IELTS cue cards for Speaking Part 2 practice

How IELTS Speaking Part 2 works

The IELTS Speaking test is a face-to-face conversation with an examiner and takes 11 to 14 minutes in total. It has three parts. Part 1 is a set of short questions about familiar topics such as your home, work or studies. Part 2 is the long turn, and this is where the cue card comes in.

In Part 2 the examiner hands you a task card. It names a topic, usually starting with "Describe...", and lists three or four prompts under "You should say:", followed by a final "and explain..." line. You also get a pencil and paper.

1. One minute to prepare Read the card and write brief notes. You can keep the notes in front of you while you speak.
2. One to two minutes to speak Talk about the topic without interruption. The examiner stops you when two minutes are up.
3. A short follow-up The examiner may ask one or two brief questions about what you said before moving on.

Part 3 follows straight after. It is a longer discussion of more general and abstract ideas linked to your Part 2 topic, so a talk about a quiet place might lead to questions about noise in cities.

Your speaking is assessed on four criteria with equal weight: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. Part 2 is a good chance to show all four, because you control the content for up to two minutes.

Practice cue card topics

These topics are written in the Part 2 style but are not taken from real exam papers. Pick one at random, start a one-minute timer for your notes, then speak for two minutes. Choosing at random matters: in the test you cannot pick a topic you like.

• Topic 1

  Describe a person who taught you something useful outside school.

  You should say:

  • who this person is
  • how you know them
  • what they taught you

  and explain why this lesson has been useful to you.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 2

  Describe a quiet place you like to go to.

  You should say:

  • where it is
  • how often you go there
  • what you usually do there

  and explain why you find this place relaxing.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 3

  Describe an object you own that you would not want to lose.

  You should say:

  • what the object is
  • how you got it
  • how often you use or look at it

  and explain why it matters so much to you.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 4

  Describe a local event you went to that you enjoyed.

  You should say:

  • what the event was
  • when and where it happened
  • who you went with

  and explain what made it enjoyable.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 5

  Describe an activity you do to stay healthy.

  You should say:

  • what the activity is
  • when you started doing it
  • how often you do it

  and explain how it has affected your health or mood.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 6

  Describe a practical skill you learned as a teenager.

  You should say:

  • what the skill is
  • how you learned it
  • how long it took you to learn

  and explain how you use this skill today.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 7

  Describe a decision that took you a long time to make.

  You should say:

  • what the decision was
  • what choices you had
  • who you asked for advice

  and explain how you feel about the decision now.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 8

  Describe a piece of technology you use every day.

  You should say:

  • what it is
  • how long you have had it
  • what you mainly use it for

  and explain how your day would change without it.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 9

  Describe a journey that did not go as planned.

  You should say:

  • where you were going
  • how you were travelling
  • what went wrong

  and explain what you learned from the experience.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 10

  Describe a habit you would like to change.

  You should say:

  • what the habit is
  • when you started it
  • how it affects your daily life

  and explain what you could do to change it.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 11

  Describe a time you helped someone you did not know.

  You should say:

  • where you were
  • who needed help
  • what you did

  and explain how you felt afterwards.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 12

  Describe something you would like to learn in the future.

  You should say:

  • what you would like to learn
  • how you would learn it
  • how long you think it would take

  and explain why you want to learn it.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 13

  Describe a building in your town that you find interesting.

  You should say:

  • where it is
  • what it looks like
  • what it is used for

  and explain why you find it interesting.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 14

  Describe a celebration that is important in your family.

  You should say:

  • what is celebrated
  • when it takes place
  • what your family does

  and explain why this celebration matters to your family.

  Make notes for this topic
• Topic 15

  Describe a piece of advice you received and followed.

  You should say:

  • who gave you the advice
  • what the advice was
  • when you followed it

  and explain whether you would give the same advice to others.

  Make notes for this topic

The button opens the topic in the editor, where you can add your own notes underneath and print a small card to practise with.

How to use your one minute of preparation

One minute is not long enough to write sentences, and you would not have time to read them anyway. Write key words instead. A simple plan is one line per prompt, with four to six words on each line, plus one line for the "explain" part.

• Decide on your example first. Spend the first ten seconds choosing a real person, place or event. Changing your mind halfway through the talk is much harder.
• Note the tense. A "time you helped someone" needs past tenses; a "habit you would like to change" needs present and future forms. A small "past" or "now" next to a line reminds you.
• Add one detail per line. A name, a number, a colour or a small story gives you something specific to say and shows your vocabulary.
• Save time for the last line. The "explain" prompt is where you give reasons and opinions, which helps you speak at length and use more complex grammar.

Here is what good notes might look like for topic 6:

Each line is a prompt, not a script. Glancing at "burnt rice twice" is enough to remind you of a short story you can tell in your own words.

Timing your talk

Aim to speak for the full two minutes. Stopping after one minute is allowed, but it gives the examiner less evidence of your English. At a natural pace most people say roughly 200 to 260 words in two minutes, though this is only an estimate and varies from person to person.

A useful rough split is about 20 to 30 seconds per prompt, with a little more time for the final "explain" line. If you finish your notes early, go back and add an example or compare then with now. You can check how many words fit your own pace with the speech timer calculator.

Common mistakes

• Writing full sentences in the minute. You run out of time and then read aloud, which sounds less fluent.
• Memorising a prepared answer. Examiners are trained to notice rehearsed speeches that do not quite fit the card. Practise ideas and structures, not scripts.
• Listing without detail. "It is big, it is nice, it is old" uses time without showing much. One specific description is stronger.
• Ignoring the tense of the task. Describing a past event in the present tense is a common grammar slip under pressure.
• Stopping to correct every small error. Correcting yourself occasionally is fine, but constant restarts hurt fluency. Keep going.
• Going silent near the end. If you run out of ideas, add how you feel about it now or what might change in the future.

How to practise with a timer

Timing is the part most learners skip, and it is the part that makes the real test feel familiar. The free IELTS speaking practice tool runs the whole routine for you: a random topic, a one-minute prep timer with a notes box, a two-minute speaking timer, an optional recording that stays on your device and Part 3 follow-up questions. To do it by hand:

1. Choose a topic at random Use the list above or ask someone to pick one for you.
2. Set a one-minute timer and make notes Use a small piece of paper or a printed card, and stop writing when the timer ends.
3. Speak for two minutes and record yourself Listening back shows where you paused, repeated words or finished early.
4. Repeat with a new topic Variety builds the habit of thinking quickly, which is what the test rewards.

If you want to practise from a card on screen, type your notes into the editor and use Rehearsal mode, which shows one card at a time with a speaking timer. You can also print the card and practise away from a screen, which is closer to the paper notes you will have in the test. For tips on keeping notes short and readable, see how to write cue cards.

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