Ans. Eye contact is not essential in IELTS speaking as it is not a rule by the examiner. However, keeping eye contact with the examiner helps create a good impression and reflects your confidence. Apart from eye contact, you can use hand gestures while speaking to express your thoughts and ideas.

Ans. The mistakes that you can avoid during the IELTS speaking test are:
 

1. Memorising the answers
2. Not pronouncing the words properly
3. You should not go off the topic
4. You should not use the exact words or phrases repeatedly.

Ans. The accent doesn’t matter unless you are pronouncing the word correctly. Your words should be adequately audible to the examiner to assess your capabilities. It is not necessary to speak with a British accent. You can also speak in an Australian and American accent. With an accent, you should also remember to set the right tone.

Ans. Yes, you can clear IELTS on the first attempt. You can clear the test on the first attempt in the following ways- 
 

1. Practice last year’s questions to analyse and understand the test pattern.
2. You should focus on improving your language skills.
3. You can boost your confidence to attempt the test.
4. Through thorough practice, you can enhance your performance in all the sections of the IELTS test.

Ans. If you fail the IELTS speaking test once, you can take the test multiple times, but every time you take the test, you will have to pay for the IELTS exam. You should practice questions from all the sections to enhance your test scores. You should practice the questions at a fixed time to manage time during the test.

Ans. The total duration of the IELTS test is 2 hours and 45 minutes. The total duration is divided into 4 sections: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The total duration of the IELTS speaking test is 11-14 minutes. The speaking test is divided into three parts such as:  
 

• Part 1: Introduction and Interview (4–5 minutes).
• Part 2: Long turn or Cue Card (3–4 minutes).
• Part 3: Discussion (4–5 minutes).

Ans. The most essential things in IELTS are pronunciation and speaking loudly and clearly.

Ans. There is no fixed dress code for the IELTS exam. You can wear casual, comfortable clothes to the test. You do not need to wear formal attire and sit for the test. You should be decently dressed for the test and adequately groomed.

Ans. If you do not understand the cue card completely, you can ask your examiner to clarify it. Remember to ask politely. For example, you can say, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t understand the topic completely. Can you please provide more information on the task?”. Asking your examiner to clarify the topic will not affect your score.

Ans. The essential elements that you should keep in mind while attempting the cue card section are:
 

1. Vocabulary
2. Language
3. Pronunciations

Ans. Usage of informal language is not prohibited during your cue card task. However, please use formal language and tone of speech. The IELTS analyses your ability to use English in academic and formal contexts. So, overuse of casual language is not appropriate for the test.

Ans. Yes, you can take notes on paper during the preparation time for my cue card task. Taking notes will help you in structuring and framing the answers. You can also write keywords and phrases to use while answering.