Ms.

Bích Hạnh - Đại học Ngoại ngữ ĐN - 160 Thanh Long -

0905686225

Name: …………………… IELTS Speaking Mock Test 3

PART 1 - Introduction

Are your friends mostly your age or different ages? Why?

-> Most of my friends are about the same age as me because we met
at school or university. I've got one or two friends who are older that I
met through my part-time job.
Q. Do you usually see your friends during the week or at weekends?
Why?
-> I tend to meet up with my friends at weekends because everyone's
too busy during the week with deadline.
Q. The last time you saw your friends, what did you do together?
-> The last time I met up my friends, we went to eat out at a
restaurant and hang out to have a conversation.
Q. In what ways are your friends important to you?
-> My friends are really important to me because they provide me with
emotional support, companionship, and make life more enjoyable.
Having close friends allows me to share my joys and sorrows, and they
play a significant role in my overall well-being.
PART 2 - Cue Card

Describe an interesting historic place.

You should say:
- What it is
- Where it is located
- What you can see there now
and explain why this place is interesting?

In Hanoi, there’s a place that I absolutely love to talk about whenever

history is mentioned. It’s the Long Bien bridge, built over the Red River
nearly two centuries ago by the French, who colonized my country
during that period.

It’s one of the links between the central part of Hanoi and the east side
of the city. Because the bridge is so old, it has been in place to witness
many crucial events in Hanoi’s history. Long Bien had been fixed many
times when it was bombed during the war, and afterward, when we
constructed more modern bridges for dense motor traffic, this bridge
became for cyclists and pedestrians only.
Nowadays, the Long Bien bridge is seldom taken by commuters, but it
doesn’t feel any less important. It actually has a role in adorning the
landscape of Hanoi since it is so photogenic. The scenery on the Red
River becomes livelier with it, so you can understand why some
consider Long Bien to be Hanoi’s signature landmark.

For me, this bridge is also a part of my life because it’s my favorite
spot to cycle. I can’t remember since when I’ve felt an attachment to
this place. The Long Bien is certainly ancient by today’s standards,
which is why I believe the government should spend some money
maintaining it. But at the same time, the work should be done in a way
that allows the bridge to retain its structural beauty.

PART 3 - Follow up Questions

1. Q. How do people in your country feel about protecting historic

buildings?
-> I think the general attitude toward protecting historic buildings is
lukewarm at best. Many people have other more pressing concerns
than preserving this sort of building. However, I believe that the
government is also doing its best to keep these structures intact
when considering urban development projects.
2. Q. Do you think an area can benefit from having an interesting
historic place locally? In what way?
-> Any area could immediately have something to gain from having
a local historic spot. It would be a great destination for both
domestic and international tourists, and therefore, it would provide
an additional source of income for local inhabitants. Furthermore,
the existence of a famous ancient structure could serve as a
reminder for people to remember their own history.
3. Q. What do you think will happen to historic places or buildings in
the future? Why?
-> In my opinion, those kinds of buildings will still be maintained and
preserved for their historical significance. Also, with the public
opinion tending to shy away from modern architecture these days,
there will definitely be a demand for municipal governments to
protect ancient buildings, and historic architecture on the whole.
4. Q. How were you taught history when you were at school?
 -> Our teachers mainly taught us history from the textbooks and we
were lucky to have a few amazing teachers who explained how
history is important to understand the future. They often explained
important events and characters from history and told us how these
events and powerful men have shaped future events. We were
required to study history books and watch documentaries made on
real historical facts and those were not included in our syllabus.
Thus we were able to learn more about history. Our school authority
took us to different museums and historic sites, generally two to
three times a year, and those excursions were our chances to
explore more and witness the artefacts from the past.
5. Q. Are there other ways people can learn about history, apart
from at school? How?
-> I believe reading about history and researching them online is
the best way to learn more about it. What we learn about history in
our school is just the beginning. To truly explore the past, we need
to read a lot of books and the book choices should be based on the
interests of the readers. The Intenet is an amazing tool that can help
us learn about our past and the interactive videos found on different
websites are truly helpful. It offers us to dive deeper into history.
6. Q. Do you think history will still be a school subject in the future?
Why?
-> I believe history is not merely a collection of past events, stories
of civilisations and powerful characters. It is rather a way to look at
the future. Thus the importance of history in the future will increase
and more students would be interested to learn about it than today.
We are yet to comprehend the full potential of history and it is still
frowned upon as a subject for weaker students. But in the future, we
will realise how important it is for people to learn it for a prosperous
future. So I do not see any reasons history will disappear from the
school syllabus.

