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IELTS Speaking · Part 1

IELTS Speaking Part 1 Questions and Topics (with Example Answers)

Part 1 is a 4–5 minute interview: the examiner asks short questions about you and familiar topics. Below is a simple method for answering, worked examples, and all 127 Part 1 topics in our question bank.

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Updated · LingoLeap IELTS Content Team

What happens in IELTS Speaking Part 1

The examiner introduces themselves, checks your identity and then asks general questions about you and a range of familiar topics — your home, family, work or studies and interests. Part 1 lasts 4–5 minutes, so expect three or four topics with a few questions each.

The questions are simple on purpose. What's being assessed is whether you can answer naturally and keep going beyond “yes” or “no”.

How to answer Part 1 questions: answer, reason, detail

  1. Answer the question directly in the first sentence.
  2. Give a reason — “because…”, “mainly since…”.
  3. Add a detail — an example, a contrast, a time, or how it has changed.

That gives two to four sentences, about 15–30 seconds. Don't give a speech: the examiner has a set of questions to get through and will move on.

IELTS Speaking Part 1 example questions and answers

Shopping

Do you like shopping?

Example answer (written by our team)

It depends on what I'm buying. I enjoy browsing in bookshops because I can take my time, but I find clothes shopping quite tiring, so I usually order clothes online and just return what doesn't fit.

Shopping

Where do you usually go shopping?

Example answer (written by our team)

Mostly to a supermarket about ten minutes from my flat, because it's cheap and open late. For anything bigger, like electronics, I compare prices online first and then go to a shopping mall in the city centre.

Shopping

How often do you go shopping?

Example answer (written by our team)

For food, two or three times a week — I prefer buying small amounts so nothing goes to waste. Proper shopping trips for clothes or gifts are rarer, maybe once a month.

Hometown

Where is your hometown?

Example answer (written by our team)

I grew up in a mid-sized coastal city in the south of my country. It's known for its seafood and its port, and in the last ten years it has grown a lot — there are far more high-rise buildings than when I was a child.

Work or study

Do you work or are you a student?

Example answer (written by our team)

I'm a student. I'm in the second year of an engineering degree, which keeps me busy, but I also tutor maths two evenings a week to earn a bit of money.

Weather

What kind of weather do you like?

Example answer (written by our team)

I like cool, dry weather — around fifteen degrees, the kind you get in autumn. It's perfect for walking, whereas in the summer here it's so humid that I'd rather stay indoors.

Mobile phone

How often do you use your mobile phone?

Example answer (written by our team)

Honestly, far too often. I use it for everything from banking to reading the news, and my screen-time report says about five hours a day, so I've started leaving it in another room when I study.

Weekends

What do you usually do at weekends?

Example answer (written by our team)

On Saturdays I play football with some friends from university, and Sundays are for catching up — cleaning the flat, cooking for the week and, if there's time, watching a film.

All 127 IELTS Speaking Part 1 topics

The Part 1 topics in LingoLeap's IELTS Speaking question bank (as of 2026-09-28), A–Z. You can practise any of them in the app.

A

  • Advertisement
  • App
  • Art
  • Asking for help

B

  • Bags
  • Being busy
  • Birthday
  • Books and reading habits
  • Borrowing/lending
  • Break
  • Buildings

C

  • Cake
  • Carrying things
  • Celebrities
  • Challenges
  • Chatting
  • Childhood activities
  • Childhood memory
  • Chocolate
  • Clothing
  • Collecting things
  • Colours
  • Computer
  • Concentration
  • Crowded place

D

  • Daily routine
  • Day off
  • Doing something well
  • Doing sports
  • Dream and ambition
  • Dreams

F

  • Feeling bored
  • Films
  • Fishing
  • Fixing things
  • Flowers
  • Food
  • Friends

G

  • Geography
  • Gifts
  • Going out

H

  • Happy things
  • Health
  • Helping others
  • History
  • Hobby
  • Holidays
  • Home/accommodation
  • Hometown
  • Housework and cooking

I

  • Ice cream
  • Internet

J

  • Jewelry

K

  • Keys

L

  • Language
  • Library
  • Life stages
  • List
  • Losing things

M

  • Machine
  • Making plans
  • Map
  • Memory
  • Mobile phone
  • Money
  • Morning routines
  • Morning time
  • Museum
  • Music
  • Music and musical instruments
  • Musical instruments

N

  • Names
  • Noise

O

  • Outer space and stars

P

  • Party
  • Patience
  • Pets and animals
  • Place of work/study
  • Plants
  • Praising
  • Public places
  • Public transportation
  • Puzzles

Q

  • Quiet/noisy places

R

  • Rain
  • Reading
  • Riding a bike
  • Robots
  • Rules
  • Running

S

  • Saying 'thank you'
  • Scenery
  • Schools
  • Sharing
  • Shoes
  • Shopping
  • Singing
  • Small businesses
  • Snacks
  • Social media
  • Spare time
  • Spending time by yourself
  • Sports team
  • Staying at home
  • Staying up late
  • Sunglasses

T

  • T-shirts
  • Taking photos
  • Tea and coffee
  • Teachers
  • Technology/electronic devices
  • Text message
  • The area you live in
  • The city you live in
  • Typing

V

  • Vegetables and fruits
  • Video game
  • Views

W

  • Walking
  • Weather
  • Week
  • Weekends
  • Wild animals
  • Work or study
  • Working with old people
  • Writing

Y

  • Young people

Practise out loud, then check your answer

LingoLeap's IELTS Speaking practice has Part 1 and Parts 2–3 questions from the same question bank as the topic lists on these pages. Record an answer and get an estimated band with feedback on fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. You can browse the questions without an account; a scored answer costs 200 credits, and sign-up credits cover your first ones.

Open IELTS Speaking practice

FAQ

How long is IELTS Speaking Part 1?

4–5 minutes. The examiner asks general questions about you and a range of familiar topics, usually three or four topics with a few questions each.

How long should my Part 1 answers be?

Usually two to four sentences — about 15–30 seconds. Answer the question directly, then add a reason and a detail or example. Longer is not better if it stops being an answer to the question.

What topics come up in IELTS Speaking Part 1?

The first questions are usually about your home, work or studies. After that, everyday topics: shopping, weather, food, hobbies, technology, transport and many more. The full list of topics in our question bank is on this page.

Can I ask the examiner to repeat a Part 1 question?

Yes, if you didn't hear or understand it, ask politely — “Sorry, could you repeat the question?” It is better than answering a question you weren't asked.

Are the Part 1 questions the same for Academic and General Training?

Yes. IELTS Speaking, including Part 1, is the same test for Academic and General Training.

Sources

Test format, timing and scoring criteria are from IELTS (ielts.org), read 28 September 2026. Topic lists are from LingoLeap's IELTS Speaking question bank. Example answers are written by our team to show a method; they are not official material and were not graded.