Sport and competition: IELTS Speaking Part 3 questions & answers

Opening question

Warm-up: close to home

1. Opinion

   What are the benefits of playing sport for young people?

   2
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

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

   Beyond the obvious health benefits, I'd argue the biggest advantage is what sport teaches young people about handling setbacks. In a classroom, failure can feel personal and final, whereas on a pitch you lose on Saturday and you're expected to turn up for training on Monday and try again. A teenager who's been dropped from a team and works their way back into it has learned more about resilience than any motivational talk could offer. Having said that, it only works if the coaching is supportive, because a culture that's obsessed with winning can just as easily crush a young person's confidence.

   handling setbacks

   dealing with failures and problems

   works their way back into

   gradually earns a place again

   obsessed with winning

   thinking about nothing except victory

   102 words · about 44 seconds spoken

Development: society

1. Opinion

   Do you think there is too much money in professional sport?

   3
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

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

   At the very top, I'd say there probably is, and it's starting to distort the game itself. When clubs are owned by billionaires or even entire states, success depends less on talent and coaching and more on who has the deepest pockets, which takes away the unpredictability that makes sport worth watching. In a lot of football leagues, the same two or three clubs win almost every year, purely because they can outspend everyone else. To be fair, though, some of that money does trickle down into youth academies and grassroots programmes that wouldn't exist otherwise.

   the deepest pockets

   the most money available to spend

   trickle down into

   slowly reach the lower levels of

   To be fair

   to give a balanced view

   96 words · about 42 seconds spoken

2. Compare

   How has the way people follow sport changed in recent years?

   4
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   Sample answerBand 8ThenNowWhy it changed

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

   Not long ago, following a team meant watching the match live on television or reading the report in the next morning's paper. Nowadays fans tend to consume sport in fragments, catching highlights on their phones, checking live scores during work and arguing about decisions on social media while the game is still going on. It's largely down to smartphones, which have made sport available everywhere, and to the sheer number of competing distractions, which means fewer young fans have the patience to sit through an entire match.

   in fragments

   in small, separate pieces

   largely down to

   mainly caused by

   sit through an entire match

   watch a whole game from beginning to end

   87 words · about 38 seconds spoken

3. Cause and effect

   Why are some sports far more popular than others?

   5
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   Sample answerBand 8Main causeAnother causeEffect

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

   The biggest factor is probably accessibility, since a sport like football needs nothing more than a ball and a bit of open ground, so children everywhere can play it. Television matters too, because sports with short, dramatic bursts of action are much easier to broadcast and sell to advertisers than ones where nothing much seems to happen for long stretches. Once a sport gets that exposure, sponsors and better facilities follow, and that draws in more young players, so it becomes a self-reinforcing cycle that leaves smaller sports struggling for attention.

   nothing more than

   only, just

   for long stretches

   for long periods of time

   a self-reinforcing cycle

   a process that keeps making itself stronger

   91 words · about 40 seconds spoken

4. Opinion

   Should schools place more importance on sport?

   6
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

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

   I'd like to see schools take it more seriously, though not necessarily by adding more competitive matches. With so many children spending hours sitting in front of screens, school might be the only place some of them get regular exercise, and active children tend to concentrate better in lessons too. Some schools have started offering things like dance, climbing or yoga alongside the usual team games, and pupils who used to dread PE often find something they actually enjoy. The difficulty is that timetables are already packed, so any extra time for sport has to come from somewhere, and parents may not be happy if it's taken from exam subjects.

   take it more seriously

   treat it as more important

   used to dread

   in the past strongly disliked and feared

   has to come from somewhere

   must be taken away from something else

   110 words · about 48 seconds spoken

Depth: the abstract and the future

1. The future

   How might the sports people play and watch change in the future?

   7
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   Sample answerBand 8PredictionBecauseBut

   1. Prediction→
   2. Because→
   3. But

   I'd expect to see a lot more blending of the physical and the digital, with competitive gaming treated as a mainstream sport and fans watching matches through virtual reality as if they were sitting pitchside. Younger generations already spend much of their leisure time online, and broadcasters will follow wherever the audience goes. That's not to say traditional sports will fade away, because the thrill of physically pushing your body and playing outdoors with friends is something no screen can replicate.

   blending of the physical and the digital

   mixing real-world and online experiences

   follow wherever the audience goes

   go to the places where viewers are

   That's not to say

   this doesn't mean that

   81 words · about 35 seconds spoken

2. What if

   If competitive sport were removed from schools, would children lose out?

   8
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   Sample answerBand 8If soResultWider effect

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

   If schools dropped competitive sport altogether, I think most children would lose out, although perhaps not in the way people assume. They'd still get exercise through other activities, but they'd miss the chance to practise winning and losing graciously in a fairly safe setting, a skill they'll need well before they reach the workplace. On a broader level, we might end up with a generation that finds rejection and rivalry harder to cope with, largely because they'd been shielded from both as children.

   would lose out

   would miss an advantage or benefit

   winning and losing graciously

   accepting victory and defeat with good manners

   On a broader level

   thinking about society more generally

   83 words · about 36 seconds spoken

3. Pros and cons

   Does competition bring out the best or the worst in people?

   9
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   Sample answerBand 8UpsideDownsideOn balance

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

   At its best, competition pushes people to achieve things they'd never have managed on their own, and you only have to look at how records keep tumbling in athletics to see that. The flip side is that when the stakes get too high, it can bring out cheating, aggression and a win-at-all-costs mentality, whether that's doping in sport or colleagues undermining each other at work. In the end, it brings out both, and which one prevails depends largely on what people stand to lose, since someone playing for pride behaves differently from someone whose livelihood is on the line.

   At its best

   when it is working in the best way

   a win-at-all-costs mentality

   the attitude that winning matters more than anything

   on the line

   at risk of being lost

   99 words · about 43 seconds spoken