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    Speaking Part 1Reported 12 August 2026

    IELTS Speaking Part 1: Your neighbourhood

    The question

    How long have you lived there?

    How has your city changed in recent years?

    Do you know your neighbours?

    What in your area needs improvement?

    Are there any famous people from your area?

    Do you intend to stay there?

    How to answer it

    This question has come back: candidates reported it on 16 July 2026, 12 August 2026. Questions that repeat across sittings are the ones worth rehearsing properly.

    The recall gives the topics rather than verbatim wording, so practise the topic, not the sentences. The 'needs improvement' question is the reliable one across every version of this set — have two specifics ready (parking, green space, a crossing nobody uses) rather than a general complaint.

    What moves the band

    • 'How long have you lived there' wants the present perfect: I've been living here for about six years.
    • City-change lexis: it's become a lot more built-up, they've pedestrianised, rents have gone through the roof.

    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

    How long have you lived there? — I live there for about six years. Before that I lived with my parents in another district.

    How has your city changed in recent years? — It has changed a lot. There are many new buildings and also more cars, so there is a lot of traffic now.

    Do you know your neighbours? — I know a few of them, the family next to my flat. We say hello but we are not close friends.

    What in your area needs improvement? — I think we need more parking, because it is very difficult to find a place for the car in the evening.

    Are there any famous people from your area? — I am not sure. Maybe there is a footballer but I do not know his name.

    Do you intend to stay there? — Maybe yes for some years, but in the future I would like to move to a bigger city for my job.

    Why it scores what it scores: Two things hold this at 6.5. The opening answer uses the present simple where the question demands the present perfect — a small error, but it is the exact structure that question exists to test, so it is expensive. And the famous-people answer gives up: not knowing is fine, but a band 8 candidate does something with the not-knowing instead of stopping.

    Band 8

    What an 8 sounds like

    How long have you lived there? — I've been living there for about six years now, since I finished university.

    How has your city changed in recent years? — It's become a lot more built-up, mostly. They've pedestrianised the centre, which everyone complained about and everyone now uses, and rents have gone through the roof.

    Do you know your neighbours? — One of them properly, the rest to nod at. There's an older man downstairs who takes in everybody's parcels, and I think he's the reason the building functions at all.

    What in your area needs improvement? — Two things. Parking is the obvious one, but the real problem is a crossing near the school that's on a blind corner — people have been asking the council to move it for years.

    Are there any famous people from your area? — None that I can name, which probably tells you something about the area. There's a plaque on a house near the park, but I've walked past it a hundred times and never stopped to read it.

    Do you intend to stay there? — For now. I'd say I'll leave when the rent finally makes the decision for me.

    Why it scores what it scores: The present perfect lands first time, and the change question uses the lexis the plan flags without sounding like a list. The improvement answer does what separates the bands: it names the obvious thing, sets it aside, and gives a specific one behind it. Even the famous-people answer, where the candidate genuinely knows nothing, turns into something — which is the skill Part 1 is really testing.

    Phrases worth stealing

    • “I've been living there for about six years now”
    • “It's become a lot more built-up”
    • “rents have gone through the roof”
    • “One of them properly, the rest to nod at”
    • “I'll leave when the rent finally makes the decision for me”

    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.