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.
The cue card
Describe a neighbour you get on with.
You should say
- who they are
- how long they have lived near you
- how often you see them
- and explain why you get on well
1 minute to prepare · up to 2 minutes to speak
How to fill the two minutes
Four beats, not four answers. The prompts on the card are a scaffold — a turn that flows past them scores better than four disconnected replies.
- Where they live in relation to you, and how long they've been there.
- How the relationship started — the first proper conversation you had.
- The small routine exchanges: parcels, keys, the shared bin, a chat at the gate.
- One time it mattered more than usual, and why you're glad they're there.
Vocabulary this card invites
Lexical Resource is a quarter of your band, and band 7 explicitly allows the occasional wrong word — playing it safe with plain vocabulary is what keeps people at 6.
next door but one
precise and natural for describing proximity
keep an eye on the place
for the practical trust between neighbours
pop round
the idiomatic verb for informal visiting
on nodding terms
for friendly but not close — a useful gradation
look out for each other
the phrase this card is built around
a good sort
informal, warm, and shows register control
The trap on this card
Deciding nothing interesting happens between neighbours and finishing in fifty seconds.
The mundane detail is the material. Parcels, noise, the shared drive — small specifics read as fluent; big vague statements don't.
A band 8 answer, and why it works
Read this to see the moves, not to learn the words. An examiner hears memorised answers every working day and it shows up in your fluency score — the hesitation pattern of someone reciting is nothing like the pattern of someone thinking. The details below are invented; yours should be your own.
The neighbour I get on with best is a man called Tomasz who moved into the flat below mine about three years ago. We got off to an unpromising start, actually — he was drilling something at eleven at night in his first week and I went down to complain. He apologised, gave me a beer, and we ended up talking for two hours. What makes it work is that neither of us wants very much from the other. We're not in and out of each other's flats. But if I'm away he'll take a parcel in, and when my boiler failed in January he lent me a heater without my having to ask twice. He's a carpenter, which has been quietly useful — he's fixed two doors of mine and refused payment both times, so I mostly repay him in coffee. I think good neighbours are the ones who are available rather than present, if that distinction makes sense. He's exactly that.
What earns the band
- Opening on the friction rather than the friendship is a strong structural choice. It makes the answer memorable and gives it somewhere to go.
- 'Available rather than present' is a precise abstraction, and hedging it with 'if that distinction makes sense' is what a real speaker does when reaching for an idea live.
- Specific reciprocity — parcels, a heater in January, two doors, coffee — instead of the word 'helpful', which is the band 6 default here.
What Part 3 asks next
Part 3 is loosely tied to your long turn, but the questions turn abstract — about people in general rather than about you. This card usually leads into:
- how neighbourly relationships have changed in cities
- whether people should know their neighbours
- the difference between rural and urban communities
Other people 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.
Speak this one out loud
Oliver will read you a card, wait out your preparation minute, and then say nothing at all for two minutes — which is the part you cannot rehearse alone. The report afterwards scores fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation separately. The first test is free.
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.