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Teacher Ivan
April 29, 2026
IELTS Speaking Part 3: How to Actually Develop Your Answers
In today's lesson, we're focusing on the part of the IELTS Speaking test that most students underestimate until they're sitting in the exam room — Part 3.
Part 1 asks about you. Your hometown, your hobbies, your daily routine. The questions are personal and the answers are short.
Part 3 is different. The examiner moves away from your personal experience and starts asking about ideas, opinions, and abstract concepts. Questions like "Do you think technology has changed the way people communicate?" or "Why do some people find it difficult to express their opinions in public?"
Pause for a second. If someone asked you that right now — in English — what would you say?
Why Part 3 Catches Students Off Guard
The shift from Part 1 to Part 3 is sharper than most people expect. In Part 1, you can answer with two or three sentences and move on. In Part 3, a two-sentence answer is a problem.
Here's what the examiner is listening for: can you sustain a response? Can you develop an idea beyond the obvious first thought? Can you use the kind of language — hedging, qualifying, speculating — that shows you're actually thinking in English rather than translating?
A Band 5.5 response to "Do you think technology has changed the way people communicate?" might sound like this:
"Yes, I think technology has changed communication. People use phones and social media now. It is very different from before."
Three sentences. Factually correct. Completely undeveloped. The examiner gets nothing to assess beyond basic sentence construction.
A Band 7 response to the same question:
"Definitely — I'd say it's changed things quite fundamentally, actually. The most obvious shift is that people can stay connected across distances that would have made communication almost impossible a generation ago. But I think there's a trade-off. A lot of people I know — myself included — find it harder to have long, focused conversations because we're so used to short messages. So it's improved some things and complicated others."
Same topic. Same basic idea. But the second answer has direction, development, and the kind of natural hedging — "I'd say," "quite fundamentally," "I think there's a trade-off" — that signals genuine fluency.
The PEEL Method — Applied to Speaking
You might have seen PEEL used for essay writing. It works just as well for spoken answers, and it's the simplest framework for making sure your Part 3 responses actually go somewhere.
P — Point - State your main idea clearly and directly. Don't circle around it.
E — Explain - Tell the examiner why you think that. One sentence is enough.
E — Example - Give a specific example — real, hypothetical, or general. This is where most students stop too early.
L — Link - Connect back to the question or add a qualification. This is what separates a developed answer from a list of sentences.
Let's apply it to "Why do some people find it difficult to express their opinions in public?"
"I think a lot of it comes down to fear of being judged — that's the point. Most people have opinions, but they're not sure how those opinions will land with others, and that uncertainty is enough to keep them quiet — there's the explanation. I noticed it a lot during university seminars — some of the most interesting thinkers in the room said almost nothing because they were worried about saying something wrong — that's the example. So it's less about not having opinions and more about the social risk of sharing them — and that link back to the question gives the answer its shape."
You don't need to label the parts in your head while you're speaking. After a few practice runs, the structure becomes automatic. The goal is to stop your brain from ending the answer after the first sentence.
The Phrases That Buy You Time Without Killing Your Score
One of the most common Part 3 mistakes is going silent while thinking. A two-second pause is fine. Five seconds of silence is a fluency problem.
These phrases buy you thinking time without sounding like you've stopped:
- "That's an interesting question, actually..."
- "Let me think about that for a second..."
- "It depends, I suppose — on..."
- "I'd say there are a couple of ways to look at this..."
- "Off the top of my head, I'd probably say..."
Notice these phrases don't just fill space — they also signal to the examiner that you're about to say something considered. Use one, then go straight into your Point.
What you want to avoid are the fillers that repeat themselves: "erm erm erm," "how to say," or repeating the question back word for word before answering. These don't buy time — they just highlight the pause.
One More Example — Full Part 3 Exchange
Here's how a complete Part 3 exchange might look with everything applied:
Examiner: "Do you think it's important for young people to learn about history?"
Student: "I'd say yes, though maybe not in the way history is usually taught. The reason I think it matters is that a lot of the patterns — political, social, economic — repeat themselves, and knowing the history gives you a kind of reference point for what's happening now. The example that always comes to mind for me is economic crises — every generation seems to be surprised by them, partly because they haven't really studied the ones that came before. So I think it's less about memorising dates and more about understanding cause and effect — which is actually a skill that transfers well beyond history itself."
Point, explanation, example, link. Conversational. No script. Around 90 words — exactly the right length for a Part 3 answer.
The Takeaway
Part 3 isn't harder than Part 1 because the English is harder. It's harder because it requires you to think and speak at the same time — in a structured way, under pressure, in a language you're still developing.
The fix isn't to prepare specific answers. It's to practise the structure until it becomes automatic. Use PEEL. Use the time-buying phrases. Let the answer breathe past the first sentence.
And that's it. If you want to practise Part 3 live with other students and get feedback in real time, that's exactly what we do in the bi-weekly webinars. Subscribe to the mailing list to get your invite.
Teacher Ivan
April 8, 2026
Stop Losing Points to "Silly" Mistakes: The Real Formula for a Band 7+ in IELTS Grammar
I had a webinar attendee last month—let's call him Marco—who was absolutely convinced the IELTS examiners hated him.
He had memorized lists of high-level vocabulary. He knew exactly how to structure a four-paragraph essay. When he handed me his practice essays, they were packed with words like ubiquitous and detrimental. He felt certain he was writing at a Band 7.5 level.
