IELTS Speaking Part 2: choose your topic quickly!

One of the most important things to practise for IELTS speaking part 2 is choosing your topic quickly. Take this question for example:

Describe a situation in which you were very polite. You should explain

• where the situation took place
• how you showed that you were polite
• and why you needed to be so polite.

It would be easy to waste your one-minute preparation time worrying about what situation to choose. If you still haven't decided what to talk about when the examiner asks you to start speaking, you'll be in real trouble!

Task:
Give yourself just 10 seconds to choose your polite situation. It doesn't really matter what situation you choose; the key is to give yourself enough time to prepare some ideas.

Comments

[ayesha]

hi simon ,
just want to ask meaning of these sentences
1.dissipate ones talent.does it mean to waste ones talent
2.by far ?
thanks ayesha.

[ayesha]

hi simon,
the situation when i was very polite is once i went for shopping in my car.i stopped on the singnal and suddendly i saw a fast car behind me ,when it came close to my car, i heard a bang and felt a push from behind.the car hit my car at the back.first i was extremely angry and got out of my car. i saw a yong lady who was in pain and saw blood on her face.i went to her and consoled her.at that time i controlled my emotions and tried to be exremely polite with her. i speak in a low voice and smiled at her .i tried to relax her with my smile and kind words...i asked her not to worry about the damage which she did on my car.i controlled my anger with my politeness becacause i thought that i was just a mistake and every body can make mistakes .it is not something which she did on purpose.
so that was the incident when i was very polite and calm despit of the damage to my car.
is that ok?
thanks
ayesha

[vivek]

Hi simon. I really dont understand exact meaning of this topic. Can you please provide some example?

-Vivek

[Simon]

Hi Ayesha,

You can't use 'dissipate' talent. Check a dictionary or Google for examples of that word.

'by far' means 'by a long way' e.g. The UK has by far the highest number of...

Thanks for sharing your polite situation!

...

Hi Vivek,

Being polite means acting and speaking in a very respectful way. Maybe a good example is the first time someone meets their future parents-in-law!

[Emily]

Hello Simon,

I am curious about whether it matters a lot if I cannot finish all the questions listed on the paper. For most of time, I cannot cover all topics. I really worry about it since the last question always seems to be the most important one.

What actually does the examiner think?

Many thanks ^^

Emily

[gangchil]

well,one morning while i am on my duty in the hospital where i am working as a trainee doctor.it was the early morning,i was not in very good mood because i'm feeling very exhausted and tired after spending a very rush and busy fully sleepless admission night.on the morning i was examinig one of new patient while carer of another patient came to me and behave so rude that its make me thundered.i was so surprised to that behavior and the language he used.i tried my level best to give him comfort.after that its not possible to arrange some special investigation.its need time.i was abruptly became very angry inside me,but soon after that i feel apathy for the patient and the caregiver.i thought myself in the place of them and realise how painful is it.i feel calm and keep mysely polite and tried to counselling them regarding the situation and limitation in the hospital.
fianally they understood and apollogise to me for the behavior.

thanks all

[meenakshi]

hi simon,
right now i am going to talk about a polite situation...
one day me and my friend was taking lunch in the premises of the metro station which is not allowed. Bymistake, a piece of the food got down on the floor. All of the sudden, two mens came and objected us to take lunch at that place.Afterthat , i said sorry with a very polite manner for that.
Thenafter, they said that we have to pay 200/- penalty to disobey the rules. At that moment, i was very polite for my mistake. Hence, he excused me due to my politeness.

So, this was one of my polite situations.

IS THIS ANSWER FINE...PLZ TELL ME MY BAND LEVEL...

THANKS A LOT.

[Martin]

Hi everyone, here is my Part2 description and hope you can find it useful!

=======================================

I want to talk about the time when I was interviewed by a US Embassy officer, in which I think I was very polite.

This took place last year at the US Embassy in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was renewing my US working visa and I had to go through this interview process.

I tried to be as polite as possible because I wanted to give the officer a good impression. So my tone and choice of words were kept "at the highest level". For example, when I stepped at the interview booth, I politely greeted him by saying "Good morning, sir"; and instead of saying "yea", I said "yes". Also, when I wasn't sure about one of his questions, I asked "Sorry, could you please repeat the question?". Finally, at the end of the interview, I respectfully said "Thank you very much for your time."

I needed to be very polite for this occasion because I wanted to show my respect to the US as a country and I also wanted to demonstrate my ability to speak in a professional manner.

All in all, regardless of who I am speaking to, I think it is always very important to be polite because this is also something that I expect from others when talking to me.

=======================================

[savvy]

Hi Simon,
I took recent IELTS test in sydney.
The writing task 2 was quite strange and was unable to get 7 in that.

"Nowadays people prefer to go for rent houses rather than owning. Describe advantages and disadvantages of rent houses."

Please include this topic in your discussion.

