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IELTS Speaking on Video Call: 3 Ways to Adapt Before Test Day

2026-10-22 · 2 min read
2026-10-22· 2 min read#IELTS Speaking#IELTS news#Test format

IELTS Speaking on Video Call: 3 Ways to Adapt Before Test Day

What actually changes with video-call Speaking

A growing number of IELTS test centres now run the Speaking test as a video call: you sit in a private booth and talk to the examiner through a screen. The questions, the timing, the marking criteria — all identical to face-to-face. Only the medium changes.

Yet candidates keep reporting the same friction: it is easier to get distracted, easier to panic at a half-second audio delay, and unclear where to look. None of that is a language problem. It is an adaptation problem, and you can close it in a few days of deliberate practice.

Three habits to build at home

1. Talk to the camera for 5 minutes a day

In a video call, the examiner's face sits on the screen but the camera sits above it. If you look at their face the whole time, the examiner sees your eyes drifting downward.

The drill: open your phone's front camera, record yourself speaking English for 5 minutes, and deliberately practise looking into the lens. Two or three days of this and your eyes will find the right spot automatically on test day.

2. Get used to the half-second delay

Video calls occasionally lag. Unprepared candidates repeat themselves or interrupt the examiner — both make fluency scores suffer.

The drill: practise speaking English over a slightly laggy video call with a friend, or use a real-time voice tool (our Live Speaking Examiner has the same rhythm: you speak, there is a beat, then the examiner responds). Once the asynchronous feel is normal, the real test will not rattle you.

3. Run one full video mock every week

The fastest way to normalise the format is to walk the exact exam path: Part 1 questions → Part 2 cue card with 1 minute to prepare and 2 minutes to talk → Part 3 discussion, all on camera.

The drill: use the Live Speaking Examiner once a week. It talks with you in real time like the real test, then scores you on pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary and grammar — so you know exactly what to fix before the next session.

Three small reminders for test day

  • Ask for repetition freely. "Sorry, could you say that again?" costs you nothing; guessing costs you coherence.
  • Lag is not your fault. Stay calm and keep talking.
  • Natural gestures still help. A relaxed face and hands keep you sounding conversational rather than rehearsed.

The bottom line

The format changed; the skill did not. Spend five minutes a day talking to your camera this week, and the screen will stop feeling like an obstacle — leaving you free to focus on what actually moves your band score.

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