IELTS Speaking Part 1: Work Questions & Band 9 Answers (2026)

The topic of Work is the most common alternative to Study in the IELTS Speaking test. If you tell the examiner you work, the conversation will immediately shift to your job description, your daily routine, and your career ambitions.

Most candidates give boring, safe answers like "I work in an office and I like my colleagues." This will not get you a high score. To reach Band 9, you need to use specific vocabulary that describes the reality of your profession.

How to Use These Sample Answers

Below is a list of the latest 2026 questions for the "Work" topic.

Important: The sample answers below are written from the perspective of a freelance Graphic Designer who wants to launch a startup.

If that describes you, perfect—you can use these exact answers.

But if you are a Nurse, a Civil Engineer, or a Retail Manager, learning niche vocabulary like "client briefs" or "UX/UI design" won't help you much.

So, here is the plan:

1. Read these samples to understand what a Band 9 answer looks like.

2. Use the IELTS Speaking Lab App to get personalized answers. It gives you Band 7+ vocabulary that is relevant to your life and teaches you to think and answer in the structured way that examiners love.

Part 1: Work Questions & Model Answers

1. Do you work or are you a student?
I currently work as a freelance Graphic Designer. I mostly work with small businesses to help them create their visual identity, logos, and marketing materials. I’m also in the early stages of planning my own tech startup.

2. What are your main responsibilities?
My main duty is interpreting client briefs. Clients tell me what they want, and I have to translate their ideas into visual concepts using vector graphics and typography. I spend a lot of time doing revisions based on feedback until the final design is pixel-perfect.

3. Do you enjoy your work?
I love the creative side of it. I enjoy the autonomy of being my own boss and choosing which projects to take. However, the administrative side, like chasing invoices and managing my pipeline, is something I dread.

4. Is there anything you dislike about your job?
Yes, the inconsistent income. Since I am a freelancer, it is often a case of feast or famine. Some months I am swamped with deliverables, and other months it is dangerously quiet, which creates a lot of financial anxiety.

5. What is your typical working day like?
It is quite unstructured. I usually start by checking emails and replying to prospects. Then, I spend the afternoon doing deep work on Adobe Creative Suite. I often work late into the night when I have a tight deadline looming.

6. Do you prefer working alone or with others?
I generally prefer working alone because I need silence to focus on the aesthetic details. However, it can get lonely. I miss the camaraderie of an office sometimes, which is why I occasionally work from co-working spaces to do some networking.

7. Do you plan to change your job in the future?
Not exactly change, but evolve. I don't want to be a freelancer forever. My goal is to scale up and turn my freelance business into a full agency, so I can hire other designers to do the manual work while I focus on brand strategy.

8. What technology do you use at work?
I rely heavily on high-end tech. I use a powerful laptop that can handle rendering heavy graphics, and I live inside software like Photoshop and Illustrator. Without high-speed internet to upload large files to the cloud, I couldn't do my job.

9. How was your first day at work?
It wasn't a traditional 'first day' because I started freelancing from home. I remember landing my first paying client and feeling a mix of excitement and terror. I suffered from imposter syndrome, worrying that my portfolio wasn't good enough to justify my rates.

10. Do you miss being a student?
Sometimes I miss the lack of responsibility. When you run your own business, the buck stops with you. If I make a mistake now, it costs me money and reputation. As a student, the stakes were much lower.

11. Would you like to work in another country?
Absolutely. That is the beauty of being a digital nomad. As long as I have my laptop, I can work from anywhere. I would love to spend a year working remotely from Bali or Lisbon to boost my creativity and escape the 9-to-5 grind.

12. Is your job popular in your country?
Yes, the gig economy is booming right now. Many young people are rejecting traditional corporate structures in favor of freelancing. Everyone wants the freedom to work on their own terms, even if it means sacrificing job security.

13. Do you have to work overtime often?
All the time. When you are self-employed, there is no such thing as 'clocking off' at 5 PM. I often burn the candle at both ends to finish projects, especially when I have taken on too many clients on a retainer basis.

14. What training did you need for your job?
I have a degree in Design, but honestly, this industry moves so fast that I have to constantly upskill. I take online courses on UX/UI design regularly just to stay relevant in the market.

15. What would make your job easier?
If clients knew exactly what they wanted! Often, clients are very vague, which leads to endless rounds of changes. Having clearer instructions from the start would save me a lot of tedious back-and-forth communication and prevent burnout.

Key Vocabulary from the Answers

Here is the complete glossary of every bolded word and phrase used in the answers above.

• 9-to-5 grind: The boring, repetitive routine of a standard office job.

• Adobe Creative Suite: A collection of software used for graphic design, video editing, and web development.

• Aesthetic: Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty.

• Agency: A business that provides a particular service on behalf of other businesses (e.g., a design agency).

• Autonomy: The right or condition of self-government; freedom to act independently.

• Brand strategy: A long-term plan for the development of a successful brand.

• Buck stops with you: You are ultimately responsible for decisions or mistakes.

• Burn the candle at both ends: To work late into the night and start early in the morning; to overwork.

• Burnout: Physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress.

• Camaraderie: A feeling of friendship and trust among people in a group.

• Chasing invoices: Trying to get clients to pay the money they owe you.

• Client briefs: Instructions given by a client explaining what they want you to do.

• Cloud: Servers accessed over the internet used for storing data.

• Co-working spaces: Shared offices used by freelancers and remote workers.

• Deadline: The latest time or date by which something should be completed.

• Deliverables: Goods or services that must be provided upon the completion of a project.

• Digital nomad: Someone who earns a living working online while traveling.

• Feast or famine: A situation of great abundance alternating with shortages (unstable income).

• Financial anxiety: Stress or worry related to money and income stability.

• Freelance: Working for different companies at different times rather than being permanently employed by one.

• Gig economy: A labor market characterized by short-term contracts or freelance work.

• High-speed internet: A fast and reliable internet connection.

• Imposter syndrome: Doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud.

• Inconsistent income: Earnings that vary from month to month; not a fixed salary.

• Job security: The probability that an individual will keep their job.

• Networking: Interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.

• Pipeline: Potential future business or projects that are currently being arranged.

• Pixel-perfect: A design that is flawless and precise down to the individual pixel.

• Portfolio: A collection of work samples used to demonstrate skills and accomplishments.

• Prospects: Potential clients or customers.

• Rendering: The process of generating a final image or video from a model using computer software.

• Retainer: A fee paid in advance to secure services when required.

• Revisions: Changes or corrections made to a piece of work.

• Scale up: To expand a business to handle more work or sales.

• Startup: A newly established business, usually small and tech-oriented, aiming for rapid growth.

• Tedious: Boring, slow, and repetitive.

• Typography: The art and technique of arranging type (fonts) to make written language legible and appealing.

• Upskill: To learn new skills to be better at your job.

• UX/UI design: User Experience and User Interface design (designing how apps/websites work).

• Vector graphics: Computer images created using mathematical formulas (clean and scalable).

• Visual identity: The visual elements of a brand, such as color, design, and logo, that identify and distinguish the brand in the consumer's mind.

Create Your Own Band 9 Answers

The answers above are great—if you are a Freelancer.

But what if you are an Accountant? Or a Nurse working in a busy hospital? Or a Software Engineer?

You cannot use the answers above. You need vocabulary that fits your truth.

IELTS Speaking Lab helps you turn your real ideas into Band 9 answers.

1. Select your topic (e.g., Work, Study, Hometown).

2. Input your rough idea (e.g., "I work in a bank and it is stressful").

3. Get a personalized Band 9 answer instantly, with the perfect vocabulary for your career.

Start Generating Your Personal Answers Now →