Skills and success: IELTS Speaking Part 3 questions & answers

Opening question

Warm-up: close to home

1. Compare

   Is it easier to learn new skills as a child or as an adult?

   2
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   Sample answerBand 8ThenNowWhy it changed

   1. Then→
   2. Now→
   3. Why it changed

   As children, we pick things up with remarkable ease. A child can absorb a second language or learn to swim without any apparent effort, partly because they're not afraid of looking foolish. Adults, by contrast, tend to find it harder, not necessarily because their brains are slower but because they're juggling work and family and have far less time to practise. Mindset makes a difference too. Children treat mistakes as part of the game, whereas adults are often so self-conscious that they give up too soon. Still, adults do understand why they're learning, and they can use strategies a child would never think of.

   pick things up

   learn something easily, without formal study

   by contrast

   when compared with the other

   part of the game

   a normal part of the activity

   104 words · about 45 seconds spoken

Development: society

1. Cause and effect

   Why do some skills become more valuable over time while others fade away?

   3
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   Sample answerBand 8Main causeAnother causeEffect

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

   Technology is the main driver. Once a machine can do something faster and cheaper, the human skill behind it loses its market value, which is what happened to typists and is arguably happening to some translators now. Changing social habits matter as well. Hardly anyone needs to darn socks or write in elegant handwriting any more, simply because those things are no longer part of everyday life. The knock-on effect is that skills machines struggle with, such as empathy, persuasion and creative problem solving, are becoming increasingly prized, and people who rely solely on routine expertise are finding themselves exposed.

   the main driver

   the most important cause

   The knock-on effect

   a result that follows from something else

   increasingly prized

   more and more valued

   100 words · about 43 seconds spoken

2. Opinion

   Do you think natural talent matters more than hard work?

   4
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

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

   On the whole, I'd say hard work matters more, at least for reaching a good level in most fields. Talent might give you a head start, but without sustained practice it rarely amounts to much, and plenty of gifted people coast along until others overtake them. You see it all the time in sport. The naturally gifted teenager often drops out, while the less spectacular one who trains every morning ends up playing professionally. At the very highest level, though, I'll admit talent becomes decisive. When everyone works obsessively hard, it's the tiny natural advantages that separate the best from the rest.

   a head start

   an advantage at the beginning

   coast along

   make progress without much effort

   You see it all the time

   this happens very often

   102 words · about 44 seconds spoken

3. Opinion

   How do people usually measure success in your country?

   5
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

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

   Sadly, I'd say success is still measured mainly in material terms, by your job title, your salary and whether you own a home or a car. Part of that comes from older generations who grew up with very little, so financial security naturally became the yardstick for a good life. At family gatherings, the first questions people get asked are almost always about where they work and how much they earn, rather than whether they're happy. Among younger people that's starting to shift, though. More of them talk about work-life balance and doing something meaningful, even if it pays less.

   in material terms

   in terms of money and possessions

   the yardstick for

   the standard used to judge

   starting to shift

   beginning to change

   100 words · about 43 seconds spoken

4. Opinion

   Should schools teach children how to cope with failure?

   6
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

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

   Definitely, because it's one of the most useful lessons anyone can learn, and at the moment it's left almost entirely to chance. Children who've only ever been praised can be devastated by their first real setback, whereas those who've learned that failing is part of improving tend to bounce back far more quickly. Something as simple as a teacher talking openly about a mistake they once made, and what they did next, can take the shame out of getting things wrong. The risk is that it becomes a box-ticking exercise, a single lesson on resilience slotted into the timetable, when what children need is a culture where failing is genuinely accepted.

   bounce back

   recover quickly after a difficulty

   take the shame out of

   stop something from feeling embarrassing

   a box-ticking exercise

   something done only to satisfy a rule

   111 words · about 48 seconds spoken

Depth: the abstract and the future

1. Pros and cons

   What are the downsides of a society that focuses heavily on success?

   7
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   Sample answerBand 8UpsideDownsideOn balance

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

   To be fair, a strong focus on success does push people to work hard and aim high, and that ambition can drive innovation and economic growth. The darker side is the pressure it creates. Young people in particular can feel they're only worth something if they're top of the class or earning a fortune, which fuels anxiety and burnout. It also encourages people to look down on those in modest jobs, even though society couldn't function without them. So ambition is healthy in moderation, but when success becomes the only measure of a person's value, the costs start to outweigh the gains.

   aim high

   set ambitious goals

   look down on

   think someone is less important than you

   in moderation

   in reasonable, not excessive, amounts

   102 words · about 44 seconds spoken

2. The future

   How might the skills employers value change in the coming decades?

   8
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   Sample answerBand 8PredictionBecauseBut

   1. Prediction→
   2. Because→
   3. But

   I'd imagine employers will care less about what you already know and more about how quickly you can learn something new. Specific technical knowledge goes out of date so fast now that a qualification from ten years ago may be almost irrelevant, whereas someone who adapts readily stays useful whatever happens. Even so, I don't believe deep expertise will disappear as a selling point. Someone still has to understand how complex systems actually work, and companies will pay handsomely for that kind of specialist knowledge.

   goes out of date

   becomes old and no longer useful

   a selling point

   a feature that makes something attractive

   pay handsomely for

   pay a lot of money for

   85 words · about 37 seconds spoken

3. What if

   If money were no object, would people still try to achieve things?

   9
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   Sample answerBand 8If soResultWider effect

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

   If money were no object, I'm convinced most people would still strive for something, although their goals might look rather different. Freed from the need to earn a living, some would throw themselves into art, research or volunteering, things they currently can't afford to pursue. A few might simply drift, of course, but I suspect boredom would set in fairly quickly. On a larger scale, it suggests that money isn't the deepest motive behind human achievement. Curiosity, pride and the desire to be respected are far more fundamental, which is why people climb mountains or write novels that will never make them rich.

   money were no object

   cost did not matter at all

   throw themselves into

   start doing something with great energy

   boredom would set in

   people would start to feel bored

   103 words · about 45 seconds spoken