Describe a tall building in your town that you like or dislike
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 tall building in your town that you like or dislike
You should say:
- where this building is
- what it looks like
- what it is used for
- explain why you like or dislike it
Sample answer
I'd like to describe a tall building that I hold in particularly high regard in my city - the Flame Towers, among the most iconic landmarks gracing Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
The Flame Towers occupy a prominent hilltop overlooking the city centre and the Caspian Sea, so they're visible from almost anywhere in the city. This elevated position makes them all the more striking and impossible to miss.
In terms of appearance, they're absolutely breathtaking. The complex comprises three enormous, curved skyscrapers designed to resemble giant tongues of flame, a nod to Azerbaijan's history as the 'Land of Fire'. During the day, their sleek glass exteriors gleam in the sunlight, but it's after dark that they truly spring to life. The entire surface of each tower is blanketed in thousands of LED screens, which display mesmerising animations - sometimes flickering like flames, at other times rippling like the national flag. It's a genuinely stunning sight to behold.
As for their function, the towers serve multiple purposes. They house luxury apartments, offices and a five-star hotel, so they combine residential, commercial and hospitality use all under one roof. Essentially, they stand as a symbol of the city's modernisation and economic development.
I have enormous admiration for this building for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I find it aesthetically stunning, and its ingenious design beautifully marries modern architecture with our cultural identity. Whenever I catch sight of the towers lit up at night, I feel a genuine surge of pride in my city. On top of that, they've become a major tourist draw, pulling in visitors from all corners of the globe and putting Baku firmly on the map. To my mind, they perfectly encapsulate the spirit of a city that honours its heritage while embracing the future, and that's precisely why they hold such a special place in my heart.
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.