AEE IELTS: How to Buy Time on the Speaking Test with 6 Key Phrases
Did the IELTS examiner ask you a difficult question and your mind went blank? Today find out 6 easy phrases that you can use to get extra time to think in this situation.
All Ears English Podcast · Lindsay McMahon and Michelle Kaplan
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Show Notes
Did the IELTS examiner ask you a difficult question?
Did your mind just go blank?
Today, Lindsay and Jessica share 6 phrases to help you fill that time void!
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If you get asked a question that you can’t immediately answer during your IELTS exam, you don’t want to go silent. It’s important to keep speaking even if you need a moment to decide how to answer the actual question.
Native English speakers use many different phrases to help them do this. It’s important to understand that using a time-filling phrase won’t hurt your score. In fact, it’s likely to improve it!
Here are a few phrases to use if you need a moment to think about how to answer a question during your IELTS exam:
- “Honestly, I am a little bit nervous right now and my mind just went blank.” This says that you’re being honest, and trying. “My mind went blank” is also an idiom.
- “Frankly, this isn’t something I’m used to talking about.” Again, this is honest, and sounds like something a native speaker would say.
- “That’s a good question.” This welcomes good intonation, and that will help your pronunciation score.
Other simple and common English time-fillers:
- “Wow, let me think about that.”
- “I’ve never thought about that before.”
- “Let’s see.”
Which phrases do you plan to use, and why?
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