IELTS cue card: describe a person you admire
An answer plan for the IELTS Speaking Part 2 task about a person you admire, with prompts for who they are, what they did, and why they matter to you, plus follow-up practice.
Speech9 cardsAbout 2 min to speakIntermediateAnyone
IELTS cue card: describe a memorable journey
A Part 2 answer plan for describing a memorable journey: where you went, how you travelled, who was with you and why it stays in your memory, with travel vocabulary.
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The cards
- 1
The task
Describe a journey you remember well.
You should say:
- where you went
- how you travelled
- who you went with
- and explain why this journey was memorable.
Original practice topic in the Part 2 style.
- 2
Choose your journey
Good choices have one clear moment you can describe:
- a long train or bus ride
- a first flight
- a road trip that went wrong
- a ferry crossing or a walk to a remote place
My journey: [from ___ to ___, when ___]
- 3
Opening
"I'm going to describe a trip I took [two summers ago] from [my home town] to [destination]. It wasn't a long distance, but it's a journey I still think about."
Give the time and the place in your first sentence.
- 4
How you travelled
- Transport: "[We took an overnight sleeper train.]"
- How long it took: "[It took about fourteen hours.]"
- What it was like: "[The carriage was crowded but surprisingly comfortable.]"
Vocabulary: set off, board, a stopover, a delay, the scenery flashed past.
- 5
Who you were with
"I travelled with [my cousin / two classmates / on my own]."
- One detail about them: "[My cousin had never left our region before.]"
- How you got on: "[We spent hours talking and playing cards.]"
If you went alone, describe someone you met on the way.
- 6
The key moment
Every memorable journey has a turning point. Describe it with the senses:
- What happened: "[The train broke down in the middle of nowhere.]"
- What you saw or heard: "[fields of sunflowers, a farmer bringing us tea]"
- How you felt: "[nervous at first, then strangely relaxed]"
- 7
Why it was memorable
- "It was the first time I [travelled without my parents]."
- "It taught me [to stay calm when plans change]."
- "Looking back, the journey was more interesting than the destination."
Finish with a reflection, not just a fact.
- 8
Useful language
- It was an eye-opening experience
- off the beaten track
- we were running behind schedule
- the highlight of the trip was...
- I'll never forget the moment when...
- breathtaking, exhausting, unforgettable
- 9
Part 3 practice questions
- Why do some people prefer to travel by train rather than by plane?
- How has the way people travel changed in your country?
- Do you think people will travel more or less in the future?
- What are the advantages of travelling alone?
How to use this template
Travel topics come up often in IELTS Speaking, and this card set gives you a reusable story you can shape to several of them. In Part 2 you have one minute to prepare and then speak for one to two minutes. The cards follow the four prompts on the task card, then add a 'key moment' card, because a single vivid scene is what makes a journey answer sound fluent and personal rather than like a list of places. Model sentences use the past simple and past continuous, which are the natural tenses for a travel story. The last cards give vocabulary to borrow and Part 3 questions for the discussion that follows. The topic is original practice material, not a past exam question.
Tips
- Choose a journey with a problem or surprise in it. A delay, a wrong turn or a kind stranger gives you something to describe for a full minute.
- Use the past continuous to set the scene ('the sun was going down, people were chatting') and the past simple for events.
- Keep the destination short. The task is about the journey, so spend most of your time on the travelling itself.
- Add numbers naturally: how many hours, how many people, how many kilometres. They make your answer concrete.
- Practise with a timer until you can reach the 'why' card at around ninety seconds.
Make it fit
- For 'describe a holiday' or 'describe a trip you would like to take again', keep the same cards and swap the 'key moment' for a favourite day.
- For 'describe a time you were late', reuse the delay story and change the focus to how you solved the problem.
- If your journey was a daily commute, describe one unusual day on that route.
- Practise the Part 3 card with a friend and push each answer to at least four sentences.
Updated October 28, 2026