IELTS Speaking Part 2: 'difficult' questions

Students tend to worry about 'difficult questions', but questions are often much easier than they seem. For example:

Describe a law in your country.

Many students think they don't know anything about laws. However, there are some easy examples that they could choose:

1. In many countries it is now illegal to use a mobile phone while driving. You could start by talking about the popularity and benefits of mobile phones, and explain that people want to be able to answer calls wherever they are. Then you could explain the dangers of being distracted while driving; this law could reduce the number of road accidents, and therefore save lives.
2. If you feel confident talking about the 'education' topic, you could choose the 'compulsory education' law. This is the legal requirement that children up to a certain age must attend school. In the UK, for example, children are required by law to continue in education until they are 16 years old. This is a good topic because you can talk about the benefits of education.

Of course, you could choose a more obvious law (it is illegal to steal, carry a gun etc.) but you might have more ideas and good vocabulary if you choose a typical IELTS topic like number 2 above.

Comments

[Swams]

Hi Simon,

Can we write about some controversial topics like child abuse or same sax marriages, which has been debated on TV these days..?

[ld]

Hi swams,you can discuss anything but there should be law in country or you have to make things up.
Like you can say about 'SMOKING LAW'
you cant smoke in reestaurant ,workplace,hospital. give resoans why and benefits. you can say about passive smoking.
It easy to say on smoking topic,eventhough there isnt such a law in your country.If you are staying in UK you can get more ideas about this law.you can smoke n bus etc.
government think to ban smoking while driving as at the moment there is no lw ofr that.
you can add few things simply and can speak 2 min without hesitation.

[namita]

Different countries have different types of law. Normally, law is defined as the rules and regulations made by the government for the citizens to abide by them.
Law is enforced on the citizens. Some people break it and some follow it. There is punishment for the personnel who do not go according to law. As India is a democratic country, it has diverse laws to follow.
I would like to illustrate a law. In India a person below 18yrs of age whether he is a guy or girls does not have the right to vote. Moreover bride below 18years is not allowed to marry and groom should be of 21years to get married. There is a law of atrocity for those who speak abusive language to lower class people.
Furthermore for every branch, field we have laws.
For instance, traffic law, criminal law, education law, labour law, childhood marriage law,
It depends on country to country in implementing and enforcing law.

[namita]

Suggest sumthng for above answer

[[email protected]]

hi namita, yes you are right law varies from country to another country just smoking.As far as i know in Philippines there is no specific regarding to smoking.

[ld]

Thats what I am saying you have to make law by yourself if you are comfortable about some topic.
If you ask me to speak on one of the laws that Namita mentioned then I would struggle,eventhough I am from India,but on smoking I can speak fluently with good vocabs.I know about smoking law in UK,and examiner is not going into much detail wether there is law or not.
He is checking your english.unless you are giving IELTS in your native country then you ca not make things by yourself.

[Swams]

Thanks LD

[dilruk336]

hi all,
This is a sample answer I prepare. Could you please provide a band for this.

Describe a law in your country ?

Moblie phone usage become highly common and controversial . We should have limitation in which occasions allow to use or not to use them. For a instance , We can see many drivers use their cell phones while they are driving. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle can lead to increase in Accidents and rise in the deaths caused by vehicles. In addition to that we can see cell phone use by student during the scholl hours. This can be a severe problem too. Because while the phone rang , they completely become nervous and lost their mind to study. Because of these reasons government take a rule and banned the mobile usage by clearly defined situation. This law taken place last week onwards and people who disobey the rule penalized heavily and can be prisoned to maximum of 5 years time.
This is not only the first country this kind of rule implemented. UK, USA France and many other countries implemented this rule way back.

Thanks

[sara]

Hi
I am a beginer in English .
there is a different law in different
countries but some laws are common in most countries such as using mobile phone during the drive.
Last statistics showed that the accident in the road is increasing and one of the cause of accident that is very common is using the mobile phone during the drive.
you should be focused on the road while driving and using mobile phone disturb you and it can lead to bad accident even death.
thanks

[Faiza]

different countries have different types of law. actually law is defined as the rule and regulation made by the government for the citizens to abide by them. some citizen break it and some follw it,who dont follow the law by government, that personnel are penalised or paid fine by government.
in my country, there are different types of good laws. but the most important law in my country is the law of "compulsory education".
this law is very good for every citizen. because education is utmost essential for every man and woman. so there is law in my country that every girl or guy who is under 18, will be get education from school. and primary education will be free for every student. to abide by this law, we can get many benefits. like we can increase our literacy rate to abide by this rule. and our nation can be well educated. thats why all problems of pakistan can be solved. if all citizens follow this law.

[Hannah]

If only i could turn back the time.. That's exactly the question I got in my last speaking test, and i had no idea at all how to answer it

[arsl.gee]

Amm thanks

[Maliha]

Faiza: There is no such law in Pakistan about compulsory education. Laws can only be determined if they are implemented but when there are no provisions for penalty on violations or there are no checks and balances these things become condonable and hence a norm.
Other than that I got this topic and I spoke against it, since there is no good law that I could think of with all the rallies and anti govt. protests in Pakistan. If its a good law then it should be visible enough to be witnessed otherwise it is not good to begin with.

[Samuel]

Just a quick tip. I have been tutoring a student in China and this question came up in practice. For any teachers encountering this problem, get the student to talk about the one child policy law in China, they seem to really know about it and can easily discuss it.

[Usha Rani]

please tell me about a law which is against men?

[Nam Anh]

Hi Samuel,
One child policy would a great idea. Thank you for the suggestion!