IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue cards
One minute to prepare, up to two minutes to talk, and no help from the examiner. Part 2 is the part candidates dread, and it is also the one where preparation pays off most — not by memorising answers, which examiners hear coming, but by knowing how to shape two minutes on any topic.
Every card below has a suggested structure for the long turn, the vocabulary that topic actually invites, and the specific mistake it tempts people into. All 60 follow the format and the topic range an examiner draws on in a live test.
How to use these
- Pick one at random rather than one you like. The real test does not let you choose, and rehearsing your three favourite topics is how people end up stranded on a fourth.
- Take the full preparation minute. Silence before you start is free; silence in the middle of the long turn is not.
- Record yourself and listen back for the pauses where you were hunting for a word rather than a thought. That gap is the difference between band 6 and band 7.
- Speak for the full two minutes. Stopping early is the single most common reason this part goes badly.
People
10 cards
Describe a person who has had an important influence on your life.
The most common Part 2 card there is, and the one most often answered with a list of adjectives instead of a story.
Describe an older person you admire.
A card that rewards specific life detail — the era someone lived through is free material most candidates leave on the table.
Describe a person who helped you with something.
A narrative card disguised as a person card — the marks are in the situation, not the description.
Describe a famous person from your country.
One of the few cards where you can prepare real content in advance without it sounding memorised.
Describe a friend you have known for a long time.
The 'how you met' bullet is the story engine here — most people rush it and then run dry.
Describe someone you know who is very good at their job.
A card that hands you an entire vocabulary field — work, skill, standards — if you pick someone whose job you can actually describe.
Describe a teacher who influenced you.
Close cousin of the influential-person card, but the classroom setting gives you concrete scenes for free.
Describe a person you think is a good leader.
The card most likely to be answered in the abstract, which is exactly what loses marks in Part 2.
Describe a neighbour you get on with.
A low-stakes card that rewards ordinary domestic detail — the kind most candidates think is too small to mention.
Describe a person you would like to meet.
The only person card set in the future, which means conditionals — and conditionals are where band 7 grammar lives.
Places
10 cards
Describe a place you like to spend your free time.
A description card where the marks come from the atmosphere, not the floor plan.
Describe a crowded place you have been to.
A sensory card. The crowd itself is the subject, and describing it well is most of the score.
Describe a quiet place you like to go to.
The mirror of the crowded-place card, and harder — you have to describe an absence.
Describe a city you have visited.
Broad enough that the risk is a shapeless list of sights rather than a shortage of material.
Describe a building you find interesting.
The card that most rewards actual descriptive vocabulary — shape, material, scale, age.
Describe a park or garden you like.
An easy card to answer adequately and a hard one to answer memorably — the difference is season and time of day.
Describe a café or restaurant you like going to.
Food, atmosphere and habit all in one card — no shortage of material, so the risk is drift.
Describe a historical place you have visited.
The one place card where you can bring in facts — but the facts are the setting, not the answer.
Describe a place you would like to visit in the future.
Future-tense card. Conditionals and speculation are effectively required, which is why it's set.
Describe a shop you enjoy going to.
Small, ordinary and often underestimated — which makes it a good card for showing you can build from little.
Objects
10 cards
Describe a piece of technology you find useful.
The temptation is to name your phone and stop. The card rewards anything more specific.
Describe a gift you received that you liked.
The object matters less than the relationship behind it, and the best answers know that early.
Describe something you bought recently that you are happy with.
Recent means you have real detail available — use it, because vagueness here is obvious.
Describe an item of clothing you like to wear.
A card that needs physical description, which is exactly the vocabulary most candidates haven't rehearsed.
Describe a photograph you like.
You describe two things here — the image, and the moment it froze. Most candidates only do one.
Describe something you made yourself.
A process card. The sequence of making is the structure, which makes this one of the easier cards to fill.
Describe an app on your phone that you use often.
Modern, easy to talk about, and dangerously easy to answer in generalities about social media.
Describe something you saved money to buy.
The saving is the story. The object is only the ending, and candidates routinely get that backwards.
Describe a book you enjoyed reading.
Retelling the plot is the standard failure. The card asks what you enjoyed, which is a different question.
