IELTS Energy 1468: Band 9 Speaking Part 2 About a Lie
13:33 Share

This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1468, Band 9, Speaking Part 2, About a Lie.

Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 22 million times with former IELTS examiner Jessica Beck and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams. Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com

Today you'll hear a band 9 answer describing a time someone lied, along with feedback about why it is high scoring. Lying and telling the truth are common IELTS speaking topics, so be ready with this sample answer.

Do you often end up in situations where you know exactly what you want to say, but you don't have the English vocabulary words that you need in that moment? To succeed in English, you need nuanced English vocabulary. But first, you need to know your English level. Take our free English level quiz to find out if you are B1, B2, or C1.

Hello, Aubrey. How's it going? I'm great. How are you, Jessica? I'm great.

I have an amazing story to tell today. Yes, this is very exciting. If you guys missed Tuesday's episode, scroll back. We shared some great vocabulary for both lying and telling the truth on IELTS Speaking. This comes up really often. It can be used in lots of different speaking answers and can boost both vocabulary and fluency scores. Yes, definitely, guys. If you missed that episode,

Maybe it means you're not following us, which is terrible. So hit follow right now if you're listening to the podcast or hit subscribe if you're watching us on YouTube. Really do go back and listen to the last episode, though, before you listen today.

Yes, and today Jessica is going to use some of that vocabulary in a sample part two answer. So, you're going to hear some of it. You want to definitely check out that episode first so that you know what to listen for, you know what to be using in your own answers. Yes, okay. All right. Aubrey slash examiner, what question am I going to be answering today? All right, here's your part two question. Describe a time someone lied to you.

This is actually hilarious and quite serendipitous because I actually have a recent story related to this topic. Now, I will say that it doesn't involve lying to me directly, but it is more about

being dishonest to someone else. So the story centers around my son who is in middle school. So of course stuff like this is going to happen. Middle schoolers are bonkers, right? They're really trying to figure out how to be in the world. So anyway,

he was at a sleepover. His friend August turned 14 and August had a birthday sleepover. So picture it. There's like five or six 13 slash 14 year old middle school boys. Half of them are over six feet tall. Right. And so, yes, they have the birthday sleepover. And then the next morning, the mom calls me. August's mom calls me and she's like,

Jessica, I gotta tell ya, the boys snuck out last night. And my reaction was not even huge or dramatic because it's to be expected. And Annie felt the same way. August's mom felt the same way. They're in middle school. They're gonna sneak out. It's what middle schoolers do, at least here in America. But then what she said was actually good about the experience and why she wasn't that mad was because

she confronted them immediately when they all woke up in the morning and they didn't lie at all, right? They fessed up immediately, which is impressive. They're good boys, they're good people. And my suspicion is that if they were not to have been found out,

They would have they wouldn't have lied directly about it. They wouldn't have brought it up at all In fact, it would have been a lie of omission They just wouldn't have mentioned that they snuck out the night before because they knew they would get in trouble for it but anyway, the way that they reacted to it was actually very sweet and it really just sort of deflated any anger that the parents might have had and deflated my anger as well and

Thank you. Okay. So great, guys. Stay tuned. We're going to provide feedback and highlight all of the amazing things that Jessica did to make this a band nine answer. I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, hey, find a keto-friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve. And it does without me lifting a finger. So I can get in more squats anywhere I can. One, two, three. Will that be cash or credit? Credit.

Galaxy S25 Ultra, the AI companion that does the heavy lifting so you can do you. Get yours at Samsung.com. Compatible with select apps requires Google Gemini account results may vary based on input check responses for accuracy.

All right, Aubrey. So what would an examiner think about my part two answer? This was a very impressive answer on multiple levels, right? So first we're going to talk about vocabulary and highlight all of the amazing vocabulary you used. But even before that, I want to just point out, we have often talked about the strategy of telling a story in your part two answer. And that is what is giving Jessica the chance to use all of this amazing vocabulary and its

propelling it forward. It's giving her so many details to share really easily because she told a story about something that happened to her pretty recently. So she had so much to say. So you can go back and check out previous episodes. Definitely use this strategy to tell a story in your part to answer. Did that feel like it made it easier for you, Jessica? Oh, yes. A hundred percent. I could have kept going.

