 Priyanka failed her speaking test four times in a row and she was about to give up on her dream of moving to Canada forever. But after I gave her these four simple tips, she jumped from a band six to a band eight in just two weeks. So the other day I got this email, Chris, my test is in two weeks and I'm going to fail again. I failed my speaking four times in a row and I don't know why. Help! So I replied, let's do a one-on-one speaking test. And she was right. She failed again. In fact, she got a band six in fluency, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. But I could tell that if she changed just four simple things, she was going to get a band eight on her next test. And when I told her this, she said, do you know my test is in two weeks? Yes. Do you know that if I fail this time, I'll never be able to move to Canada? Yes. Don't worry. Every band nine student that I've worked with used these four simple tips. The first thing we needed to work on was her per fluency. There were more ums and as in every answer than an Elon Musk interview. Um, um, um, um, um, um. And Priyanka had the exact same problem Elon does when he speaks publicly. You see, when anybody speaks, they make these audible pauses, these ums and as. This is totally normal and we all do this when we're thinking of what to say next. He's thinking of very complex things like how to launch a rocket to Mars. So he has more pauses, ums and as because he's thinking a lot about what to say next. And this is exactly the same reason why Priyanka's fluency was so bad. You see, your brain is just like a computer. If you're like me, you'll have hundreds of tabs open in your browser. And what happens when you have hundreds of tabs open, your computer slows down. So you might have the latest MacBook Pro, but if you push it too hard, it slows down. Her fluency wasn't bad. She was just trying too hard. You see, she was taught by other teachers that to get a high score on the IELTS speaking test, you need to have impressive ideas. So I asked Priyanka, what happens when you're speaking in the test and you try and think of complex ideas? And she said, I freeze and my mind goes completely blank. So why try and think of complex ideas? The truth is that nowhere in the official IELTS marking criteria does it mention complexity of ideas. In fact, ideas are not marked at all. But just telling students this information doesn't really change their behavior and their performance on test day. So I decided to show Priyanka exactly what to do. So I asked her a simple IELTS speaking question and her answer was a complete mess. The usual mmms and ahs and long pauses. So I asked her the same question again and I asked her just to change one simple thing. And this changed everything. She answered the question with band nine fluency. And Priyanka was completely amazed. You mean simple ideas increase my score? Yes. If you're trying to use complex ideas in the speaking test, you're making your life ten times more difficult for no gain at all. It's like trying to eat a bowl of soup with a Swiss army knife instead of just using a simple spoon. But just because we fixed her fluency issues doesn't mean she's going to get a high score for grammar. So let's look at that next. So we did the same thing again. I asked her a simple speaking question. How has your hometown changed since you were a child? And her first answer was long. It was complex. It had multiple different tenses and multiple different grammar structures in there. Do you think an answer like this would get a high score? Well, her answer might be complex. It might have a very wide range of grammar, but it contained multiple grammar errors. So what I did was I asked her the exact same question and I gave her some advice and told her to change just one thing. And here is her answer. My hometown has changed dramatically since I was a child. It used to be a small village, but it has grown into a bustling city with new opportunities. Despite the fast pace, a sense of community has remained strong. This example only has two of the most basic tenses in the English language. It is much, much simpler, but it contained zero errors. And to get a band seven or above on your IELTS speaking test, 50% or more of your sentences must have zero errors. To put it simply, the more sentences you produce with no grammatical errors, the higher your score. So which answer do you think would get a higher score? The one that has a very wide range of grammar, but lots of mistakes? Or the simpler one with zero mistakes? But like many of you, Priyanka was still very worried and she asked me, what about range of grammar? Aren't I being judged on both range and accuracy? Well, in the test, you know the way the examiner asks you a range of different questions. Well, they're doing that to test the range of your grammar. Just by answering each question naturally and appropriately, you'll naturally use a range of different grammar structures and tenses. All you have to do is just answer the question. So in less than five minutes, we had fixed 50% of Priyanka's problems. But she's still worried about her vocabulary and her pronunciation. She'd been told by all of her old teachers that