Skill you learned in childhood
IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card with a full sample answer, a Band 9 model of the two-minute long turn.
The cue card
Skill you learned in childhood
You should say:
- who the person was
- what skills they taught you
- how they taught you
- why you think it is important
Sample answer
The person I'd like to describe is my grandmother, who taught me how to cook when I was still a small child, probably around eight or nine years old.
She's my mother's mother, and since she lived with us for several years while I was growing up, she was very much a hands-on presence throughout my childhood, forever pottering around the kitchen preparing something.
The specific skill she instilled in me was basic home cooking - how to whip up simple traditional dishes, starting with things like soups and rice, before gradually progressing to slightly more elaborate recipes involving meat and vegetables. She taught me chiefly through hands-on demonstration; she'd let me stand beside her at the counter, taking in everything she did, before gradually handing me small tasks of my own, like chopping vegetables or stirring a pot, always correcting me gently whenever I slipped up rather than simply taking over.
I think picking up this skill so early proved genuinely invaluable for several reasons. On a practical level, it meant that by the time I moved out on my own for university, I already knew how to fend for myself properly rather than relying entirely on takeaways or instant food, which I'm certain spared me both money and a fair amount of unhealthy eating. But beyond the practical side, those hours spent in the kitchen with my grandmother were also when we forged a genuinely close bond, since cooking side by side gave us ample time to chat while we worked. Looking back, I don't think I fully appreciated at the time how valuable that skill, and that time together, truly was, but I'm deeply grateful for it now.
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.