I had more to say. And that's the fluency that you want to show the examiner. You want the examiner to interrupt you at two minutes. And so they know that you could have kept speaking. Yeah. You want that to be clear to the examiner that you could have spoken about this for quite a while. You don't want to be repeating yourself or having these pauses. That's what pulls down fluency scores. And telling a story is really going to help with that. Okay. So

The vocab, I love how you started this by sharing, you know, you've been asked to describe a time someone lied to you and you've made it clear that you're saying, you know, I will say this doesn't involve someone lying to me directly, but it is about myself, right? And you're still answering the question by sharing that.

And then I love this word bonkers. You guys will be able to use this on any speaking question instead of saying it was strange, it was crazy, say it was bonkers. That's band nine. I don't hear students use that very often. Do you, Jessica? No, not at all. And I use that word all the time. I do too. Yes.

And so then a great strategy here when you're telling a story, Jessica said, picture it. And then she described the people in the story. She's like, you know, five to six, 14 year old boys, all over six foot tall. So she's telling you, I'm going to describe something. And this is a very native natural way to start that to say, picture it or something like, I'm going to set the scene for you. And then you're letting them know, I'm going to describe the people involved in this fun story. Yeah.

the people or the place, right? Anytime you're setting the scene, it's called, right? By describing the context, right? Where the story took place, who is in the story, just a general description to introduce the action.

Yes. And then I want to point out a strategy you used when you said, "My reaction wasn't huge or dramatic." This is really great. If you find yourself saying a word that is more common, like small, big, huge, and you immediately think of another interesting word that you could have used instead,

add it, right? My reaction wasn't huge or dramatic, right? One or the other works. But if you think of one, don't feel like, ooh, I already described it as huge, so I can't add this other word. You absolutely can. This is a very native, natural thing that we do where we sort of stack adjectives to emphasize our point.

Yes, 100% guys. One of the big things that you should be studying for as far as vocabulary for speaking and writing on IELTS is adjectives. You need a list of very descriptive adjectives and adverbs that you can use in speaking and writing.

Absolutely. And now we have come to the part of your amazing part two answer where you used some of the vocab we taught in the last episode. You said they fessed up. So this is great. Instead of saying they told the truth or they admitted to what they had done, this phrasal verb, fess up, is less common and therefore really high scoring. So use that instead.

And then you have this interesting grammar chunk where you were saying, if it hadn't happened that way, they would have done this. Right. Be ready in answers, especially if you haven't filled the two minutes yet. This is a great strategy to share what would have been different if something had changed. Right. And that's going to fill time and also give you more interesting things to say.

And then I want to highlight the last thing you said. First of all, lie of omission. We taught this as well last time to be saying they weren't outright lying. It was more a lie of omission, right? Meaning you're just not providing all of the information. But the examiner is going to be impressed by this. Like, oh, lie of omission. Okay. Impressive. That's less common. Wow.

100%. Yeah, definitely listen to that answer a couple times, guys. And think about how I organize that story. What transition phrases or words glued those actions together, right? Because that's something you have to do on part two is use a lot of linking words to organize that two minute speech.

Yes. And finally, when Jessica ended or was close to the end of the story, she shared how she felt or how they felt. You said someone felt deflated. This is a band nine word. Instead of saying upset, sad, disappointed, instead use deflated. That means the feeling of just like...

utter despair, extreme sadness. I love sort of the exaggeration with feeling deflated. Well, the way I used it actually was to describe not being super angry, right? I said that their actions deflated the anger. I could have said de-escalated the anger. That would have been a synonym there. It just means like I couldn't be super angry. Like the anger got less because they were sweet about it.

Gotcha. I had just written deflated. I'm glad you pointed that out because we use it in two very different ways, right? To say that something takes out, like it deflated the anger or the disappointment. And then also to say I felt deflated. So two really different interesting meanings, both of which could definitely come up in your IELTS answers. Yeah, totally.

All right, guys. So again, if you missed last Tuesday's episode, go back up and listen. It is the very episode before this one. Make sure you hit follow so you don't miss another amazing episode. Yes. Awesome. And we will see you guys next week. Thanks, Jessica. Bye. Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy. Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash myscore.

It's more than just a meal. It's when work comes to a halt, where macaroni masterpieces are made and little moments turn into lasting memories. With the Blue Cash Preferred card, you can get 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets. So you can bring home the flavors that bring everyone together. We did say everyone. Make the special moments even more rewarding. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash explore dash bcp. Terms and cash back cap apply with Blue Cash Preferred.