Good service
IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card with a full sample answer, a Band 9 model of the two-minute long turn.
The cue card
Good service
You should say:
- what company or business it was and what this company does
- what the service was and who helped you
- where you received this good service
- why you think it was good service
Sample answer
The occasion I'd like to describe unfolded a few months ago at a small electronics repair shop near where I live, which specialises in fixing phones, laptops and other devices.
I'd accidentally cracked the screen of my phone and brought it in, fully braced to leave it there for several days and fork out a considerable sum for the repair. I was seen to by a young technician, who I later discovered actually owned the shop himself, and he couldn't have been more accommodating throughout the entire process.
This all took place, as I mentioned, at his modest shop, which is tucked away on a side street rather than in a large shopping centre, though clearly word of mouth had built him a loyal customer base.
What made the service so outstanding, in my view, was a combination of things. For one, he was scrupulously honest with me - rather than trying to upsell me on a pricey replacement screen, he pointed out a cheaper, equally reliable option and spelled out the difference clearly, without any pressure either way. For another, he managed to fix the screen while I waited, in under half an hour, which was far quicker than I'd bargained for, and he even gave the whole phone a clean and replaced the battery cover, which had come slightly loose, entirely free of charge. Finally, he was affable and easy to chat to throughout, conversing casually while he worked rather than treating me like just another customer passing through. That combination of honesty, efficiency and genuine warmth is precisely why I've become a loyal customer myself, and I now recommend that shop to anyone who so much as mentions phone trouble.
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.