IELTS Life Skills B1 sample test 8
Talk about the weather and a place you would like to visit, listen to two messages about a meter reading and a hotel booking, and plan how a friend can improve her English.
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.
Questions with your partner
3 minutesThe 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 the weather here and in your country.
If you stop talking, the examiner may ask
- What is the weather usually like in your country?
- Which season do you like best here? Why?
- How does the weather change what you do at the weekend?
- What was the worst weather you have ever been in?
See an example conversation
- YouWhat is the weather usually like in your country?
- PartnerVery hot and dry for most of the year. When I first came here, I couldn't believe how often it rained. What about yours?
- YouIt's cold in winter, much colder than here, with a lot of snow.
- PartnerSo you must find the winter here quite easy.
- YouThe cold is fine. It's the dark afternoons I don't like.
Talk for one and a half minutes
7 minutesYou 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 place you would like to visit and why.
You could talk about: where it is, how you know about it, what you would do there, why you want to go.
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.
- Who would you like to go with?
- How long would you stay?
- What Scottish food would you like to try?
See an example answer for your topic
The place I'd most like to visit is Edinburgh, in Scotland. I first saw pictures of it in a film, and I loved the old castle on the hill above the city. A colleague of mine went last year and told me that the old town is full of narrow streets, small shops and cafés, so now I want to go even more. If I went, I would take the train, because I've heard the views along the coast are beautiful. I'd like to visit the castle, walk up the hill called Arthur's Seat, and try some traditional Scottish food. I'd prefer to go in August, when there is a big arts festival with music and theatre everywhere. I want to go because I've lived in this country for five years and I've hardly seen any of it.
Now you listen and ask three questions
Your partner tells you about a tradition in their family. Listen without reading, then ask three questions about what you heard.
See what your partner said and three example questions
In my family we have a tradition on the first Friday of every month. Everyone comes to my parents' house for dinner, even my brothers who live in other towns. My mother cooks, and each of us brings one dish too. We don't watch television or look at our phones during the meal. Instead, everyone says one good thing and one difficult thing that happened that month. It started when my grandfather was alive, and we have kept it for nearly twenty years.
- What do you usually bring?
- What happens if someone can't come?
- Will you keep the tradition with your own children?
Listen to two messages
5 minutesYou 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 meter reading, a hotel booking or a football club?
Plan together, then discuss
7 minutesFirst 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
A friend of yours is starting a new job in two months, and she wants to improve her English as quickly as possible.
How should she practise?
- join an evening class
- find a conversation partner
- use a language app every day
Plan and decide
- how much time she needs each week
- who could help her
- how to know she is improving
See an example conversation
- YouWhich do you think would help her most? I'd suggest a conversation partner, because she needs to speak, not just study.
- PartnerMaybe, but she might need grammar too. An evening class would give her both, with a teacher to correct her.
- YouTrue. How about a class two evenings a week, and a conversation partner at the weekend?
- PartnerThat sounds good. My neighbour is retired and loves talking, so she could help.
- YouPerfect. She could record herself every two weeks to hear the difference. So, a class, your neighbour, and a recording to check her progress.
Then talk together
Talk to each other about learning new skills as an adult.
If you stop talking, the examiner may ask
- What is the last new thing you learned?
- Is it harder to learn new things as you get older? Why?
- Do you prefer learning in a class or on your own?
- What would you like to learn in the next few years?
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.