IELTS Speaking Samples
One of the most requested resources among IELTS students is sample answers for Part 2 of the Speaking Test. However, reading hundreds of sample talks may not teach you how to develop effective answers yourself or achieve your target score.
That’s why the IELTS Speaking samples in this section are designed to show you how to plan and deliver a strong two-minute talk that helps you demonstrate your speaking ability.
Simply reading sample answers and memorising strategies isn’t enough. You need to practise using these techniques repeatedly. At the bottom of this page, you’ll find IELTS-style cue cards to practise with, along with links to additional pages featuring more cue card topics.
The Path to Success
As explained on the introductory page about the IELTS Speaking Test, the key to success is having a clear planning strategy that helps you make the best use of your one-minute preparation time.
If you haven’t read this important guide yet, visit:
IELTS Speaking Part 2 – 5 Reasons for a Low Score & How to Avoid Them
Planning Strategies
Poor planning often results in an unstructured talk, with ideas appearing randomly and failing to connect logically. Fortunately, this is a problem you can overcome with the right approach.
Let’s explore some practical strategies for developing your answer during the 60 seconds you have before speaking. One minute may seem short, but it’s enough when you have a clear plan.
You’ll be given paper to make notes, and you can refer to these notes while speaking. Your notes are not assessed.
This page introduces one simple planning strategy. You can explore two additional methods here:
- IELTS Speaking Samples 2
- IELTS Speaking Samples 3
Method 1 – Using Question Prompts
For the first of our three IELTS Speaking samples, we’ll use a cue card introduced on the IELTS Speaking Test overview page.
Describe something healthy you enjoy doing.
You should say:
- What you do
- Where you do it
- Who you do it with
- And explain why you think doing this is healthy.
If your mind likes to work in a structured way, you’ll probably find this method the easiest to use.
Step 1 – Identify the Keywords
First, identify the key words in the cue card’s bullet points:
- What you do
- Where you do it
- Who you do it with
- Why you think doing this is healthy
You can use the bullet points as a starting point, but keep two important things in mind:
- You don’t have to cover every bullet point.
- You can include other relevant details as well.
You may have enough ideas to develop your answer using the prompts “what”, “where”, “who” and “why”. If you need more ideas, or if some prompts don’t fit naturally with your topic, use the other question words too.
Here are all six question prompts:
- What
- Where
- Who
- Why
- When
- How
Some cue cards include only a few of these prompts. The additional question words can be especially helpful when you need to extend your answer or generate more ideas.
Step 2 – Make Notes Using the Question Prompts
Next, use each question word as a heading and quickly write down relevant ideas. Aim to complete this step in around 30 seconds.
If you think of an important idea that doesn’t fit under any of the headings, create an additional heading called “Other” and write it there. The most important thing is to stay focused on the topic.
Sample notes for this cue card
What
- Circuit training
- Different exercises that work the whole body
- Changes every week, which keeps it interesting
- Sometimes do spin cycling, which is really challenging
Where
- TM Fitness Factory
- Owned by Linda, a friend from the rowing club, and her son Tom
Who
- Members of my rowing club
- Sessions led by Chris, one of the club members
When
- Every Tuesday evening
How
- Works every part of the body
- Improves aerobic fitness
- Helps build strong bones
Why
- Improves fitness for rowing
- Exercising with other crew members builds team spirit
- Helps me stay fit and healthy, even if I stop rowing
Other
- Can take it at your own level, but I like to push myself.
Step 3 – Organise Your Notes
Use the remaining preparation time to organise your ideas.
Do these two things:
- Decide which points you want to discuss. You don’t need to use every note.
- Arrange your chosen points in a logical order.
Here is an example of how the notes could be organised:
- Circuit training
- Every Tuesday evening
- Members of my rowing club
- TM Fitness Factory
- Owned by Linda, a friend from the rowing club, and her son Tom
- Run by Chris, another club member
- The activities change every week, keeping the sessions interesting
- Different exercises work the whole body
- Improves aerobic fitness
- Sometimes includes challenging spin cycling
- Exercising with other crew members builds team spirit
- Everyone can work at their own level, but I like to push myself
- I would continue doing it even if I stopped rowing because I enjoy staying fit and healthy
If you don’t have enough time to rewrite your notes, simply number them to show the order in which you plan to discuss each point. This is enough to help you organise your thoughts.
When practising this method for the first time, allow yourself extra time to make notes while you learn the technique. As you become more confident, gradually reduce your preparation time until you can complete the process within the one minute available in the actual test.
Step 4 – Give Your Talk
You’re now ready to deliver your two-minute talk. Refer to your notes when necessary, but try to speak without relying on them too much.
