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Speaking exam

The Speaking test is a spoken conversation with an AI examiner, in three parts (~11–14 minutes), just like a real IELTS Speaking interview. You'll need a microphone and a quiet room.

Setting up​

Speaking setup — avatar mode, examiner voice, and mic check The Speaking setup screen.

Before you start you can choose:

  • Examiner appearance (avatar mode):
    • Voice only (default) — just the examiner's voice. Fastest to start and lightest on your connection.
    • Female avatar / Male avatar — an animated examiner face that speaks. More immersive, slightly more to load.
  • Examiner voice — pick the accent/voice you'd like to be interviewed by.
  • Microphone check — confirm your mic is working before you begin. The indicator moves when it hears you (IDLE → READY/ONLINE). Allow microphone access when your browser asks.

Press START when your mic shows it's picking you up.

Use headphones in voice-only and avatar modes

Headphones stop the examiner's voice leaking into your microphone, which keeps your transcript clean and your fluency score fair.

During the exam​

The Speaking exam — examiner (voice or avatar), live transcript, mic indicator Taking the Speaking exam.

The examiner leads the conversation through the three IELTS parts:

  • Part 1 — Interview (~4–5 min): everyday questions about you (home, work/study, hobbies, routines). Answer naturally in a sentence or two.
  • Part 2 — Long turn (~3–4 min): you get a cue card with a topic, one minute to prepare, then you speak for up to two minutes without interruption.
  • Part 3 — Discussion (~4–5 min): deeper, more abstract follow-up questions on the Part 2 theme.

While you speak, the app listens and shows the conversation. When you finish an answer and pause, the examiner moves on — so speak in full, complete turns rather than one word at a time.

Marking​

After the interview ends, your speaking is marked by AI — usually within a few minutes (longer at busy times). You'll get an overall band plus the four official Speaking criteria:

  • Fluency & Coherence
  • Lexical Resource
  • Grammatical Range & Accuracy
  • Pronunciation

The results include a transcript of the whole interview and playback, so you can hear exactly what you said. See Results & review.

Tips​

  • Talk in full answers. Long pauses can make the examiner think you've finished. Aim for developed responses, especially in Parts 2 and 3.
  • Use the Part 2 prep minute — jot a few keywords so you don't dry up mid-turn.
  • Quiet room, good mic. Background noise and clipped audio hurt both the transcript and your Pronunciation/Fluency scores.
  • Warm up first with speaking games in the Practice Dojo — they get you talking with no marking pressure.