• Stretch your abilities

① Speaking practice with a friend or colleague whose English is at a higher level than yours allows you to learn by listening and develop your own skills by responding.

② Make sure the difference between your English level and theirs is not too great or you may become discouraged.

• Repetition with understanding

①A great way to build confidence is to watch very short conversations, speeches, or discussions and then, once you are sure that you have understood what was being said, repeat them.

② Start off with very short simple extracts and then increase the length and difficulty slowly – making sure that pronunciation aspects such as stress, rhythm, and intonation are as accurate as possible. This will also improve your English fluency.

• The danger of learning speeches

① While it is a good idea to repeat short extracts of speech as described above, you must never try to memorise speeches for the Speaking test.

② An Examiner can always tell if a speech has been learnt before the test and rehearsed for the interview.

③ It is far better to speak naturally and to get as much practice doing this with friends as you can.

• Don’t be nervous

① Try not to allow nerves to stop you from performing to the best of your ability.

② Remember, the Speaking test allows you to talk about your life experiences, ideas, and expectations in the most accurate, interesting ways you can. It is largely about you and there is no need to be nervous about yourself.