Crowded place
IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card with a full sample answer, a Band 9 model of the two-minute long turn.
The cue card
Crowded place
You should say:
- what place it was
- when you went there
- who you went with
- what people do there
- why you liked or disliked it
Sample answer
The crowded place I'd like to describe is a sprawling night market I visited in the summer of last year, in a city I was passing through on holiday.
I went there one evening, fairly late, around nine o'clock, since that's apparently when the market is at its liveliest and most bustling, and I tagged along with two friends I was travelling with at the time, none of us wanting to miss out on the experience after hearing so much hype about it.
At this market, people mostly weave between long rows of food stalls, sampling different local delicacies, while others browse stands hawking clothes, souvenirs and handicrafts. Street performers were also dotted around, drawing small crowds of their own, and the whole place buzzed with activity, vendors calling out to reel in customers and music blaring from several directions at once.
Overall, I'd say I relished the experience, despite how packed it was. Yes, it was a genuine struggle to squeeze through some of the narrower lanes, and at one point I got briefly separated from my friends in the crush of people, which was a touch nerve-racking. But the atmosphere more than made up for the inconvenience - there was something exhilarating about being immersed in so much energy, colour and unfamiliar food smells all at once, and it felt like a genuine slice of local culture rather than a sanitised tourist experience. We ended up sampling several dishes we'd never even heard of before, and I still think fondly about how good some of that street food was. So although crowded places aren't usually my cup of tea, that particular evening turned out to be one of the highlights of the entire trip.
Reading a model answer is not the same as saying one. The sample above shows what a strong Part 2 answer sounds like. What it cannot tell you is how yours sounds — whether you hesitate, repeat the question back, or run out of things to say at forty seconds.
You can record an answer to this exact question and get it marked on fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and pronunciation — the same four criteria the examiner uses.
Common questions
How long should I speak for in Part 2?
Between one and two minutes. The examiner stops you at two, so aim to still be talking at the ninety-second mark rather than finishing early — running out at forty seconds is the most common problem in this part.
What do I do with the one minute of preparation time?
You get one minute and a pencil and paper. Most candidates waste it writing full sentences they then read aloud, which sounds flat. Note a few keywords against each bullet instead, so you have four things to talk about rather than a script.
Do I have to cover all four bullet points?
They are prompts, not a checklist, and you are not penalised for skipping one. In practice they are the easiest way to fill two minutes, so covering them is usually the simplest way to keep going.
Does it matter if the story is not true?
No. You are assessed on your English, not on whether the events happened. Inventing detail is fine and often easier than recalling a real memory under pressure.
Model answers written and reviewed by The English All-in-One IELTS team. They are teaching models showing what each band looks like, not real candidate scripts.