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A challenging topic is ambition in IELTS Speaking. You need to be able to talk about goals, ambitions, and what success means to you.
So to help you with all of that, in this IELTS Speaking lesson on the topic of AMBITION, you will learn how to talk about your own ambitions and whether ambition is a good or bad thing!
What you will Learn
IELTS vocabulary: Topic of ambition
Here is some useful vocabulary, including word families and collocations to talk about ambitions in IELTS Speaking.
Ambition (n.) uncountable
I have so much ambition
Ambition (n.) countable
I have many different ambitions
I am ambitious (adj.)
What is ambition? = a desire to do well, to achieve a goal, and to succeed
I have an aspiration to make a lot of money
- Intention
- Goal
- Plan
How can we express our ambitions? Here are a variety of ways to do it.
- I want to + verb
- I want to be rich
- I have the ambition to improve my English skills
- I long to travel around the world (=really want it)
- I strive to be fluent in English (=try very hard)
- I dream of being rich
- I dream about having a big house
- I am ambitious to pass my exam with flying colors (=do very well)
Ambition can be long term, for example,
He is ambitious at work, he wants to climb the corporate ladder and become the CEO
Ambition can be short term, for example,
She is quite ambitious, she wants to invite 500 guests to her wedding
Author: I want to sell 1,000,000 copies of my new book!
Friend: That’s very ambitious, do you think you can do it?
Common Collocations
- Personal ambition (run a marathon, have a big family, lose weight, visit Paris…)
- Professional ambition (get a Ph.D., get a promotion, publish a book, speak at a conference…)
- Lifelong ambition
- It’s a lifelong ambition of mine to _______
- Having a healthy ambition can lead to success
- I have a burning ambition to become a doctor
- She is a person of driving ambition
- You lack ambition
What ambitions do you have?
This is a typical job interview question.
If you get this kind of question in a job interview, you want to sound enthusiastic but not arrogant. So a short answer like this is not so good.
I want to be successful!! ☹️
You should be more specific (whether you are in a job interview or the IELTS speaking interview)
I want to do my job well, and one day gets promoted because I think I have a lot to contribute, such as my ideas for teaching students in different ways. 😁
This is much better. Particularly for IELTS Speaking, notice the idea of giving these three points:
- Idea
- Reason
- Example
Idioms to talk about ambitions
Here are some useful idioms you can use to talk about ambitions in IELTS Speaking.
- Dig in your heels = to be persistent
- I am going to publish my book, even though my friends say it’s just a dream, I am going to dig in my heels
- I will never throw in the towel = give up, stop
- You need to stick at it = to continue, persevere
- Carry on at all costs = come rain or shine (even though it is difficult)
- I have got a bee in my bonnet about writing a book =something you really want to do
- Publishing a book is beyond my wildest dreams = something so great, I can hardly imagine it
- I was losing the game, but I managed to claw my way back and win = make a comeback, to be successful after a failure
- I’ll have to go to great lengths to achieve this goal = do everything possible
- I reached my goal but it was blood, sweat, and tears all the way =very hard work
- I had to fight tooth and nails to reach my goal = fight and struggle hard
- I’m willing to go the extra mile to reach my goal = to do some extra work
- I will keep my nose to the grindstone = continue working hard
IELTS Speaking topic: Ambition, is it good or bad?
Good
- It’s beneficial to have a competitive spirit and to strive for success
- It helps you keep on track with your goals
- It’s good as long as you don’t hurt others or stamp on others
Bad
- If it can be bad if you see things as a zero-sum game (=a win-lose situation),
- and if your success is at the expense of others (=other must lose, so you can win)
- So long as it is not at the cost of others
- If you have an arrogant ambition it can get in your way, and make you lose time
Student's questions about ambition
Keith, what are your ambitions in life?
I wouldn’t say I am a particularly ambitious person, but yes, I do have some ambitions, particularly, professional ambitions. I do dream about writing a book and publishing a book and so right now I am actually going to great lengths to write the script and start editing this idea I have for a book, and, yes, that’s an ambition that I have.
Keith, have you ever achieved your ambitions?
That is a very good question. I think I have had several ambitions in my life, and to be honest, I haven’t achieved all of them. One of them that I have not achieved is to be a kind of a famous guitar player. When I was in my 20s, I used to play guitar in a rock band and I used to dream of being a famous rock star, and playing the guitar in big concerts and whilst I was happily playing the guitar in the band, I never really achieved that level or status of being a world-renowned musician, but I have achieved my goal of building, you know, a happy family. That was a personal goal that I wanted to, always, I wanted to achieve. I do feel that I have reached that. It’s been blood, sweat, and tears sometimes because obviously, families have disagreements but I think we are getting there, we have gotten there.
So, that’s the ambition I feel I have reached
More IELTS Speaking Free Lessons
If you liked this lesson, leave a comment below!
There are more lessons you can follow in the links below too.
ADVICE in IELTS Speaking. Learn to talk about giving, getting and following advice.
COMPUTERS in IELTS Speaking. Describe the uses and challenges of computers using powerful vocabulary and idioms.
JOBS in IELTS Speaking. Vocabulary you need to answer questions in Part 1, 2 and 3 for the topic of jobs.
