Langujet
    Commencer gratuitement
    All recent IELTS questions
    Speaking Part 1Reported 25 August 2026

    IELTS Speaking Part 1: Science

    The question

    Did you enjoy science at school?

    Do you follow science news?

    How to answer it

    This question has come back: candidates reported it on 7 July 2026, 25 August 2026. Questions that repeat across sittings are the ones worth rehearsing properly.

    Only two questions surfaced in the recall, so expect one or two more on the day. Have a position on school science (which subject and why) and one recent story you can name in a sentence — a mission, a treatment, a climate finding. Specific beats enthusiastic.

    What moves the band

    • School-subject lexis: I got on well with biology, chemistry went over my head, hands-on experiments.

    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

    Did you enjoy science at school? — Yes, I enjoyed it. I liked biology because it was about animals and the human body, and the teacher was very good. Chemistry was more difficult for me because there were many formulas to remember, and I was not very good at it. But in general science was one of my favourite subjects at school.

    Do you follow science news? — Sometimes, not every day. If I see something interesting on the internet or on social media, I read it. For example about space, or about new medicines. But I do not read scientific magazines because they are too difficult for a normal person to understand.

    Why it scores what it scores: Well organised and accurate, with a reason attached to each opinion — comfortably a 6.5. The ceiling is that nothing is specific. Biology is liked because of animals and the human body, and science news is followed for things like space, which is the answer without the content. The plan asks for one story the candidate can name; this answer names none.

    Band 8

    What an 8 sounds like

    Did you enjoy science at school? — Depends which one. I got on well with biology — it felt like it was about things I could actually see — whereas chemistry went completely over my head from about the second year, and I never recovered. Physics I'd have liked if it had been taught by anyone else, honestly. What I did enjoy was the hands-on part, the experiments where something might go wrong, rather than copying results off the board.

    Do you follow science news? — Loosely. I read about the Webb telescope images last year and got slightly obsessed for a week, which is fairly typical of how I follow anything. I wouldn't say I keep up with it properly — I catch the big stories once they've been simplified enough to reach me, and I'm fine with that.

    Why it scores what it scores: The first answer refuses the yes-or-no shape and splits the subject three ways, which produces contrast structures naturally instead of hunting for them. The lexis the plan flags — got on well with, went over my head, hands-on — arrives in context rather than as vocabulary on display. The second answer names one real thing, then qualifies its own claim, which reads as honest rather than rehearsed.

    Phrases worth stealing

    • “I got on well with biology”
    • “chemistry went completely over my head”
    • “the experiments where something might go wrong”
    • “got slightly obsessed for a week”
    • “once they've been simplified enough to reach 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.