IELTS speaking test part-1 is same for both the IELTS Academic and General Training Modules. It usually takes 4-5 minutes to take the test. It’s simply an interview about test taker's basic information, such as home, town, study, or hobby. Candidate should give the information in a small talk style interview.

Following are the questions that are usually asked in the IELTS speaking Part-1

• The full name of the candidate
• The examiner will ask for the identification of the candidate
• Basic information like hometown or family
• Work related information
• If the candidate is a student then the examiner might ask study related questions

In speaking part 1, test takers will also be asked questions in familiar topics. The IELTS speaking part 1 is the easiest part of the speaking test. So, it is important to make sure the candidate gets the full marks on this part.

There are four assessment criteria that are used while making evaluation. These are-

1. Fluency and Cohesion: In this section the interviewer checks if the candidate can talk without any pause and hesitation.

2. Grammatical range and Accuracy: Candidates’ ability to use different types of sentences are checked. The examiner wants to make sure the candidate can use different tenses, voices and sentence structures.

3. Lexical Resources: It focuses on the range of vocabulary that candidates use. It’s important not to speak repetitive words to get higher score.

4. Pronunciation: Pronunciation accounts for 25% of the candidates’ score. Pronunciation and accents are not the same. Accent is not judged at all. Pronunciation is based on these things, clarity, speed and intonation. 

Tips to get a high score on IELTS speaking part-1

• Be confident when you ae answering. Make eye contact with the examiner and don’t look at the floor. It shows nervousness. If you are nervous, you are not going to get a good score even if your English is good.
• Don’t give very short answers or very long answers. The examiner is not going to judge your English if you don’t speak enough. If you don’t know about a topic then don’t keep silent just make something up.
• As vocabulary is one of the assessment criteria, it’s important to use wide range of words. Don’t use simple vocabulary and repetitive words. Use synonyms instead of speaking the same words.  
• Practice speaking before you face the examiner. Practice as much as you can. With practice you are going to get better.

Finally, don’t allow your nerves to get better of you. The test is mainly about you and you should always be confident about yourself.

If you want an assessment of your IELTS speaking by our IELTS expert team you can click https://www.ielts.live/start-speaking-test