Speaking cue cards
Every card carries a Band 9 model answer, an idea map of three angles you could take instead, the Part 1 warm-ups and the Part 3 follow-ups with answers, plus the vocabulary examiners reward.
OpenIELTS Speaking Practice
Rehearse all three parts against the real clock and get graded on the official criteria — 98 cue cards with Band 9 model answers, timed Part 2 practice, and a full three-part mock interview.
In short
IELTS Speaking is an 11–14 minute face-to-face interview with a human examiner, in three parts: familiar questions, a 1–2 minute long turn from a cue card with 1 minute to prepare, then an abstract discussion on the same theme. It is marked on four equally weighted criteria. Part 3 is where most bands are decided, because it asks you to reason rather than describe — and it is the part almost nobody rehearses.
The three parts
Part 14–5 min
Introduction and familiar topics — where you live, work or study, hobbies, routines.
Answer in two or three sentences, not one word and not a speech. This part sets the examiner's first impression.
Part 23–4 min
The long turn: a cue card with four bullet points, 1 minute to prepare, 1–2 minutes to speak.
Cover all four bullets and keep talking until stopped. Running dry at 50 seconds costs Fluency marks.
Part 34–5 min
A two-way discussion of abstract questions on the Part 2 theme.
This is where the band is usually won or lost — it asks for extended reasoning, not personal description.
Where to practise
Timed cue-card practice
The real shape: 1 minute to prepare, 1–2 minutes to speak, no restarts. Graded on Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation (estimated).
OpenFull mock interview
All three parts in sequence with the topic threading through, which is how a real interview works and how your Part 3 gets harder than your rehearsal.
OpenCurrent topic forecast
The Part 2 bank rotates in January, May and September. What candidates are reporting for the window we are in, with the nearest card to practise for each.
OpenCue cards by category
Part 2 cards recur across rotations with the nouns swapped — a person, a place, an object, an occasion. Rehearse one card per category and you can adapt to almost anything the examiner produces.
Read first
- Part 1: the questions that actually come up
- Part 2: how to use the one minute
- Part 3: answering abstract follow-ups
- Fluency and Coherence: what it rewards
- Pronunciation: what examiners listen for
- Getting from band 6 to band 7
- Speaking nerves, and what to do about them
Common questions
How long is the IELTS Speaking test?
11 to 14 minutes in total, in three parts: Part 1 is 4 to 5 minutes of questions on familiar topics, Part 2 is a 3 to 4 minute long turn built around a cue card with 1 minute of preparation, and Part 3 is a 4 to 5 minute discussion of more abstract questions on the same theme.
Is IELTS Speaking done with a computer or a person?
A person. Speaking is a live, face-to-face interview with a certified examiner and it has never moved to computer delivery — that did not change when paper-based IELTS ended in June 2026. You will not be talking to a screen or a recording.
How is IELTS Speaking marked?
On four criteria of equal weight: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. Our grading labels Pronunciation as estimated, because judging it properly needs a human examiner listening live rather than a transcript.
How long should you speak in Part 2?
Between 1 and 2 minutes, and you should still be talking when the examiner stops you. Stopping early is the most common Part 2 mistake: it leaves the Fluency criterion with too little evidence, and the four bullet points on the card exist to give you enough to say.
How often do IELTS Speaking topics change?
The Part 2 question bank rotates three times a year — in January, May and September — and each rotation keeps a large share of the previous set. Prepare five or six real experiences you can re-angle onto many prompts rather than memorising answers.
Can I practise IELTS Speaking on my own?
Yes, if you rehearse against the clock rather than just reading model answers. Take a cue card, give yourself exactly 1 minute to prepare and 1 to 2 minutes to speak with no restarts, and record it. Our timed practice does that and grades what you actually said.