IELTS Speaking Part 2 Time Management Techniques provides a clear understanding how to plan the long talk. It’s your turn. The examiner has given you the topic card and 1 minute to think about your response. That’s correct, the nightmare has just been made a reality. I don’t know about you but trying to think of a good response, plan, prepare, and organize it all in 60 seconds is one tough task. That is what you have to do. Every cloud has a silver lining and here’s a proven technique to master the time management needed for that important 1 minute preparation.
Let’s have a look at a typical IELTS Part 2 topic question.
Describe a place that you would like to travel to
You should say:
where you want to go
how you would get there
who you would like to go with
And talk about why you would like to go to this place
Straight forward question, right? It’s something we think about all the time and it’s probably a conversation you have with friends often. However, if you had to think deeply about all these sub-questions in 1 minute, the added pressure of doing so in such a restricted amount of time is a barrier. Not only that, you need to make notes about these sub-questions in order to recall them while speaking. Remember, you need to speak between 1 to 2 minutes so we need to develop a good plan. To deliver an exceptional talk, we need a good plan and that starts with brilliant time management skills.
Time Management
What is time management? In a nutshell, time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Too technical? Well, in other words, good time management is allowing enough time to get things done properly and effectively. There is only 1 minute to prepare a plan for this topic and in that 1 minute you need to do the following;
- read the question
- understand the question
- make a plan for each prompt
- organize your plan
That is a lot to do in 1 minute especially under the added pressure of a speaking examination. Let’s look at how to handle the time management and make an effective plan in 1 minute.
Make the Plan
Let’s read this question. The clock starts now, so go on and read.
Describe a place that you would like to travel to
You should say:
where you want to go
how you would get there
who you would like to go with
And talk about why you would like to go to this place
How did you do? Click here and see if your time is similar to mine TIME. It takes on average 12 to 14 seconds to read this question carefully by a native speaker. Non-native speakers use more time between 14 to 17 seconds. Subtracting that from the 60 seconds you had at the beginning now leaves you with around 45 seconds to make a plan. Here are some things that you should do when making your plan.
- choose a topic that you know
- use keywords
- use abbreviations
- add extra “Wh” question words
- Answer each prompt before adding more detail
Here’s a further explanation of these key tips. Keep in mind that each IELTS Part 2 topic will be different but the main principles apply across the board.
Choose a Topic That You Know
So many candidates choose topics that they are not familiar with or are not comfortable talking about. They do so because they think they need to choose something exciting or interesting. That’s not the purpose of the IELTS speaking exam. Candidates need to demonstrate his or her ability to effectively communicate in English not to entertain. Therefore, choose a topic wisely. Most candidates are taking the exam for a purpose and that it’s usually for international studies. Why not choose the country you are planning to study in over a tropical location that you probably don’t know very much about? This is the most crucial element of the plan. You need a solid topic that you can expand on.
Use Keywords
I’ll let you in on a little secret. You don’t need to write complete sentences, so don’t! Keywords are like bullets that guide you throughout your talk. Use these keywords only as a guide. You need to demonstrate effective speaking skills and you won’t be doing that looking down reading off a piece of paper. Besides, if you write out complete sentences, you’ll end up wasting all your preparation time. As you make your plan, write down 1 or 2 words as reference for your talk. The video tutorial later in this article will show how to make an effective plan using time management and keywords. Keywords will help you prepare the plan quickly allowing you to answer each prompt.
Use Abbreviations
I teach this technique to all my students with brilliant results. So much time is lost writing out complete words when you really don’t need to. Why? You know the answer. Look at this situation. Prompt 3 asks who you would like to go with. Can you imagine writing Montgomery MacGeoghagan as your friend’s name? That alone would exhaust a lot of time. However, if you just jotted down M M, you can move on to a different point a lot quicker. Abbreviations is a time saving technique so use them when making your plan.
Add Extra “Wh” Question Words
You need to speak for 1 to 2 minutes and if you only rely on the prompt, you’ll probably fall short of that requirement. In a later article, I will explain how to deliver an effective talk using extra “Wh” question words. For this explanation, let me mention that it’s very important to expand on your speaking. For example, Prompt 1 – “Where you want to go?” can be expanded like this;
Where? England
Where specifically? London
When? Autumn
Why? Nice weather
Where? England
Where specifically? London
When? Autumn
Why? Nice weather
You don’t need to expand quite like this but it gives you an idea on how to develop a thorough response.
Answer Each Prompt Before Adding More Detail
Sometimes candidates focus too much attention on one specific prompt and end up running out of time. Once the examiner asks you to begin speaking, you need to do so. I’ve always stressed the importance of completing all the prompts before adding more details for a couple of reasons. First, it helps to develop organization. Your response needs to be organized and if you’ve had a chance to think about each prompt during the preparation time, the organization will show. Secondly, it will save you during your response. When you have finished speaking about one particular prompt, you can look down at your plan and more on. If you’ve missed a prompt or two because you spent too much time on the previous ones, you might not have anything to talk about. The video tutorial explains this more in detail.
Let’s take a look at a video that shows just how to make an effective plan using all the tips and techniques mentioned.
IELTS Speaking Part 2 Time Management Techniques
Hope these IELTS Speaking Part 2 Time Management Techniques tips helped you out. In a later article, I'll demonstrate how to expand the IELTS Part 2 long talk so that it reaches two minutes. Any comments or suggestions are always welcomed.
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