How the IELTS Speaking test is scored
The Speaking test is a live interview with an examiner, face to face or by video call, lasting 11 to 14 minutes in three parts. Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes) is an introduction followed by questions on familiar topics such as your home, work or studies. In Part 2 (3 to 4 minutes) you receive a cue card, have one minute to prepare, speak for one to two minutes, then answer one or two rounding-off questions. Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes) is a discussion of more abstract questions linked to the Part 2 topic. The format is the same for Academic and General Training.
Your band is not a general impression. The examiner scores four criteria, each weighted equally, and Speaking bands are reported in half-band steps from 0 to 9. This matters for coaching: because the criteria are separate, a coach can look for the one or two holding a particular student back instead of treating speaking as one skill.
| Criterion | What a coach listens for |
|---|---|
| Fluency and Coherence | Whether you keep going at a natural pace without long pauses or constant self-correction, and whether each answer has a clear direction with linking that sounds like speech rather than an essay. |
| Lexical Resource | Range and precision: topic vocabulary, natural collocations, some less common words used correctly, and the ability to paraphrase when a word will not come. |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | A mix of simple and complex sentences, tenses that match the question, and how often errors appear and whether they get in the way of meaning. |
| Pronunciation | Individual sounds, word stress, sentence stress and intonation, and above all whether a listener can follow you without effort. |
A teacher who knows these criteria can tell you which one is costing you the most. That is a different kind of help from a friend saying your English sounds fine.
What typically goes wrong in each part
Part 1: short answers and rehearsed openings
Part 1 questions are about familiar topics, and that is where the trap lies. Two common problems are answers that are too short ("Yes, I like it") and answers that are clearly memorised, delivered at a different speed and tone from the rest of the interview. A useful Part 1 answer is two or three natural sentences: the answer, a reason, and a detail or example.
Part 2: the long turn falls apart
Part 2 is where many candidates lose control. The minute of preparation goes on writing full sentences instead of a few keywords; the talk runs out after forty seconds; or it drifts away from the cue card and never comes back to the points on it. Timing is a skill that is much easier to build under real conditions, with someone stopping you at two minutes and asking the rounding-off questions afterwards.
Part 3: opinions without reasons
Part 3 questions are abstract: not "Do you like your city?" but "Why do people move to cities?" and "Will that change?" Students often give a one-line opinion and stop, recycle the vocabulary from Part 2, or freeze because they have no view on the topic. What the examiner needs to hear is a developed answer: a position, a reason, an example, and often a contrast. That structure can be taught and practised until it becomes automatic.
Fluency and Coherence is about keeping going without effort and making sense, not about speed. Rushing usually makes pronunciation and grammar harder to control, so a calm, well-paced answer is the better strategy.
What a 60-minute Speaking session with Mike looks like
Every session at Band Booster IELTS is taught by Mike, one-to-one over Google Meet. There are no group classes; every session is live video. A Speaking session runs like this:
- Parts 1, 2 and 3 in the real format. Mike runs Part 1, then Part 2 with a cue card and the one-minute preparation, then Part 3, keeping to the timing of the real test so you get used to the pressure of a live interviewer.
- Feedback in the moment. You hear what happened while the answer is still fresh, during the session rather than days later: the pause you did not notice, the tense that slipped, the word that was almost right.
- Time where you need it. Because the session is one-to-one, the remaining time can go to whichever criterion is holding you back, whether that is extending Part 1 answers, planning a Part 2 talk from keywords, or building Part 3 answers with reasons and examples.
- Recording on request. If you want to listen back, the session can be recorded. Hearing your own Part 2 is often the moment a pacing or pronunciation problem finally becomes obvious.
- Written progress notes afterwards. After each session, notes go into your account: what was covered, what improved, and what to work on before next time.
Mike holds the Cambridge CELTA (July 2017) and has taught English and IELTS for more than twelve years in Vietnam, Turkey and Iran, at nine schools across three countries. His own IELTS result is 7.5 overall with 8.5 in Speaking, and he has taught more than 500 one-to-one sessions. There is more on the about Mike page.
One student reported moving from 6.5 to 8.0 in Speaking. No band is promised, though: results depend on the starting point and on the work done between sessions, and a single hour will not change a band on its own.
Speaking coaching alongside the other skills
Speaking rarely improves in isolation. The vocabulary and grammar you practise for Part 3 are the same resources a Task 2 essay needs, and you can book a mix of Speaking and Writing sessions. If Writing is your weaker skill, the IELTS Writing feedback page explains how Task 1 and Task 2 are marked against the public band descriptors. If you want all four skills covered, see online IELTS tutoring with Mike. General English sessions (conversation, pronunciation, job interviews, presentations, work email) are also available.
How booking works
- Open the booking page. The live calendar shows the available slots in your own timezone.
- Choose a slot and pay. You can use PayPal (cards work through PayPal guest checkout), a bank transfer in Vietnam with VietQR, or USDT on TRC20 or BEP20. The site never sees or stores card details, and you receive a receipt from the payment provider and from the site.
- Your Google Meet link and calendar invite arrive by email immediately. The same email contains a link to set up your account, where your session history, receipts, progress notes and rebooking live.
You can reschedule free of charge up to 12 hours before the slot; cancellations inside 12 hours are not refunded. There is no subscription and no package to commit to. Book one session, see whether it helps, and decide from there.
Price
In Vietnam a 60-minute Speaking session costs 500,000 ₫. A 30-minute trial costs 150,000 ₫ and can be taken once, on your first booking only. Booking three sessions at once gives 10% off, and five or more gives 20% off, which works out at 400,000 ₫ per hour. Students outside Vietnam see prices in their own currency automatically, as the site uses regional price tiers. Current offers, when they are running, are shown on the booking page. Full details are in the pricing section of the home page.
If you would rather read this in Vietnamese, this page has a Vietnamese version: luyện IELTS Speaking 1 kèm 1 với thầy Mike.
Before you book
If you are not sure whether one-to-one coaching is right for you, the 30-minute trial is a shorter session in the same live, one-to-one format, so you can judge whether the feedback is useful before paying for a full hour. You can book a trial session directly, or contact Mike first at mkcenter007@gmail.com or +84 383 390 963 (Zalo, WhatsApp and Telegram on the same number).