Never read your notes word for word. Doing so can make your speech sound unnatural and affect your fluency. You may also run out of things to say before the two minutes are over because you haven’t developed your ideas fully.
Making and organising your notes should help you remember your main ideas and express them naturally as you speak. The more you practise, the more confidently and fluently you’ll be able to develop your answers.
Here’s the first of our IELTS Speaking samples, created from the notes above. Notice how the answer follows the order of the notes.
IELTS Speaking Sample
Describe something healthy you enjoy doing.
I’m a real fitness enthusiast, and I do lots of activities to stay fit and healthy. However, the activity I’d particularly like to talk about is circuit training. I do it for an hour every Tuesday evening with a group of people from my rowing club.
We meet at TM Fitness, a gym owned by my friend and fellow rower Linda and her son Tom. Tom manages the gym, but we hire the hall for our sessions, which are led by Chris, another member of our rowing club.
One of the best things about circuit training is the variety of activities involved. This keeps every session interesting because we never know exactly what we’ll be doing when we arrive.
In a typical circuit, you work different parts of your body through a combination of aerobic exercises and body-conditioning activities, including weight training. These are my favourite types of sessions. Occasionally, when there aren’t many people attending, we use the spin bikes instead. This can be extremely challenging, especially because I don’t cycle outdoors very often anymore. I used to cycle regularly, but I haven’t had much time since taking up rowing. Although spin sessions are tough, I always feel great afterwards.
One piece of equipment I particularly enjoy using is the punch bag. After a stressful day at work, putting on a pair of boxing gloves and hitting the bag helps me release tension and get rid of negative energy.
I also love exercising with other members of my rowing club. Working out together strengthens our team spirit, and we encourage and motivate one another. Our club includes people of different ages, from teenagers to members in their sixties, so everyone exercises at a level that suits them. Personally, I like pushing myself to get the most out of every session. I believe there’s little point in exercising unless you’re making a genuine effort to benefit from it.
There’s no doubt that circuit training improves my aerobic fitness and helps me build a stronger body. Although my main reason for doing it is to improve my performance in rowing, I enjoy it so much that I think I’d continue even if I eventually gave up the sport.
Would it matter if a few points were out of order in your talk? Of course not. Your notes are simply a guide to help you stay on track and remember your ideas. Glance at them when necessary, but focus on speaking naturally, as though you were explaining the activity to a friend.
Preparing for Your Test
The question-prompt method makes it easier to generate ideas quickly and organise them into a clear response. The six question words are also simple to remember and can be used with many different cue cards.
Now practise this planning strategy using the following cue cards.
Describe an invention that has changed people’s lives.
You should say:
- What it is
- Who invented it
- When it was invented
- And explain how it changed people’s lives.
Describe a piece of good news you received.
You should say:
- What it was
- When you heard it
- Where you heard it
- And explain why you think it was good news.
Describe a piece of art you like.
You should say:
- What it is
- When you first saw it
- What you know about it
- And explain why you like it.
Describe a book you have read.
You should say:
- What kind of book it is
- What it is about
- What sort of people would enjoy it
- And explain why you like it.
Links to More IELTS Speaking Samples
Explore these two additional planning strategies and IELTS Speaking samples:
- IELTS Speaking Samples 2
- IELTS Speaking Samples 3
Also visit this page for ideas on how to start your talk:
Part 2 Introduction: How to Begin Your IELTS Speaking Part 2 Talk & Top Tips for Gaining Extra Marks
The vocabulary topic pages also contain more Part 2 cue cards and sample answers, as well as example questions and answers for Parts 1 and 3.
Vocabulary Topic Lists & IELTS Speaking Samples
- Health
- Shopping
- Technology
- Homes
- Environment
- Buildings
- Weather
- Transportation
- Education
- Music
- Sports
- Family
Other Related Pages
IELTS Speaking Test: Understand the test format and assessment criteria. Discover the main reason candidates receive low scores and learn how to avoid this mistake.
IELTS Speaking Part 1: Learn 7 simple methods for developing your answers, with examples.
IELTS Speaking Part 2: Understand the test format, learn how to approach cue cards and discover 5 common mistakes to avoid.
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Explore 6 common question types and learn how to answer them effectively.
IELTS Speaking Topics: Discover more than 40 common subject areas covered in the IELTS Speaking Test.
IELTS Speaking Practice Questions: Download 30 complete mock tests featuring 30 practice cards across 30 topics, with 330 questions in total.
IELTS Speaking Tips: Discover 9 top tips to increase your chances of achieving a high score.
IELTS Speaking Practice: Improve your speaking skills by learning how to think in English.