[Mh]

Hi Simon,

Although studying and preparing for IELTS is quite asscociated with learning English so that you can higher your general knowledge of English,I found that the most weakness of IELTS that cannot do anything for you is in terms of quetions. Candidate preparing for IELTS mostly are quite good in answering question, but they are weak in making question. Foe example, they cannot ask some simple question when facing with a seller or other people. Because what we are tryig for is replying answer not asking. Those people who are trying to get IELTS should be noticed that even they get 7 or higher in SPEAKING there is a long distance left to cope with living in UK or Australia.
Best rgerad,

[hani]

I am going to describe a situation when my family told me that a boy and his family were coming to look for me for marriage.In that I was just 18 And not complete my Bachular degree (BBS).So in that time i was speech less and try to convince my family to get married after completing my study.I convene them that i will marry to whom they what to.I speak we low voice and convene them to trust me.I think in that time i was very polite with my family.
I have to be polite because Its about my life and career

[Ziaul huda]

I am going to talk about a polite situation that took place at my hospital. I am a qualified M.R.I Technologis. The incident occured, while I was scanning a very old un-cooperative patient for whole spine. To show you what I mean, this patient was keep on moving and as a result the images were not optimun. Although I repeated many sequences in an attempt to get better images, but still I was unable to get the best. By the time, another patient who was in time could not start his procedure. This patient was very aangry and he used very impolite language because of being late for his investigation. At that moment I was under enormous strain. I tried my best to make myself as polite as possible. Later on after explanation about the inevitable situation, the patient and his relatives appologised for their rude behaviour.
So, all in all, I would say that being polite is a good sighn of a well behaved person.

[sulaiman]

This topic was my part 2 test for ielts on 30th June 2012

[Samira]

Hi Simon,

I always tried to be polite in most situation of my life. But the most remarkable situation is related to the last summer when my house mate's parents made decision to spend their holiday with us for two month. They were almost old around 70 years old and as like as most of the other old people they had their own behavior. They had so many memories and stories to talk about for hours. Especially they loved to talk about their memories of youth over and over. Some times they even described one memory several times and you had to listen to them every time intensively. Some times they had too boring stories but I had learn my parents to be polite and patient with old people so I never mentioned them their repetitive memories. Since I was a students and worked on my project I need to organized my time but when they got stock me for hours I had to change my schedule. Whenever I came back home from college they expected me to join them,talk with and listen to them and I did. So I had to study at midnight to compensate the miss times!

After two month when they went back to our home country I backed to my regular life as well. I was so happy!

I think such a situation is really hard especially if you are a person that don't like to break old people's heart. So you need to be polite and patient.

Samiramis

[Simon]

Hi Emily,

You should really try to cover all of the points on the task card. You might lose marks if you don't.

...

Thanks to those of you who shared your ideas.

...

Hi Savvy,

I'll try to do a lesson about that topic.

[thanguye]

Hi Simon,
Choosing a topic to talk is the big problem for me. I took the exam on 16/6 and I think that I answered in wrong way. That why my speaking is only 5.5.

[samah]

hi simon,,,
these two question related to the topic,,,
if you have a time give us your answers.
- What is the difference between being polite with your family members or with a person you don’t know?
- In your country’s culture, how do you show that you are being polite?

[Simon]

Hi Samah,

I'll use those questions for tomorrow's lesson.

[goli]

Dear Simon
In part 2 if the topic is about "Memorable Event" , Do I speak about a memorable trip that i went sevral years ago and explain some memorable things such as nature ,beach and someting like this that was very new and unforgutable.?
Thanks for your helps

[Simon]

Yes, that's fine Goli.

[srinivasulu]

hello simon could you give me some links for speaking with answers please

[kapadiya pradeep]

hi simon,
here i would like to speak about an ancident during my hospital training,it was the morning time,n i had to leave ,because my duty is finished,suddenly one old man came to dispensing window,n ask me for a drug which induce sleep .i told him that without any prescription of physician ,i m not able to give u a drug,so he talk me in very anger voice,i didn't understand her behaviour .inside me, just be so irritated from him .because i had already tired ,and he argue in very wrong manner and for invalid thing,but i m on proffesional duty so be polite with him,n try to make him comfort,n told just consult physician,n if he give prescription for this drug,i hv definitly give it to u.so this was the ancident where i make my self so polite.
wat you think about my band in ielts speaking,plzz give me reply,my test will be on 22 august .

[murali603]

I am going to share a my polite behavior few days back.

My passport was kept on hold few months back for some more documents. I approached passport office again on 3rd sep and talked very politely.

From starting counting onward's i talked very politely with staff especially with verification officer's. I greeted them by Saying Good morning as its first session of morning. I explained them in a polite manner why i need passport now.

In the second counter also i talked with a lady very politely and asked her "you only came so early madam, remaining staff were not yet attended duty" and she replied that her health was not so good from last few days etc. I talked politely and she granted my passport.

