Art and creativity: IELTS Speaking Part 3 questions & answers

Opening question

Warm-up: close to home

1. Opinion

   What role does art play in people's everyday lives?

   2
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

   1. My view→
   2. Why→
   3. Example→
   4. But

   Art plays a far bigger role than most people realise, because it's woven into things we hardly notice. Every product we buy, every building we walk past and every film we stream was shaped by somebody's creative decisions, so we're surrounded by art even when we're not looking for it. Take the design of a book cover or the layout of a café. Both can quietly change how we feel about an idea or a place. That said, for many people art in the more formal sense, like visiting a museum, is still something they do once a year at most.

   woven into things we hardly notice

   part of ordinary things we don't pay attention to

   in the more formal sense

   in its traditional, official meaning

   once a year at most

   no more than once a year, so rarely

   101 words · about 44 seconds spoken

Development: society

1. Pros and cons

   Is creativity something people are born with, or can it be taught?

   3
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   Sample answerBand 8UpsideDownsideOn balance

   1. Upside→
   2. Downside→
   3. On balance

   There's a strong case that it can be taught, because a lot of what we call creativity is essentially a set of habits, like asking questions, experimenting and not being afraid of failure, and those can certainly be encouraged. Having said that, you can't ignore the fact that some children seem to see the world differently from an early age, and no amount of training will turn everyone into a gifted composer. So I'd say most people are born with the raw material, and it's education that decides whether it ever develops.

   There's a strong case that

   there are good arguments that

   no amount of training will

   however much training someone has, it won't

   the raw material

   the basic natural ability that can be developed

   92 words · about 40 seconds spoken

2. Opinion

   How important do you think art is in a child's education?

   4
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

   1. My view→
   2. Why→
   3. Example→
   4. But

   Personally, I'd put it on a par with maths and languages, even if that sounds like an exaggeration. Art is one of the few subjects where there isn't a single correct answer, so it teaches children to trust their own judgement and to cope with uncertainty. I remember a classmate who struggled with almost everything academic but came alive in the art room, and that confidence gradually spilled over into his other lessons. Of course, it has to be taught well, because an art class that's just copying a picture off the board does little for anyone.

   on a par with

   equal in importance or quality to

   came alive in

   became lively and fully engaged in

   spilled over into

   spread and began to affect another area

   97 words · about 42 seconds spoken

Depth: the abstract and the future

1. Opinion

   Should governments spend public money supporting the arts?

   5
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

   1. My view→
   2. Why→
   3. Example→
   4. But

   Yes, I'm broadly in favour, although I'd want the money spent carefully. A lot of valuable art can't survive on ticket sales alone, and if it's left entirely to the market, we end up with whatever is most profitable rather than what's most worthwhile. Where I live, a modest subsidy keeps regional theatres open in towns that would otherwise have no cultural life at all. On the other hand, when hospitals and schools are short of funding, it's hard to justify paying for an expensive sculpture that most taxpayers will never see.

   broadly in favour

   generally supportive, with some reservations

   left entirely to the market

   decided only by what people are willing to buy

   hard to justify

   difficult to give a good reason for

   92 words · about 40 seconds spoken

2. Cause and effect

   Why do you think some forms of art are valued more than others?

   6
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   Sample answerBand 8Main causeAnother causeEffect

   1. Main cause→
   2. Another cause→
   3. Effect

   Much of it comes down to prestige and history. Oil painting and classical music have centuries of tradition behind them, so they're treated as serious in a way that newer forms aren't. Money plays its part too, since collectors and institutions have a vested interest in keeping certain works scarce and expensive. The result is that something like street art or comics is often dismissed as lowbrow, even when it's technically brilliant and speaks to far more people.

   comes down to

   is mainly explained by

   a vested interest in

   a personal, often financial, reason to want something

   dismissed as lowbrow

   rejected as unsophisticated or lacking culture

   78 words · about 34 seconds spoken

3. The future

   How might technology change the way art is created in the future?

   7
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   Sample answerBand 8PredictionBecauseBut

   1. Prediction→
   2. Because→
   3. But

   I suspect the line between artist and audience will become increasingly blurred, with people creating works collaboratively or even interacting with a piece while it's being made. The tools are getting cheaper and easier to use every year, so someone with no formal training can already produce animation or digital painting that would once have needed a whole studio. Even so, I doubt traditional skills will vanish, and if anything, a handmade object might become more prized precisely because it's harder to fake.

   become increasingly blurred

   get harder and harder to tell apart

   if anything

   in fact, possibly the opposite is true

   precisely because

   exactly for the reason that

   83 words · about 36 seconds spoken

4. What if

   If art were removed from schools entirely, what would be lost?

   8
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   Sample answerBand 8If soResultWider effect

   1. If so→
   2. Result→
   3. Wider effect

   If that happened, children would lose one of the only places in the school day where they're allowed to make mistakes without being marked down for them. Classrooms would become even more focused on tests and right answers, and the pupils who think in pictures rather than words would probably conclude that school simply isn't for them. In the long run, society would pay for it too, because the design, film and advertising industries depend on people who learnt to think visually when they were young.

   being marked down

   losing marks or being judged negatively

   think in pictures rather than words

   understand ideas visually instead of through language

   In the long run

   over a long period, eventually

   86 words · about 37 seconds spoken

5. Pros and cons

   Can something created by a machine really be called art?

   9
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   Sample answerBand 8UpsideDownsideOn balance

   1. Upside→
   2. Downside→
   3. On balance

   In one sense, yes, because if a machine produces an image that genuinely moves people, it seems a bit snobbish to deny that it's art just because of where it came from. The problem is that most of us value art as a form of human communication, and a program that recombines millions of existing images isn't trying to say anything at all. Ultimately, I'd argue the output can be artistic, but the creative act itself belongs to the person who directs the machine and decides what's worth keeping.

   In one sense

   from one point of view

   a bit snobbish

   slightly arrogant about what counts as good taste

   isn't trying to say anything

   has no message or intention behind it

   89 words · about 39 seconds spoken