IELTS Life Skills A2 practice test 1

Answer questions about yourself, talk about your favourite room, listen to two conversations in a pharmacy and a bus station, and talk about places in your town.

How to use this test. The real test is taken with an examiner and one other candidate, and it lasts up to 20 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.

Phase 1a

The examiner asks you questions

4 to 5 minutes

The 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 do you come from?
Do you work or are you a student?
Where do you live?
What did you do last weekend?
What do you like to do in your free time?

See example answers

What's your name?: My name is Samira Haddad.
Where do you come from?: I come from Lebanon, from a town near the sea.
Do you work or are you a student?: I work part-time in a bakery, and I also study English two evenings a week.
Where do you live?: I live in a flat near the town centre with my husband.
What did you do last weekend?: On Saturday I went shopping, and on Sunday we visited some friends for lunch.
What do you like to do in your free time?: I like reading, and I go for a walk by the river when the weather is good.

Phase 1b

Talk for one minute

6 minutes

You get a topic and one minute to prepare. You then talk for about one minute while your partner listens, and your partner asks you two questions. After that you swap: you listen to your partner and ask two questions.

Your topic

Tell your partner about your favourite room in your home and why you like it.

You could talk about: which room it is, what is in it, what you do there, why you like it.

1:001 minute to prepare. Make notes if you want to

1:00About 1 minute to talk about your topic

Then your partner asks you two questions

A real partner asks about what you said. These are the kind of questions to expect. Answer each one out loud.

How many plants do you have?
What do you watch on television?

See an example answer for your topic

My favourite room is the living room. It is not very big, but it has a large window, so it is light in the morning. There is a blue sofa, a small table and a lot of plants, because I love plants. In the evening my husband and I sit there and watch television or talk about our day. At the weekend I like to read my book on the sofa with a cup of tea. I like this room because it is quiet and comfortable, and I can relax there after work.

Now you listen and ask two questions

Your partner tells you about the weather they like and what they do in it. Listen without reading, then ask two questions about what you heard.

See what your partner said and two example questions

I like sunny weather best. When the sun is out, I feel happy and I have more energy. In summer I go to the park after work, and sometimes I meet my friends there and we have a picnic. I don't like rain very much, because I travel by bicycle and I get wet. But I like snow. Last winter it snowed for two days, and I made a snowman with my children.

What do you take to eat on a picnic?
What do you do when it rains?

Phase 2a

Listen to two conversations

4 minutes

You 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 conversations in different places.

Listen to both recordings. Where are they? In a post office, in a pharmacy or at a bus station?

Phase 2b

Talk with your partner

4 to 5 minutes

You 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 places you go to in your town and why you go there.

4:00About 4 minutes to talk together

If you stop talking, the examiner may ask

Where do you go when you want to relax?
Is there a good place to eat in your town?
Which place in your town do you not like? Why?
What new place would you like in your town?

See an example conversation

YouWhere do you like to go in your town?
PartnerI often go to the library, because it is quiet and I can use the computers. What about you?
YouI prefer the cafe near the station. I meet my friends there on Saturday.
PartnerIs it expensive?
YouNot really. A coffee is two pounds, and the cakes are very good.

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 talked for about one minute on my topic, and gave a reason.
I understood what each recording was about, and the details.
I asked for the question again when I did not understand.

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