As i need to get my documents verified by Govt employees who are very rash in behavior because of they position, we need to deal very politely with them or else they will show some reason and reject my application

[kisokanth]

hi Simon
i had gone to speaking test 22nd of September. Examiner showed the topic... at the moment i am unable to understand head line..however i talked with examiner school situation. while i was talking school situation examiner asked question from me.
it is correct or wrong
please tell me.

[kisokanth]

hi Simon
i had gone to speak test 22nd of September. Examiner showed the topic... at the moment i am unable to understand head line..however i talked with examiner school situation. while i was talking school situation examiner asked question from me.
it is correct or wrong
please tell me.

[Mrs Shakeel]

hi simon
in second part of my speaking test, i was asked to write on a topic ""a most important incident of history". i lost my mind and thought that i have to write n an event of my past, and i did so....
what is it, right or wrong....

[Mrs Shakeel]

pls simon reply my question....!!!!!!!!!!!

[Simon]

I'm afraid you answered in the wrong way Mrs. Shakeel. An event in your own past is not the same as an important event in history.

I'll use that topic in a lesson.

[Mrs Shakeel]

but pls tell me , can i get some passing marks, means 5.5 that i need...???

[Mrs Shakeel]

pls reply soon, keeping in mind, i didn't make any mistake regarding engish, and my 3rd part of test gone very well too. i got a very little confused in part 1 but spoke very right englsh in part 2 and 3, just the topic, that i told u before, was misunderstood....... can i get 5.5???? pls reply soon

[SImon]

I'm afraid I can't say what score you will get, but a 5.5 is definitely still possible.

[Mrs Shakeel]

thank u , for your response, simon.
i took reading , wrting and listening test yesterday. all went very well in reading i was too much short of time, and 3rd section was just a __________. hopefully i will get very good in writing and good in listening.
thanx for your support.
regards

[daljeet]

talk about something that made you laugh

[Mean5]

Please give me some advice:
I always try to get on well and respect people I met. And here I would like to talk a about a specific situation which I behaved very polite. It occurred when I bought a brand-new smart phone from an official Apple store in my city. I had placed an order and paid it online. Three days later, they sent me a phone coming in box with a user manual and without related necessaries such as headphone or plug-in devices. I immediately made a phone call to the store; however, shop assistants tried to avoid responsibility negatively. Obviously, it could not be accepted with a big brand like Apple. In fact, I was very angry at that time. Fortunately, I made every effort to keep calm in the appointment with the store manager. Cleary I represented my problem and focused on his response.
Frankly, I found that my problem might not be resolve if I meet him with furiousness. Also, I thought that I should not lose my image just because of an unexpected situation.

[Par]

I am going to talk about my first job interview, in which I think I was very polite.
This took place at the office of the head of a psychiatric research center in a university hospital in Sari, northern Iran. I had applied for a job as a research assistant in that center, so the head of the center had asked me for a face-to-face interview.
Since the job required good social abilities in interacting both with patients as well as residents and professors I needed to show that I could speak and behave in a professional manner. The most important effort I made was that I did not wear the way I normally do. I usually wear very casual clothes, but instead on that day I wore my most formal clothes, all in black, and formal shoes (instead of my running shoes, which I wear normally). I did my best to use professional vocabulary instead of slang when I was talking.
I tried to impress the interviewer because I had been unemployed for eight months and it was my only opportunity for a job that I liked at that time. So, I did my best to get the job.

[ADAM MAX (ADHAM)]

hi simon .it`s Adam . I`M planning to take ielts again after a month . in that case, i`m wondering about speaking section . the problem is that it`s gonna be long to give the strick point for questions . i mean that i spend plenty of time on getting around the question .
can you tell me how can i give perfect answers involving how many sentences ? or some kinda best ways to respond for questions . i`ll be so happy ,if you pay a bit of your attention to me .

[Roshni]

Describe a situation in which you were very polite. You should explain

where the situation took place
how you showed that you were polite
and why you needed to be so polite.

Well, I would like to talk about one of the situations that I encountered when I was in the first year of my medical school. It was just the beginning of the term and we were still in the phase of getting along with people and making friends. There was one of the girls in my class about whom I found out, when I got admission in the school, that she was also our new next door neighbour. She actually started to speak ill about me to my other new friends. When I came to know about it, I got really hurt and was a bit angry too but I decided not to make this situation worse by reacting badly and doing the same. I went to that girl and asked her very politely that what exactly was the matter and please let me know if I have done something wrong to you or have said something that has hurt you but unfortunately she was not willing to discuss anything and she kept behaving rudely to me. I continued to show my politeness and kindness towards her as I am a firm believer that whatever others do to you and whatever happens, one should never ever respond rudely and this is what I have been taught by my parents that do good to others no matter what their behaviour is towards you. In the end, if you are right and if you continue to be polite the other person will realise that his behaviour was not acceptable and your good nature will be appreciated and admired by everyone.

[Chetna]

Hi simon help how I say my situation
My polite situation is my father’s death time