Speaking Part 2 · Media & abstractIn the May–Aug 2026 forecast
Describe a Piece of Advice Someone Gave You
In short
“Describe a Piece of Advice Someone Gave You” is a common IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card. You get 1 minute to prepare and should speak for 1–2 minutes, covering all four points below. This page gives you a Band 9 model answer, an idea map so you can make it your own, the Part 3 follow-up questions with answers, and the vocabulary examiners reward.
The task card
Describe a Piece of Advice Someone Gave You. You should say:
- •What the advice was
- •Who gave it to you
- •When they gave it to you
- •And explain how it helped you
Band 9 model answer
The piece of advice I would like to describe is something my grandmother said to me, which was so simple that I dismissed it at the time and have quoted it ever since: 'Don't wait until you feel ready, because you never will.'
She said it to me when I was in my late teens, agonising over whether to apply for something I felt underqualified for. I was making every excuse — I needed more experience, better timing, more confidence — and she cut straight through it with that one line.
At the time it slightly annoyed me, honestly, because it was easy for her to say. But it lodged in my head, and over the years I've come to see how right she was. Almost every worthwhile thing I've done — moving abroad, changing careers, speaking in public — I've done before I felt truly ready, because there is no moment when the fear conveniently disappears.
How it helped me is that it reframed fear as normal rather than as a stop sign. Now, when I catch myself waiting to 'feel ready', I recognise it as procrastination in disguise and act anyway. It's stood me in good stead more times than I can count, and it's the piece of advice I most often pass on. I think the best advice is like that — plain, almost obvious, but the kind of thing you only really understand once life has tested it a few times.
Make it your own: three angles
Advice from family
A grandparent or parent — warm, memorable, and easy to explain the lasting effect.
Advice from a teacher or mentor
Good for a specific turning point and how it shaped you.
Advice from a friend
Works well for a relatable, everyday moment that stuck with you.
What the examiner is listening for
Quote the advice directly — it makes the answer vivid and gives you something concrete to explain. Use reported and direct speech, past tenses for the moment it was given, and the present perfect for its lasting effect ('it's helped me ever since'). The 'how it helped' bullet is where the marks are.
Part 1 warm-up questions
- Do you often give advice to others?
- Whose advice do you trust most?
- Do young people usually listen to advice?
- Is it better to learn from advice or from experience?
Part 3 follow-up questions & answers
Why do people often ignore good advice?
Usually because acting on it is uncomfortable — good advice often tells us to do the hard thing we're avoiding. We also tend to trust our own reasoning over others', and advice that clashes with what we want to hear is easy to rationalise away. Timing matters too: we only absorb advice when we're ready for it.
Is advice from experience better than advice from books?
They serve different purposes. Experience gives advice weight and nuance — someone who has actually done it knows the pitfalls. Books offer breadth and structured knowledge you couldn't gather alone. The best guidance usually combines the two: principles from books, tempered by someone who has lived them.
Should we always follow expert advice?
We should take it seriously, because experts have knowledge most of us lack, but not follow it blindly. Experts can disagree, have biases, or miss the specifics of your situation. The sensible approach is to understand the reasoning behind the advice, then apply judgement, rather than outsourcing the decision entirely.
Do people give too much unsolicited advice?
Often, yes — many people offer advice to feel useful or to project their own experience onto others, even when it isn't wanted. Unsolicited advice can feel like criticism and rarely lands well. Generally, asking whether someone wants advice, or simply listening, is far more helpful than jumping in with solutions.
How has the internet changed where people get advice?
Dramatically — people now turn to search engines, forums, and social media before family or professionals for almost everything. That democratises access to information, which is genuinely valuable, but it also spreads confident misinformation, so the modern skill is judging which sources online are actually trustworthy.
Can bad advice be harmful?
Very much so, especially on important matters like health, money, or major decisions, where following the wrong guidance can have lasting consequences. What makes it dangerous is that bad advice is often delivered just as confidently as good advice, so people need to consider the source and the reasoning, not just how sure the person sounds.
Useful vocabulary
| Word / phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| to take (advice) on board | to accept and act on advice |
| words of wisdom | wise, valuable advice |
| to stand someone in good stead | to be useful to someone over time |
| to follow through | to complete what you started |
| with hindsight | looking back, knowing what happened |
| worth its weight in gold | extremely valuable |
| food for thought | something worth thinking about |
| level-headed | calm and sensible |
| to put (something) into practice | to actually use an idea |
| a turning point | a moment of important change |
More cue cards
Describe a Difficult Decision You Made
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