IELTS Speaking Part 2: past, present, future?

Several people have asked me about a technique that some teachers recommend for part 2 of the speaking test: the 'past, present, future' technique, or 'PPF'.

Before I give you my opinion about this technique, I'd like to hear from you.

- Has anyone been taught to use this PPF idea?
- How exactly did your teacher suggest that you use it?
- Did it work for you?
- What benefits and drawbacks do you think this technique has?

Note:
Please remember that techniques like this are just suggestions, not rules. If your teacher is saying that you must use three tenses in your part 2 answer, he/she is wrong.

Comments

[sjm]

We teach a basic storytelling structure for Part 2 but it's not based on tenses. I wouldn't advise this because Part 2 questions come in a variety of tenses and following a tense structure would be restrictive and potentially cause coherence issues.

We DO always have a 'past' aspect however. This is because the vast majority of questions include a past 'explanatory' question, and it sounds natural to give some back ground to your answer.

[Pachu]

Yes sir, if we use FPP, GOOD no?

[lnr]

I have not heard of this method before. I think we should focus more on vocabulary and fluency rather than tenses.

[Shohjahon]

Hi Simon
How would you rate a student's speech with a few good vocabularies,excellant pronouncuation and good fluency but with slighty many grammar mistakes?
PLEASE I need your answer because i am really excited about how i did in the test.

[Mona]

Shohjahon

https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/speaking-band-descriptors.ashx?la=en

https://ieltscanadatest.com/2018/12/getting-to-know-the-ielts-speaking-descriptors/

To achieve Band 7 one would have meet nearly all the criteria for that band.

[Lo]

This is the first time I heard about this technique, but I think it may have some benefits for idea extension and cohesion. For example, we could say something happened in the past, then how it changes or looks like today, and we could give some solutions to tackle this problem in the future. The idea will be extended and related like a timeline or a flow.

[Tural]

Well, I have used this technique two times in Speaking exam, and can say that the method is good enough to achieve band 7, which I got twice. However, this is better to use when an individual faces unusual topic, which he/has does not have an answer. In this case the method helps you improvise and have continuous speech within those 2 minutes. But if you have a story to tell, it would be better to go on with that story.

[Pachu]

Sir, this PPF method is not fit for all questions for part 2.There are few questions where this method works .However, I didn't use this method in exam.If we make a rule of PPF in part 2 for every question then it will be off topic.
I think Jay from E2 language Australia uses this method.I assume that this method can be used when there is change over time in the question.

[Shohjahon]

Mona
Thanks!

[Jaxson]

For those who need a clear example of this PPF technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT74Md1tA90&t=3s
Personally, I do not think it works in all situations.

[F.P]

it's a technique that i have learnt from a IELTS teacher who also a youtuber, his channel is 5 minutes about IELTS, you can check it out. Anyway, since speaking critera include grammartical range and accuracy, i think its one way to improve your band score. Besides it gives you more ideas to talk, to come up with more events and avoid repeating. however, you need to be good at grammatical structures to use them properly.

[Kevin]

I have started to use it with my students because I think that it's a great way to give continuous ideas with examples. It's especially useful for describing an activity and making comparisons to show progress, however, I wouldn't use it for all topics.