IELTS Speaking: the examiner's attitude

I sometimes hear from students who are worried that their examiner seemed rude or angry in the speaking exam. Maybe the examiner didn't smile or make much eye contact, interrupted a lot, or kept looking at his/her watch. Does this mean that you will get a low score, or that you should complain?

The answer is no! Don't worry, and don't think that you need to complain. The examiner's attitude is not important at all, and you should ignore all of the things I mentioned above. Focus only on answering the examiner's questions as well as you can.

Remember: it's possible to have a very nice, smiling examiner who gives you a low score. On the other hand, an examiner who seems impolite or disinterested might give you a higher score than you expected!

Comments

[Veeryday lifestyle]

I have one question?Who is give speaking mark,is it examiner who conduct speaking test or other?

[musharaf]

hi simon,
i am stuck up with the use of ;can and could;
please give some advise about their use .Although little confusion,but can avoid doing mistakes.

Thanks in advance

[Simon]

Yes, your examiner gives you your score.

...

Hi Musharaf,

You really need a grammar book or website for that. Try this one:

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-modals_can.htm

[kasia]

Well Simon,I don't agree,last time I had the same examiner ,twice,two attempts in the same IELTS exam center and I was surprised when I looked at my IELTS certificate and the examiner number for speaking part was different...so seems sometimes they only record the exam but other person marks our speech?

[Masoud]

Hi Simon
I have a friend who wants to take part in the ielts exam and has asked me to help him. It seems that only a 4.5 can work for him but he's just an elementary student who is taking English result elementary courses in an institute.(He is about to finish the book.)
Is it possible for him to get a minimum 4.5 in two months? If yes, how should he study?
by the way he's learning English as a foreign language and had never been exposed to English before.
He really need your advice,
Thank you.

[Phan Linh]

Hi Simon,
I want to ask some questions:
1, "no friend" or "no friends", "the three countries' populations" and "the three countries' population", which one is right?

2, I just started learning for the IELTS a week ago by doing 4 tests in Barron's IELTS and 4 tests in Cambridge 6. And the band score for these 2 modules remained around 7. Is it possible for me to get 8.5 in both modules. Can you give me some advice on the strategies to enhance my band score in 6 months?

Thank you so much!

[hussain]

today i took ielts and examiner was very polite, but throughout the exam she tried to make me confuse by asking the cross question about same question and also repeating it,was it bad or good.and i given excellent answer in 2nd part but i get confused in 3rd part with some question that it affect more on my 2nd part answer,sir.

[Martin]

Here is another piece of advice: DON'T TAKE IT PERSONAL!

Examiners are human beings and they may behave differently at any time of the day. They are just doing their job, and the candidates' job is to simply answer the questions with their best English possible.

Focus on your English and don't use the examiner's attitude as an excuse for your unsatisfying scores. If your answers during the exam deserve band 7, then you will get it no matter who the examiner is.

[Ahmed Montaser]

Hello Simon. Today, I had my speaking session. In part2, I was asked to describe an old person that I met. So, I started talking about a friend of mine and I think it went well. The thing is I mentioned that his age is 40 which is not considered old. In part 3, the examiner asked me"at what age do u consider a person to be old in your culture", and I answered " above 60". To what extent do u think that will affect my score? After the test, I felt that I didn't correctly address the task because I was talking about a person who is 40, while the question asked about an "old" person!

[barnadut]

Have appeared few times IELTS, everytime with male examiner I got 7 in speaking but unfortuanetly, got 6 or 6.5 four times in speaking when faced with female examiner.

Hi Simon,
Could you please comment?

[Magi]

Martin, I have heard myself give candidates the same advice. Examiners are human, but whether they are in a good mood or a bad mood will not make a difference to a candidates score.

How the questions are answered, however, will make a huge difference.

Remember the 'training not testing' advice Simon gives. Being prepared for the exam, knowing the type of questions to expect, and speaking with confidence will help to boost your band score.

