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IELTS Life Skills B1 sample test 6

Talk about learning English and a celebration you enjoyed, listen to two messages about a school evening and a car service, and plan how to keep your street clean.

How to use this test. The real test is taken with an examiner and one other candidate, and it lasts up to 22 minutes. Practise with a friend if you can: one of you is the partner. 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

Questions with your partner

3 minutes

The examiner first asks each of you your name, where you come from and how long you have lived here. Then you and your partner ask each other questions for two minutes.

The examiner says

Find out from each other about learning English and how you practise it.

2:002 minutes to ask and answer questions

If you stop talking, the examiner may ask

  • How long have you been learning English?
  • What is the most difficult thing about English for you?
  • How do you practise English outside your class?
  • Do you think it is easier to learn a language as a child? Why? Why not?
See an example conversation
  • YouHow do you practise English outside your class?
  • PartnerI watch the news on television with subtitles, and I try to talk to the other parents at my son's school. What about you?
  • YouI listen to the radio in the car. At first I understood nothing, but now I can follow most of it.
  • PartnerWhat do you find most difficult?
  • YouPhone calls. When I can't see the person's face, it is much harder to understand.
Phase 1b

Talk for one and a half minutes

7 minutes

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

Your topic

Tell your partner about a celebration or festival you enjoyed.

You could talk about: what the celebration was, where and when it was, who was there, why you enjoyed it.

1:001 minute to prepare. Make notes if you want to
1:301½ minutes to talk about your topic

Then your partner asks you three questions

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

  • How did you travel to your home town?
  • What did you wear to the wedding?
  • Have you been to a wedding in this country?
See an example answer for your topic

I'm going to tell you about my niece's wedding, which was in my home town two years ago. It was the first time my whole family had been together for nearly ten years, because many of us now live in different countries. The celebration lasted three days. On the first evening, the women met at my sister's house to paint their hands with henna and sing traditional songs. The wedding itself was in a large hall with more than three hundred guests, and there was so much food that we were still eating it a week later. What I enjoyed most was seeing my grandmother, who is ninety, dancing with my niece. Everybody was laughing and some people were crying. I enjoyed it because it reminded me how important family is, even when we live far apart.

Now you listen and ask three questions

Your partner tells you about a place in this country they have visited. Listen without reading, then ask three questions about what you heard.

See what your partner said and three example questions

Last summer I went to the Lake District with my husband and our two boys. We stayed in a small cottage for four days. Every day we walked in the hills, and one day we took a boat across one of the lakes. The views were beautiful, much greener than I expected. The weather changed all the time, so we were wet, then dry, then wet again, but the boys didn't mind. In the evenings we played cards and cooked together. I'd like to go back in the autumn.

  • How did you get there?
  • Was the cottage expensive?
  • What did the boys enjoy most?
Phase 2a

Listen to two messages

5 minutes

You hear two short recordings. First you say what each one is about, 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 messages left on the phone.

Listen to both recordings. What is each message about? A parents' evening, a car service or a council tax bill?

Phase 2b

Plan together, then discuss

7 minutes

First you and your partner plan something together for two minutes. Then you talk together about a related topic for about four minutes. The examiner only joins in if the conversation stops.

The planning task

There is a lot of rubbish in your street, and the neighbours want to make it cleaner.

What should the neighbours do?

  • organise a clean-up day
  • ask the council for more bins
  • put up signs about litter

Plan and decide

  • when to do it
  • who can help
  • how to tell the other neighbours
2:002 minutes to choose one and plan the details
See an example conversation
  • YouWhat do you think we should do? I'd choose a clean-up day, because we could do it ourselves and quickly.
  • PartnerThat's true, but the rubbish will come back if there aren't enough bins. Maybe we should ask the council first.
  • YouGood point. We could do both. Let's have the clean-up on a Sunday morning, when most people are at home.
  • PartnerWho can help? I'm sure the children would enjoy it, if their parents come too.
  • YouLet's put a letter through every door. So we agree: a clean-up on a Sunday, a letter to everyone, and an email to the council about bins.

Then talk together

Talk to each other about keeping your area clean and pleasant.

4:00About 4 minutes to talk together

If you stop talking, the examiner may ask

  • Is your area cleaner or dirtier than when you first came?
  • Who should keep streets clean, the council or the people who live there?
  • Do you recycle at home? Why? Why not?
  • What would make your area a nicer place to live?

Check yourself

You get a pass or a fail, not a band. Ask yourself whether you did these things:

  • I asked my partner questions, and did not only answer.
  • I kept talking for the full minute and a half on my topic.
  • I gave reasons for my opinions, with words like because and so.
  • I talked about the past and the future, not only the present.
  • I listened to my partner and replied to what they said.
  • I understood the main point and the details of both messages.
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