#43 - IELTS Speaking test in Australia – June 2016 (Academic Module)

Test # 43

- What is your full name?

My name is XYZ.

- Can I see your ID?

Yes sure!

- Where are you from?

I’m from Ahmedabad, in Gujarat in the Western part of India.

- Do you work or study?

I am studying in the 6^th semester of my civil engineering bachelor course.

- What do you think about the transport system around your city?

The public transport facilities in my city are very good…especially after the government introduced the BRTS bus system; it has been a real relief from the crowded dusty buses of the state government. The BRTS buses are a little more swanky and air-conditioned, plus the frequency and timings are very well organized for every corner of the city.

- Do you read newspapers?

Yes I do. I read a regional daily newspaper in my mother tongue Gujarati. I mainly read it for political news and certain editorial pieces.

- Do you buy them?

Yes I have subscribed for them to get delivered to my house every morning. I pay the vendor on a monthly basis.

- Do you like flowers?

Yes I do! I like them for their colour and fragrance, also, when you present beautiful flowers to your loved one, it often causes them to smile, which gladdens my heart.

- Do you think flowers are popular in your country? Why?

Yes they are…even besides the aesthetic properties, flowers are used in many traditional and religious purposes in my country. For example, marigolds are very popular in weddings in my country.

- When was the last time you bought flowers? What occasion was it for?
I bought a bouquet 4 months back for a teacher’s birthday. Actually a few friends were supposed to gather to wish her, and some other person had already got a cake and I didn’t wanna go empty handed, so I bought some flowers.

Cue Card

Talk about a large company, whose products you know and like. Please say

- What company is it?

- What do you know about this company?

- Why do you like their products?

I like the baby products from a company in my country called Johnson-&-Johnson. The baby products are labelled as Johnson’s baby. My mother used all products of this company when I was a child, like its baby soap, its baby oil and cream and shampoo and all. Actually this is a multinational company, from the US I think. This brand has a reputation for making baby products that are exceptionally pure and safe. I love one particular product that they have which is the ‘no more tears baby shampoo’. This is an extremely mild shampoo, which is quite literally easy on the eyes and perfect for a baby's sensitive skin. In my knowledge this is the only famous shampoo in this category and no one else has become its competitor. I also like all other baby products by this company too, because they are really very good for the baby and there have been no complaints regarding its side-effects till now. 

Discussion

- What other large companies do you know?

Ummm…I can name quite a few of them, although I might not have a good idea about its details. There are big telecom companies named Airtel and Vodafone, Pharmaceutical giants like Emami, Dabur and Himalaya and all.

- Is it good to work for such a company?

I think it might be a very good experience working for such big companies. You’d get a great level of professional experience and exposure and there are many highly trained individuals who constantly strive to become better and challenge others to increase their potential too. For example, I have heard from a friend that the Airtel head office in South India is a very stylish building, and there are a lot of facilities for the employees to feel relaxed at work, like a small gym and a lounge. You don’t get all this in small companies.

- Do you think salaries are higher in larger companies?
Yes of course…large companies also have an elaborate job profile for individuals and their work ethics are very uplifting, like not losing their workforce very frequently. So they give good salaries too to keep them retained.

- What are the advantages and disadvantages of working for a big corporation?

The advantages are that we talked about earlier, like a good pay package, many facilities, a swanky canteen, educated co-workers and so on. Plus interdepartmental transfers are also possible easily and the human resource departments really make a lot of effort to not let you leave the job because of non-satisfaction regarding anything. In disadvantages, we can say that shaking things up at a big company can take a lot of time. Even if your company is implementing a new idea, but getting your department to move to that change fully can take a lot of time. Also, you work in large teams so your individual performance sometimes goes unnoticed.

- What is the main difference between working for small and large companies?

There’s a very big difference between the work environments in a big and a small company. The infrastructure of a big company would also be very impressive and convenient. Larger companies, in general, are better about providing benefits like health insurance or retirement plans. The smaller a corporation's revenue is, the less likely it can afford to pay for benefits. But in large companies, there are a lot of employees so you don’t know majority of the co-workers, like in a small company.