How was it for you?

I found it pretty good.

It wasn't too tough.

It's like carrying a normal conversation in English, and I found it to be pretty good.

You've taken the IELTS test before, haven't you?

I have, yes.

So, compared to the real test, which is obviously a lot more nerve-wracking, how were the questions in this one?

Well, I took my real test three years ago, so I don't fully remember it.

I feel like the questions here were a little more streamlined, whereas when I did the actual exam, it was a lot broader, and there was just a lot more space for me to talk.

But, yeah, this wasn't too different.

Hello, wonderful IELTS Daily friends.

My name is Chris from IELTS Daily, and we're back today for another in our super mock exam speaking videos.

Today, we have the student Saskia, and she is going to talk as though she's speaking in the real mock exam.

So, we have a practice examiner, and we have feedback throughout the video.

And I hope that this feedback is really useful for you, so you can learn some of the techniques which Saskia uses, and maybe you can take on some of the language she uses.

I'm going to tell you, she's a great speaker today.

So, pay attention.

Let's go.

Hello, and welcome to this practice exam conducted by IELTS Daily.

My name is Maddy, and I'm your practice examiner.

The questions in this test are designed to simulate the IELTS speaking test.

Let's start.

What's your first name, please?

Saskia.

Thanks, Saskia.

At the beginning of the IELTS test, you will be required to provide some ID, but as this is a practice test, we don't need to do that today.

So, I want to begin by talking about you.

Do you work or do you study?

I'm a student at the moment.

Great.

And what do you study?

I'm at university, and I'm in my first year.

I'm doing a Bachelor of Arts in Literature.

As you know, a really common question is, do you work or study?

I would really advise you that you should prepare for that type of question.

Are you working or are you studying?

Are you a full-time employee or are you a part-time employee?

Maybe you're a job seeker, maybe you're looking for a job.

Whatever you are, whoever you are, make sure that you're ready.

Let's move on to the topic of maths.

Do you like maths?

I'm not particularly a fan, no.

This is some great language by Saskia.

She says, I'm not particularly a fan, no.

I'm not particularly a fan, no.

This is a great way to say no, but it's adding some language.

So if you're a fan of something, yeah, you could say, I'm really a fan of.

And why is maths so important?

I think it is very fundamental for a lot of degrees and a lot of not just educational but occupational things that you might go into.

Math has always provided to be a basis for everything.

And is maths easy for everyone?

No, I can't say that it is.

I think it's a personality trait that you are either more inclined towards mathematical thinking or you are not.

In this section, she talked about math or you can say maths.

You know that math is the American way to say maths or mathematics.

You can say either, it doesn't really matter.

But in this section, Saskia used some great language.

She says, you are more inclined.

She talked about personality.

Some people are more inclined.

Other people are not inclined.

And that means that they have some tendency or trait that they have an ability to do something.

Great.

Great.

Now I want to talk about smiling.

What makes you smile?

Everything, as you can tell.

Everything will make me smile.

I think I'm a very smiley person.

And how often do you smile?

A lot of the time.

I can honestly say.

I really like this because Saskia has a great rapport or relationship with the practice examiner.

Make sure that in your test, you're not feeling too nervous.

Try to pretend that you're talking to a friend.

Have a natural conversation.

Sometimes your sentences will be short.

Sometimes you can expand on them.

It doesn't really matter.

Just make sure that you properly address the question so that you feel confident that you've answered it.

Yep.

And when do people smile at each other?

When they're happy, when they're loving and love, just excited.

Sometimes when you're sad, you can give a sympathetic smile.

And smiles can convey so much.

Great language here.

She said smiles can convey, to convey, to show or to get some meaning across.

So she said smiles can convey.

It can convey good things or bad things.

Do you smile when you're having a photo?

I try to.

I try to.

But, you know, sometimes you've got to give that blue steel look, I think it's called.

That's the one.

A pose.

A pose.

I'm going to give you a topic and I'd like you to talk about it for one to two minutes.

OK.

The only piece of feedback that I'd give to Saskia here is that at times some of her answers are a little bit short and I feel that she could elaborate a little bit more on her answers.

For example, she talked about whether people smile in photographs and she could say, well, yeah, I tend to smile often in photographs, but I suppose it depends on the situation.

If it's an active photograph and we're doing something, then maybe there's no chance to smile.

But she did use a word which I'm not that familiar with, but I'm not doubting her.

It was a blue steel smile.

I don't really use that phrase very often, but I think it's probably true.

You can talk about having a steely complexion, which means that you're quite stern and you don't always smile.

So somebody who has a steely complexion might not smile so often.

Before you talk, you will have one minute to think about what you're going to say and you can make some notes if you wish.

So here is a paper and pencil for making notes and here is your topic.

I would like you to describe an advertisement you remember.

You'll have one minute.

Okay.

So remember you have one to two minutes for this.

Don't worry if I stop you.

I'll tell you when the time is up.

You can start speaking now, please.

Well, an advertisement that has stuck to me a lot is, I don't know if you remember it, the 2016, I believe, the Pepsi advertisement with Kendall Jenner.

