EDUCATION

Worksheet 1: Vocabulary



1) Match the word(s) on the left a word on the right to form a common education expression:

to attend exam
Bachelors/Masters ceremony
boarding truant
distance out
face-to-face student
to fall behind with/to keep up with your education
graduation learning
higher classes
intensive deadline
to learn something by studies
mature course
to meet a degree
to play heart
to sit an university
subject fees
to take a year school
tuition university
to work your way through specialist

2) How well do you know your partner? Spend a minute imagining how they would
answer each of the following. Then ask them the questions and discover how close you
were.

• if they would prefer a face-to-face or a distance learning course.

• if they have ever played truant.
• whether they did/would take a year out before going to university.
• if they enjoy sitting exams.
• whether they find it easy to learn things by heart.
• if they are good at meeting deadlines.
• if they would have enjoyed attending boarding school.
• whether they would be happy to work their way through university.
• what kind of subject they would like to study at Master’s level.
• if they regularly fall behind with their studies.

Published by Flo-Joe for ieltsspeaking.co.uk

 EDUCATION
Worksheet 2: Speaking Practice Test

You are going to prepare for an IELTS-style Speaking Part 2 task. Here’s the question:

Describe a time during your education that you really enjoyed. You should say:
• when this was
• where you were
• what you were studying at the time
and say why you were so happy.

1) As this talk is about a pleasant, past experience you have the opportunity to use
‘would’ as well as ‘used to’ to describe past habits. Using ‘would’ emphasises the
fact that the memory is a happy one. However, it can only be used to describe
repeated actions in the past, not past states or situations. For example, in which of
the following could you replace ‘used to’ with ‘would’?

I used to own a lovely little car.

My uncle used to bring me chocolate whenever he visited.

Every Christmas we used to sit together and open our presents.

I used to live in London before I moved to Oxford. 



2) When preparing for the talk above, think of one or two things you used to do
during this period that you have fond memories of using ‘would’.

Worksheet 2: Using Fillers




Your teacher will give you a series of subjects to discuss. When responding to a
question, give yourself a few seconds to think by using any of the following ‘fillers’:


That’s a tricky
question … Well … let me see …

I don’t know …
It’s difficult to say …
I’ve never really given it much
thought …

Well … to be honest …
Let me think …

Published by Flo-Joe for ieltsspeaking.co.uk