………………………………………………………………………………………
IELTS Speaking Mock Test 3
PART 1 - Introduction
The examiner asks the candidate about him/her, his/her home, work or
studies and other familiar topics in the introduction part. Some of the
common questions of part one are as following:
1. Q. Are your friends mostly your age or different ages? Why?
A. Most of my friends are my own age. But yes, I have few friends who
are senior to me and I can remember having 2-3 friends who are
younger than I am. Basically most of my friends are from my college
and that’s why naturally they are contemporary to me age. I have few
friends from my locality and they became my friends mostly because
we played together and shared common interest. Somehow in my
locality young people prefer playmates of their ages. This is one of the
main reasons they belong to my age group.

2. Q. Do you usually see your friends during the week or at

weekends? Why?
A. That depends and I see my college friends 7 days a week as we
have classes together. I see them at weekend as well since we plan our
holidays together very often. The friends who are already doing jobs
mostly meet me on their weekends.

3.Q. The last time you saw your friends, what did you do
together?
A. Recently I went to watch a movie in a nearby Vincom complex with
my friends. The Vincom was showing a recent Hollywood movie and we
planned to watch it together. On that day we also had our lunch
together in a fast food chain shop and we also talked about the recent
European Football league final game. Apart from that, we planned to
attend a seminar that is likely to be arranged by our college and we
agreed to do so on that day.

4.Q. In what ways are your friends important to you?

A. My friends are very significant to me in many ways. Firstly they
share many common interests that I have and that’s why I enjoy a lot
talking to them and spending time with them. I never feel bored or get
out of topics while I am with them and having a conversation or simply
chitchatting. They are indeed very good friends of mine as they have
often raised their helping hands in my crisis time.

My friends often plan activities that I find very exciting. They share
their class notes and study materials with me and that’s very helpful
for my studies. In fact friends are the persons with whom we can share
everything and my friends listen to my thoughts very attentively. I play
with them, study with them, share my thoughts and opinion and that’s
why they have a very special place in my life.
PART 2 - Cue Card
Topic:
Describe an interesting historic place.
You should say:

-- What it is
-- Where it is located
-- What you can see there now
and explain why this place is interesting?

[ You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You
have one minute to think about what you’re going to say. You can
make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Sample

Even though Ho Chi Minh City has many impressive historical places,
I would like to talk about one of the most popular attractions
considered by some as a must-visit place in Saigon. That place is
Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral. In my opinion, this is the most
classical and beautiful cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City.

It is located right in the center of the city and is surrounded by many

high-rise buildings and department stores. You can easily go there by
motorbikes or public transports.

The cathedral was built by the French colonists around the 1800s.
From the top of my head, all building materials were originally
imported from France. It has certainly stood the test of time and
become one of the best-maintained buildings from that time. To
many people who have lived through war in Saigon, this place has a
special position in their hearts. From all the people I know, they all
tell me that this is one of the places they would love to visit from
time to time to unwind.

I personally love to roam around the walking boulevard to this

cathedral and stop to take a few photos in my free time. It gives me
an indescribable nostalgic feeling whenever I do that. The grand
architecture and age of the cathedral makes me feel as if the time
stopped for a moment. When the weather is nice and breezy in
Saigon, I usually ask my friends to hang around in front of this
cathedral. We can chat up a storm over a coffee and watch streams
of people and vehicles passing by hurriedly. Those are some of the
experiences that I think I will miss dearly if I have to live far from
home.

PART 3 - Follow up Questions

Discussion topics:

Looking after historic places......

