Describe a time when you sent a message or an email to someone but received no reply for a long time
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 time when you sent a message or an email to someone but received no reply for a long time
You should say:
- who you sent it to
- what it was about
- whether you finally received the reply
- how you felt about the experience
Sample answer
I'd like to describe a time when I sent a message to someone but didn't receive a reply for a very long time, which was a rather frustrating experience.
The message was an email I sent to a company I had applied to for an internship. I was extremely keen on the position, so after submitting my application and having what I thought was a promising interview, I sent a polite follow-up email to the hiring manager to express my continued interest and to ask about the timeline for their decision.
The email was essentially a courteous enquiry, thanking them for the interview and asking when I might expect to hear back about the outcome. I had spent a fair amount of time carefully wording it to sound professional and enthusiastic without seeming pushy.
Unfortunately, days turned into weeks with no response whatsoever. I checked my inbox obsessively, hoping for any kind of reply, but there was nothing but silence. As the weeks dragged on, I began to assume that I had been unsuccessful and had simply been forgotten.
Eventually, after nearly a month, I did finally receive a reply. To my surprise and delight, the email actually contained a job offer. The hiring manager apologised profusely for the long delay, explaining that they had been swamped with applications and were short-staffed, which had held up the whole process.
As for how I felt about the experience, it was honestly an emotional rollercoaster. During those weeks of waiting, I felt anxious, disappointed and increasingly convinced that I'd been rejected. The uncertainty was the worst part, as not knowing either way made it impossible to move on or make other plans. When the reply finally came, my frustration instantly turned into relief and joy. Nevertheless, the experience taught me the importance of patience, and it also made me determined to always reply promptly to others myself, since I know exactly how stressful being kept waiting can be.
326 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.