IELTS Speaking Part 2: Cue Card Strategy and Sample Answer

Part 2 is the long turn. You speak alone on a topic for up to 2 minutes, so it is the clearest test of whether you can keep going and organise your ideas. The whole part takes 3 to 4 minutes.

What it tests

• Speaking at length without help from the examiner.
• Organising a short talk so it has a beginning, a middle and an end.
• Using a range of tenses and vocabulary to describe and explain.

What the examiner does

1. Tells you that you will talk about a topic for 1 to 2 minutes, and that you have 1 minute to think first and may make notes.
2. Gives you a task card with a topic and three or four prompts, plus paper and a pencil.
3. Stays silent for 1 minute while you prepare.
4. Asks you to start talking, and lets you speak without interrupting.
5. Stops you at 2 minutes, even mid-sentence. This does not lower your score.
6. May ask one or two short rounding-off questions about what you said, then moves to Part 3.

Step-by-step strategy

1. Read the topic line first, then the prompts. Decide quickly what you will talk about. A simple, true example is easier to describe than an impressive invented one.
2. Make keyword notes, not sentences. Write two or three words for each prompt. You don't have time to write full sentences, and reading them aloud sounds unnatural.
3. Open with one line that sets the scene. I'd like to talk about…
4. Follow the prompts in order. They give you a ready-made structure.
5. Expand each point with a detail, reason or feeling. Prompts like explain why are where most of your talk should go.
6. Keep a reserve point. If you finish early, add how you feel about it now, or what you would do differently.
7. Keep talking until you hear "Thank you".

Common traps

• Stopping early. Finishing well under the time and waiting in silence gives the examiner less language to assess and suggests you cannot speak at length.
• Memorised talks. Prepared speeches that are bent to fit a different card are easy to spot and do not count as evidence of your real level.
• Going off-topic. If the card asks about a place you visited, a long story about the journey there misses the point.
• Writing full sentences in the minute. You will only finish one or two prompts, and reading aloud makes your speech flat.
• Ignoring the last prompt. The final prompt usually asks you to explain or reflect, which is the best chance to show range.

Try it: mini-example

This cue card and answer are original practice material written for Bee English.

Describe a skill you learned outside school.

You should say:

• what the skill is
• who helped you learn it
• how long it took

and explain how this skill has been useful to you.

Notes made in the minute: repairing bikes – uncle Farid – summer, 2–3 months – save money, help neighbours, patience

Sample answer (about 1 minute 50 seconds when spoken):

I'd like to talk about repairing bicycles, which is something I picked up when I was about fifteen. My uncle Farid had a small workshop behind his house, and one summer my bike chain kept slipping, so instead of fixing it for me he made me do it myself while he watched.

It took me two or three months to feel confident. At first I could only do the basics, like changing an inner tube, but by the end of the summer I could adjust the brakes and gears without asking him for help. I remember being quite frustrated in the beginning, because I kept losing tiny parts on the floor.

As for why it's been useful, the obvious reason is money. I've never paid for a repair since then, which made a real difference when I was a student. But I think the bigger benefit was learning patience. Bikes don't respond well if you rush, and I've found that same attitude helps in my job now, when a problem doesn't have a quick fix. These days neighbours sometimes bring their bikes round, and I actually enjoy it, because it reminds me of those summers with my uncle.

Why it works

• It sets the scene in one line and then follows the prompts in order.
• It moves naturally between tenses: past for the story, present perfect for I've never paid since, present for these days.
• The "explain" prompt gets the most time, with two developed reasons rather than a list.
• It ends with a personal reflection, which is a natural reserve point if time remains.

Related guides

• IELTS Speaking: complete guide
• Part 1: Introduction and interview
• Part 3: Discussion
• Fluency and Coherence

Sources

• IELTS, Speaking test format
• IELTS, Speaking band descriptors (PDF)