IELTS Life Skills A1 sample test 6
Answer questions about yourself, ask your partner about their home town, listen to two people talking about someone they know, and talk about the people in your street.
How to use this test. The real test is taken with an examiner and one other candidate, and it lasts up to 18 minutes. Practise with a friend if you can. If you are alone, speak your answers out loud and use the buttons to hear the examiner and your partner. The listening task is marked for you. The speaking tasks are not marked, so compare yourself with the example answers.
The examiner asks you questions
4 to 5 minutesThe examiner asks you and your partner some questions in turn. Press a button to hear a question, then answer it out loud.
- What's your name?
- Where are you from?
- How long have you lived here?
- Who do you live with?
- What do you like to eat?
- What colour is your coat?
See example answers
- What's your name?
- My name is Fatima Bello.
- Where are you from?
- I am from Nigeria.
- How long have you lived here?
- I have lived here for one year.
- Who do you live with?
- I live with my husband and my mother.
- What do you like to eat?
- I like rice and fish.
- What colour is your coat?
- It is blue.
Ask your partner questions
5 minutesThe examiner gives you a topic. You have a minute and a half to think of questions, and you can write them down. Then you ask your partner your questions for up to two minutes. After that, your partner asks you about a different topic.
The examiner says
Ask your partner about his or her home town.
See example questions you could ask
- Where is your home town?
- Is it big or small?
- What is the weather like there?
- What can you do there?
- Do you miss it?
Now your partner asks you
Your partner asks you about your English lessons. Press a button to hear a question, then answer it out loud.
- When do you study English?
- Where do you study?
- Is English easy for you?
- What do you like about English?
See example answers
- When do you study English?
- I study on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
- Where do you study?
- I study at the library in the town centre.
- Is English easy for you?
- No, it is not easy, but I like it.
- What do you like about English?
- I like learning new words.
Listen to two recordings
4 minutesYou hear two short recordings. First you answer one question about each, choosing from three options. Then you hear both again and answer two questions about one of them. Here you answer the questions on both.
You hear two people talking about someone they know.
Listen to both recordings. Who are they talking about? A friend, a teacher or a neighbour?
Talk with your partner
3 to 4 minutesYou and your partner talk together. Ask your partner questions and answer theirs. The examiner only helps if the conversation stops.
The examiner says
Talk to each other about the people in your street or town.
If you stop talking, the examiner may ask
- Do you know your neighbours?
- Who do you talk to in your street?
- Is your street quiet or noisy?
- Do you have friends near your home?
See an example conversation
- YouDo you know your neighbours?
- PartnerYes, I know the family next door. They are very nice. Do you?
- YouNot very well. I say hello in the morning.
- PartnerIs your street quiet?
- YouNo, it is noisy. There are a lot of cars.
Check yourself
You get a pass or a fail, not a band. Ask yourself whether you did these things:
- I answered every question in a full sentence.
- I asked my partner questions, and did not only answer.
- I understood what each recording was about, and the details.
- I asked for the question again when I did not understand.