What if you don't know the answer in IELTS Speaking?
No criterion rewards being right or well informed. When you don't know, your job is to keep producing language worth marking.
So unfamiliar topics are part of the test design, and coping with them separates the bands. Even at band 9, pausing to decide what to say is acceptable; pausing to find words is what marks you down. A short thinking pause is fine. Silence is not.
Three ways to meet a question you know nothing about
| What you do | What the examiner can mark |
|---|---|
| Say nothing, or “Sorry, I don't know.” | Almost nothing: no grammar range, no vocabulary, no development. |
| Apologise in circles: “Hmm, very difficult question, I don't know…” | Repetition and hesitation, which pull Fluency and coherence down. |
| Admit it in one clause, then reason towards a guess | A full turn: hedging, conditionals, linking and a conclusion. |
BandLadder illustration.
Three honest moves for a Part 3 question you've never thought about
Notice speculate. Part 3 invites you to think out loud about things you are unsure of, so a question you have never considered is the task, not a trap. These three moves are BandLadder advice for doing it honestly.
Admit, shrink, reason
- 1
Admit it in one clause. Say honestly that it is new to you, then bridge straight on: “That's new to me, but my first instinct is…”. One clause only. The bridge matters more than the admission.
- 2
Shrink it to what you know. Pull the big, abstract topic down to something you have seen: your town, a relative's job, a news story, a similar situation. Reasoning from the familiar gives you real vocabulary.
- 3
Reason out loud to a guess. Work through it with hedges and conditions (“I'd guess…”, “if that's the case, then…”, “on the other hand…”) and land on a tentative conclusion. A guess with reasons is a complete answer.
Unfamiliar Part 3 questions: worked examples
Honestly, it's not something I've ever thought about, but I'll have a go.admit I suppose it's a bit like protecting old buildings, just on a smaller scale.shrink In my town there's a bakery with a hand-painted signshrink that must be fifty years old, and people use it to give directions, so I'd guess signs like that become part of how a place feels.reason If that's the case, losing them would make streets look more alike. That said, if the shop closes, I can't see why a new owner should have to keep someone else's name above the door. So on balance, I'd protect the best ones rather than every single sign.guess
- → No facts about heritage rules: everything is reasoned from old buildings and one street the speaker knows.
- → “If that's the case”, “That said” and “on balance” add conditions and contrast without expert knowledge.
That's a question I've never been asked before!admit I'd guess it's partly about memory. A name like that is much easier to remember than a number or a date, a bit like how we remember a teacher's name but not the room they taught inshrink. And if people remember the name, they probably pay more attention to the warnings.reason Maybe it also makes a storm feel more real, more like a threat coming towards you. I'm not sure that's the whole reason, though.hedge It might simply be tradition.
- → A classroom comparison makes an unfamiliar topic familiar in one sentence.
Don't know the answer in Part 1 or Part 2?
Part 1 asks about familiar topics (home, work, studies, interests), and in Part 2 you “think about your own experiences” (ielts.org format page). So here the gap is usually experience, not knowledge. The same moves apply, in a shorter turn.
✗ Part 1, “Have you ever tried archery?”: “No, never.”
✓ “No, never, though I'd love to. The closest I've come is darts at a friend's birthday, and I was hopeless, so I suspect archery would humble me too.”
Admit, then shrink to the nearest experience you do have. Two sentences, a past story and a speculation, with no lying needed.
✗ Part 2, “Describe a useful law in your country”: “I don't know about laws… maybe… there are many laws… I am not sure.”
✓ “I'm no expert on law, so I'll pick an everyday one I follow myself: wearing a seatbelt in the back of a car…”
Shrink the card to your own life: it asks what you think, not what a lawyer knows. Practise this on unusual IELTS cue cards.
✗ “Can I have a different question, please?”
✓ “Sorry, could you say that again?” (only if you didn't hear or understand it)
BandLadder advice: asking for a repeat when you missed the words is natural conversation. Asking to swap a question you understood only wastes speaking time.
