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.
The cue card
Describe a person you would like to meet.
You should say
- who this person is
- how you know about them
- what you would talk about
- and explain why you want to meet them
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.
- Who and why them specifically, rather than someone else in the same field.
- How you came to know about them — a book, a video, something they made.
- What you'd actually ask, phrased as questions. This is the most memorable part of the answer.
- What you think would happen, honestly, including that they might disappoint you.
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.
if I ever got the chance
sets up the conditional the card is inviting
I'd love to pick their brain about
idiomatic and precisely on topic
I imagine they'd be
speculation, which examiners are listening for
in person
the contrast that makes meeting different from following
come across as
for impressions formed at a distance
live up to expectations
for the honest reservation at the end
The trap on this card
Answering entirely in the present tense about who they are.
The card is hypothetical. 'I would ask…', 'it would probably be…' — the grammar is half the reason this card was set.
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.
If I could meet anyone I think I'd choose the writer James Baldwin, who died before I was born. I came to him late, in my twenties, and I remember being slightly annoyed that nobody had made me read him sooner. What I'd want isn't really an interview. I'd want to know what he made of the present, because so much of what he wrote about is still going on and he had a way of describing it that nobody has improved on. There's a particular quality in his essays where he refuses to let anybody off — including himself — and I'd be curious whether that was as exhausting to live as it looks on the page. I'd also want to ask him about leaving America for France, because he wrote about that ambivalently and I've never quite worked out where he landed on it. Realistically I suspect I'd be too intimidated to say much. I'd probably just listen, which might be the better outcome anyway.
What earns the band
- The conditional is sustained naturally throughout — 'if I could', 'I'd want', 'I suspect I'd be' — and this card is largely a test of whether you can hold that.
- It admits uncertainty about its own subject rather than performing expertise, which reads as honest and gives the answer texture.
- 'Refuses to let anybody off — including himself' is a genuine critical observation. Band 8 answers have opinions with reasons behind them.
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:
- why people are curious about strangers' lives
- whether meeting someone can change your opinion of them
- how people form first impressions
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.