Speaking Sample 24

IELTS GT Test – Speaking Mock Test # 24

[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]

PART 1:

Topic: Travelling to work or college

Q. How do you usually travel to work or college? [Why?]
A. I usually take a public bus from the nearby bus depot from my house to reach the nearest bus station to my university and then I walk for a while to reach my campus. I use the public bus as it is the cheapest mean of communication in the city I live in.

Q. Have you always travelled to work/college in the same way? [Why/Why not?]
A. Yes, I have been using a public bus to reach my university for the last three years. The public transportation in my city is convenient and cheaper. On some rare occasions when I need to get to my university quickly, I take a Uber ride-sharing service.

Q. What do you like about travelling to work/college this way?
A. I like the fact that we have frequent buses and their fare is reasonable. I also walk about 15 to 20 minutes from the nearest bus stop to my campus and it is good for health.

Q. What changes would improve the way you travel to work/college? [Why?]
A. I think it would be better if we have buses dedicated to the students as it would allow us to reach our campus quickly. Sometimes, the buses have so many passengers who get off to different destinations. A non-stop bus service for students would save a significant amount of time.

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 a piece of electronic equipment that you find useful.

You should say:

• what it is
• how you learned to use it
• how long you have had it

and explain why you find this piece of electronic equipment useful.

Cue Card Answer:

When I first came to learn about it, I called it the “8th wonder of the world”. Of course, it didn’t take me long to touch this foldable, 15 inches in length, rectangular and portable machine or “equipment” called ‘laptop’, but I actually got to use one a lot later. And when I actually learned how to use this electronic equipment/device, consisted of many computer chips and transistors, that are installed on a thing called “circuit” board, I immediately knew that the whole world is within my reach!

Since then, I have been using this wonderful electronic device which I purchased about 6 years ago after learning it from my lady computer teacher during my high school days. But, to tell you the truth, every time I use my laptop, I feel like I still need to learn a lot about it even though I have been using it for that many years. However, I still remember the days when my lady computer teacher was just getting tired of teaching us the things as simple as switching a laptop on/off, or doing a hard boot and soft boot properly.

Anyway, many years have gone by after the days of learning MS Word, MS Excel and PowerPoint presentation. Nowadays, it seems that I just can’t live without my laptop, especially when I need to communicate with my families, relatives and friends either in email or webcam. I will need my computer even when I am doing things as simple as “adding” and “subtracting”, let alone a difficult task like doing some research works to prepare a document for my university. I even use my laptop to get some awesome deals on my favourite pizzas from time to time by connecting to the internet. I am not really much into watching movies on my laptop or capturing pictures by its camera, but I certainly have the luxury to think that I can use them whenever I need it.

However, the best thing that I really like about my laptop is that I can carry it with me wherever I go, offering the luxury to do my works anywhere I want whether I am with a friend or a colleague. My laptop is my friend even on my worst days, and I am glad that I have it.

PART 3

Discussion topics: Technology and housework

Q. What kinds of machine are used for housework in modern homes in your country?
Answer: In my country, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher, refrigerator, oven, electronic stove, iron, washing machine and other electric kitchen appliances are most commonly used household tools to make living easier and to reduce the workload. While a middle-class family have a few of these, they are quite common for rich people in my country.

Q. How have these machines benefited people?
Answer: I think most of these machines save time – which is an obvious benefit. For instance, washing clothes manually require a great deal of time while a washing machine can do it in no time. Moreover, these modern machines have reduced the effort and manual labour needed to do most of the household tasks and thus helped people spend more quality time with the rest of the family. Another great advantage of having modern household appliances is that they often save additional costs. For instance, we can store leftovers in a refrigerator and eat later. Without it, we would have wasted the food. The precision of completing many tasks by the use of these tools is amazing. Take the oven as an example which can heat and cook an item for a specific duration thus save us from overcooking something.

Q. Are there any negative effects of using them?
Answer: I am afraid, those tools have some hidden drawbacks that we often fail to realise. They consume energy and many of them are harmful to our health and environment. The refrigerator, for example, contains refrigerant that can be damaging to the environment because of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) content. Moreover, we have become more dependent on packed food with the popularity of these modern tools. We no longer want to work and solely rely on these tools, which is detrimental to our health.

Q. Do you think all new homes will be equipped with household machines in the future? Why?
Answer: I think there is a distinct possibility that almost all new homes in a metropolitan city will be equipped with household tools in the future as the trend already reveals that people in many developed countries prefer to have furnished homes. However, the scenario might not be the same in rural areas. With the increasing population, main cities all around the world will see the growth of real estate companies that would offer automation as an integral part of the package, so people won’t need to go and buy any of these machines, they will come as part of the home. We will have more sophisticated household machines as part of our city life, but that will happen very slowly in rural areas.

Discussion topics: Technology in the workplace

Q. What kinds of equipment do most workers need to use in offices today?
Answer: I think the types of equipment used in an office depend on exactly what they do for work. An office that deals with Information Technology will use many technology-related devices that an ordinary office would not need. However, computers, laptops, fax machines, printers, scanners, phones, data terminals, Wi-Fi devices are some common equipment that most of the workers need to use in their workplace these days.

Q. How have developments in technology affected employment in your country?
Answer: I believe technological progress has revolutionised the way employees work in our country. They use a computer to prepare a document, a presentation or a budget and the emails are their main way of communication. They do virtual meetings, use project management software to track progress, and use a projector for training or presentation purpose. Thus the use of technology has increased efficiency, enhanced data security and decreased redundancy in our work.

Many jobs have become obsolete due to technology while a new range or jobs have also been created. We’ve seen technology-based customer service, online marketing, and technical support jobs established and then outsourced overseas and many youths are at the top positions in many large companies than ever before. The technological advancement has increased our productivity and eliminated the distance between the business and customers and most jobs nowadays include more technology than ever before.

Q. Some people think that technology has brought more stress than benefits to employed people nowadays. Would you agree or disagree? Why?
Answer: I do not believe that technology has offered little and burdened our employees more. Technology itself isn’t the problem – it’s the way some people deal with it or struggle to adapt to it in their professional life. Since technology is being used everywhere, we have no other way than to learn it and enhance our performance.

If our employees are stressed out in the modern era, it’s because of their work habit, lack of work-life balance and their employers’ increasing expectations. Imagine an office where everyone has to do everything manually and has to finish their work before leaving the office – it would be an impossible environment to work in.