IELTS Speaking Part 2: the cue card

What to do with the minute

1. Pick your subject in the first ten seconds and do not change it. A less interesting choice you can describe beats a better one you cannot.
2. Write single words against each prompt, not sentences — you will not have time to read sentences while speaking.
3. Add two words for the part the card usually saves for last: "and explain why…". That clause is where most of the speaking time lives.
4. Note one specific detail — a place, a name, a moment. Specifics generate language; generalities run out.

Filling two minutes

The prompts are a structure, not a checklist to be ticked off in ten seconds each. Treat the first prompts as the setup and the "explain why" as the body of the talk.

• Use past, present and future naturally — a story that moves through time shows grammatical range without any effort to display it.
• If you finish early, add why it mattered or how you feel about it now.
• Do not stop at a prompt you have nothing to say about; move on and come back if there is time.

You keep the card and your notes while you speak. The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions afterwards, which are not a new part of the test.