IELTS Speaking Part 1 questions and answers 2026

Usually about ten to twelve, over four to five minutes. The examiner starts with an introduction and questions on your work, study, hometown or home, then asks three or four short questions on each of two everyday topics.

Work or study, your hometown and your home come first in almost every test. After that, everyday topics such as hobbies, food, music, friends, weather, transport and technology recur, in new wording each season.

In two or three sentences: a direct answer, a reason and one detail or example. Keep it natural; one-word answers cost fluency marks and memorised speeches are marked down.

Part 1 is not scored on its own. Your whole Speaking test gets one band from four criteria: fluency and coherence, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.