Describe an object that has been in your family for a long time.
Two stories in one — the object's and the family's — which is why this card rarely runs short.
Events & experiences
12 cards
Describe a journey or trip that you remember well.
The word is journey, not destination — and the difference is worth a band.
Describe an important decision you have made.
A card built on a fork in the road. If there was no real alternative, pick a different decision.
Describe a celebration you enjoyed.
Cultural detail is free marks here — the examiner may genuinely not know how the occasion works.
Describe a time when you were late for something.
A narrative with built-in tension — one of the easiest cards to speak fluently on if you tell it in order.
Describe a time when you helped someone.
Mirror image of the person-who-helped-you card, and the same rule applies: build the problem first.
Describe a problem you solved.
The card rewards process. What you tried and abandoned is worth more than what finally worked.
Describe a mistake you made that you learned from.
Needs a turn in it. A mistake with no consequence and no lesson is just an anecdote.
Describe a time you received good news.
The waiting beforehand is the story. Without it, the news is one sentence and you're stranded.
Describe a time you had to wait a long time for something.
A card about boredom, which has to be described without being boring — the reason it's harder than it looks.
Describe a time you changed your mind about something.
The most grammatically demanding narrative card — it needs past, past perfect and present in one answer.
Describe a time you worked with other people to achieve something.
Say what you did. Answers that stay in 'we' the whole way through tell the examiner nothing.
Describe something difficult that you succeeded in doing.
The difficulty has to be real and specific. 'It was hard' is the sentence that caps this card at band 6.
Activities & habits
8 cards
Describe a skill you would like to learn.
A future card, so the grammar is conditional — and the plan needs to be plausible, not aspirational.
Describe a sport or physical activity you enjoy.
Works equally well for someone who plays badly — how you started and why you continue is the material.
Describe a hobby you have taken up recently.
'Recently' is the operative word — it means you can talk about being a beginner, which is more interesting than expertise.
Describe a meal you like to cook or eat.
Process, sense and culture in one card. The risk is reciting a recipe rather than describing a meal.
Describe something you do to relax.
Needs a contrast to work — what you're relaxing from gives the answer somewhere to start.
Describe a journey you make regularly.
Repetition is the subject. Describing something you've done four hundred times needs a different approach from a one-off trip.
Describe something you do to stay healthy.
Honesty scores here. An answer about something you manage three times a week beats an invented daily regime.
Describe a part of your daily routine that you enjoy.
The smallest card in the bank, and it lives or dies on whether you can make a small thing vivid.
Media & culture
6 cards
Describe a film you enjoyed watching.
Same discipline as the book card — plot summary is the trap, response is the answer.
Describe a song or piece of music you like.
Music is hard to describe and that's the opportunity — most candidates give up and talk about the artist instead.
Describe a website you use often.
Pick one with a purpose. 'Google' and 'YouTube' are the answers that give you least to say.
Describe a television programme you like.
Series give you more material than films — format, running length, how it changed over time.
Describe an interesting piece of news you read or heard about.
Choose something you actually understood. A story you half-followed will strand you at ninety seconds.
Describe a podcast or radio programme you listen to.
An audio card, which means the when matters more than for any other media topic — listening is something you do while doing something else.
Abstract
4 cards
Describe some useful advice you were given.
Quote the advice. An answer that only paraphrases it never quite lands.
Describe a rule you do not agree with.
The strongest answers steelman the rule before attacking it — that's what 'why it exists' is doing in the bullets.
Describe a goal you would like to achieve.
Future card, so it needs a plan with steps. A wish with no mechanism runs out of things to say.
Describe an achievement you are proud of.
Overlaps the difficult-thing card, but the emphasis is different: pride, not struggle.
Before you practise
Try one out loud
Reading a cue card and speaking to one are different skills, and only the second is assessed. Pick a card, take your minute, and talk for two — the examiner will not interrupt, and the report afterwards will tell you where the time went.
This guide is written from the published IELTS Speaking band descriptors, in our own words. For the official wording, see the British Council's band descriptors. MockLive AI is an independent practice tool and is not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council, IDP or Cambridge University Press & Assessment.