IELTS Speaking band 8 sample test 4: Technology in daily life

Examiner: Let's talk about technology. How often do you use your smartphone each day?

Candidate: I'd say I'm on it constantly. I check it first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and in between I'm usually using it for messages, email, maps or photos. As a primary school teacher, I use it to snap pictures of the kids' artwork for parents. I'd estimate I'm on it at least four or five hours a day, which is probably more than I'd like.

Examiner: What app or device could you not live without?

Candidate: Probably my calendar app. I'm juggling school events, my kids' soccer practices, and my mom's medical appointments, so if it's not in the calendar, it simply doesn't happen. I'd be lost without the reminders, to be honest. My phone is the obvious answer, but the calendar is what actually keeps my life in order.

Examiner: Has technology made your daily life easier or more complicated?

Candidate: On balance, easier, though it's a mixed bag. Online grocery ordering and shared family calendars save me hours every week. On the other hand, I'm constantly fielding notifications, and the school's parent portal updates seem to multiply each year. So I'd say it's made things easier in practice but more complicated in terms of how much I have to keep up with.

Examiner: Now, I'm going to give you a topic, and I'd like you to talk about it for one to two minutes. Describe a piece of technology you find useful. You should say: what it is, how you use it, and how long you have had it, and explain why it is useful to you. You have one minute to prepare.

Examiner: All right, please start speaking now.

Candidate: The piece of technology I'd like to talk about is my e-reader, a basic Kindle with no colour screen, which I bought about four years ago. I'd resisted getting one for ages, because I'm a bit of a paper person at heart. A colleague kept telling me how much easier it would be, and eventually she was right, which I'm not going to let her forget.

Candidate: I use it almost every day, mainly on my commute and in bed before I fall asleep. I'm usually reading two or three books at once, and I can borrow titles from the library for free through an app, so I don't feel guilty about it, and it's much cheaper than buying hardbacks. The battery lasts for weeks, which is a huge relief, because I'm terrible at remembering to charge things. I can also change the text size, which is handy now that my eyes aren't what they used to be, and the screen doesn't glare in the sunshine.

Candidate: Why it's so useful, I think, is that it's a single-purpose device. My phone is a distraction machine, with notifications pinging every few minutes, whereas the e-reader simply lets me read. Some evenings I'd have spent an hour scrolling, and now I'm halfway through a novel instead, and I actually look forward to bedtime now. I'm not claiming it's a miracle, but it's changed my reading habits for the better, and that's rare for a gadget.

Examiner: Thank you. Do you think older people find technology harder to use?

Candidate: Some do, certainly, but I think it's more about confidence than age. Plenty of my older relatives are far more switched on than I am, honestly, once they've got over the initial fear.

Examiner: Let's move on to communication. How has technology changed the way people communicate?

Candidate: In a word, it's made communication faster and far more casual. Years ago, if you wanted to reach someone, you'd phone the house, write a letter, or maybe wait until you saw them. Now a quick text can replace a whole conversation, and video calls mean families scattered across the country can see each other's faces every week. The downside is that a lot of nuance gets lost. A typed message can come across as curt, and emojis only go so far in conveying tone. I think we've gained reach but sometimes lost depth, and that's a trade-off worth keeping in mind.

Examiner: What are some disadvantages of relying too much on technology?

Candidate: The most obvious one is dependence. If the Wi-Fi drops or the phone dies, a lot of people are suddenly stranded, because they've forgotten how to navigate or even remember a phone number. There's also the attention issue. Constant notifications fragment our focus, and I see it in my own classroom, where kids struggle to sit through a story without reaching for a screen. Then there's privacy, which many people only think about after something goes wrong. So, while the convenience is real, we pay for it in subtler ways.

Examiner: Do you think future generations will use technology differently?

Candidate: Almost certainly, though I suspect the differences will be less about the gadgets and more about habits. My students already treat tablets as second nature, but they're far less comfortable with things like typing an email or reading a long article. I imagine future generations will be fluent in artificial intelligence and voice interfaces, and perhaps less patient with anything that needs a manual. On the other hand, I hope they'll value deliberate, offline time, because that's a skill that will matter more, not less. It'll be interesting to see which way the pendulum swings.