IELTS Speaking sample answers: the same questions at band 6, 7 and 8

Here are the same three IELTS Speaking questions answered at band 6, 7 and 8: one Part 1 question, one Part 2 cue card and one Part 3 question. It is a shortened practice set, not a full 11 to 14 minute test. After each level, a table quotes the official Speaking band descriptors and names the features in the samples that point toward that band.

About these samples. They are written by GoPrep to illustrate band features, not official IELTS samples, and they are not recordings or transcripts of real test-takers. The band is holistic: examiners rate your average performance across the whole test, so one pause, one idiom or one error never decides it. For real candidates, ielts.org has 12 recorded Speaking performances from band 5 to band 9, with transcripts and examiner comments.

These are written sample answers. The hesitation marks (um, ...) show intended delivery; they are not evidence from a recording. Each Part 2 sample is the opening of a 2-minute talk; in the exam you keep going until the examiner stops you.

Band 6 features: sample answers

Written by GoPrep to illustrate band 6 features, not an official IELTS sample.

Part 1: Do you know your neighbours well?

Yes, I know some of them. In my building there are, um, maybe twenty flats, and I know the family next to us, because my mother is friends with them. We say hello and sometimes they give us food. But the other people... I don't know them, because everybody is busy.

Part 2: the neighbour card (the first minute or less of the talk)

I want to talk about my neighbour Timur. He lives on the same floor with us. Last winter my car didn't start in the morning because it was very cold, like minus twenty-five. I had an important exam in the university, so I was very worried. Timur saw me and he helped me. He brought, um, the cables, I don't know how to say, the cables for battery, and he connected with his car. After ten minutes my car started. I was very happy, and if he didn't help me, I will be late for the exam.

Part 3: Why do many people in big cities hardly know their neighbours?

I think there are many reasons. First, in big cities people are very busy. They work all day, and when they come home they are tired, so they don't want to talk with anybody. Second, people change their flat very often, because they rent, so they don't stay long time in one place. Also, um, the technology. People use phones all the time, even in the lift. In the village it is different, everybody know each other. So I think it is a big problem for the society.

The band 6 answers cover every prompt. The Part 3 answer gives three reasons with brief explanations, but the linking is a list and the last point stops at an example. Band 7 adds control and development.

Band 7 features: sample answers

Written by GoPrep to illustrate band 7 features, not an official IELTS sample.

Part 1: Do you know your neighbours well?

Some of them, yes. I live in a block of about twenty flats, and we're quite close to the, um, the family next door, because my mum and their grandmother have been friends for years. They often bring us a plate of food on holidays. The rest I only know by sight, to be honest, since most people leave early and come back late.

Part 2: the neighbour card (the first minute or less of the talk)

The neighbour I'd like to talk about is Timur, who lives across the landing from us. It was last January, one of those mornings when it's about minus twenty-five, and my car simply wouldn't start. I had an exam at nine, so I was starting to panic. Timur was on his way out, and when he saw me, he went back upstairs for his, um, jump leads, the cables you use to start a car. Ten minutes later the engine started. He really made me a favour, and he didn't make a big deal of it. Since then he always check my car when it gets really cold.

Part 3: Why do many people in big cities hardly know their neighbours?

I'd say the main reason is that city life doesn't leave much time for it. Most people commute for an hour or more, so by the time they get home, chatting to the person next door is the last thing on their mind. Another factor is that a lot of people rent, and if you know you'll move again in a year, you don't really bother to put down roots. Having said that, I don't think people are less friendly than in villages. It's more that there are, um, fewer chances to bump into the same faces every day.

How the band 7 talk would continue to 2 minutes: what Timur said while they waited, the relief of reaching the exam in time, and the explain line: why one small favour changed how the speaker sees the building. Each step adds 15 to 25 seconds of new detail.

Band 8 features: sample answers

Written by GoPrep to illustrate band 8 features, not an official IELTS sample.

Part 1: Do you know your neighbours well?

Better than most people in my building, I think. There are about twenty flats, but the only neighbours I'd call friends are the family next door. Our mothers have known each other for years, so there's a constant traffic of plates and borrowed chairs between our two doors. Everyone else I know mostly by sight: we nod in the lift, and that's about it.

Part 2: the neighbour card (the first minute or less of the talk)

I'd like to talk about Timur, who lives across the landing from us and who, until last winter, I'd barely spoken to. It was, let me think, one of those January mornings when the temperature drops to minus twenty-five and cars just give up. I had an exam at nine, and mine wouldn't even turn over. Timur happened to be heading out, took one look at me and, without a word, went back upstairs for his jump leads. Ten minutes later the engine coughed into life. What struck me was how casual he was about it: he waved off my thanks and said someone had rescued him the same way the year before. Looking back, that small favour did more for how I feel about our building than years of polite nods in the lift.

Part 3: Why do many people in big cities hardly know their neighbours?

I think it's less about people being unfriendly and more about how cities are built. In a village you can't avoid your neighbours: you use the same shop and the same bus stop, so relationships form almost by default. In a tower block, the only shared space is the lift, and a thirty-second ride isn't much of a foundation for friendship. Then there's turnover. When half of the building rent and moves on every year or two, getting to know people starts to feel pointless. That said, it isn't inevitable. Where a building has a courtyard or even a residents' group chat, you often see the village pattern creeping back, just in a different form.

Band 8 isn't about fancy words. It is more precise: specific details (a constant traffic of plates and borrowed chairs), a callback from Part 2 to Part 1 (polite nods in the lift), and one argued idea in Part 3.

One moment, three bands: the word you don't know

Every speaker hits a word they can't find. Here is the same moment at three levels.

So if a word won't come, describe it and move on.

Pronunciation: what to listen for

Written samples can't show Pronunciation, so check it with audio: your own recording or the official ielts.org samples. Try one band 6 and one band 7 video there and compare them on each feature:

• Chunking: pauses between word groups (last January, / one of those mornings), not mid-phrase.
• Rhythm: at band 6 it "may be affected by a lack of stress-timing and/or a rapid speech rate"; at band 8 the speaker "Can sustain appropriate rhythm".
• Stress and intonation: band 6 has "Some effective use of intonation and stress, but this is not sustained". Try I don't think people are LESS friendly: the stress on less carries the meaning.
• Individual sounds: at band 6 they "may be mispronounced but this causes only occasional lack of clarity".
• Accent: at band 8, "Accent has minimal effect on intelligibility" (how easy you are to understand). The accent itself isn't scored.

In the official band 7 videos, the examiner notes a noticeable accent alongside speech that is clear and easy to follow.

Four things stand out:

• No single criterion makes the difference. Each averaged about one band higher at 7.0.
• The same learners moved the same way. Of the 1,463 who started at 6.0, 110 later scored 7.0 or higher, typically on their third mock. From the first test to that one, each of the four criteria rose by a median of 1 band. This describes what changed, not what caused it.
• Grammar was the most common lowest score at both levels. It was the only lowest criterion in 47% of first tests at 6.0 and 40% at 7.0, and the lowest or joint lowest in 99% and 97%. One official band 6 video's examiner comment also calls grammar the weakest part.
• A 7.0 doesn't need a 7 in every criterion. Among first tests at 7.0, grammar was 7 or higher in only 40 of 268 (15%). The band is an average of four scores.

Too few first tests reached 8.0 or above (22 of 6,419) to show a band 8 profile. Averages are rounded to the nearest half band. These are AI examiner scores on GoPrep mocks, not official IELTS results, and different mocks are different tests, so a change between them is not a controlled comparison.