 In this video I'll reveal the most common sentence patterns used by band 7, 8 and 9 students. We've used AI to analyse thousands of band 7, 8 and 9 performances so that you can learn from them and improve your score. We'll also be playing a little game throughout the video and if you get enough points you'll win a very special prize at the end. So let's start off with question 1. Which of these sentence patterns is the most common for band 7, 8 and 9 students in part 1 of the speaking test? I'm a my role entails in my professional capacity and I am responsible for final answer. The correct answer is a I'm a. So when asked do you work or study, which is the most common question that you'll get in part 1 of the speaking test, the most common response from band 7, 8 and 9 students is simply I'm a teacher, worker, whatever you do. But isn't that a little bit too simple for a band 7, 8 and 9 student? Well let's continue and we'll explain later in the video. Question 2. Which of these sentence patterns is the most common for band 7, 8 and 9 students in part 1 of the test? I originate from, I hail from, I'm from, I am a product of. Final answer and the correct answer is I'm from. So like question 1, all of the wrong answers are technically correct. The English is absolutely fine. But in general, students that try and use those more advanced options tend to get a lower score. I know that doesn't make any sense right now, continue to watch the video and we'll explain how that makes sense and how to improve your score. Question 3. Which of these sentence patterns is the most common for band 7, 8 and 9 students in part 1? I prefer, I like, I normally, I live in. Final answer and the correct answer is I like. But these are actually all very, very common sentence patterns in part 1 of the speaking test. We use I like and I prefer to discuss things that we like doing. We use I normally to talk about daily routines and we use I live in to talk about the accommodation that we live in or maybe talk about where we're from. Again, you're probably extremely surprised that these high level students use such simple language. It must get more complicated when they start talking in part 2 of the test. Let's move on to part 2 of the test to find out. Which of these sentence patterns is most used by band 7, 8 and 9 students in part 2 of the IELTS speaking test? We went to, we were going, they had gone, we had been going. So this is a tricky one, would you like to phone a friend? We use things called narrative tenses to tell stories about past experiences. And looking at these 4 options, these are all narrative tenses. One is past simple, one is past continuous, one is past perfect and one is past perfect continuous. Many of these could be used to tell a story about the past but the most common tense among these is past simple. So I'm going to go for we went to. Final answer? Correct. For now that we know that it's very common to use narrative tenses in part 2, let's look at how to use them in question number 5. Which of these sentences is incorrect? I went to London for 3 years, I was watching TV when the phone rang, he realised he left his passport at home, I'd been walking for hours before we found a restaurant. Final answer? And the correct answer is I went to London for 3 years. This is very very important because it shows a crucial point about part 2 of the speaking test. It is not about which sentences you use or the range of different tenses that you use. It is about choosing a sentence that is appropriate and accurate. So in part 2 you'll be given a range of different bullet points and the last bullet point, the most common one, the most popular one will look like this. And explain how you felt about that thing. So let's move on to question 6 all about how you feel. To thank you for watching this video I want to give you a free course that has helped thousands of students improve their IELTS speaking score. What it's going to do is take you through every single part of the test and give you strategies for part 1, part 2 and part 3 and also allow you to practice at home for free and get feedback. To sign up for that for free all you have to do is just click the link in the description. Thanks very much and let's get back to the video. Which of these sentence patterns would get the highest score? I felt sad, I was over moon, I have a feeling of overwhelming joy, words cannot describe the depths of my feelings. So that's a tricky one, do you want to ask the audience? Audience please pick the correct answer and if you want to play along at home in the comments write A, B, C or D. So let's look at the results. 49% think that it's D, 19% C, 17% A and 15% think it's B. So 49% of you are wrong, it's wrong for two reasons. One you didn't actually answer the question, that's not actually saying how you feel about anything and examiners are trained to spot memorized answers. This sounds like a memorized answer so you would actually get a lower score rather than a higher score. 19% of you are wrong because this is simply the wrong verb tense, remember it's not just whether the sentence is appropriate but it also has to be accurate. 