The one MUET speaking tip among others, for you to remember in the morning of the speaking test is for you to not be too critical of yourself.
This is my honest opinion as a teacher. You should not be too hard on yourself. In fact you should be your own cheerleader.
Being your own cheerleader means you have a voice inside your head that keeps on encouraging you on. This voice is very important as it will resutl in you having a positive mindset.
Untimately you will have a positive view of yourself and in turn increases your self confidence.
For sure speaking confidently during the MUET speaking test is part of the criteria that examiners will expect a Band 5+ candidate to have.
Listed here are 4 ways you can achieve this positivity.
Showing confidence as you speak could be learnt and here are a few steps that you can take in that direction.
Unfortunately this is what some candidates are facing at the moment. So, the MUET speaking test is quickly approaching. You have gotten into a small group of 4 people with your friends and have been trying out the sample questions for the MUET speaking test.
You have read the question properly, you have understood the question and you have also written out the points that you wanted to say for your part 1 presentation. However, when your time comes for you to speak for the 2 minutes given, you find yourself grappling for words and you simply don’t know what to say. You are just too afraid to speak.
And sadly you begin to doubt your ability on whether you can make it through the MUET speaking test.
This is unfortunately a classic scenario for most students who are sitting for the MUET speaking test for the first time. So, you are not alone in this.
Interestingly enough, as a teacher I should add that being nervous is in fact a good sign – it shows that you are very concerned about the test and that you really want to do well. Nevertheless, if you really want to do well for the MUET speaking test you would need to be able to overcome your nervousness and your fear.
This is because it is very important for you to be able to voice out your opinion in a clear way, with good elaboration and supported with evidence by giving an example and to sound convincing in doing that.
There are fortunately steps that you can take to gain the confidence that you need for the speaking paper. And I would also like to tell you that these steps really work.
These are the things that you need to do as you enter the examination room in the morning of the speaking test.
1. Believe that you are important
As you are sitting there as candidates A, B, C or D, believe in yourself that you are important. You are an important candidate in the speaking test that morning.
Feeling important doesn’t come naturally to most of us.
Even more so being Asians, we are more inclined to keep what we think to ourselves and not voice out our opinion outrightly like other people from another part of the world. We are a humble lot of people. And so in our humility, speaking our minds is not that easy.
But feeling important is not a negative thing to have. It doesn’t mean that you feel that you are above everybody else. And you shouldn’t feel that way.
You feel important when you value yourself and you recognise your strengths as well as your weaknesses and that you value them.
This is a very amazing feeling. It is because if you feel that you are important you will feel that confidence that you will need when presenting in part 1 and part 2 of the MUET speaking test.
You will then view yourself in a positive way.
For sure you can be a little bit nervous and a little bit worried when presenting for part 1 and part 2 of the paper. But you need to also be kind to yourself and not criticise yourself when speaking in English.
Believe that you are very important and you are going to try very hard to do very well for the paper. And if you are sometimes lost for words on what you want to say next, it’s still ok. Be kind to yourself and allow yourself to make some mistakes. But at the same time you are going to try very hard to get a high band for the speaking paper.
2. Believe that what you say matters
Another way for you to increase your confidence when speaking for part 1 and part 2 of the MUET speaking paper is for you to believe that what you say truly matters. And for sure what you are going to say does matter.
This is because you are part of a group of four people that is going to be discussing a topic that is set for your group.
Therefore when you provide your points of view, you are providing more information regarding the topic. You are doing something important and that is you will give an impact on the topic. Your opinion as you present it, will give some depth to the discussion.
Additionally, for the speaking test, different candidates will be given different tasks to talk about in part 1. So as you present your ideas based on the task set for you as a candidate, what you say about the topic will provide it with more information, said from a different angle and a different view. It will therefore enhance other people’s understanding of what is being discussed.
So don’t be shy. Fulfil the task given for part 1 and part 2 with the most suitable point and elaborations. You must believe that you are providing the other candidates as well as the examiners with more information about the topic that will enhance their understanding of it.
Saying your points with confidence will certainly put you in a higher band when you totally believe what you say is very important.
3. Know what you are going to say is correct
Another Step that you can take to improve your confidence during your speaking test is for you to believe that what you say is correct. Being correct is when you understand the task and provide content points and supporting details that support the task given.
Therefore, to make sure that you are 100% confident that what you say is correct is for you to know the correct way of providing your response.
Let’s look at a sample question for part 1 of your speaking paper.
The situation given for part 1 is for you to talk about ways to improve your language skills. And as candidate A you will have to talk about watching a movie.
You will not be answering the question if you simply talk about the different movies to watch or the types of movies that you would enjoy.
As you can see in this sample question, you would need to link your task as candidate A which is for you to talk about watching movies, to the situation given that is to improve your language skills.
Hence this will mean that you would need to provide points that will make the link from your task to the situation given. Only then will you be fulfilling your task in part 1.
So, your task in part 1 is for you to provide points and to talk about your opinion on how watching movies can improve a person’s language skills.
Apart from this, to make sure that what you say is answering the question and is correct, you will need to provide reasons for your point of view. The reasons given will strengthen your points and make them become clearer.
Another aspect that you must remember to make what you say sound correct is for you to provide details and supporting examples. These examples could be taken from what you read or what you see happening around you. It could be issues that are being discussed and talked about at the moment or have been talked about previously either in the newspapers or on social media.
Next, you can sound confident and correct if you would consider using phrases to make you sound confident and correct. Consider using phrases like:
- In my opinion
- It is in my belief that
- From my point of view
- From a personal point of view, I believe that
All these phrases are good for you to use as they will make you sound sure of yourself.
4. View the examiners as friendly strangers
There are going to be four candidates in each session for the speaking test. All the four candidates who are candidates A, B, C and D will be sitting facing each other during the test.
There are going to be 2 examiners present during your speaking session. And they are going to be sitting on your left and on your right.
Having these examiners there listening attentively on your individual presentation for part 1 and discussion in part 2 is quite worrying for some candidates for sure.
Well you should not really be too worried about the examiners truly. This is because the examiners are there in actual fact, to give you marks. This is because as you enter the examination room, the marks you have would start from 0. And you can rest assured that when you leave the examination room your marks will never be 0 still.
And the examiners’ job is for them to listen to your presentation, your content points, how you say and present your points and then provide you with the marks that you deserve.
And so to make sure that you have the confidence when speaking in front of the examiners is for you to view them as friendly strangers.
All you need to remember is for you to do enough practice and really know what is expected of you in the speaking test. You will do just fine.
Which one of these suggestions do you feel is the easiest for you to follow?
Which one do you think is the hardest?
Let me know by leaving a comment below.
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