#55 - IELTS Speaking test in Scotland – July 2016 (Academic Module)

Test # 55

Personal Questions

– Is there a public transport available near your home?

Yes, there is a bus stop just opposite the entrance to my building. It receives buses that access all major routes of my city.

– Do you intend to live there for a long time? Why?

Yes, I do intend to keep living here, even after I come back from abroad after completing my studies. This has been my home for 20 years now and I’m quite attached to it.

– Do you like flowers?

Yes, I do, I like roses and jasmines to be specific. Their fragrance is the most beautiful according to me, and I find them very attractive looking as well.

– Do you have any plants in your home?

We used to have a small aloe-vera plant in a pot in my balcony….that was 6 months ago. Once it withered, we didn’t plant anything else.

– What kind of plants are there?

(here, you can list a variety of home-growing plants like a money plant, jade plant or a tulsi i.e. a holy basil plant if you want to say you have many plants at your place)

– When was the last time you bought a plant?

I last bought a plant 7-8 months ago. It was a (mention any plant name).

– Have you ever had a garden?

No, unfortunately, I haven’t as I’ve lived in a flat my whole life and we don’t have a suitable space for a home garden.

– On what occasions do you use flowers in your country?

Oh on so many occasions!....in wedding ceremonies, in religious ceremonies, as decorations, as gifts (bouquets), to offer to gods in worship, to use as garnishing for food items, for instance, rose petals used to garnish an Indian sweet kheer…these are some of the occasions where flowers are used in my country.

Cue Card

Talk about an instance when you received some good news. Please say

– What was the news?

– How did you receive the news?

– What did you do after that?

I would like to talk about the news of my niece’s birth. It was a really happy news for me. This was a year back when my sister-in-law was expecting and was due to go into labour any day, and I was in a different city for my study purposes, so I was eagerly waiting for every next call from home to be with the news about the baby being born. Last year on 11^th August I got a call from my mother at 6pm telling me that I was now an aunt to a cute little baby girl. My happiness knew no bounds at that time! I immediately booked train tickets to my hometown for the next day. I asked my friend to inform the professors at college about the reason for my absence and then I left to see my niece and my family.

Discussion

– Let’s talk about news.

Sure!

– Do you think people have the right to know the true news?

Of course, they do! In fact, news should always be something factual and not made up – as is the case nowadays. So people should always be given the correct information, mainly to avoid confusion in the society and any negative consequences. But I don’t think anyone does that nowadays. Reporters and journalists are too busy making money off of the fictional news.

– Do you think public organizations should tell people bad news?

Ummm…I’m not sure if I’m gonna answer this correctly or not, but I think good or bad, people have a right to know the news that will affect their lives. So the public organisations should reveal the bad news, if any, to people. However, this should be done sensitively, for example, giving news in cases of riots or calamities.

– What is the best way to say it?

As I said, it should not be delayed nor should it be said when tensions are already running high. I mean to say that if people need to be informed about the missing people in a plane crash, it should be done as soon as the journalists get that information from the authorities. On the other hand, in the case of riots, showing images and information of the destruction around can sometimes instigate fear among people rather than awareness.

– Do you prefer to read or to listen to the news? Why?

I prefer to read the news as I have a habit of reading newspapers in the morning every day. Moreover, some news reporters are quite loud on TV so it is annoying to hear them sometimes.

– What qualifications should a person have to work in a top position of news corporation?

The person should have a management degree to be able to handle employees under him, as he would be supervising a lot of people being at the top position. And he should also be well versed with concepts of economics, as he has to be responsible for the news being broadcast by his company.

– Let’s talk about an online business.

Sure!

– Do you think an online business is a good or a bad thing?

In today’s times, it is the best thing because everyone has easy access to the internet and they use various apps and sites online for shopping…So if you sell something online, you’d have a wider reach.