Describe a piece of news you found interesting

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

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:

• scientists revived seeds 30,000+ years old (Siberia)
• heard it on a podcast on the bus
• discussed with my flatmate, a biology student
• she explained why it was possible
• interesting: time scale + hope for lost species

Band 7–8 sample answer

The piece of news I'd like to talk about was a science story I heard a while ago, about researchers who managed to grow a plant from seeds that had been frozen in the ground in Siberia for more than thirty thousand years.

I heard about it on a science podcast I listen to on my way to work. I remember it quite clearly because I actually missed my bus stop — I was so focused on the story that I didn't notice where we were. Apparently the seeds had been stored by an ancient squirrel in its burrow, deep in the frozen soil, and the scientists used tissue from them to grow a flowering plant that was almost identical to a modern species.

When I got home, I told my flatmate about it. She's studying biology, so she was able to explain a lot more than the podcast did — why permanent cold preserves cells so well, and why it worked with that particular plant but wouldn't work with something like an animal. We ended up talking about it for most of the evening, which is unusual for us; normally we just talk about whose turn it is to do the washing-up.

I think it interested me for two reasons. One is just the time scale: something that was alive when mammoths were walking around flowering again today is hard to get your head around. The other is that it felt like a hopeful story, which is rare in the news. It made me think that some of what we've lost might not be lost forever.

About 267 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.

Useful vocabulary

• get your head around — to understand something difficult or surprising
• apparently — used to report what you heard or read
• a hopeful story — news that makes people feel positive about the future
• catch someone's attention — to make someone notice and become interested
• headline — the title of a news story
• go viral — to spread very quickly online

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.

How do people usually get news in your country?

Mostly through phones now — news apps, social media and messaging groups. Television news is still popular with older people, especially in the evening. Printed newspapers have become quite rare; you mainly see them in cafés or with people of my grandparents' generation.

Is traditional journalism still important?

I think it's more important than ever, actually. Anyone can post information online, but professional journalists check sources, correct mistakes and can be held responsible for what they publish. Without that, the public would have very little reliable information to base decisions on.

Should news be free for everyone?

Ideally, basic news should be free, because citizens need it to take part in a democracy. But good journalism is expensive to produce, so someone has to pay. Public funding or a mix of free headlines and paid in-depth articles seems like a reasonable compromise.

How can people tell real news from fake news?

Checking more than one source is the simplest way. If only one website is reporting something shocking, that's a warning sign. It also helps to look at who wrote it and whether the article links to original evidence. Schools should really teach this as a basic skill, like reading itself.

More cue cards about media and technology

• Describe a website or app you find useful
• Describe a book or film that made an impression on you
• Describe an advertisement you remember
• Describe a song or piece of music that is special to you

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