How to Score IELTS Band 7 in the Speaking Test In the video you’ll see an example of Part 3 of the IELTS speaking test. The candidate is from Colombia and is asked some questions about famous people. She scored IELTS Band 7 in this test. Comments by the examiner and an analysis of her performance in line with the official IELTS grading criteria for the speaking test are below: Fluency & Coherence The candidate is quite fluent and responds appropriately as well as extending her responses when required. Her use of discourse markers and linking words such as first ; I think so ; actually ; in a lot of ways ; for example ; and that’s why is good. Although she sometimes hesitates, this is mainly related to thinking about content and clarification of ideas before speaking rather than not knowing what to say and these short pauses do not affect her overall coherence. Lexical Resource (vocabulary) The candidate’s range of vocabulary is good and includes examples of less common vo