Press "Draw a card" to get your topic.
You should say:
Want feedback? Practise this card out loud with an AI examiner. It listens, asks the Part 3 questions and estimates your band.
Try the IELTS mock testHow to use the generator
- Draw a card. Choose a topic group to drill one kind of card, or leave it on all topics for an exam-style surprise.
- Prepare for one minute. Write a few keywords in the notes box. The real exam gives you paper and a pencil for exactly this.
- Speak for two minutes. The timer switches by itself and beeps when time is up. Talk out loud, not in your head, and keep going until the beep.
Then read the Part 3 questions and answer one or two of them as well. Recording yourself on your phone while you speak is the quickest way to hear your own fillers and pauses.
Why practise with a clock
Two minutes is longer than it sounds. Candidates who practise without a timer often stop well before the time is up, and in the exam the silence that follows feels endless. Practising against the clock teaches you how much time one story fills, when to add a detail and when to move on to the next prompt.
The examiner may stop you when the two minutes are up. That is planned, not a penalty: finish your sentence and stop.
What to write in the preparation minute
Write keywords, not sentences: a word or short phrase for each prompt, plus one note for the final "explain why" prompt. For example, for this card:
Describe a teacher who helped you
Mrs Novak, maths, I was 15
failed first exam → extra lessons after school
patient, drew a picture for every problem
why: first time I believed I could be good at something
Four lines are enough. While you speak, glance at a keyword, then look back up. Full sentences on paper turn into reading aloud, and reading costs you fluency marks.
After the two minutes
In the real test the examiner moves straight on to Part 3: abstract questions on the same topic, such as "What makes a good teacher?" after a card about a teacher. Answer each one with an opinion, a reason and an example.
For every card grouped by theme, with four Band 7–8 sample answers, see the cue card bank. To practise with an examiner who actually listens and estimates your band, try the IELTS Speaking mock test.
Frequently asked questions
Are these the real IELTS cue cards?
Nobody outside the test makers has the current exam cards: they are confidential and change regularly. These 45 cards follow the same format (one topic, four prompts, "explain why" at the end) and cover the themes that keep coming up: people, places, objects, experiences, activities, media and work.
What if I finish before the two minutes are up?
Keep going: add an example, describe a detail more closely or say how you felt. Filling the time yourself shows the examiner that you can keep talking, which is exactly what Part 2 measures.
Is the generator free?
Yes. It runs in your browser, needs no account and saves nothing. Your notes stay on your device and disappear when you close the page.
Want to practise this out loud?
TalkSmart gives you a live AI examiner — cue cards, timing and band scores included.