Describe a music event you didn't like
IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card with a full sample answer, a Band 9 model of the two-minute long turn.
The cue card
Describe a music event you didn't like
You should say:
- what the event was
- when and where it was
- who you went with
- and explain why you didn't like it
Sample answer
I'd like to describe a music event that I didn't particularly enjoy — a large outdoor music festival that I attended a couple of summers ago.
The event was a two-day music festival held in a big open field on the outskirts of the city, featuring a line-up of various popular bands and DJs. It was one of the biggest music events of the summer, and it drew an enormous crowd of people.
I went with a small group of friends who had persuaded me to buy tickets, as they were huge fans of some of the performing artists. Although I wasn't particularly keen on the music genre, I decided to go along mainly for the social experience and to spend time with them.
Unfortunately, there were several reasons why I didn't enjoy it. Firstly, and most importantly, the event was terribly organised. The queues to get in were painfully long, there weren't nearly enough toilets or food stalls for the massive crowd, and the whole place quickly became overcrowded and chaotic. Secondly, the sound quality was surprisingly poor where we were standing, so the music often sounded muffled and distorted, which completely spoiled the performances. On top of all that, it was scorchingly hot with very little shade, and the ground turned into a dusty, uncomfortable mess.
Perhaps the biggest issue for me, though, was simply that the style of music wasn't to my taste, so I struggled to get into the atmosphere the way my friends did. I found myself feeling tired, hot and bored for much of the time.
As for how I felt, I was quite disappointed overall, especially given how expensive the tickets had been. While it was nice to spend time with my friends, I left feeling exhausted and underwhelmed. The experience taught me that I much prefer smaller, more intimate concerts featuring music I genuinely love, and I've been more careful about which events I attend ever since.
325 words — roughly 3–3 minutes at a natural speaking pace.
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 say and can speak naturally from them.
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.