Describe an occasion when you got stuck in a traffic jam
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 an occasion when you got stuck in a traffic jam
You should say:
- where you went
- how often you do this
- when you did this
- why you dislike it
Sample answer
I'd like to describe an occasion when I got badly stuck in a traffic jam, which was a rather frustrating but memorable experience.
This happened about a year ago, when I was travelling across the city to attend an important job interview. The interview was scheduled for the morning, so I set off in what I thought was plenty of time, taking the main road that runs through the centre of the city towards the business district.
As for how often this happens, I have to say that getting stuck in traffic is unfortunately quite a regular occurrence in my city, especially during the morning and evening rush hours. On a normal day, I usually try to avoid the busiest routes or travel at off-peak times, but on that particular occasion I had no choice.
On this specific day, everything that could go wrong did. Not long after I set off, the traffic ground to a complete halt because of a minor accident up ahead combined with some road works. What should have been a twenty-minute journey ended up taking well over an hour. I sat there helplessly, watching the minutes tick by, growing increasingly anxious about being late.
There are several reasons why I really dislike being stuck in traffic. Firstly, it's an enormous waste of time that could be spent far more productively, and there's nothing you can do about it except sit and wait. Secondly, it's incredibly stressful, particularly when you're in a hurry, as I was that day. The stop-start crawling, the noise and the sheer boredom are genuinely draining. On top of that, all those idling engines contribute to air pollution, which bothers me.
In the end, I arrived at the interview flustered and slightly late, though thankfully they were understanding. Ever since that day, I always leave extra early for anything important, having learned my lesson the hard way.
315 words — roughly 2–3 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.