IELTS Speaking Part 2 · events

Describe a memorable journey you have taken.

A strong long turn names the subject in the first sentence, spends most of the two minutes on the last bullet — the why — and arrives at a prepared final line rather than trailing off.

The question, as the examiner gives it

IELTS Speaking Part 2

Describe a memorable journey you have taken.

You should say

  • where you went
  • how you travelled
  • who you were with
  • and explain why it was memorable

60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak

A band 7 to 8 answer

About 187 words at a natural pace — roughly what 120 seconds holds.

Answer it yourself first

Record your own answer first. A model you have read three times comes out with a flattened rhythm, and examiners are trained to hear exactly that. Read it afterwards for the vocabulary and the shape, not to memorise the sentences.
A band 7 to 8 answer

The journey I remember most clearly is an overnight train I took about six years ago, going roughly a thousand kilometres north with a friend for a wedding neither of us particularly wanted to attend. We had booked late and ended up in the cheapest class, on side berths, which meant sleeping at right angles to everybody else. The train left four hours late. What made it memorable was not the destination at all. It was the carriage. There was a family of about nine travelling to the same region, and by midnight the whole compartment was sharing food, because somebody had brought an absurd quantity and it would have been rude to refuse. A man opposite explained the entire history of the town we were passing through and I have no way of knowing whether any of it was true. I slept perhaps three hours. I have taken faster and far more comfortable journeys since and I could not tell you a single thing about any of them. The wedding, incidentally, was perfectly pleasant and I remember almost nothing about it except that we arrived exhausted.

The words that earn marks

Each one links to how it is pronounced.

  • overnight

    compound adjective placing the journey precisely

  • berths

    a specific railway noun with a hard final cluster

  • carriage

    the right noun for a train car, with a weak ending

  • compartment

    three syllables with the stress on the second

  • absurd

    precise adjective, stressed on the second syllable

  • quantity

    three syllables with the stress on the first

  • comfortable

    three syllables in speech, not four

How a strong answer is built

  1. 1Give the route, the mode and the reason in one sentence.
  2. 2Add the conditions, which set up the story.
  3. 3Say what actually made it memorable.
  4. 4Close with a comparison that proves the point.

Sounds to watch

The ones this answer leans on most.

Straight answers

How long should my answer to “Describe a memorable journey you have taken.” be?

You get 60 seconds to make notes and then speak for up to two minutes without interruption. Aim to still be talking at ninety seconds: finishing at forty is the commonest way to lose marks on this part.

Should I memorise the model answer?

No. Record your own version first, then read the model for the shape and the vocabulary. A memorised answer changes rhythm and pace noticeably, and examiners are trained to hear it — it usually costs more than the better wording gains.

Does sayit score this answer?

It scores what a microphone can observe: an estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.

What the band on your result means

An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.
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