1. Q. How do people in your country feel about protecting

historic buildings?
A. Most of the people in my country would advocate protecting any
significant historic building. The historic buildings in my country are
the icons of our heritage and we feel very proud to have them. It is
not unlikely for people to protest against any planning or activities
that might negatively affect our tradition and historic significance
including those building.

I can recall an event from my college days when our teacher asked us
to leave the classroom and take part in a rally that would march
towards the local administrative complex to protest a decision taken
by the local authority to diminish an old building to establish a hospital
there. This old building was more than 1000 years old and it was once
a part of the early ‘independence movement’ in our country against
the invaders of foreign power. The protest took a great shape and
people stayed there until the local authority assured that they will talk
to the higher authority about it. The protest continued to grow and
eventually after few months it won its victory when an alternative
landscape was chosen to build the hospital. In fact, these types of
events in my country are not rare and that shows our feelings about
the historic buildings.

2. Q. Do you think an area can benefit from having an

interesting historic place locally? In what way?
A. An interesting historic place encourages national and international
tourists to travel to this area and this in term of tourism and economic
development is very important. Local people get many benefits from a
renowned tourist spot including employment opportunity, better
exposure of their culture and custom to the world and finally they get
many development works in their area since the government invests to
promote the area.

Apart from that, having a historic place is an area is a matter of pride

and people of such area can easily describe their home town or locality
to the people of other parts of the country.

3. Q. What do you think will happen to historic places or

buildings in the future? Why?
A. I think the prominent and popular historic places and buildings
which are famous among national and international tourists would
survive and the government would try to preserve such places both
because of its historic and economic significances. Besides, many
other historic places which are the part of the national pride would also
continue to exist as they are known throughout the country and
government would take care of such places.

However, there are many historic buildings and places that are less
famous and have very few visitors to visit them. Such buildings and
places would face catastrophic destiny in a distant future. As the
population of our country is increasing, the necessity would appear to
diminish such buildings and to establish new multi-complex building. I
guess such less important historic buildings and places would cease to
exist after a century when the generation of that time would give less
priority to their past heritage than their present necessity.

The teaching of history at school.....

4.Q. How were you taught history when you were at school?
A. I mostly learned about our national any many international
historical events from our academic books, journals and TV programs.
Teachers used to teach us the history books we had in our syllabus.
They first emphasized on the history that were part of our class lessons
and some of the teachers were really good as they explained the
history in details. This covered mostly the national history. Sometimes
the school arranged trips to national historical places as part of our
lessons and the local tour guides told us a lot about the historical
significance of such places.

We also learned from the story our teachers told us about numerous
historical events especially about our freedom fight and Second World
War. Sometimes the teachers inspired us to read history books and
gave us assignment on a particular historical event and we had to
complete our assignment as part of our academic exams. This was an
excellent way to learn more about the history.

5. Q. Are there other ways people can learn about history,

apart from at school? How?
A. Definitely there are many other ways people can learn about history
and that varies from reading books till travelling to historically
important places.
First books offer us an excellent opportunity to learn about the world
history. If someone is interested in learning the History, he has
countless options to read famous and resourceful historical books.
Apart from that, many television channels, like History Channel,
National Geography Channel, Discovery Channel etc. offer excellent
documentaries on history that can be very helpful for learning about
world history. Libraries and museums could be other two important
resources for people to learn about history. When people travel to
different places, they can also learn about the historical significant of
such places.
Reading history journals can be another good way of learning about
the history. In fact, there are many different ways of learning about
history than to be taught history in the classroom by teachers and an
inquisitive person has many options to learn about that.

6. Q. Do you think history will still be a school subject in the

future? Why?
A. I most certainly believe that history would always be a part of
school syllabus in the near and far future. The fundamental of history
and its importance are learned from the school and that has a lasting
impact on students. The inquisitiveness about history is formed among
students when the teachers explain some great historic events in the
classroom. The significance of history can never be denied as it
teaches us our past, our ancestors and the world our grandparents
used to live. Those lessons create our impression and concept about
the world we live in.

We can’t build a great future without knowing our past and the school
plays an important role in forming our curiosity in History. That’s why I
believe that history will always be a major subject in school in the
future.