IELTS Speaking Part 2: 'teenager' topic

Describe a positive experience that you had as a teenager. You should say

- what the positive experience was
- where you were
- who you were with
- and explain why you found the experience positive

Try practising in the following way: First, note some ideas. Then record yourself speaking for two minutes. Next, listen to the recording and write down what you said. Finally, try to improve the written description.

Tip: choose an easy topic, like a new hobby or a holiday.

Comments

[Carolina]

Is this for academit aswell?

[Carolina]

Sorry I thought It was a writing task!

[deepak rana]

I got stuck on this topic someone help me pls to organise that

[Jo]

i would like to know if the examiner has a timer for the speaking test?

[raj]

hiiiii
pls help me to make its balanced opinion?

women leader are better than men leader.To what extent do you agree or disagree??

[Huda]

yes the examiner hold a timer and a recorder

[Mustafa]

Hi simon, thanks alot for your blog...
every body tell us not to memorize speaking but I'm planning to memorize part 2 and try to speak naturally...
my concern is:- all teachers say that the examiner will know if you memorize the answers..
but did this will effect my score?? I mean will examiner penalize me For that?

may be in part 1 or 3 he will interrupt me and change the topic but what about part 2?

thanks alot

[sami]

Hi simon
ia it ok to memorize all speaking topics answers and try to speak fluently by memorising them..?

[Chia chia]

Hi Simon
I have a question ,what if I can't think of any positive experience to say..
Is there any thing I can do to build up the ability of story making??

[Kennenth]

Ideas of positive experiences can be a community service you have attended such as charity work,donation and volunteer.

It can be done with your friends,family members and even strangers

The place can be anywhere as long as it make sense

[syeede]

I am going to talk about the positive experience of my life.A few years ago when i was in school and in 10th grade i was asked to participate in quiz competition. it was basically a inter-school competition and the topic of quiz was "the history of Islam" .
my English teacher selected me among the whole class as she was very inspired by my class performance and knowledge about Islam.As it was first time ever i was going to participate in any competition so i was hesitating but my teacher gave me confidence and made me realized about my hidden qualities and abilities.finally i became ready to participate in it.she gave me lots of material related to topic and helped me a lot in preparing this.i was well equipped with all elements of competition.At last the day came and the competition was held in seminar hall.there were two groups and mine one was formed with students of another class of my school.there were three rounds of quiz.the competition started and in first round my group couldn't succeed because of one wrong answer and the second round ended as tie round. the last and thrilling round was going equally in starting but at the last answer of question my group pressed the buzzer first and gave the answer.Now we were just waiting for the judges that they will tell whats the right answer and who is winning team.our hearts were beating fastly and finally they announced the winning team and my group was jumping with happiness and joy when we heard the winning team was ours.
they gave us different prizes and my teacher hugged me and we got our picture taken.it was the greatest experience of my life and in fact the positive one because I realized that never feel afraid of doing anything difficult ,just be well prepared for it and be confident in any situation.And never give up and this helped me a lot in my further academic competitions and i took part confidently in so many competitions and won that too.

[jUAN]

when i was still a teenager I dreamt of becoming a starter for a volleyball team because when Im still in 6th grade Im just the 7th man of the team and I really want to strive hard to be promoted someday as a front liner of our group.
When I reached high school I will never forget the time when I joined the try out of volleyball. At first I was very nervous at the same time I was challenged because this is another chance for me to show my skills and talent. I was very happy when I was selected as a player for our class and eventually selected as the group leader, we beat lots of sections until we advanced to the finals. Whats more surprising about this experience is that Im selected as one of the varsity players of the school and the best thing was I became not just the starter but as a captain of the team wherein I carried the whole team in different competition. Ive been always selected as the most valuable player in my 4 years in high school. This is really a positive experience for me because Im given the chance to prove that I can lead a team and this is a boost of confidence and self esteem not just for myself but for my whole team for the victories we achieved.
(I ANSWERED THIS RIGHT AWAY AFTER READING THE QUESTION. I DONT KNOW IF I GOT IT CORRECTLY. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY ANSWER. THANK YOU)

[Dr.Sehrish]

An experience that I had when I was about 18 years old and was waiting for my results to get admission into a medical college/school.
This experience was of working as a school teacher. Actually, since my childhood I fancied becoming a teacher, and now while I was waiting for my results , I had good three months ahead of me and I was looking for something that should be useful and enjoyable .So eventually I thought that I should try to pursue my dream. So I went to a local primary school ( a convent school) ,it was famous for its good discipline. They didn't need a new teacher really , but I discussed with them about my interest and passion and also that it will be an interesting experience of its own kind for me.
Well, the head of school somehow liked my ideasl and interest so she offered me a job. Soon everyone liked my work. I quite liked working with young children and really enjoyed my position as a teacher (as I was the youngest and kid of my family.) I still remember so innocent and cute little things that my students did. But, i could clearly notice that even the most well behaved boys ( 7-8 yrs old) would turn into devils during break time,and almost every day I enjoyed watching them play.On the other hand ,I also noticed that most girls remained quite well behaved during the break time too. Soon I started to develop , irritation in my throat and a hoarseness of voice because everyday speaking in a louder voice in order to discipline the children and giving lessons from 8:00 till 1:00 , was the thing that my vocal cords couldn't bear.The doctor advised me that I needed to take a break in my best interest. So, I could only work for 5 weeks and everyone including me was sad when I had to leave my job, especially my little cute students and the head teacher who was very pleased with my work.Soon after that my results came through and I made my way to the university.
But I am quite pleased to have the experience about something that was a dream of my childhood. ( sorry its too long)

[Martin]

Dear All,

Here is my sample description:

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Let me talk about my high school graduation trip, which was one of the most memorable and positive experiences I had when I was a teenager.

