IELTS GT Test – Speaking Mock Test # 40
[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
PART 1:
Topic: Future
Q. What job would you like to have ten years from now? [Why?]
Answer: Speaking jokingly, if I had the means and option, I would rather decide not to hold any job at all after 10 years from now, and run a small business. But unfortunately, I don’t think that I can take such a huge risk with my “bread and butter” issue. Now, on a serious note, I would like to become an elementary school teacher after 10 years because it would allow me to spend more quality time with children and give me a huge opportunity to be in a noble profession. It would also allow me to spend more time with my family. After all, I don’t think that elementary teachers always have to maintain an 8 to 5 pm job schedule every day.
Q. How useful will English be for your future? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I like to believe that my English is going to remain fairly useful for my future career goals and other aspirations. And I am saying this, not only because I am fairly adept at this foreign language, but also because I know exactly how to use this international language to my advantage, especially, when I am communicating with others in a foreign land, and learning something new and important that is written in English.
Q. How much travelling do you hope to do in the future?
Answer: Well, I know that it is going to sound a bit weird, but I am not exactly one of those people who like to travel to places just for the fun of it, meaning I have no plan to do much travelling in the future. And the reason behind such reluctance is that I consider travelling as some kind of “trouble”. After all, travelling requires a lot of intense planning, logistic support, as well as lots of mental and physical alertness to make the best out of travel, and I just have no intention to go through all those “troubles” just to see unknown places.
Q. How do you think your life will change in the future? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Well, I don’t really think that my life is going to change significantly in the future, mainly because I don’t really like changes that much. After all, currently, I am very happy just the way things are going with my life and career. In fact, I really like the job I am currently holding. Of course, it doesn’t pay that much, but, on the other hand, I enjoy doing my job. Besides, I live in a small town, surrounded by my loved ones and relatives, and in a very peaceful environment too, and I am not willing to change any of it, at any price.
PART 2: [IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card]
Describe a book that you enjoyed reading because you had to think a lot.
You should say:
- what this book was
- why you decided to read it
- what reading this book made you think about
and explain why you enjoyed reading this book.
[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.]
Cue Card Answer:
I don’t really like to see myself as some kind of “intellectual”, especially, when it comes to thinking about a book after reading it. But, when I read a book a couple of years ago, it actually offered me some “foods for thoughts”.
The name of that book was (if I can actually remember the title of it properly) “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”. I decided to read it only because the book was written by a rather unknown CEO of a company, instead of some famous and established writers, and I wanted to give this new writer a chance as well.
So, I started to read it. And the more I was reading it, the more I felt that the writer was genuinely speaking from his experience. It was talking about how we can design or plan our own life and take control of it, by focusing our energy only on what is most essential for us so that we can only do those things which truly matter for the overall goal and happiness of our life. In essence, the book was actually proposing an alternative to allowing other people’s agendas and random circumstances to dictate our life – our own life that is.
Anyway, as I kept reading the book more and more, it actually demanded that I better think about the direction of my life before it became too late. After all, I was also running after the “materialistic aspects” of my life like there was no tomorrow. I also felt that I had wasted lots of my energy in pursuing those things which didn’t matter at all for the long term benefit of my life.
In the end, it was indeed a good read, mainly because it gave me an opportunity to reevaluate my life, based on what I actually like for me rather than what people around me feel or prefer. I enjoyed reading this book also because it didn’t talk about many things or many ideas at once, rather it focused on only one single idea and ensured its natural flow of it.
PART 3
Discussion topics: Children and reading
Q. What are the most popular types of children’s books in your country?
Answer: Like other children around the world, the children in my country also like to read all kinds of books. However, when talking about what kinds of books children like to read the most, I would definitely put “picture storybooks” on top of the list, followed by rhyming stories and fairy tales. Among some children, fantasy fiction like “The Harry Potter Series” is also popular. But whatever types of books children choose to read, the most important matter is that they actually enjoy reading in the end.
Q. What are the benefits of parents reading books to their children?
Answer: There are several benefits of parents reading books to their children. For example, it will increase the imagination power and creativity while also nurturing their brain to develop ideas, possibilities and understanding at the same time. Such practice would also allow the children to learn new and sophisticated words quickly and easily. Besides, reading books to children also allows the children to improve their concentration and memory since they have to remember different characters, settings, plots, twists, connections and other dynamics of a book.
Q. Should parents always let children choose the books they read?
Answer: Well, in my humble opinion, parents should always let children choose what books they really want to read, at least, for a couple of reasons: the first reason is that when children are able to pick up a book they like, they will actually read more since they don’t feel “compelled” to read it. After all, children don’t like to do anything when they are forced to do so. The second reason is, the children feel “empowered” when they can choose their own books which, in turn, actually makes them more responsible and serious about the choices they make later on.
Discussion topics: Electronic books
Q. How popular are electronic books in your country?
Answer: Well, as far as I know, I don’t really think that electronic books are as popular as printed books, primarily because a vast majority of people in my country still prefer to read printed books. Though electronic books come cheap, they don’t have the appeal of a printed book that we can actually hold, smell and carry with us. Having said that, however, some people in my country use electronic books more than their printed versions while others will also probably catch on with this trend slowly and slowly.
Q. What are the advantages of parents reading electronic books (compared to printed books)?
Answer: Well, if I understand the purpose of this question properly, I would say that there are a few advantages to reading electronic books for parents when they read them to their children. Electronic books or E-books are convenient because of their portability, and they have the capacity to hold numerous books in one handy, slim device. Such devices also enable parents to instantly download and read books to their children which make reading and enjoying book more fun and interactive. Finally, bookmarking, quoting and finding references when reading an electronic book is far more convenient than their printed counterparts.
Q. Will electronic books ever completely replace printed books in the future?
Answer: Well, printed books may face lots of challenges to survive in competition with electronic books, but they will never completely be replaced by electronic books. And the reason for saying such a thing is that still there is just too much important information about the history and civilization of our world that are written in printed books, and it just would be a huge, huge undertaking to put all those information in electronic books without making any mistake. Moreover, printed books have a great appeal and personal touch that readers would not want to lose completely even in a completely digital world.