IELTS Speaking part 1 | Concentration

You need to mention times when it is important for you to concentrate. To develop your answer, try and think of things to say for the following:

• What is the activity?
• When might you do it?
• Where do you do it?
• Why do you need to concentrate?
• Can you give any examples?

Take all of this information, and practice answering the question in two or three sentences. Time your answer, and try to talk for about 15 – 20 seconds.

Below, we give you some ideas. If there are any new ideas here which you do yourself, try to answer the 5 questions above for each of these. Did you think of any of these? Did you think of anything different when you answered the question? Leave us a comment and let us know, as we love to hear you ideas!

Possible situations:

• Working / studying
• Driving (avoiding accidents, obeying speed limits, parking your car)
• Cooking (using knives, handling hot pots or pans)
• Playing games (especially games with a mental aspect, like chess or computer games)
• Doing art (painting, drawing)

Try to think about things that might affect your concentration. You might want to give two or three different things that affect your concentration. You could also think of some of the situations from the first question to give specific examples. To help you develop your answer, think about the following things:

• Does it change depending on what you’re doing? (working / driving a car / playing a game)
• What affects your concentration?
• If it is an activity or situation, who does it?
• Do you find it more difficult to concentrate if you’re feeling a certain way?
• Does the time of day affect your concentration?

If you’re giving lots of different ideas, don’t just list them. You need to think about your coherence and how you will link the ideas together. Use your ideas with some of the phrases below to give some answers.

Useful phrases:

• The thing that affects my concentration most is…
• I just can’t focus when…
• Another thing I’m quite easily distracted by is…

Possible ideas:

Give some activities that require you to concentrate and explain what you do to help. You could talk about how to minimise the distractions you mentioned for question 2! You might give more than one activity so you can show your vocabulary!

Write a list some things that help you focus on a task. Try to link them to specific tasks, because you won’t always do the same things. Now, try to answer the question. Be sure to leave your list in the comments below and see if anyone finds your techniques useful too!

Possible ideas:

• Listening to music – what music would it be?
• Turning on some ambient (background) noise – talk radio / listening to whale song etc.
• Sitting in a quiet room (or going to the library!)
• Drinking caffeine (/ˈkæfiːn/, n. – the chemical that gives you energy in tea and coffee)
• Writing out a work plan or setting goals
• Turning off your phone or setting it to silent

Read the following two sample answers out loud. Are there any words you don’t know how to pronounce? Once you have read the sentences, move on to the activity below.

• When I knuckle down to do some work on my laptop, I always have a caffeine fix first – I find drinking tea can really help me focus. I find I get into the swing of things more easily if I make a plan first, so I know what I need to do.
• I find it easier to concentrate when I’m listening to something. Music or ambient sounds can really help, so I might put on my YouTube playlist or turn on radio 4, and I set my phone to silent so I can’t be distracted. I have to be careful with talk radio though, because if the topic is too interesting, I find it can distract me!

This question is about multitasking. This word is made up of the prefix multi-, meaning many, and task. Most people multitask, but some people are better at it than others. One example of multitasking is cooking a meal. You have to make sure food on heat doesn’t burn while cutting or preparing other ingredients. While you’re preparing ingredients, you plan what to do with waste. To multitask, you usually need to be quite good at planning and organising the space around you. You also need to be good at concentrating on more than one thing at a time.  

• Multitask (verb) – Do many things at the same time
• Multitasker (noun – person) – A person who can multitask
• Multitasking (noun) – The act of doing more than one thing at the same time

Are you good at multitasking, or do you find that you can’t concentrate on more than one thing at a time? Maybe you can concentrate on lots of things, but are a bit disorganised or don’t plan properly! Leave a comment and let us know, and don’t be embarrassed! I am not very good at multitasking because I focus and finish one activity before starting the next, so it always takes me a long time to cook things. The end result is usually quite good though!