I used to live in Argentina, and just like most senior high school classes around the country, traveling to the town of Bariloche in the Andes mountain was the most popular and economical choice. We were all quite excited about that trip; it was the trip that marked the end of our high school years and also the start of a new stage in our lives.

We were around 30 students in that 1-week trip and we chose to travel by plane rather than bus, otherwise we would have wasted 2 days just to get to the place. We had so many activities in that week. We not only visited the most popular scenic spots of the area but also went skiing twice and went dancing at different night clubs every night.

This was definitely a positive experience for all of us. We had spent 5 years in the same classroom and rarely had the chance to hang out and truly get to know with each other. Thanks to this trip, we were able to renew and confirm our friendships and that's why we all still keep in touch even though it has already passed 15 years since our graduation.
------------------

Regards,
Martin

[Martin]

Hi Mustafa and sami,

I know that some teachers are indeed encouraging students to memorize entire Part 2 answers, but I'm afraid that is one of the worst pieces of advice that I've ever heard.

I'm not sure if points are actually deducted when the examiner knows that you are speaking based on pure memorization, but the truth is that you will be delivering a monotone description and also sound like a robot. Just to give you one example, I know a student who had spent 1+ year memorizing Part 2 answers; she became so fluent and so quick to deliver the descriptions (maybe I should say TOO fluent and TOO quick), but when it came to Part 3, she could barely speak an error-free sentence and most of her ideas were unclear and confusing. She took the exam 10+ times and was never able to reach her desired 7 in speaking. Even though examiners already have a good idea on the score to give you after Part 2, I think Part 3 questions are used to confirm the level of your overall English.

I hope this example can show you guys the importance of being able to speak naturally. After all, you are learning English in order to communicate with your future employers/teachers/classmates, and I don't think you will be able to memorize all your future conversations, right?

Cheers,
Martin

[Maxim Malla]

I would like to talk about the greatest experience I had when I was 16 years.
There was a big sports tournament and I was a participant on behalf of my school. I represented in 100 meter athlete race and there were other 10 participant from other districts. I was probably the youngest player and no one expected that I could win the game.

I really did a lot of training sessions and my personal coach was happy with my performance. He gave me a lot of inspiration and always told me that you were a phenomenally amazing player.

Finally the date of completion arrived and all the players and their supporters gathered in the stadium. We all players were ready on track and as empire whistled we all started our race. In the first 5 seconds was in the third position, but I accelerate my speed and at last I become first. I was also able to break previous record in 100m race. I won the gold medal.

It was my unforgettable and vey important experience because it opened my door for national competition. Event though I was a very young athlete, I participated many competitions. If I did not participate that match, I would probably not recognise as a national player.

[Augustine Kim]

I took the speaking test of the IELTS test in Sydney. I want to give you information. The part2 question on the card was, "Describe a thing that you took home from holidays, when, where, why, what." I don't know whether you already knew this question or not, but I have never seen this question on the Internet.

[Mustafa]

Dear Mr.Martin

Thanks a lot for your great advice...
my test will be in 17 may.
hope I will get 6.5 or more...

Dear Mr.Simon

your blog is more than great, but please accept my advice to develop the site structure. I think it will be much better to do the following:

1- activate the registration mode in your site and make it mandatory for the comments.
2- activate tags for the articles.
3- add list of all writing and speaking topics "which include model answer".
4- add advanced search in the site.
5- start online lessons. The student can register online, then according to the size of the class, you can use Cisco WebEx to make Effective online training,and rich, collaborative learning environments. It has great features and prices...

with best regard and wishes to you and to all people in this site..

Mustafa

[Mustafa]

Also I'd like to add
I check many web site that has online courses non of them has online live lectures.
So you can start this by join teachers and students from all over the word in one online classroom...
please google for Cisco WebEx or any other company...
I can help to make the administration ,"NOT THE TEACHING", for the online class room.

regards.

[Simon]

Thanks Mustafa, I'm looking into that kind of thing at the moment.

[JENA]

This is my speaking part 2 topic on 26 April....
i think i did not do well in part 2 as i talked too much and did not answer all parts of the quetion, however when i checked my result tdy,i got 7.5... so talk naturely,you will be fine

[Sujeong]

Thank Simon.

I took the test yesterday, and was asked that question - positive experience!!!
I regret to access your website today, I had to visit here before yesterday.
However, I think my answer would be fine, I described the experience that i participated in editing school book. I presented how i joined that group, how I edited essays, and my conclusion was that I could improve Korean grammar rules and coherence from this experience.

Those questions are what i received in part 3.

Follow up question
Do you sometimes tell it to others?

Do old and young people spend time together in your country?
Do old and you people misunderstand each other?
What old and young people learn from each other?