IELTS Tips: Taking Notes for Speaking Section 2

Section 2 of the IELTS speaking test is, for many students, the most intimidating part of the exam.

In this part, you are given a topic card that shows a subject you must speak about and a general outline of how that speech should go.

The topic could be almost anything, but it is usually based around your life experience or knowledge of the world.

The card will look like the ones pictured below

Once you have your card, you are given just 60 seconds to prepare yourself and jot down a few notes before the card is taken away! You must then speak about your topic for a minimum of 1 minute, up to a maximum of 2 minutes.

Obviously, in a scenario like this, your notes are essential to your success. However, students and test takers often fail to take notes effectively, which leaves them at a major disadvantage when the speaking begins.

Today I’ll give you a few tips on how to quickly make effective notes that will help you in your speaking task 2. Let’s get started:

1.     Don’t Write Down Your Main Topic!
One of the cards above asks you to talk about a movie star. In this case, do you think it would be a good use of my time to write down “Leonardo DiCaprio”? Probably not. You are not likely to forget the name of the person you’re talking about, so writing it down is just a waste of precious seconds. You would be better off writing words that describe Mr. DiCaprio instead.

2.     Keep it to Keywords
Obviously if you are short on time, writing full sentences is a bad idea. Keep your notes in the form of bullet points, with each one as a single word or short phrase. These key terms should serve as a starting point for you to elaborate and go into more detail.

3.     Write in English
 Some students might decide that writing notes in their first language is faster, and that may be true. However, this will ultimately lead to slower and less natural sounding speech. If you are reading notes in your language, translating the ideas into English will slow you down and make you add more fillers (uh.. erm…. hmm…), so keep your notes in English only!

4.     The Facts vs. The Feels
Look at the example topic cards at the top of this article. Notice how each of them have 3 bullet points that ask for simple facts (what, who, where, when etc.), followed by 1 final question that asks for your feelings and interpretations (why, how). Don’t make the mistake of splitting your ideas among all four points evenly. Instead, focus your notes and your answer on this last question. Talking about how you feel about something provides more opportunity to go into detail, give examples and reasons, and tell a story naturally and cohesively. Make sure your notes help you do that!

5.     Practice Makes Perfect
In North America, brainstorming and writing down all kinds of ideas is something we practice in school from a very young age. However, this is not the case for everyone around the world. If you have trouble coming up with ideas or suffer from test anxiety, practicing every day is a great way to build your brainstorming and note-taking skills. Google “recent IELTS speaking topics” and find a few topic cards you can practice with. Aim to practice at least 2-3 times per week, if not every day.

Do you need help preparing for IELTS? Join our IELTS Prep program at MOSAIC engage. We currently have in-person evening classes three nights a week at our Commercial-Broadway centre. Click here for more info!

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