IELTS Speaking Test Part 3 involves discussing and giving your opinion. In this section students discuss further the same topic 
from Part 2.
The topic is more abstract and candidates need to give and discuss their opinions in more depth. This normally lasts between 4-5 mins.
Here are some topics that might come up: education, the environment, laws, work/jobs, children/childhood, entertainment, friendship, fashion, the news, technology, advertising.
If Section 2 were about ‘books and movies’ then you may be asked Part 3 questions such as:
Sample IELTS Speaking Part 3 Questions:
♦ Do you think reading a book is more challenging than watching television?
♦ Is it more rewarding?
♦ How easy do you think it is easy to adapt books to television?
♦ Do you think books are always better than the adaptations?
Topic related vocabulary (Lexical Resource) and language for discussion (Fluency and Coherence plus Grammar) are key areas being assessed here.
Students need to have enough vocabulary to discuss a wide variety of topics in Part 3. In this instance students might need a range of vocabulary that included:
Action, story, drama, engaging, imaginative, novels, scenes, director, interpretations and realistic.
I am sure you could add more topic related vocabulary to this list if needed too.
How To Discuss Your Opinion For IELTS
The language for discussion that IELTS test takers need should be enough to cover the following functions.
Giving Opinions:
I think… / I don’t think … I believe… / I don’t believe …
In my opinion… For me… I’d say that…
Personally, I think … To my mind… I am firmly of the opinion that… Of course…
Expressing Doubt/Disagreeing:
I am really not sure that… I am not convinced that…
I can’t say I agree with you… To be honest, I feel that…
Actually, I oppose the idea of…
Justifying Opinions:
There are two reasons for my belief, they are..
I think there are two main reasons for this…
I believe this mainly because…
This is due to the fact that…
IELTS Speaking Part 3 Sample Answers
Here are answers to the original questions asked at the top of the page. Watch out for: sentence starters for opinions in bold black, sentence linkers in bold purple and language for explanation in bold blue.
Do you think reading a book is more challenging than watching television?
Well, urmmm, I'd say that reading a book is more challenging than simply watching a movie. Mainly because it requires a lot more time and effort to read a novel than it does to simply sit back and watch a movie.
Is it more rewarding?
Hmm, I guess it is more rewarding too, possibly due to the fact that you have to use your imagination to bring the story to life in your head. You can re-create the whole script in your minds eye and get closer to the characters, I believe. And obviously, you get to see your progress through the reducing number of pages left in the book. Finishing a substantial book can definitely provide a sense of satisfaction that a movie cannot easily replicate.
How easy do you think it is easy to adapt books to television?
Errr, well, I think there are probably a lot of constraints placed on the film producer that an author simply does not have to deal with. For example, there will be time considerations to think about, some books are extraordinarily long so a director may need to skip large sections of the novel out in order to make it fit into a 2 hour film. Also, it would depend on the budget available as well, especially for things like special effects. It costs nothing for an author to write about an explosion, earthquake or space travel, however, unfortunately duplicating that realistically in a movie may cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Do you think books are always better than the adaptations?
To be honest, I feel that the books are usually better than their movie version. There are two main reasons for this, firstly people tend to always read the book first and possibly ...you know...develop fond memories of it. The movie then comes out and rarely lives up to the expectations they had for it.
And secondly, the real beauty of books is that they give the reader freedom to run riot in their minds in a way a movie can never do. In fact, A movie takes this element out of the equation altogether.
You would also need to be able to do each function in a variety of different ways so that you are not repeating yourself throughout the test.
What Level of Formality Should I Use?
Furthermore, candidates need to think about the level of formality and strength of their language. Whilst the test is not strictly formal, phrases such as:
“No way man, that’s sick as bro!.”
or even simply:
“That’s rubbish!”
These comments are too informal and not appropriate for this situation.
Examiners would therefore know that you have not developed control and understanding of this language skill yet.
Now, you have read this ‘How To Do IELTS Speaking Part 3‘ guide we have looked at each part of the IELTS speaking test.
You should now know what you will be asked to do in each section of the test and be aware of how to demonstrate good grammar, pronunciation, lexical resource and fluency and coherence. Those are the four key ways examiners will assess you.
If you are not sure about any of those areas either re-read this article and also the article on IELTS Speaking Part 1 and Part 2, or ask a question or comment below.
I look forward to hearing from you!