I have one student who has just gone from 6 to 7.5 speaking by following the above advice, and changing her attitude, instead of worrying about the examiners behaviour.

[kenny]

yes,I totally agree with simon.
I am the person who said I met an impolite examiner last time, but result seems to be unexpected, higher than I thought,although it is still not the one I want.
So, do not pay much attention to the attitude of examiner, just answer the question, that's it.

[Dodoyos]

Hi Simon,
I sat for my IELTS recently and managed to get a band 7.5 - 8 in each band except for speaking which I got a 6.5, although I thought I deserved better. What bothers me is that in all part of the speaking test, the examiner kept on signalling me to keep on talking although I have answered her in 2 or 3 sentences for questions that required short answers. If I were to asked for a remarked, they would sent the audio tape without any video and the other examiner who will do the remarking would have thought that I had long pauses because I can't answer their questions? This is very unfair!!
In many of the sample videos of the speaking test, normally a 2 or 3 sentences answer would suffice for such questions (like where did you attend primary school?) but I do not know why the examiner kept on signalling me for more answers?

[benjamin]

Hi Simon

sorry my out of topic question but i haven't found any information about this. in reading and listening test how many correct answer we need to do in order to get 7 ? Is there any rank list about that?

[Shafaq]

hey Simon,

Every now and then, Simon, you share some talk with us. I hope you dont mind sharing this with all of people here. Neil Gaiman talks so slowly, at a beautiful pace and its so impressive.

http://www.uarts.edu/neil-gaiman-keynote-address

regards

Shafaq

[Hoang Kim Phuoc Lam]

Hi Simon
In the last IELTS Test, I only scored 5.5 in Speaking, which discouraged me from my entry to tertiary education. My considerable weakness is speaking too fast and nervousness when delivering the complex sentences. Can you give me some advice to overcome these problems?
Thanks you very much
Lam.

[Raj]

i completely agree with Simon's point, my Examiner seemed to be rude,uninterested,impolite,however he gave me 7.5. so what really matters s your knowledge in language nd the way u answer, not the examiner's behaviour ,,

[Mohmed]

I had an experience when examiner was too friendly and slipped into the conversation in such a way that felt like I am talking to a friend and that left me with the expectation of 9 bands or more than that in a speaking module. I nearly teared apart my result when I saw the outstanding score in a speaking module, 6.0 bands. Next attempt gained me 8.5, is it a magic that fed the data in my brain to get such a high score in a month. In short, sometimes unexpected things happen.

[swapna]

hi simon,may i know actually who evaluate the speaking session,i suppose it may not be evaluated by d examiner in speakingsession(who ask us qns) as all d conversation of our speaking is recorded.i guess it will be evaluated by d ielts xaminer right or not?

[Carrie]

This is definitely true. The examiner on my first IELTS test didn't show special interest to my speaking and even yawned during my speaking. And the topic on that day was difficult to me because I never prepared that topic before and almost have no ideas about that. I worried so much but he gave me score of 6. My second examiner was very nice and we communicated well. That time, I thought I did a good job on all spearking parts and should be able to get score 7. But finanlly, i still got 6.

[anoymous]

Simon what would you suggest if you had the same examiner with your speaking exam? is that legal or okay? thanks

[Jo]

Hi , 4 years ago I took IELTS and got 7.5 for speaking,
Later studied and worked in London for 4 years- always
Chatted with English people. Now took the exam, she
Asked me a lot of questions and i replied in long and clear
Sentences without any starting trouble which gave me 6.0 for speaking
So worried about it

[ASHIK]

hello... i have given my ielts speaking exam today. but the indian lady was feeling boring & trying to ignore my speech. also was avoiding my eye contect & creating obstacle. bt i told my aswer as much i can. does it mean i will get a bad score?

[Nikhil Patel]

Hi Sir,
I have problem of "S".Sometimes, in listening and reading answers I write S in the end of word which is not required while I do not write when it is needed.
So sir please provide me some advise to solve this problem.