In today’s tutorial, we discuss how to annoy an IELTS examiner in the Speaking Test with an ex-IELTS examiner, Robert.

Robert shares six things you can do to avoid annoying the examiner during all parts of the speaking test.

* Don’t be silent or moody

* Don’t ask the examiner to change the topic

* Keep eye contact, don’t stare at your shoes

* Don’t bore the examiner

* Keep it original

* Don’t use the pronoun “I” in every sentence.

Don’t be silent or moody.

Remember that the Speaking Test is your chance to show off your skills, your ability to talk in English at length, especially in Parts 2 and 3 and if your answers are quite short, if you don’t, for example, explain yourself in any detail or fail to give any examples to back up your opinions, then the examiner has to find ways to get you talking.

So, lesson number one if you do not want to annoy an IELTS examiner, do not be the “moody, silent type”.  There’s an expression in English. I expect it exists in some form in other languages too. “It was like getting blood out of a stone.” We use it to refer to someone who doesn’t want to talk. I remember more than one when I was examining. No matter how hard I tried, they just didn’t want to open up.

For example:

“Do older people enjoy the same types of films?”

– “Well, I don’t know. Maybe not.”

Don’t ask the examiner to change the topic.

Please don’t annoy the examiner by asking if he or she could change the topic. I remember in my early days as an examiner asking someone to “describe a book they had read” and was asked if I could change that to “describe a film”. I had to just say “no”.

The fact is that the examiners themselves have to follow certain rules and one of them is being strict when it comes to the long-turn topic. It can’t be changed. 

Keep eye contact, don’t stare at your shoes.

Yes, the Speaking Test is open and friendly. There’s a lot of smiling and positive body language and that has to come from both sides of the table. Eye contact is important for example. Yes, I know it’s a tense situation, being asked questions by a stranger, but don’t make life difficult for the examiner by staring at your shoes. 

Let’s go on to think of when the interview is in flow. I think in each part of the test there are things which can test the examiner’s patience. 

Don’t bore the examiner.

In Part 1, it would have to be those occasions when the test taker has memorised what to say in the knowledge that there’s that binary choice at the start, the “work or study” versus the “where live” set of questions. Even though you are expressly told not to do it, some candidates try to bore the examiner by explaining their job in detail. 

BORING

Well, I’m a geophysicist working in the area of oil and gas exploration. I use several geophysical methods such as seismic refraction to ascertain the likelihood of discovering viable quantities of oil in the subsurface to warrant drilling exploratory wells. 

The examiner will interrupt with another question simply because he or she does not want to hear a prepared script that sounds as if it came from a book. Speak naturally. There’s nothing wrong with technical terms but don’t overuse them. How about:

INTERESTING

Well, I’m a geophysicist. We’re the ones who tell the engineers where the oil and gas is under the ground and we do that using different methods to find out what is underneath the surface in places we think are worth exploring. 

Nice and simple. Even an IELTS examiner will understand.