IELTS Speaking Part 1: Collecting things
The question
Do you collect things?
Are there any things you have kept from your childhood?
Where do you usually keep the things you collect?
Would you keep old things for a long time? Why?
How to answer it
If you do not collect anything, say so and pivot in the same breath — not deliberately, but I have never thrown away a single ticket stub — because the rest of the set assumes you have something, and a flat no makes the next three questions awkward. The third question is the easiest place in this set to earn marks and the one most candidates waste: describing WHERE things are needs prepositions of place, and accurate prepositions are quietly worth a lot.
What moves the band
- Present perfect is the tense of the second question: I've kept, I've had it since, I've never got rid of.
- Say the specific object, however small. A shoebox of concert tickets beats "some things from my childhood".
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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