IELTS GT Test – Speaking Mock Test # 10
[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
PART 1:
Topic: Musical instruments
Q. Which instrument do you like listening to most? [Why?]
A. My favourite musical instrument is the guitar. I like the fact that there are different types of guitar, like acoustic, classical and electric and they create a soothing and appealing sound to the audience. I love the variety of beautiful music a guitar can produce, and how this instrument is used so widely all around the world.
Q. Have you ever learned to play a musical instrument? [Which one?]
A. Since the guitar has always been my favourite musical instrument, I took some guitar lessons when I was in high school and I still have an acoustic guitar at home. I don’t play it much nowadays but I wish I had more time to practise. Apart from the guitar, I also tried to learn to play the flute.
Q. Do you think children should learn to play a musical instrument at school? [Why/Why not?]
A. Yes, I absolutely love the idea of teaching children to play a musical instrument at school. It would encourage them to appreciate good music and reduce the stress they feel sometimes. Learning to play a musical instrument is fun, refreshing and thoroughly enjoyable.
Q. How easy would it be to learn to play an instrument without a teacher? [Why?]
A. I think it is quite difficult to learn to play a musical instrument without the supervision and guidance of a teacher. It takes time to master a musical instrument and requires passion and inspiration and a teacher can provide both to a leaner. Without a teacher, most of the leaners would be more focused on learning some particular tunes rather than learning the grammar and rules of it.
PART 2:
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Describe something healthy you enjoy doing.
You should say:
- what you do
- where you do it
- who you do it with
and explain why you think doing this is healthy.
Cue Card Answer:
I am not exactly obsessed with my health, but I do like to remain active and healthy without spending too much time on it. One such activity I have started doing lately is playing long tennis with some of my close friends. Needless to say, I have actually started to enjoy it since I am getting better at it by every passing day, even though I was a bit sceptical about my “newly-found” outdoor activity at the start.
Anyway, it wasn’t exactly easy in the beginning for a very average-built person like me to show my tennis playing skills in a real tennis field, which, by the way, is about 15 minutes drive from my home, against a bunch of guys who has been playing this “physically demanding” game for years. In fact, it took me almost two weeks just to learn how to hold a tennis bat properly in order to hit a tennis ball effectively. As if it was not embarrassing enough, it took me another two weeks to learn ‘landing a successful serve’ in the right area! However, after playing for almost 3 months, I guess, it is fair to say that I have “acquired” all the skill necessary to play long tennis.
Now, while pretending to be a professional tennis player these days, I just can’t ignore the fact that I am actually more physically fit than the time when I didn’t play any tennis. In fact, I can give almost 30 push-ups at a stretch now while I would actually feel like dying after 15 before I started playing tennis! Having developed a bit bicep muscle on my hand, I feel like I can beat Mike Tyson the great anytime! Besides, I don’t really feel tired these days even after some long hours. But the best thing about playing tennis for me is my appetite for food has increased in many folds as I would feel full in my stomach even after eating just a little. So, hail tennis!
PART 3
Discussion topics: Keeping fit and healthy
Q. What do most people do to keep fit in your country?
A. In my country, the majority of youth play different sports, do cycling and go to the gym to keep their body fit. Adults and elder people, who are health conscious, walk in a park and follow a light exercise routine every day. Many of them also follow a balanced diet. I regret to say that, a great portion of our population still do not follow a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
Q. How important is it for people to do some regular physical exercise?
A. I think regular physical exercise has a direct relation to our wellbeing and good health. Without it, someone can’t lead a healthy life. It is perhaps more important than ever before as in this modern era, we have fewer physical activities, and to remain fit, we have no other alternatives than to get engaged in different sports and physical exercise.
Discussion topics: Health and modern lifestyles
Q. Why do some people think that modern lifestyles are not healthy?
A. Today we have different technologies and modern amenities to reduce the need for our physical labour. For instance, most of the city dwellers have cars to move to different places. Besides, we have inclined to a sedentary lifestyle as we are less interested in outdoor activities and more interested to stay home. Busy office employees have no time to take part in physical exercise and on top of that, fast food and packaged food comprise a big portion of our daily diet. Sedentary lifestyle and choice of our meals are both detrimental to our health. This is why it is a growing concern that the modern lifestyle is not good for health and it is indeed true.
Q. Why do some people choose to lead unhealthy lives?
A. I believe a healthy lifestyle is a choice for all of us except perhaps for some destitute people. Those who lead an unhealthy life are responsible for their own choices and it is often caused by our ignorance and lack of determination to have a positive lifestyle. The daily routine and the diet we follow are our own decisions. Some would argue that their financial conditions do not allow them to have a salubrious lifestyle and honestly speaking, this is often not the case. On the contrary, if a child has an unhealthy lifestyle, the parents are to blame. But when this child grows up, he/she is liable for his/her own lifestyle.
Q. Should individuals or governments be responsible for making people’s lifestyle healthy? What could be done to encourage people to live in a healthy way?
A. The major portion of the responsibility to lead a healthy life goes to the individual citizens. As I have already said, a healthy lifestyle is a choice and the state can’t do much in this regard.
However, the government has a responsibility to ensure a better environment, clean street, enough recreational and sports centre, health education and awareness programmes to encourage people to live in a healthy way. It is the government who can make sure that air, water and sound pollutions in an area remain within a tolerable level.