Hey folks!

Does anyone here use ChatGPT voice chat to practice IELTS speaking?

One thing that drives me a little crazy is all the 'that's wonderful,' or 'that sounds like a meaningful experience.' The AI is trained to be conversational, which doesn't really suit the role of the examiner, especially in part 1.

I'm experimenting with some prompts to make it more examiner-like.

If you're interested in trying it, put this into ChatGPT and let me know how it goes for you:

(Note: ChatGPT will not give you meaningful feedback on your speech, but it's still nice to have the experience of some'one' asking you IELTS-ish questions.


Role
You are an IELTS Speaking examiner. I am an IELTS candidate.

Task
Conduct IELTS Speaking Part 1 practice.

Structure

Ask separate sets of questions.

Each set must contain exactly 4 questions.

Set 1: a very familiar topic (e.g. hometown, work, studies, free time).

Set 2: a slightly less familiar topic (e.g. travel, books, technology, food).

Topic rules

All 4 questions in a set must be on one single topic.

Questions must be pre-written / scripted, not improvised based on my answers.

Do not ask follow-up questions that reference what I just said.

Questions must be personal (How often do you ... ? When did you last ...?) and not about abstract topics (How do you think ... might change in the future?)

Interaction rules (ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL)

Use question → answer → question → answer only.

Ask one question at a time.

Wait for my response.

When I am silent for ~4 seconds, ask the next question.

Do NOT number questions.

Do NOT say “first question”, “next question”, or similar.

Do NOT explain what you are doing.

Backchanneling (STRICTLY FORBIDDEN)
Do NOT say:

“Okay”

“Great”

“Perfect”

“I understand”

“Got it”

“That’s interesting”

“Thanks for sharing”

Any affirmation, reaction, encouragement, or commentary

Your responses must contain only the question text.

Topic transitions

When starting a new topic, say exactly:
“Now let’s talk about [topic].”

Immediately follow with the first question.

No other commentary before or after.

Tone

Neutral

Examiner-like

Minimal

Professional

Output constraint

Your output should consist only of questions, except for the single allowed topic-transition sentence.

Hey folks!

I'm going live with free speaking tests TODAY at:

17:00 London
20:00 Moscow
22:00 Tashkent
23:00 Bangladesh

Join me if you'd like to be considered as a candidate!

(Link coming soon!)

Hey folks!

I'll be going live shortly (hopefully in 5 mins). Just fixing some technical issues.

Join me here - https://youtube.com/live/PAZVErnkXJ0

Hi folks!

If you are watching the livestream right now and you'd like to be the first speaking candidate, please reply to THIS message with ONE response (e.g. me / interested).

Tests take place on Zoom!

If you are watching the livestream right now and you'd like to be the next speaking candidate, please reply to THIS message with ONE response (e.g. me / interested).

Tests take place on Zoom!

If you are watching the livestream right now and you'd like to be the next speaking candidate, please reply to THIS message with ONE response (e.g. me / interested).

Hey folks!

A pretty amazing performance here - https://youtu.be/PtMVNjMC3vI

Let me know what you think. Band 9 or not quite?

Diliara's feedback is up.

Soooo many people evaluated her at 9, and I can definitely see why.

I ended up giving 8.5 for some minor lapses in connected speech.

Have I been too harsh here? 😅

https://youtu.be/jypapvqq2EM

And a very merry Christmas to those of you who are celebrating today!

I'm working and have a million things to do, but thanks to everyone who has been a candidate, done some writing, applied to be a candidate, joined me on a livestream or simply left a comment / a like.

Youtubing can be hard work, but I'm really grateful to have you guys around 💗

Hey folks!

Just a quick announcement to say that I'll be doing free speaking tests live today at:

15:00 UK
18:00 Moscow
20:00 Tashkent
21:00 Dhaka

Hey folks!

A reminder that I'll be going live in about 100 minutes with FREE speaking tests with viewers.

A reminder of the rules:
- Shortly after I start the livestream, I will put a post in this Telegram channel asking for interested candidates.
- Candidates should leave ONE message in response to that call.
- One person will be selected and invited to join me on Zoom (you'll have 1-2 mins to join, so you should be ready to go immediately)

If there are no technical problems or no delays with candidates, I will try to do 3 tests. If there are delays, we will be limited to 2.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end.

Hope to see you all there! 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pd-zVUSvLI

5-minute delay 😅

OK folks. I'm going live now. Come join if you'd like to be considered for a speaking test 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pd-zVUSvLI

Hey folks!

A reminder that January is the last month of the reduced price for speaking tests.

The majority of candidates increase their speaking score by 0.5 bands (and in many cases, one whole band) after taking this test and getting their feedback.

The public version (where the test appears on Youtube) is just £25 at the moment.

You can pay directly at www.expertexaminer.com.

If you have any questions about the test, leave them here.

If you're interested in what I read in 2025, here you go 😊

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IqfNA8lEvmk