IELTS Speaking · Live practice

IELTS speaking practice with an examiner that talks back.

All three parts, out loud, in real time — the examiner asks the follow-up questions you did not prepare for, pushes back in Part 3, and moves on when you are done. At the end you get a band estimate on each of the four public criteria and a list of the specific things that cost you marks.

Start a speaking mock

Microphone needed · free to try

A conversation, not a recording

Almost every free IELTS speaking tool works the same way: it shows you a question, you record an answer, and a model grades the audio. That rehearses one third of the test. The real examiner interrupts, asks something you did not plan for, and in Part 3 disagrees with you to see whether you can hold a position. Candidates who have only ever recorded monologues meet that for the first time on test day, and it is the most common reason a practised band 7 comes back as a 6.5.

The three parts you will practise

Part 1 — Introduction and interview

4–5 minutes

Familiar topics: where you live, your work or studies, your free time. Short answers that still have a reason attached. Most candidates lose marks here by answering in three words and waiting.

Part 2 — The long turn

3–4 minutes

A cue card, one minute to prepare, then one to two minutes of uninterrupted speech. The hardest part to practise alone, because the whole difficulty is keeping going with nobody prompting you.

Part 3 — Discussion

4–5 minutes

Abstract follow-ups from the Part 2 topic. This is where band 7 and above is actually decided — you have to develop an argument, not just report a preference.

Need topics to work from? The 2026 speaking topics and cue cards are listed separately, and each one can be taken straight into a practice session.

IELTS speaking mock test online, free, with score

A full mock runs all three parts back to back, roughly eleven to fourteen minutes, the same as the real thing. You get a band estimate per criterion and an overall speaking band, plus the transcript with the moments that cost you marks marked in it — the hesitation that ran too long, the tense that slipped, the word you reached for and missed. The estimate is free; what the subscription buys is doing this every day and having the errors tracked until they stop recurring.

What the speaking band is actually made of

Fluency and coherence

Whether you keep going, and whether what you say hangs together. Long silences and constant self-correction cost more than a wrong word does.

Lexical resource

Range and precision of vocabulary, including whether you can paraphrase when the exact word will not come.

Grammatical range and accuracy

Both halves matter. Flawless simple sentences cap you around band 6; complex sentences with occasional errors can score higher.

Pronunciation

Intelligibility, stress and intonation — not an accent. See the pronunciation page for what the descriptors actually reward.

The four are averaged and rounded to the nearest half band. Because they carry equal weight, the fastest gain is nearly always the lowest of the four — which is not usually the one candidates practise.

How the scoring works

Listening and Reading are marked against the answer key, so there is nothing to argue with. Writing and Speaking are judged by two independent AI evaluators built by different companies, each scoring against the public IELTS band descriptors. When the two disagree by more than half a band, the lower score is the one you are given. A single model marking its own work is the reason most free checkers score generously; two models that have to agree is harder to please, which is the point.

Take a speaking mock now

Eleven minutes, all three parts, a band estimate on each criterion at the end. You need a microphone and somewhere you can talk out loud.

Start a speaking mock

Free to take · sign in with Google at the end to keep your results

IELTS speaking practice — FAQ

Is this IELTS speaking mock test free?
You can take a speaking mock and see your band estimate without paying. Sign in with Google to keep the result and the error notes; continued daily practice is part of the ₹499/month plan. The band estimate itself is not held back behind the payment.
How is this different from recording myself and uploading it?
A recording tool cannot interrupt you, ask a follow-up you did not expect, or push back in Part 3 — which is exactly what the real examiner does and exactly what most candidates are unprepared for. Here the examiner listens and replies while you speak, so Part 3 becomes a discussion rather than a monologue. That is the part of the test a recording cannot rehearse.
How accurate is the speaking band estimate?
It is an estimate, marked against the public band descriptors by two independent evaluators from different companies; where they disagree by more than half a band, the lower score is the one you are shown. In practice, expect the real exam to come in around half a band lower than any at-home practice, because the exam room adds pressure that no practice tool reproduces.
Can I practise IELTS Speaking Part 2 on its own?
Yes. Part 2 is the section most worth isolating, because the skill it tests — speaking for two minutes without prompting — does not improve from practising the other parts. Take a cue card, prepare for a minute, and talk until you are stopped.
How often should I practise speaking before the test?
Short and frequent beats long and occasional. Ten to fifteen minutes daily moves fluency and coherence faster than an hour once a week, because fluency is a retrieval skill and retrieval improves with repetition spacing. This is the main reason a tool available at 11pm outperforms a better human tutor you see on Saturdays.
Will practising with a machine hurt my accent or fluency?
There is no evidence it does, and the mechanism people worry about — picking up unnatural speech patterns — is not what the speaking band measures. Pronunciation is scored on intelligibility, stress and intonation, not on sounding like a particular native variety. Indian-accented English scores band 9 routinely.
What band do I need?
It depends entirely on where you are applying. Most UK and Australian universities want 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0; some professional registrations want 7.0 or 7.5 in each skill. Check the exact requirement with the institution before setting a target — the per-skill minimum catches more people out than the overall number.

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