Then his official results came back. Grammatical Range and Accuracy: 6.0.
Marco was furious. "But I used complex sentences!" he told me. "I used nevertheless and notwithstanding!"
He wasn't wrong. He did use them. The problem was that he used them incorrectly, and in the process of trying to sound like a university professor, he completely destroyed the readability of his essay.
This is probably the most common trap I see students fall into when trying to boost their writing score. They assume the examiner wants to read Shakespeare. They don't. What examiners actually want—what they are trained to look for—is precision. Control. The ability to communicate an idea without making the reader stumble over the words.
If you're stuck at a 6.0 in writing, it's rarely a lack of ideas holding you back. It's almost always because you're making fundamental errors you don't even notice, or you're forcing complicated grammar that just doesn't fit.
Let's break down what the examiner is actually grading, and how you can fix your score without having to memorize another grammar textbook.
What "Grammatical Range and Accuracy" Actually Means
Your grammar score makes up exactly 25% of your total writing grade. The examiners are looking at two very specific things here: Range (the variety of your sentences) and Accuracy (how many mistakes you make) (1).
| The Criteria | What It Means in Plain English | How to Actually Get the Points |
| Range | Do you only write short, simple sentences? | You need to show you can write simple, compound, and complex sentences naturally. |
| Accuracy | How often do you mess up? | A Band 7 requires "frequent error-free sentences." If every sentence has a tiny mistake, you're stuck at a 6.0. |
| Punctuation | Are your commas doing their job? | Don't write run-on sentences. Make sure your clauses are separated properly. |
| Communicative Effect | Do your mistakes confuse the reader? | If the examiner has to read your sentence twice to understand it, your score drops. Fast. |
Look closely at the official Band 7 descriptors. To get that score, you need to use "a variety of complex structures" and produce "frequent error-free sentences" (2).
Notice what's missing? It doesn't say "perfect grammar." You are allowed to make a few mistakes. But the vast majority of your sentences need to be completely clean.
The 50/50 Rule: Stop Trying So Hard
There's this weird myth floating around IELTS forums that every single sentence in your essay needs to be incredibly long and complicated. It's terrible advice. When you try to write a 45-word sentence with three different clauses, your chances of making a grammatical error go through the roof.
Instead, I like to preach about the 50/50 Rule.
Roughly half of your sentences should be clear, accurate, simple, or compound sentences. The other half should be well-controlled complex sentences.
What's a complex sentence? It's just an independent clause (a complete thought) joined with a dependent clause (an incomplete thought) using words like although, because, while, if, or which (3). That's it. It doesn't need to be a paragraph long.
When you balance simple clarity with controlled complexity, you show the examiner you have range, but you don't sacrifice your accuracy to do it.
When "Complex" Goes Wrong (A Real Example)
Let me show you exactly how trying too hard ruins an essay.
Imagine you're writing about whether governments should tax sugary drinks.
The "Before" Example (Band 5.5 - 6.0)
"Although many people are consuming too much sugar every day, but as a result they are developing health problems, even though a tax would help them stop which is good for society."
Why this fails: This student is desperately trying to show off their range by cramming although, but, even though, and which into a single breath. It's a mess. You can't use "although" and "but" in the same sentence. It's a massive run-on that completely loses its point. The examiner will penalize this heavily.
The "After" Example (Band 7.0+)
"Many people consume excessive amounts of sugar daily, and as a result, they often develop serious health issues. Although a sugar tax might be unpopular, it would effectively discourage this habit and benefit society as a whole."
Why this works: This is what a Band 7 actually looks like. The chaotic thought has been broken into two distinct sentences. The first is a clean compound sentence. The second is a perfectly executed complex sentence using "although." It's precise. It's easy to read. It's error-free.
Three Things You Can Fix Today
You can't learn all of English grammar in a week, but you can eliminate the most common score-killing mistakes right now.
1. Fix your subject-verb agreement.
This is the number one error I see, even from advanced students. If your subject is singular, your verb has to be singular. Writing "The number of cars are increasing" instead of "is increasing" instantly tells the examiner you lack basic control (3).
2. Stop guessing with your articles.
Knowing when to use "a," "an," or "the" isn't optional. Remember that "the" is for specific items or when there's only one of something (the environment, the government). Don't use "the" when talking about plural nouns in a general sense. Write "Computers have changed society," not "The computers have changed society" (4).
3. Actually proofread your punctuation.
A missing comma can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Make sure you're using commas correctly after introductory linking words (like "Furthermore, the government should...") and when you're separating clauses (4).
The Pre-submission Reality Check
Before you finish your next practice essay, ask yourself these questions:
• Did I use a mix of simple, compound, and complex sentences, or do they all look the same?
• Did I check every single sentence for basic subject-verb agreement?
• Are my articles (a, an, the) actually doing what they're supposed to do?
• Did I accidentally write any massive, confusing run-on sentences?
• Did I leave myself 3 minutes at the end just to proofread?
Getting a high grammar score isn't about showing off. It's about control. Stop trying to write convoluted sentences that lead to mistakes, and start focusing on clear, accurate structures that actually communicate your ideas.
If you're tired of guessing whether your sentences are correct, my IELTS General Writing Prep Course breaks down exactly how to build these structures flawlessly. I cover complex sentences, relative clauses, and I provide the specific, detailed feedback you need to walk into that exam room knowing exactly what you're doing.
References
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