CONTENTS

SAMPLE ANSWERS
1 Sample questions and
answers from speaking part 1,
2 and 3
1. 2.

KEY VOCABULARY
3. 2 Words and terms frequently
used when talking about

TOPIC:WORK
education.
4.

WORD FORMATION
3 Learn how to use wide
variety of parts of speech,
such as nouns, verbs,
Sample answers, useful adjectives

vocabulary and resources for COLLOCATIONS

IELTS speaking exam 5. 4 Find out groups of words that
usually used together by
native speakers

USEFUL RESOURCES
5 References to teaching and
authentic materials related to
this topic: IELTS blogs,
podcasts, videos and articles


1. SAMPLE ANSWERS
PART 1
5. What do you dislike about your job?
1. Describe the company or organization you work
for. -Conducting projects in far-flung areas means being
away from my family for several days. This time, I
- I work for the Energy Development Corporation couldn’t spend time with my wife and kids. I miss them
(EDC); it is a company that focuses on the so much.
development of renewable energy.
6. How many hours do you work each day?
2. What is your position?
-When I am in a field work; we spend several hours
- I am part of the geophysical survey team, I am a
traveling to the area, the survey usually last for a couple
geologist
of days sometimes in a weeks’ time. When there is no
3. What are your responsibilities? field work, I work the usual 8am to 5pm office work.

- Our team is tasked to identify if a significant resource
is present, as well as to collect and analyze samples
within the area.
4. What do you like about your job?
The best thing about my job is that I could travel and
discover places in which I otherwise wouldn’t
7. What would be your ideal job?
-My ideal job would be something that always brings
something new, not a repetitive monotonous work. I get
to do what I have to do and be good at it, but
nevertheless provide adequate returns to my personal
life.

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PART 2

Describe the job you would most like to have I actually realized this passion, a little late in life. I
You should say: wanted to become a chef in a professional kitchen.
Eating food is great, but the process of food
• what this job would be preparation and the skill it requires to do that is what I
find more intriguing.
• where you would work
• which qualifications you would need and I could probably enjoy working and being trained in fine
dining restaurants or some cruise ships that offer a
• explain why you would like to have this job variety of international dishes. I would like to get to
most. know different cultures all over the world through food.
I think it is one of the aspects that distinguish countries.

To be able to be a chef, I need to have an educational

background in culinary arts or professional cookery. I
also need to go undergo training in various restaurants
to be able to apply the knowledge and information I
gathered from the school. A chef is also creative
because he is also the one who arranges and presents
food that is served.

The kitchen is the only place I have ever felt like I really
belong. I love the heat and the pressure.

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PART 3

1. Which jobs would you say are most respected in your country?

If I were asked what the most respected jobs in the country are, I would have to say it
would be professional careers such as the fields of law, medicine and engineering. It is the
“mainstream choice” and common understanding of parents what they would likely have as
a career for their children, simply because of its high projected income and career growth.

2. Some people say it's better to work for yourself than be employed by a company.
What's your view?

I would have to say that I agree with the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma. For young people, it is
wise to go to a small company because in a big company you are working as part of a
system and you are doing specialized repetitive tasks. But when you go to a small
company, you’ll learn the passion, the dreams and you’ll learn to do a lot of things at one
time.
As you grow, focus on learning and in gathering and developing your skills. When you think
you have learned enough, that is the time when you have to think clearly – if you want to be
an entrepreneur and to work for yourself.

3. What changes in employment have there been in recent years in your country?

There has been a rejuvenation of the “entrepreneurial spirit” in our country; more and more
people are involved in starting their own businesses. The “start-up” community is now more
alive than ever, even college students launch their start-up businesses while in a university.
Even though there is a high failing rate of start-up businesses; still, people are starting to
take risk and put their ideas into creation.

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2. KEY VOCABULARY
someone who got promotion Do they get promotion or change jobs?
get promotion is given a more more important
job in the same organizatio

To give money in exchange for She refused to let me pay for the taxi.
to pay goods or services

work that is done regulary to earn Afterlanding a job in an off-licence straight out of
job money school, he was initially baffled, butintrigued all the
same.

a person or organization that He will usually refer the customer to someone in his
customer buys goods or services from a firm who isan expert in that field
store or business

the amount of work to be done by To cope with the increasing workload our staff has
workload someone or something grown from about 350 to about 1,000, which makes
us by far the largest ombudsman scheme worldwide.

An individual’s work and life roles Most young people today , whatever their background
career over their lifespan. , see school as a passport to a good career .

Any or all locations or People with a job spend a lot of time at their
workplace environments where people are workplace so a healthy workplace is vital to their

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employed health.

monthly (yearly) payment that you Apprenticeships areoften a great way to earn a salary
salary earn from your job or receive an allowance while learning newskills and
gaining qualifications.

a fixed regular payment, typically The basic state pension is just 15.9 per cent of the
wage paid on a daily or weekly basis, average wage, compared to 18.4 per cent 57 years
made by an employer to an ago.
employee

relating to manual work or Workplace automation has eliminated many of the

blue-collar worker workers jobs that enabled blue-collar workers to join the
middle class.

relating to the work done or those White collar workers are evaluated based on
white-collar worker who work in an office performance.

