IELTS Speaking Part 1: Reading
7 common Part 1 questions on reading, each with a sample answer at the length Part 1 actually wants.
Do you prefer to read on paper or on a screen?
I strongly prefer paper for anything longer than a few pages. The tactile sensation, the smell of ink, and the ability to flip back easily help me concentrate. Screens are fine for news or emails, but they cause more eye strain.
When do you need to read carefully, and when not?
I read extremely carefully when studying legal documents or scientific papers, because one missed word can change the meaning. For entertainment novels or social media posts, I scan quickly. The context determines the level of attention.
Do you prefer scanning or detailed reading?
It depends entirely on my goal. If I’m researching, I scan first to find relevant sections, then switch to detailed reading. For pleasure, detailed reading is far more immersive. So I use both strategies daily.
Do you like reading?
I love reading – it’s my primary form of entertainment and a major source of knowledge. Getting lost in a well-written book feels like time travel. I try to read at least 30 minutes every day before bed.
What books do you like to read?
I’m drawn to literary fiction and narrative non-fiction, especially memoirs and science writing. Lately, I’ve also enjoyed climate fiction – novels that explore plausible ecological futures. Genre-wise, I’m open to anything with strong character development.
What book did you read recently?
I just finished *The Overstory* by Richard Powers, which weaves together stories of trees and the people who fight to save them. It was both poetic and devastating. I’m still processing the ending.
What did you learn from it?
The book taught me that trees communicate through underground fungal networks – a fact I didn’t know. More profoundly, it made me feel the scale of time: a single oak can live for centuries, witnessing generations of humans come and go. It shifted my perspective on environmental activism.
Reading a model answer is not the same as saying one. The sample above shows what a strong Part 1 answer sounds like. What it cannot tell you is how yours sounds — whether you hesitate, repeat the question back, or run out of things to say at forty seconds.
You can record an answer to this exact question and get it marked on fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and pronunciation — the same four criteria the examiner uses.
Common questions
How long should Part 1 answers be?
Two or three sentences. Part 1 is a warm-up and one-word answers stall the conversation, but a ninety-second speech on your home town is the wrong length too — the examiner has a list of questions to get through.
How long does Part 1 last?
Four to five minutes, covering three familiar topics. Your identity is checked first, then the questions start.
Can I ask the examiner to repeat a question?
Yes, and it costs you nothing. Asking for a repeat is normal conversational English; guessing at a question you misheard and answering the wrong one is far more damaging.
Model answers written and reviewed by The English All-in-One IELTS team. They are teaching models showing what each band looks like, not real candidate scripts.