IELTS Speaking Part 2: Describe a memorable event in your life

Event cue cards are really narrative tests. The examiner is listening for whether you can move cleanly between past simple, past continuous and past perfect while telling a story that has a shape.

Your one-minute prep plan

1. 1Fix the date and place first — 'two years ago, in my grandmother's courtyard' — so the opening is automatic.
2. 2Note the sequence as three beats: before, the moment, after. Three beats fills two minutes comfortably.
3. 3Note one thing that went wrong. Events without friction are boring to describe and hard to stretch.
4. 4Note what changed for you afterwards, which is your 'why it was memorable' answer.

Band 9 model answer

The event I want to talk about is my younger brother's graduation, which was about a year and a half ago, in a hall on the outskirts of Lahore. Almost the whole family came — my parents, both my aunts, and my grandmother, who hadn't left the house in nearly two years because of her knees. That's actually the part I remember. We'd been arguing for weeks about whether she should come; my mother thought the heat would be too much for her, and honestly she was probably right. But my grandmother had decided, and once she decides something that's the end of the discussion. So we drove very slowly, stopped twice, and got her into the hall about forty minutes before it started so she wouldn't have to walk while people were watching. When my brother's name was called she stood up. Nobody asked her to and nobody expected it — she just gripped the chair in front and stood there while he crossed the stage. It was memorable partly because it was my brother's day and he'd worked genuinely hard for it, but mostly because of that. I understood something then about how much these things mean to a generation that mostly didn't get to finish school themselves. I think about it fairly often, actually.

The same answer at band 7

I would like to describe my brother's graduation ceremony. It happened one and a half years ago in a big hall in Lahore. All my family attended it, including my parents, my aunts and my grandmother. My grandmother is very old and she has a problem with her knees, so it was difficult for her to come. We were worried about her health but she insisted, so we took her with us and we drove slowly. The ceremony was long and there were many students. When my brother's name was announced, my grandmother stood up, although it was painful for her. I felt very emotional at that moment. This event is memorable for me because my brother achieved his goal and also because my grandmother showed how much she cares about our family.

The band 7 answer tells the story correctly. The band 9 version controls the timeline ('we'd been arguing for weeks', 'hadn't left the house in nearly two years'), uses spoken discourse markers, and closes with an insight instead of a summary.

Phrases worth stealing

“This was about a year and a half ago…”

Approximate time reference sounds more natural than an exact date.

“We'd been arguing for weeks about whether…”

Past perfect continuous — an easy grammar-range win.

“That's actually the part I remember.”

Signposts the emotional centre of your story.

“Nobody asked her to and nobody expected it.”

Short parallel sentence for emphasis.

“It was memorable partly because… but mostly because…”

Ranks your reasons, which examiners reward.

“I think about it fairly often, actually.”

Understated ending; 'actually' at the end is very natural in speech.

Part 3 questions that usually follow

Mistakes to avoid

• Staying in present simple and losing all narrative tense marks.
• Choosing an event with no complication, so there's nothing to tell.
• Giving so much background that you never reach 'what happened'.
• Ending with 'so that is why it was memorable' with no real reason attached.
• Speaking too fast to sound fluent — clear pacing scores better than rushed speech.

More Part 2 cue cards