the last answer handles the past tense cleanly. The second answer is the problem, and the plan names it as the most common Part 1 answer in the world: all kinds of music, then three genres with no artist, no song and no reason. It is the one question in the set where the candidate could have said something only they would say, and it produces the least.

    Band 8

    What an 8 sounds like

    Do many people like music? — I'd say almost everyone does, though I think people mean very different things by it. Some listen properly, sitting down, and most of us just use it as furniture — something to fill a commute.

    What music do you listen to? — Mostly older stuff, which makes me sound insufferable. A lot of Turkish psychedelic rock from the seventies, Selda Bağcan especially, and then completely without warning I'll play the same three sad songs for a week. My friends have given up trying to predict it.

    Is music difficult to learn? — Difficult to start, I think, and brutal to get properly good at. The first few months of any instrument sound terrible and there's nothing to enjoy yet, which is where most people quit — including me, twice, with the guitar.

    Did you have music lessons at school? — We did, and they were mostly recorder. Thirty children, thirty recorders, one exhausted teacher. I don't think anybody learned anything, but it was very loud.

    Why it scores what it scores: The second answer refuses the all-kinds-of-music trap and names one artist, which instantly gives the examiner something to follow up. Self-deprecation does structural work here — quitting the guitar twice is a concession that makes the third answer specific rather than general. The final answer is a comic image in three short sentences and still answers the question that was asked.

    Phrases worth stealing

    • “most of us just use it as furniture”
    • “which makes me sound insufferable”
    • “The first few months of any instrument sound terrible and there's nothing to enjoy yet”
    • “Thirty children, thirty recorders, one exhausted teacher”
    • “I don't think anybody learned anything, but it was very loud”

    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.

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