What is your dream job?
A great question for showing future forms and conditionals: "I'd love to…", "if I could…", "I'm hoping to…". The examiner is also listening for a reason that goes beyond money.
It's fine to be realistic, funny or unsure, as long as you explain yourself. "I don't know yet" followed by two possibilities is a perfectly good answer.
Sample answers at 3 bands
Same question, three answers. Read them out loud and notice what changes: not longer words, but more detail, better linking and a bit of you in it.
My dream job is doctor. I want to help people and also doctor has good salary. In my country doctors are respected.
Why it scores Band 5.5: Missing "a" twice ("a doctor", "a good salary"). The reasons are fine but general, and there's no future or conditional grammar.
I'd love to work as an architect, ideally designing schools. The school I went to was a grey concrete box with tiny windows, and I've always thought that if buildings were brighter, kids would actually want to be there. It's a long training, but I'm hoping to start next year.
Why it scores Band 7: A specific job with a personal reason, a second conditional used correctly, and a future plan. Organised and natural.
If money were no object, I'd run a small bookshop with a café in the back, which I'm aware is a terrible business plan. Realistically, I'm aiming for something in publishing. It's the same idea really: spending my days around books and the people who love them, just with a salary attached.
Why it scores Band 8: It contrasts a dream with a realistic plan, uses "if money were no object" and "realistically" naturally, and ends by linking the two. Excellent range and coherence.
Bands are our estimate against the public IELTS Speaking band descriptors. In the real test your band comes from all three parts, not one answer.
The follow-up questions
Part 1 stays on one topic for three or four questions. These are the ones that usually come next.
- Is it difficult to get that job in your country?
- Quite difficult. There are only a few good architecture programmes and they're very competitive. Most people need a year or two of extra preparation just to get in.
- What job did you want to do when you were a child?
- A pilot, like half the boys in my class. I think it was mainly because of the uniform. Then I found out how much maths was involved and changed my mind.
- Is salary the most important thing in a job?
- It matters, of course, but I'd rather earn a bit less and enjoy what I do. You spend most of your waking life at work, so hating it seems like a high price.
- Would you like to work abroad?
- For a few years, yes. I think working in another country teaches you things you can't learn at home, even if it's hard at first. I'd probably want to come back eventually, though.
Words that lift this answer
- if money were no object
- Imagining you could choose without thinking about money.
- job satisfaction
- Enjoying your work.
- a nine-to-five job
- A regular office job.
- I'm aiming for / hoping to
- Natural ways to talk about future plans.
- a competitive field
- A job area where many people want few places.
- work my way up
- Start at a low level and gradually get promoted.
Mistakes that cost marks here
- "My dream job is doctor". Say "to be a doctor" or "being a doctor".
- Only talking about salary. Add one reason about the work itself.
- "If I will become a doctor". After "if", use present for a real future ("if I become") or past for a dream ("if I became").
Reading answers won't move your band. Saying them will.
Take a full Cambridge Speaking test: the examiner's questions are played out loud, you answer, and you get a band for fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. 10 free corrections a day.