In IELTS Speaking Part 2 you get this card, one minute to prepare and up to two minutes to speak. Below: the notes a strong candidate might make in that minute, a natural Band 7–8 answer, the words that make it work, and the Part 3 discussion the examiner usually moves on to.

The cue card

Describe a book or film that made an impression on you

You should say:

what it was about
when you read or watched it
what happened in it
and explain why it made an impression

One-minute notes

Notes in the preparation minute should be keywords, not sentences — one line per bullet, plus the one detail that makes your story yours. Something like:

film: a documentary about a family farm
watched it at 22, on a long flight
three generations, one hard year, drought
no narrator, just their conversations
impression: changed how I think about food prices

Band 7–8 sample answer

I'm going to talk about a documentary I watched on a long flight a few years ago. I'd chosen it almost by accident, honestly, because I'd already seen all the films I was interested in, and I expected to fall asleep halfway through.

It follows a family who run a small farm — three generations living in the same house — over one particularly difficult year, when there was almost no rain. There's no narrator and no music telling you how to feel. The camera just stays with them while they argue about whether to sell the land, while the grandfather insists on doing things the way he always has, and while the youngest daughter quietly works out how to keep the business alive.

Nothing dramatic happens in the usual sense. There's no villain, and no happy ending either, really. The final scene is just the family having dinner, still not sure whether they'll be there the following year.

The reason it made such an impression on me is that it completely changed how I think about food. Before, if bread or vegetables got more expensive, I'd just complain about it. After watching that film, I started to think about the people on the other end of that price — how little of it they actually receive and how much risk they carry. I even started buying from a local market rather than the supermarket. It's a small thing, but it's a direct result of one film I almost didn't watch.

About 251 words — roughly two minutes at a relaxed pace. Notice what it does: one specific story instead of general statements, every bullet covered, natural spoken linking rather than "firstly… secondly…", and the "why" part of the card answered properly at the end — that is where many candidates run out of things to say. Use it to see the structure; don't memorise it. Examiners are trained to spot memorised answers, and your own story will always sound more fluent.

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Useful vocabulary

almost by accident — without really planning to
follow (a family/story) — used for documentaries: to film people over time
in the usual sense — in the normal, expected way
make an impression on — to have a strong effect on someone
on the other end of — on the opposite side of a process or exchange
thought-provoking — making people think seriously

Part 3: questions and model answers

After your two minutes, the examiner moves to a discussion linked to the card's topic. These questions are more abstract: give an opinion, a reason and an example, and it's fine to say "it depends" — as long as you explain on what.

Do people read less than they used to?

People probably read fewer books, but they read far more overall — messages, articles, social media posts. The problem is that most of this reading is short and fragmented. What's declining isn't reading itself so much as the habit of concentrating on one long text for hours.

Can films teach us as much as books?

In some ways, yes. Films are brilliant at showing places and emotions that are hard to describe in words. Books, though, can take you inside a character's thoughts in a way film rarely manages, so I'd say they teach different things rather than more or less.

Should governments fund the arts?

I think they should, at least partly. Without public money, only art that sells well would survive, and a lot of important work isn't commercially successful at first. That said, the funding process should be transparent, so the money doesn't just go to the same well-connected people every year.

How does storytelling shape a culture?

Enormously. The stories a country tells about itself — in folk tales, school books, films — shape what people think is normal, heroic or shameful. That's why stories can unite people, but it's also why they can be used to exclude people who don't fit the national story.

More cue cards about media and technology

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