Basically, she breaks up a protest between the protesters and the cops by handing a can of Pepsi.

And this was a video, and it went viral across the Internet because of the racial backlash that it faced after it came out and went so popular because I think the idea was that it trivialized the ideas of race and protesting and things that people might believe in and also just the social values of culture, race, everything.

And basically, by dissolving a protest and dissolving tension by a can of Pepsi, it just trivialized things like the Black Lives Matter, any sort of protest, whether it was racial, cultural, sexual, anything.

And this went viral, and I do remember it because people still talk about it today, and I was actually having a conversation recently about how even though this was so long ago and people have apologized, Kendall Jenner has apologized, Pepsi has apologized, it has not taken away from just how iconic it was and how it commemorated how people saw, how people trivialized racial tension.

And so that's an advertisement that I fully remember very, very vividly.

And that's it, yes.

And where were you when you first saw the ad?

I think I was in Sri Lanka, and it just came up on a YouTube post.

You know how they give you the advertisements before they actually get to the actual video?

It was one of those things, and you don't actually think about how iconic it is because you just get to the skip button.

But I actually watched the entirety of that video and I remember thinking, you know, what are you doing?

I remember considering Pepsi.

That is not what you should be doing as such a multimillion-dollar company.

And even Kendall Jenner as an individual and as somebody who signs up to do this sort of protest.

Exactly.

You just have to question where their morals are.

Yeah, great.

Wow.

So much excellent language in here.

I think Saskia did a fantastic job.

However, there's one piece of her speaking which may limit her from a band nine.

At the moment, I think Saskia is heading towards a band nine in this speaking practice.

But there's one word which I don't know if you noticed.

She didn't pronounce it in the way that most people would pronounce it.

And it was the word advertisement.

Advertisement.

Now, some people may say advertisement.

And there are two ways that you could probably say this which would be advertisement or advertisement.

You can choose.

Most of those or both of those are just accepted ways.

The problem here is that she said advertisement.

And I spoke to Saskia after her test.

And I said, why did you use the word advertisement?

And she said, yeah, I know.

Actually, in my country, in Sri Lanka, we say advertisement.

And I said, really?

That's very interesting.

The problem with IELTS is that they have specific ways which are acceptable for pronunciation.

And those ways are usually standard British, American, South African, Canadian accents.

But any deviation, maybe Australian and New Zealand as well, but any deviations from those standard ways to pronounce things, and this doesn't account for accent.

Remember that accent, you can have an accent.

That's okay.

The pronunciation of words is actually quite important.

And I think that a really strict examiner would say because she said advertisement, she probably would score an 8 in the pronunciation section, which I think is really unfair because she has been brought up speaking and using the word advertisement.

Anyway, that's a little bit about pronunciation and how important pronunciation is, to have some sort of standard pronunciation.

But let's talk about her language.

She said, well, so much language.

She said went viral, racial backlash, trivialise the idea of, social values, dissolving the protest, trivialising the Black Lives Matter protest.

So, so much excellent high-level language with a variety of complex grammar.

For me, she's on a 9, 9, 9, 8 for the pronunciation.

But that's because I'm looking from a really strict examiner's point of view.

Well done, Saskia.

Let's continue to section 3.

Thank you.

Now let's talk about advertisements generally.

Why do companies advertise?

Because it attracts the attention of consumers and they can capitalise on their product.

And is the advertising becoming too commonplace?

I think it might be because we're at a point now where we see product placements in the news and TV, in movies, and we don't actually realise how, it's so commonplace that we don't actually realise that we are being advertised to.

We're just there and we see it.

It's like, oh, I could do with a Coke because I have seen somebody drink a Coke in this film.

It's that sort of thing that's made it ridiculously commonplace, yes.

Saskia's fluency is excellent in this section.

She's elaborating on her answers and giving lots of supporting points.

She had some great language as well.

And we'll talk about those words now.

She said product placement.

Do you know what a product placement is?

Well, it's when you see something on a TV show or on TV which is advertising a product but you don't actually realise it's an advertisement.

It's sitting, maybe there's a cup sitting on the desk or maybe there's a car in the background.

That's called product placement.

She also said it's commonplace.

She said it's so commonplace which means it's really common but it's a different way to say commonplace.

And she also said I could do with a Coke.

I could do with a Coke means I really want a Coke.

I could do with a cup of tea.

I really need a cup of tea.

Should advertising be regulated?

I think it should be because otherwise we fall into...

We're in a very capitalist economy and society and I think that without the regulation of advertisements you don't actually realise that you are being advertised to and you lose that sense of control over yourself, your spending.

You don't have any autonomy.

Did you catch Saskia saying the word advertisement again?

Yep, it crept in and I think the examiner would notice that.

Such a shame.

Great speech by the way.

She's talking at length using great, great language.

Is celebrity endorsement a good or a bad thing?

I understand how for the companies it could be a good thing.

It's an excellent way to get the layman's attention but at the same time, like you said, I do believe that it has to be regulated because celebrity endorsement is excellent and it's very, very effective but at the same time it does come with its issues.