Mistakes that cost more than not knowing
| Mistake | Why it costs marks | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Going silent while you search for an idea | Nothing to mark; long pauses are a low-band Fluency feature. | Think out loud: “Let me think… I suppose…” |
| The same escape phrase for every question | It sounds memorised. | A short admission in your own words. |
| “I don't know” as a full answer | Three words show no range in any criterion. | Use it as a starting clause and bridge with “but”. |
BandLadder advice.
Rehearse thinking out loud: answer one strange question a day, unprepared, in under a minute, and record it. BandLadder AI scores IELTS speaking with a band for each criterion, so you can check that your guesses still sound fluent.
Your turn: choose the best response
Each question is one you might know nothing about. Choose the response that scores best, then check why.
- Part 3: “Will people still use cash in fifty years?”
- A. “I don't know, sorry.”
- B. “I can't really predict that, but I hardly use coins now, so I'd guess cash survives only for small things.”
- C. “Studies prove that 92% of payments will be digital.”
Show answer
“I can't really predict that, but I hardly use coins now, so I'd guess cash survives only for small things.”
Admit, shrink to your own habit, reason to a guess. The others give nothing to mark or invent a statistic.
- Part 1: “Do you like opera?” (You have never heard any.)
- A. “No.”
- B. “Opera is a classical art form that began in Italy around 1600.”
- C. “I've never heard a full one, to be honest, only bits in films. It sounded a bit dramatic for me, but I'd try it.”
Show answer
“I've never heard a full one, to be honest, only bits in films. It sounded a bit dramatic for me, but I'd try it.”
Honest, personal and developed. Part 1 wants your experience, not an encyclopaedia entry.
- True or false: pausing for a second or two to decide what to say lowers your Fluency and coherence score.
- A. True
- B. False
Show answer
False
Band 9 allows hesitation used to prepare content; it is searching for words and grammar that the descriptors mark down.
- Part 3: “How might robots change farming?” Which move is “I imagine it's a bit like self-checkouts in shops”?
- A. Admit
- B. Shrink it to what you know
- C. Fake expertise
Show answer
Shrink it to what you know
It links an unfamiliar topic to an everyday one the speaker can describe.
BandLadder questions
Practise it now
Use the method on original BandLadder questions. Attempt them free and see your score.
Questions
FAQ
What if I don't know the answer in IELTS Speaking?+
Keep talking and reason towards a guess. Speaking is marked on fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, not on knowledge.
Can I say “I don't know” in IELTS Speaking?+
Yes, as the start of an answer, not the whole answer. Follow it with “but” and a guess, a reason or a related experience.
How do I answer unfamiliar topics in IELTS Speaking?+
Shrink the topic to something you know (your town, a relative, a similar situation) and reason from that. The descriptors expect you to handle unfamiliar topics.
Can I lie in IELTS Speaking?+
BandLadder advice: the descriptors assess your language, not whether a story is true, but invented details are hard to say fluently under pressure. An honest “I haven't, but the closest thing was…” is usually easier.
Can you ask the examiner to repeat the question in IELTS Speaking?+
BandLadder advice: a polite request for a repeat is natural when you didn't hear or understand the question. Don't use it to dodge a question you understood.
What phrases can I use to buy time in IELTS Speaking?+
Short, natural ones in your own words, such as “Let me think…” or “Hmm, I suppose…”, and then start answering. Vary them: the same phrase every time sounds memorised.
Sources
- IELTS Speaking band descriptors (ielts.org PDF): PDF p. 2: Fluency and coherence band 9, Lexical resource band 8; p. 3: Lexical resource bands 5 and 4
- ielts.org, IELTS Academic: Speaking test format: https://ielts.org/take-a-test/test-types/ielts-academic-test/ielts-academic-format-speaking (Marking; Part 1 familiar topics; Part 2 own experiences; Part 3 analyse, discuss and speculate)
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