Part 2 — develop a relevant long turn · Partie 2 — comment remplir le long tour de deux minutes
A note can cue an event without writing the whole speech
- Original card: describe a time someone helped you; say where you were, who helped, what happened, and explain why you remember it. Notes: bus stop / rain / neighbour / borrowed umbrella / returned next day / grateful.
- A developed explanation is “The neighbour was also waiting in the rain but offered me the umbrella, so I remembered the kindness.” It connects the feeling to what happened. Six adjectives about gratitude would leave the event waiting at the bus stop.
What is the upper time limit, in minutes, for the Part 2 long turn?
You speak for up to two minutes; the examiner stops you when the time is up. Practise developing a relevant answer with a timer.
Use the preparation minute to choose a route
- You have one minute to prepare, then up to two minutes for the long turn. Write short cues for the supplied points and explanation. There is no compulsory noun-only note format; use whatever brief prompts help you recall accurate details.
- For this card, organise setting → neighbour’s help → what you did afterward → why it mattered. A script can take too long to write and be hard to adapt. Notes support speaking; they are not the submitted answer or a separately scored essay.
What is a useful way to use the one-minute preparation?
Keywords help you remember a route and speak flexibly; full sentences take longer to write and can tempt you to read.
Develop the explanation rather than adding unrelated detail
- “It was nice” names an evaluation. Explaining that the neighbour offered help while also exposed to the rain makes the reason specific. Returning the umbrella the next day gives a connected next event rather than a different holiday story.
- If a practice attempt ends quickly, add a relevant detail or reason while staying on the card. Do not force unrelated material simply to fill time. The examiner controls the real turn’s end; being stopped at the time limit is normal.
You must give every card point an identical, fixed share of the two minutes.
Use the points as a route, but adapt your timing to the card and leave room to explain the requested aspect.
Choose grammar from the timeline
- “I was waiting when the neighbour offered the umbrella” places a completed action inside an ongoing past situation. “I had left my coat at home” can describe an earlier past event if that is part of your chosen account.
- A present statement such as “I still remember it” can naturally comment on a past experience. Range means using suitable structures, not banning every present-tense clause from a past-event answer or inserting past perfect without an earlier event.
Which examples use past-time structures suitable for the intended past-event meanings? Choose all that apply.
The first, second and fourth use suitable past-time structures. Present tense can still be appropriate for a current comment, such as I still remember it; grammar must match the intended timeline.
A past-event answer may appropriately include “I still remember it” as a current comment.
The memory comment concerns the present while the narrated event concerns the past. Choose tense by the intended time.
In “I had left my coat at home before I reached the bus stop”, which event is earlier?
The past perfect and before locate leaving the coat earlier than arrival at the stop.
Separate revision from transfer
- Record a first attempt and identify a thin explanation. On the next attempt, develop that reason. This can show what your revision changed on the same card; it does not establish flexible performance across new questions.
- Transfer to an original new card about a useful object: name it, how you use it and why it is useful. Keep the planning method while choosing new relevant details. Replaying the neighbour story unchanged would answer a different task.
Memorising a full answer for a common Part 2 topic is a good use of preparation time.
A fixed script may not fit the card or the follow-up. Prepare topics and details so you can respond flexibly.
Review the route without assigning marks to card points
- Check that you developed the topic and requested explanation in understandable speech. The card points guide content; they do not receive equal fixed shares of time or separate marks in these exercises. Recording and listener feedback supply evidence that written checks cannot.
- Format checked on 2 October 2026: official IELTS Speaking guide. The cards, account and transfer checks are original practice; no short check predicts a band.
- Use notes to develop a relevant connected turn, choose grammar for the timeline and test the method on a new card.
Match the distinctions in this worked case.
Develop the explanation: “I remembered the kindness because the neighbour was also waiting in the rain, yet offered me the umbrella.” The feeling is connected to an event rather than added as a list of adjectives.
Which addition develops why the event mattered?
Original long-turn preparation: “bus stop / rain / borrowed umbrella / neighbour / returned next day / grateful”. These notes can cue where, what happened, who helped and why you remember it. Develop the explanation: “I remembered the kindness because the neighbour was also waiting in the rain, yet offered me the umbrella.” The feeling is connected to an event rather than added as a list of adjectives.
A new card asks about a useful object. Which response transfers the planning method?
Transfer keeps the method while changing the content to answer the new card.