IELTS Speaking Marking Criteria Explained | Key Tips with Examples

✅ You should know that your responses will be assessed based on the following criteria:

🔹 1. Fluency and Coherence (Relevance and natural utterances)
🔹 2. Lexical Resources (Use of relevant vocabulary)
🔹 3. Grammatical Range and Accuracy (Correct use of sentence structures)
🔹 4. Pronunciation (Clarity of words)

🎯 FLUENCY AND COHERENCE

🗣️ This shows how naturally you speak the language.
❗If you hesitate too much while speaking, it means that you lack fluency. It can affect your score in IELTS.

🧠 Coherence, on the other hand, reflects whether you are able to speak with logical relevance or not.
It is difficult to understand, right?
Let’s see the samples (for describing coherence) below to explain what I am talking about:

📘 Sample 01

Firstly, I will discuss the core reasons behind global terrorism, then its immediate effects upon the individuals. Lastly, I shall talk about the solutions for this menace.

📙 Sample 02

Global warming is an alarming challenge. My family is fond of winters. Also, carbon emissions are lethal for health.

✅ You can clearly see the difference:

· Sample 1 is a logically relevant answer with sequence.

· Sample 2 is disconnected and unclear.

🧩 That’s how you are supposed to speak in IELTS Speaking.

📚 Let’s check another sample from your Speaking Questions:

❓ Question: What kind of books do you like to read?
✅ Answer: I am fond of reading fiction books. The reason for that is they take me into a world of imagination where things seem extraordinary. They also help me enhance my creative capabilities, which I believe non-fiction books might not do, as they are surrounded by reality.

❓ Question: What do you aspire to be when you grow up?
🚫 Answer: I want to become a doctor. Also, my brother is a surgeon. He earns really well. My mother takes care of people, which inspires me to serve the poor.

🟢 The second answer lacks logical flow and coherence.

🔊 PRONUNCIATION

Pronunciation contributes to 25% of your Speaking score.
📢 It means “clarity of utterance.” Whatever you speak, if it is clear and easy to understand, it shows your pronunciation is good.

⚠️ However, if you lack clarity and the listener finds it difficult to understand you, it can cause problems.

🎯 Therefore, it is essential to understand its importance and practice saying words correctly.

🗣️ WORD STRESS is important too:

📍 For example:

· Saying “/Pain/” instead of “/Pen/” in “I have a pen in my hand” creates confusion.

· Saying “/Hole/” instead of “/Hall/” in “There is a hall nearby” causes misunderstanding.

📌 Also, stressing the wrong syllable can cause problems:

· ❌ Saying: “imporTANCE” instead of ✅ “imPORtance”

· ❌ Saying: “EXplain” instead of ✅ “exPLAIN”

🟢 Use correct pronunciation for effective communication.

🧠 LEXICAL RESOURCES

Lexical resources mean having a range of vocabulary to use while speaking.

✅ Using relevant and diverse words can improve your speaking score.

💡 Tips for using lexical resources:

1️⃣ Use synonyms to avoid repetition:

· For “happiness” → joy, bliss, merriment, contentment

· For “disaster” → calamity, catastrophe, tragedy

2️⃣ Be aware of collocations (natural word pairings):

· ✅ “I clean the room”

· ❌ “I do the cleaning of the room”

3️⃣ Paraphrase sentences:

· “I like books” → “I am fond of books” / “I adore books”

4️⃣ Use a wide range of topic-related vocabulary:

There are a few general topics that frequently appear in IELTS writing and speaking tests.

📚 You need to work on common phrases, collocations, and idioms for those topics.

We have guides for the following topics, containing:

• Complete vocabulary packs

• Exercises to test what you’ve learned

📝 GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY

Grammatical range and accuracy are essential to raise your score.
It helps you communicate effectively and makes your message clear to the listener.

🎯 Tips for grammatical accuracy:

1️⃣ Use correct tenses:

· ❌ “Yesterday, he go to the hotel to meet his friends.”

· ✅ “Yesterday, he went to the hotel to meet his friends.”

2️⃣ Use correct subject-verb agreement:

· ❌ “You has done wrong” → ✅ “You have done wrong”

· ❌ “He make his own sandwich” → ✅ “He makes his own sandwich”

3️⃣ Use sentence variety (simple, complex, compound):
✔️ Simple: “I am a very bright student.”
✔️ Complex: “Although I am a night owl, I manage my routine during the working days.”
✔️ Compound: “She is a career-oriented person, therefore, she pursues many opportunities for improving her lifestyle.”