to stop working for a short time Taking time off is one of the best ways to re-engage
to take time off your mind and make yourself more productive

if you take leave you stay away Can he afford to take unpaid leave?
to take unpaid leave from work usually because of
holiday or ilness, without getting
paid

Paid absence from work Sick leave is usually 1- 1 1/2 days per month
sick leave specifically to recover from illness

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paid time off from a job after I didn't want to take any maternity leave during my
maternity leave giving birth childbearing years, so I made a point of always using
reliable contraception.

routine work involving written Paperwork seems to get worse every year.
paperwork documents such as forms,
records, or letters

practical work conducted by a There are tasks in fieldwork which are less
fieldwork employee in the natural physically demanding.
environment or somewhere
outside rather than in office

work that involves a lot of The real legwork of etymology consists of tracing
legwork efforts to collect information, exactly how the sounds shift
especially when such work is
difficult but boring

having worked too long or too You could judge wether you are overworked, as you
overworked hard feel mentally or physically exhausted.

to leave a job or post voluntarily Unfortunately management allowed him to resign

resign rather than sack him.

a person employed for wages or All prospective employees are required to undergo a
employee salary, especially at nonexecutive medical examination at a medical establishment
level nominated by the Company.

a person, company, or At its peak it had over 100 workers and was the
employer organization that employs people largest employer in the town

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3.WORD FORMATION

noun When getting home from work, the first thing you tell
work your partner is the best thing that happened that day

verb Work on it in the morning before your work day.

to work

adjective What is the most effective way to enhance working

working memory?

noun Promotions in Army are to higher ranks and not to a

promotion different organisation.

verb Helping your manager get promoted is useless

to get promoted

noun Their average basic pay is approximately 300 pounds

pay per month.

verb People do pay for quality.

to pay
adjective Are astronauts well-paid?
well-paid

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noun A 2012 NASSCOM survey reveals that 83% of Indian
employment engineering graduates are unfit for employment.

noun To get a sense of the cause of unemployment, it helps

unemployment to understand excess capacity.

noun The best employees are multipliers who make others

employee more productive, and next are the adders (workhorses).

noun My employers , the University of Bristol , own the

employer intellectual property rights for this article .

verb I explained again : about my job description , custom

to employ and practice and my right to do the work for which I
was employed .

adjective There are lots of ways to describe being self-employed

self-employed and it will totally depend on the person that you're
speaking to.

adjective I was unemployed for almost a year after graduating.

unemployed

noun Sales and earnings are two different things.

earnings
verb What is the best career advice for a software developer
to earn to earn higher total compensation?"

noun Colonel Spratt highlighted the importance of the

qualification qualification for people planning a career in marketing.

verb Like student nurses, there are no jobs for them when
to qualify
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they qualify.

adjective The English Department employs well qualified and

qualified experienced tutors and as a result has always enjoyed a
high success rate in examination results.

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4.COLLOCATIONS

hard adjective+
arduous
work
challenging
complicated,
intensive,
labour-intensive,
physical
delicate

monotonous adjective+
repetitive,
work
fascinating
interesting
paid
unpaid
professional
intellectual
mental
creative

individual adjective+
group
work
meticulous
experimental
academic
commercial
educational

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environmental
scientific
building
construction

carry out verb+

do
work
get done
have done
take on
undertake
begin
commence
get down to

carry on verb+
continue
work
complete
finish
halt
hold up
stop

at preposition+
on
work

lucrative adjective+
well paid
job
badly paid
full-time
part-time
permanent
temporary
regular
steady

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freelance adjective+
voluntary
job
skilled
unskilled
manual
indoor
outdoor
daily
day-to-day

administrative adjective+
clerical
job
office
secretarial
managerial
domestic
social
research
agricultural
farm
building

boring adjective+
dead-end
job
menial
routine
undemanding
well-paid
low-paid
full-time
part-time
9-to-5
regular
steady

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permanent adjective+
temporary
job
holiday
summer
vac/vacation
evening
Saturday
weekend

in a/the preposition+
job
on the
job
search job+noun
advertisement
vacancy
application
interview
title
market
cuts
losses
opportunities
prospects
satisfaction

have verb +
look for
job
apply for
go for
find
get
land
take

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lose
give up
pack in
resign from

give sb verb +
offer sb
job
right person for the job phrase
job

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5.USEFUL RESOURCES

THIS TOPIC ON IELTS BLOGS ARTICLES

§ IELTS Speaking Part 1: “work” topic [ielts-simon.com] § I'm not very smart, but I work extremely hard. Will I be able to

§ IELTS Speaking Practice: Work - part 1, 2 and 3 succeed ? [quora.com]

sample questions [ielts-academic.com] § What do you do when you oversleep for work? Take urgent

§ IELTS Work Vocabulary [ieltsspeaking.co.uk] leave? [quora.com]

§ IELTS Speaking: Job [ielts-exam.net]

VIDEO

PODCASTS § Nigel Marsh : How to Make Work-life Balance Work [TED

§ How Can A Monotonous Job Be Meaningful? TALKS]

[npr.org] § Scott Dinsmore: How To Find Work You Love [TED

§ TAS 125: (Success Leaves Cues) Scott's Complete Story TALKS]

and Path of Becoming an Enterpreneur [theamazingseller.com] § Mike Rowe: Learning From Dirty Jobs [TED TALKS]

§ 48 Days To The Work You Love [gspn.tv]

IELTSspeakingvocabulary.com