Part 2: prepare the type, not the card.
Forecasts of “this quarter’s cue cards” send you chasing a list that changes every few months. But every Part 2 card is one of only six kinds, and the examiner can hear a memorised answer in seconds. Learn the six, and you are ready for any card they hand you.
Whatever the wording, you are describing one of these.
Cue cards are reworded endlessly, but the underlying task barely moves. Recognise the type and you already know the shape of the answer and the framework that fits it. The bullets always steer you the same way: set it up, give detail, then explain the why, which is where the marks are.
A person
A relative, a friend, someone you admire, someone who taught you. Name them, describe what they are like, then explain their effect on you.
A place
Somewhere you go, somewhere you would like to visit, a building. Locate it, bring in the senses, then explain how it makes you feel.
An object
Something you own, a gift, something useful. Say what it is and how you got it, then explain why it matters to you.
An event or occasion
A celebration, a trip, something memorable. Set the scene, walk through what happened, then explain why it stayed with you.
An experience
A time you did, learned, or felt something. Tell it as a short story, then reflect on what it meant or taught you.
An abstract thing
A goal, a decision, a piece of advice, a skill. Make the abstract concrete with one real example, then explain its value.
Eighteen original cards. Talk first, then open the models.
Filter by type or deal one at random. Each card opens to the same long turn at Band 6 and Band 8, plus the Part 3 questions an examiner is likely to escalate to, and a note on exactly what lifts it. The models are illustrative, in a natural spoken register, written to be learned from, not recited.
What to do with your sixty seconds of preparation.
You are not writing an essay on the card; you are jotting a path through it. Turn each bullet into one or two keywords, and decide your why before you start, that is the part you must not improvise. Then let the bullets carry you and spend the back half of the talk explaining and reflecting.
Land the “why” first
Decide, in advance, the one honest reason this matters to you. A clear, developed why is what separates a 7 from a 6.
Tell it, do not list it
For event and experience cards, narrate one real moment. A story is easier to keep talking about than a set of facts.
The memorised answer
Pre-learned speeches drift off the card and sound flat. Examiners are trained to spot them, and they cap your score.
Running out at one minute
If you finish early, keep going: add a contrast, a small story, or how you feel about it now. The bullets are a floor, not a ceiling.
A deck shows you the shape. A mock tells you the band.
You can rehearse these for weeks and still not hear what an examiner hears in your long turn, the hesitations, the range that is missing, the why that never quite arrives. In a lesson I run you through a full Part 2, time it, and mark it against the four criteria, then tell you the band you are sitting at and the two habits holding it down.
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