What are IELTS Speaking Part 1 and Part 3?
IELTS Speaking is a live interview with an examiner, face to face or by video call, lasting 11–14 minutes in three parts. Part 1 opens the interview and Part 3 closes it, with the Part 2 long turn — a cue card you speak on for 1–2 minutes — sandwiched in between. See example Part 2 cue card themes and the Vietnamese guide to Part 2 if you want that part covered separately.
Part 1 lasts 4–5 minutes. The examiner introduces themselves, checks your identification, then asks general questions on some familiar topics, such as home, family, work, studies or interests. Answers are brief but complete: typically two or three natural sentences with a reason or an example, not a speech.
Part 3 lasts 4–5 minutes and comes right after Part 2. The examiner asks more abstract questions connected to the theme of your Part 2 topic, but pushed wider — from your own experience to society, trends, and opinions in general. Part 3 tests your ability to explain your opinions and to analyse, discuss and speculate about issues, so it expects a developed answer, not a one-line reaction. Your band is based on your average performance across all parts of the test.
Part 1 and Part 3 side by side
| Part 1 | Part 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 4–5 minutes | 4–5 minutes |
| Question style | Short, familiar, personal | Abstract, general, opinion-based |
| Expected answer | 2–3 natural sentences: answer + reason or example | Developed answer: opinion + reason + example, often a contrast |
| Comes after | Examiner's introduction | Part 2 (the cue card long turn) |
Part 1: common question themes
Part 1 questions are about familiar topics such as home, family, work, studies or interests. The themes below are commonly practised ones; the exact questions you are asked will differ.
- Work or study: "What do you do?" / "What subject are you studying?", "Why did you choose that job or subject?", "What do you like most about it?"
- Hometown: "Where is your hometown?", "What do you like about living there?", "Has it changed much since you were a child?"
- Hobbies and free time: "What do you do in your free time?", "How did you get interested in that?", "Do you prefer to spend free time alone or with others?"
- Daily routine: "What does a typical day look like for you?", "Which part of the day do you enjoy most?", "Has your routine changed recently?"
These are commonly practised theme categories, not an official or leaked list of real Part 1 questions — the same honest framing used on the Part 2 cue cards page. The exact wording on test day will be different; practising across these themes builds the habit of giving opinions and information on everyday topics naturally, which is what Part 1 tests.
Part 3: common discussion themes
Part 3 questions expect longer, more developed, opinion-based answers than Part 1 — an opinion, a reason, and usually an example or a contrasting view, not a single sentence. They're grouped around the same broad themes as Part 2, pushed toward wider discussion:
- Work and careers (following on from a Part 2 topic about a job): "Why do people choose the careers they do?", "How is the idea of a 'good job' changing?", "Should employers offer more flexible working hours?"
- Towns, cities and places (following on from a Part 2 topic about a hometown or place): "Why do people move from rural areas to cities?", "What are the advantages of living in a small town over a big city?", "How might towns change over the next twenty years?"
- Free time and technology (following on from a Part 2 topic about a hobby): "How has technology changed the way people spend their free time?", "Should the government fund public spaces for leisure activities?", "Is free time becoming harder to find?"
- Daily life and society (following on from a Part 2 topic about a routine or a skill): "How do daily routines differ between generations?", "Is a good work-life balance becoming harder to achieve?", "Should schools teach time-management skills?"
What a developed Part 3 answer needs
A developed Part 3 answer gives a position, a reason, and an example or a contrasting view, rather than stopping after one sentence such as: "Yes, I think cities are more convenient." The public Fluency and Coherence band descriptors reward speaking at length: band 6 describes a willingness to produce long turns, and band 7 describes producing long turns without noticeable effort. Here is how to build one:
- State an opinion. Don't hedge into a non-answer — give a clear position, even if you then qualify it.
- Give a reason. "Because..." is usually the difference between a stated opinion and an argued one.
- Add an example or a contrast. A concrete example, or "on the other hand..." to acknowledge the opposite view, shows you can handle an idea from more than one angle — which is exactly what Part 3 is testing.
Part 3 is not about having the "correct" opinion — there isn't one. It's about whether you can build and support an argument in real time, in English, at a natural pace. See the Part 2 guide for how the long turn in the middle connects to both halves.
Common mistakes in Part 1 and Part 3
- Over-answering Part 1. A long, polished answer to "Where is your hometown?" can sound rehearsed, and examiners are trained to recognise rehearsed responses. Aim for a brief but complete answer, typically two or three sentences, with a reason or example.
- Under-answering Part 3. The opposite mistake: a one-line opinion with no reason or example, which reads as a Part 1 answer in a Part 3 question. Part 3 is where longer, more developed responses are expected.
- Freezing on an unfamiliar opinion. If you've never thought about the topic, it's fine to say so and reason your way to a view live — that's still a developed answer, and it's more natural than a rehearsed line that doesn't quite fit the question.
How a coaching session helps
Practising question lists alone tells you what might come up, but not whether your Part 1 answers are landing at the right length, or whether your Part 3 opinions are developed enough. In a session with Mike, a CELTA-certified teacher with 12 years teaching English in Vietnam, Turkey and Iran — currently teaching 250 students across 10 classes at Newton Grammar School in Hanoi, alongside this one-to-one coaching — you practise real Part 1 and Part 3 questions and get feedback on pacing and development while the answer is still fresh. Sessions cover the full Speaking test, so Part 1 and 3 are practised alongside the Part 2 long turn; see the IELTS Speaking coaching page for what a full session covers.
If you want to see how a Speaking score change would move your overall band, try the band score calculator. Sessions run one-to-one over Google Meet; Mike's teaching background is on the about page.
Price and the trial session
The 30-minute trial session is 150,000 ₫, once per student on the first booking. A regular 60-minute IELTS session is 500,000 ₫; a General English session is 450,000 ₫. Booking 6 or more regular sessions in a single order gets 10% off (500,000 ₫ → 450,000 ₫ per session), available once per student on their first qualifying order; there's no discount for 2–5 sessions. Payment is by Vietnamese bank transfer (VietQR), PayPal, or USDT — there's no Stripe or credit-card checkout in Vietnam. Current prices, including the trial session, are shown on the pricing section; you can book a trial or a regular session from a live calendar. Students outside Vietnam see their own region's price, in their own currency, on the booking page before paying.
This guide is also available in Vietnamese: chủ đề Speaking Part 1 và Part 3 IELTS.