she needed to use complex vocabulary and that her accent was a problem and this was going to lower her pronunciation score. So I said, listen, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is you've just fixed your grammar and your fluency issues in less than five minutes and you're probably going to get a very high score. The bad news is you're going to have to completely change everything about your vocabulary and her reaction was very predictable. Like nearly every student I tell this to, they say, but my old teacher told me that I need to make all of my vocabulary complex. And this is 100% true. Most teachers, especially on YouTube, teach you that complex words equal a higher score, but we teach students something completely different. Think of vocabulary as tools in a toolkit. Each tool helps you do a job. Each word you know helps you discuss different topics. This tool helps you talk about your hometown and this tool helps you talk about where you'd like to live in the future. Band 8 and 9 students have enough words, enough tools, so that they can handle any question or any topic. You see, using fancy vocabulary is like buying a very expensive fancy tool when all you need is a hammer to hit in a nail. The truth is that the vast majority of students that we work with have enough vocabulary already to get the score that they need. But because they've been taught to use very high level complex words, they make lots of mistakes and this actually lowers their score. It's like a band 7 is a weight that they can easily lift already. But instead of just lifting that weight, they try and lift a weight way heavier that they're not capable of lifting and they end up dropping it on their head. So did Priyanka just answer some questions and use simple vocabulary and live happily ever after and get the score that she needed? No. Like many students, she got very angry with me for criticizing her old teachers. She told me that this was going to lead to failure and she ended the call. So a few days go past and I don't hear anything from Priyanka. Finally, I check my email. She's booked another one-on-one speaking test with me. But at this point, her test is in 24 hours the next day. She's not just worried, she's completely freaking right. So I asked her a simple question. You've failed four times before. Do you think doing the same thing that you did those four times is going to lead to success? You see, all these speaking tips and tricks that you'll find online are just ways of you trying to trick the examiner into thinking that you're good enough and that you deserve a higher score than you're really capable of. We have a saying here in Ireland. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. The truth is, is that you are good enough to get the score that you need. You just have to use the English level and the words and the grammar and the vocabulary that you already have and show the examiner your real, genuine English level. So finally, Pranka said, let's do a practice test. Let's do it your way. Her ideas were simple but relevant. Her grammar was appropriate and accurate. And her vocabulary was wide-ranging enough that she could talk about any topic I asked her about and she was able to speak accurately and fluently. But this just left her pronunciation. If she couldn't fix her pronunciation issues, it doesn't matter how good the rest of it was. She would still fail to get the score that she needed. And Pranka's big pronunciation problem was that she spoke too quickly. If you speak too quickly, it is really difficult for the examiner to understand every word that you're saying. And if the examiner doesn't understand every word, they give you a low score. But in that final one-on-one session, her pronunciation popped up from a band six to a band eight without me giving her any advice at all. She changed one thing without me telling her what to do. You see, once she answered each question naturally and used the grammar and vocabulary she already knew how to use, she relaxed. This meant that she made fewer mistakes, was less nervous, and relaxed even more. The more relaxed she was, the better her pronunciation. By fixing everything and being able to speak to the examiner in the same way that she would speak to a friend or a colleague, she slowed everything down. I could understand 100% of what she was saying and she instantly improved her pronunciation. And a result, on test day, she got an amazing band eight. She moved to Canada, she found a better job, she earned more money, and lived happily ever after. And she never had to think of the silly IELTS test ever again. But wait, I understand that this advice is completely different from your local teacher or other IELTS teachers here on YouTube. And you're probably worried now and thinking, what about this tip that I normally use? Or what about that tip that I hear on YouTube? Well, the good news is, in this video, I take all the most popular tips on YouTube and I analyze them so that you don't have to. And I'm going to show you exactly which tips improve your score and more importantly, which tips you're using lower your score. Click that video to find out if you are using the right tips or not.