This is an example of the feedback included in the practice speaking test package.  When you take a practice test with me, you will receive all of the following:

  • A personal page on the website to listen to your test and read the feedback
  • A mark for your exam
  • Specific feedback on your performance in the areas of communicative effectiveness, pronunciation, accuracy and range
  • A recording of your test hosted online and available to download
  • Detailed feedback about the test, which appears as you listen.  (You can click the tiny photo of me in the image of the sample recording to see the comment, or you can click on the words “Sample Speaking Test Answer” to view all of the comments.)

This sample recording was taken from an IELTS speaking test.  This is the answer to one question in the last section in the test (the most complicated), which is why the student hesitates a bit.  The feedback shown below is for the entire speaking test.  You can read a transcript of the answer below the recording (transcripts are not included in the service–when you do the test it is easier to remember the context than if you are listening to someone else’s).

See the sample speaking test feedback

Band score: 7.5-8 Excellent! You answer the questions well, with good details and reasons. You connect your ideas together efficiently and you show a wide range of appropriate vocabulary. Your control of grammar is also very good.

Communicative effectiveness: Very well done.  I know the last section of the exam was difficult, but your hesitation was not a problem.  You took your time to gather your thoughts and prepare your answer which made it easy for the listener to follow your response.

Pronunciation:  Very good.  There were some isolated problems (foot and cook), but overall your accent is consistent, controlled and easy to understand.  You do an excellent job of connecting your words together and using intonation to communicate.

Accuracy:  Good.  Relatively few errors and they did not inhibit communication.

Range:  Very good.  An impressive display of grammatical structures and vocabulary.

You can listen to the recording below and see my comments as you listen. If you put the mouse over one of the tiny pictures of my face in the image of the recording, you can read the comment.  If you click on the words “Sample Speaking Test Answer,” you can see all of my comments on the Soundcloud page.

Read the transcript of the recording

Ben: Do you think that daughters are always more similar to mothers than male relatives?

Student: Erm… It’s… that’s… that is true most of the time because they spend more time with their mothers. So they learn how their mothers behave and sometimes act like them. That’s erm… if we… we think of the [laughs] Oedipus complex, that is a bit of Latin [laughs]… sometimes they say that the erm… the daughter tries to erm… make things that will force the father to appreciate her. And sometimes she may try to do things as the father, to behave like the father just for the father to see that: Ahh, she’s looking like me, doing things like me and love them more. But I don’t know if that really affects the way they feel or the way they’re acting like.