IELTS Speaking Part 1: Are You A Student or Are You Working?

You need to show your range of language if you are going to score highly in IELTS, and this lesson explains how to do this: Answering Part-1 Questions

We can practice the ideas outlined in that lesson with the most common Part-1 questions and try to improve some real answers given by a student.

The corrected answers should yield at least a band 7, as long as they are delivered in clearly pronounced and fairly fluent English.

Are you a student or are you working?

I’m working right now. I quit being a student several years ago. I work for a construction consultant company. I ~~work~~ have been working there for the last 3 years. I am a civil engineer.

The answer is weak, and it can be improved. Remember that when answering Part-1 questions, try to focus on one idea only, but expand that single idea with lots of sentence/grammar patterns and vocabulary. Otherwise your speaking will be lots of short and simple sentences, like the answer above.

Idea

“Working as a civil engineer in a consultancy for 3 years”.

Vocabulary

graduated; be hired/recruited; be employed; consultancy
Conversation phrases / idioms: to cut a long story short

Grammar

Clauses: try to use the adjective clause: ___ where ___
Perfect tense

So let’s try to expand the above answer into something better:

Well, to cut a long story short, soon after I graduated I was recruited as a civil engineer in a consultancy, where I’ve been employed for three years.

Let’s try again:

What’s the main difficulty in your job?

It’s a bit complicated. My major responsibility is to build up virtual models by way of computer programming. And these computer simulations are to simulate the mechanical behavior of buildings under real construction. But sometimes when things don’t follow my prediction and go wrong I ~~will fell~~ feel frustrated.

Will you continue to work in your field? Why?

I firmly believe the answer is yes. Despite the frustration I mentioned, I can get a sense of achievement through my job. When I finish a design or the layouts of ~~the~~ a building, and especially when the construction is done. (this sentence is not a sentence – just a clause) I can visually see a 3-dimension building jumping up from my 2-dimension design. It’s great, really.

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About Paul Davey

I’m Paul from Bristol, England. I am an IELTS tutor available for face-to-face classes in Taipei and Skype classes anywhere in the world. I'm based in Yonghe, New Taipei City — very close to Taipei. I have been teaching for many years and I am good at it. I’m patient and never tire of correcting students’ mistakes. I know many good ways for students to learn quickly and make a lot of progress in a short time. You won’t be wasting your money. I especially know the difficulties faced by Chinese speakers, and I know how to overcome these difficulties. IELTS is my primary concern and over the years I have taught hundreds of students in the UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other spots around the world. I know what the examiners look for and I know how to increase your band and get the grade you need to make your dream come true. I have been blogging about IELTS for about a decade. I started my first website in 2007, before beginning to blog at IELTS Tutor on the Hello UK website. Now I blog only at IELTS in Taiwan and Around the World. I majored in Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, UK, graduating with a bachelor’s degree (2/1 with honours). I obtained my language-teaching qualification in 2006, which is accredited by the Royal College of Teachers. Before I began teaching, I worked in a software company in the UK, writing and selling software solutions. After teaching for many years I took a five-year break to run my own retailing business. Following that adventure, I returned to full-time teaching. For the last 11 years, I’ve been in Taiwan, where in addition to my IELTS work, I have taught corporate classes at Taipei Bank, Pfizer, and Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC, Taiwan). I have interests in many fields including travel, literature, science and history.

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