Model Answers for IELTS Speaking Part 1 – Topic: Friends

1. Do you have many close friends?
I have only one friend I would confide in. I’m quite picky and more importantly, I have a somewhat irrational fear that none of my friends really like me and that I’m just a guy they can barely tolerate and it is hard for me to live in harmony with them.

2. Do you think friendship is important?
There is no doubt that friendships play a vital role in our life. They make our lives interesting and wonderful. They help us develop a sense of sharing whether they are tangible things or just inspirational or motivational words of wisdom.

3. Which do you prefer to spend time with: a friend or spend time alone?
It depends. Normally, I’m more of a loner and generally spend more time in solitude than with friends. But when I’m in a bad mood, loneliness makes me feel isolated from the whole world. These days, I will hang out with my friends so that sad and unhappy thoughts cannot come into my mind.

4. What kind of people do you like to have as friend?
I find myself attracted to people who are honest and who know how to behave with others. I always avoid making friends with people who have a superiority complex.

5. Do you like face-to-face conversations with people?
Actually I like to talk with cyber friends more than having real-world conversations. I think others observe me a lot, they judge me and hence I become very self conscious and shy away from speaking face to face.

6. Are most of your friends from school or from outside school?
Most of my friends are from high school. People who I met at work or from clubs have less in common with me, whereas at Uni we all shared interests in the same things and subjects.

7. How often do you meet with your friends?
When I was younger, I used to meet my friends almost everyday. Even friends outside of school were a part of my daily social interactions. But now, as a 23 year old working professional, I barely meet anyone during weekdays. I meet my closest friends only on some weekends. These meetups are sporadic too.

8. What do you and your friends do together?
My closest friends and I have a mutual interest which is we always have a thirst for clothes shopping, so whenever we have time, we will go shopping together until we break the bank. Sometimes when we are  out of money, just window shopping is enough.

9. How do people in your country meet others and make friends?
I don’t think it particularly matters what country you’re from. In every country, you can make friends just by sitting next to someone a few times during class, then a friendship logically happens. Otherwise, you can make cyber friends through social networks like Facebook or Twitter.

10. Do adults and children make friends in the same way?
Adults use self disclosure to develop trust and loyalty among friends. This is quite complicated in practice while children usually use common interests and goals as the basis of their friendships. More importantly, kids have a whale of time with whoever, but adults have to use their time for work and taking care of their family.

11. Do you think it is possible to become real friends with people you meet on the internet?
Of course it is possible to establish real friendships with someone online. What you need in a friendship is truthfulness, reliability, empathy, respect and loyalty. If you’re getting all that from your online friends then you can consider them as genuine friends.