IELTS GT Test – Speaking Mock Test # 5
[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
PART 1:
Topic: Giving gifts
Q. When do people give gifts or presents in your country?
A. People in our country love to give gifts to others as a gesture of their good wishes and to show that they care. If someone invites a person to a birthday party, a wedding ceremony or to a baby shower, the invited guest always brings gifts. We often buy gifts whenever someone invites us to their house even if this is just a social visit. Thus gift giving is a part of our tradition. I must mention here that during the Chrismas time, people exchange gifts and cards more than any time of the year.
Q. Do you ever take a gift when you visit someone in their home? [Why/Why not?]
A. Yes, I do so all the time as an invited guest to someone’s house. It is a part of our custom to bring gifts on a special occasion like a birthday, a wedding anniversary, or to a social visit. Last month I visited a neighbour with my parents and I bought a showpiece and a flower bouquet for them.
Q. When did you last receive a gift? [What was it?]
A. My friends presented me with a few books on my last birthday. They bought four novels that they knew I wanted to read and surprised me on my birthday. Two of these books are written by John Grisham. Two other books are ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.
Q. Do you enjoy looking for gifts for people? [Why/Why not?]
A. That’s a tough question to answer because I love to browse a shop and sometimes online gift shops to buy a gift but I usually do it quickly. So to answer your question, I love to buy a suitable gift for others but I do not spend hours after hours doing so. Instead, I visit a large shop or an online store that has numerous gift items and then I quickly pick a gift. I do the same when I buy flowers for others. I do so for a long time and I believe I do not like to waste time in a shop looking for the best gift. I am contented with a suitable gift most of the time.
PART 2:
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Describe something you did that was new or exciting.
You should say:
- what you did
- where and when you did this
- who you shared the activity with
and explain why this activity was new or exciting for you.
Cue Card Answer:
It was about 5 years ago or so when I had just started to explore the wonderful world of the internet during my college life. In fact, the more I was looking at the cool looking websites with some spectacular designs and functionalities (it was so back then, at least), the more I was challenging my “intellectual buds” to create such “information portals” on the world wide web, containing text, image, video and animation. But, how could I take on such a challenge without any guide? Well, after enquiring a little, I knew exactly where to go, and it was none other than a friend of my friend.
His name was Jack Huston. Jack, being a computer lab assistant, had more than enough knowledge to help me with building a website from scratch. In fact, Jack, the computer guru, made it look so easy that I decided to jump on building my first website immediately. But, then I realized that it fell in the category of one of those things where one is forced to say things like “it is easy to say but difficult to do”. So, when I actually started to “build” the much-awaited website by figuring out things like creating proper file structure, website layout, main menu, margins, sidebar, menu bar as well as learning HTML and CSS, I just became overwhelmed very much to my dislike. But, I wasn’t exactly about to give up my dream of building my first website. So, I started afresh again, and as I kept trying again and again by spending at least four hours a day just on creating a website, my dream finally came into a reality.
After all, my hard works really paid off in the end. But, I needed to show it to Jack, my mentor. And, when he actually saw my “wonderful works”, he was really amazed and, of course, proud at the same time. Later on, I shared my newly built website with my friend as well.
They say that nothing succeeds like “success”. And, it becomes even more interesting when we succeed in doing a new thing at the very first attempt. So, naturally, I was also very excited when I succeeded in building my first website. Besides, in the process of building my first website, I came to know about a lot of things about internet and computer which wouldn’t be exactly otherwise possible for a person like me without any prior experience. However, the most exciting part of building my own website was that I could actually conduct many experiments on it, and then share my works my classmates and friends to prove that I was actually more ‘smart’ than I look. Finally, it was one of the most “intellectually stimulating” experiences of my student life. When I put the website live and could access it from anywhere, I felt that I had done a great job which I can be proud of.
PART 3
Discussion topics: Doing new things
Q. Why do you think some people like doing new things?
A. It’s in the human DNA that we want to try doing something new and exciting. Doing the same thing over and over again makes us bore and we want to get out of the banal routine whenever possible. However, some people always seek adventure and take up new activities while others do not want to go out of their comfort zone. Due to our inquisitive nature, we have explored the ocean, invented so many food recipes, created games and sports, have many inventions that we enjoy and have reached the outer space.
Q. What problems can people have when they try new activities for the first time?
A. A new activity is often challenging, expensive, dangerous for our health and too tough to accomplish. For instance, reaching the summit of a mountain or switching to a completely vegetarian diet, two examples of millions of such new ventures, seems easy but are really difficult to do. However, if we want to achieve something really great, we will always have to take the first step towards it no matter how challenging they initially become. The joy of being able to do something new is worth taking the risk. Besides, some new activities are not that much challenging and only requires determination.
Q. Do you think it’s best to do new things on your own or with other people? Why?
A. It really depends on the type of things we want to do. For instance, if I want to start writing a story or develop a particular skill, I would rather do it myself. However, if I want to learn how to swim or play a game, I would definitely prefer someone who can teach me the rules and skills.
I believe some activities are better accomplished alone than a group while others could be learnt and done quickly with the help of others. So depending on the activity, we may decide whether we should do it solo or with a group of people.
Discussion topics: Learning new things
Q. What kinds of things do children learn to do when they are very young? How important are these things?
A. I believe we learn the most important life skills in our childhood. Children learn how to walk, talk, interact with others, react in danger and the names of the objects around them. Besides, their basic character is shaped during this time and they gather the essential skills or reading, writing and numerations which affect their further learning and skill development in the future.
As someone’s life develops and evolves around the skills he/she learns in his/her early days, it has the utmost importance in our life.
Q. Do you think children and adults learn to do new things in the same way? How is their learning style different?
A. I believe, children are more inquisitive and are open to everything new and exciting. Thus they learn naturally without prejudice and paying much attention. Their brains are more functional and can process more amount of data. For instance, a child without taking any intensive training course can learn a language only from the people who speak around him/her.
On the other hand, adults learn new things which they feel they need to learn. Their brains are already occupied with a massive amount of data and do not take up new skills easily. Thus if they want to learn a new language, they need to take courses or live in a country where this language is spoken. However, I must mention here that, our learnings in adulthood have great importance as they further shape our character and personality.
Q. Some people say that it is more important to be able to learn new things now than it was in the past. Do you agree or disagree with that? Why?
A. I definitely agree that it is important for us to learn new things now than it was anytime in the past. The primary reason for this is that we live in a highly competitive era where knowledge and skills are power. We have an ever-increasing competition in schools, workplaces and life, and without constantly learning, we would fail to reach our goal. For instance, if an employee fails to develop his skill, someone else will take up his position. Since technology helps us so much in learning new things, we should take advantage of it and expand our knowledge and skills to further our productivity.