15% of you are wrong because this is simply inaccurate, it is wrong to say I was over moon, it is I was over the moon. If you say to the examiner I was over moon, again you are lowering your score, you're not increasing your score because you used some magic idiom. Well done to the 17% of you playing at home who got it correct. It answers the question and it is grammatically accurate. It is better than all of the others therefore. So let's move on to the final round where we're going to look at part 3 of the speaking test. Part 3 is the most challenging, it is the most difficult, it has the most difficult questions and requires the most complex answers of the whole test. So question 7, what was the most common sentence pattern for band 7, 8 and 9 students in part 3 of the speaking test? I totally agree, not necessarily, it's possible that in my opinion. So all of these are very very common but let's look at what they do. So I totally agree, we use that functional language to do the job of agreeing with someone, not necessarily, again the function of that sentence pattern is to disagree with someone. It's possible that, the function of that is slightly different, it's possible that is to consider someone else's opinion and in my opinion you are expressing your opinion. Band 7, 8 and 9 students use this type of language, this functional language all the time because it helps them do things. They're not thinking about the most advanced pattern to use or the most high level structure to use, they're thinking what do I want to say and what sentence pattern helps me do that. In other words, they're just solely focused on clearly answering the question and the most common one is to thank you for making it this far in the video, I want to give you 10% off our VIP course. IELTS VIP course is the most successful IELTS course in the world. That is a fact because we have more band 7, 8 and 9 success stories than any other IELTS course in the entire world. We do that by simplifying the whole IELTS process, supporting you with some of the best IELTS teachers in the world and being with you every step of the way until you get the score that you need. All you have to do is just look down in the description, just click that and you can sign up. If you have any questions about the VIP course, always feel free to get in touch with us, we answer 100% of the questions that we get. Hope that you have become a VIP, if not, enjoy the rest of this free video. And the most common one is in my opinion because you will be giving your opinion a lot, but you're not done there. You can't just give lots and lots of opinions and get a high score. You must back it up with explaining your point of view. Question 8. Which of these is the most common way band 7, 8 and 9 students explain things? Like, in other words, that is to say that because now all of these are actually fine to use. All of them are correct. All of them can be used to explain why you believe something is true or why you have that opinion. But the most common way is because. Too simple? Well, no, because. Because is the most common way native English speakers use. That's the most common sentence pattern that they use to explain things. Would a native English speaker get a low score because they use everyday normal English like because? So will you get a band 9? We're down to the final question, question 9. So you've stated your opinion. You've explained that opinion, but you need to go even further. And there are a few options open for you to help you expand your part 3 answers even more. Question 9. Which of these sentence patterns is the most common way for band 7, 8 and 9 students to expand their answer even further in part 3? On other hand, for example, to sum up in nutshell, you're probably going to need a 50-50 for that one. Do you want to take a 50-50? Computer, please take away two wrong answers. So they've got rid of to sum up. Why is to sum up wrong? Again, think back to what we talked about functional language. To sum up is to summarize something. It is actually quite rare for high level students to summarize what they're saying in part 3. So to sum up isn't technically wrong. It is just quite rare for a student to do that. In nutshell, again, we would use that to summarize something. We don't normally summarize things as we just said, but in nutshell is wrong because it is inaccurate. It is not in nutshell, it's in a nutshell. So that leaves us with one wrong answer and one correct answer. Will you get them all right? On other hand, is good showing the other side of the argument is one of the best ways that you can expand your answer even further in part 3. So you talk about one side of the argument and then you talk about the other side of the argument if you can think of it. So it's good, but it's not right because it's not on other hand, it is on the other hand. Again, this is why a lot of students mess up because they go and memorize a bunch of sentence patterns before the test and that's why you clicked on the video, isn't it? And they use them incorrectly. So the correct answer is for example, which is just a nice, simple way of giving an example. So if you use the sentences, the sentence patterns in this video, are you guaranteed to get a bad nine? Absolutely not. The reason why you clicked on this video is because you want to memorize things. Many of you have been brought up in education systems where you have been taught that memorization is a skill. Unfortunately, IELTS is not a memorization test. It is an English communication test. Memorization is the opposite of clear communication. The key for the speaking test is to understand what type of questions might come up and then have appropriate and accurate, simple, correct ways of dealing with all the most common questions. That is why Band 7, 8 and 9 students use simple language. But is there a way to guarantee that you can answer any question that the examiner throws at you on test day? Absolutely. Just click here and I'll show you a technique that will allow you to answer any question that the examiner asks you on test day.