Speaking Part 2 · ExperiencesIn the May–Aug 2026 forecast
Describe a Promise You Made
In short
“Describe a Promise You Made” 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 Promise You Made. You should say:
- •Who you made the promise to
- •What the promise was about
- •Whether you managed to keep it
- •And explain how you felt about making it
Band 9 model answer
The promise I'd like to describe is one I made to my younger cousin, Maya, who was about eight at the time. She was absolutely terrified of water, and one summer I promised her that by the end of the holidays I'd have her swimming. It sounds like a small thing, but it ended up mattering far more than either of us expected, so it sprang straight to mind.
The way it came about was that we were all staying at my grandparents' place for the summer, and there was a little pool nearby. All the other kids would be splashing about having the time of their lives, and Maya would just sit at the edge with her feet dangling in, looking utterly miserable. She'd had a bad scare as a toddler, apparently, so she'd built up this real dread of the water. One evening she asked me, half-joking, whether I could teach her, and without really thinking it through I said, 'I promise you'll be swimming before we go home.'
And I did keep it, though it was a good deal harder than I'd bargained for. We started with the basics — just getting her comfortable putting her face in the water — and then floating, and she'd panic and grab onto my arm constantly. There were a couple of mornings where she cried and wanted to quit, and honestly so did I. But we stuck at it, twenty minutes every single day, and by the final week she managed to swim the whole width of the pool completely on her own.
As for how I felt about making that promise, I'll be honest — at first I slightly regretted it, because I realised I'd committed myself to something without any idea whether I could actually deliver, and the last thing on earth I wanted was to let a scared little kid down. That really raised the stakes for me. But looking back, I'm genuinely glad I said it out loud, because turning it into a proper promise meant I couldn't just throw in the towel when it got tedious or slow. The look on her face when she realised she was swimming, totally unaided, was absolutely priceless — she was beaming and shouting for everyone to come and watch. That feeling, of having actually changed how someone sees themselves, is something I don't think I'll ever forget.
So on the surface it was only a small promise, just a summer thing between two cousins, but it taught me that keeping your word genuinely matters, and that sometimes a promise can push you to follow through on something you'd otherwise happily wriggle out of. And I think we're still so close today largely because of that one summer.
Make it your own: three angles
A promise to help or teach someone
Gives you a clear beginning, effort in the middle and a satisfying payoff — perfect narrative shape for a two-minute turn.
A promise to a family member
Adds emotional weight and lets you talk about relationships and trust, which examiners love hearing developed.
A promise you found hard to keep
The struggle is what makes it interesting; describing the temptation to give up shows range and honesty.
What the examiner is listening for
Choose a promise with a clear outcome so you can answer the 'whether you kept it' bullet honestly and then dwell on your feelings, which is the graded fourth point. Show emotional range — the doubt, the pressure, then the payoff — and mix narrative past tenses with reflective present-tense evaluation.
Part 1 warm-up questions
- Do you always keep your promises?
- Have you ever broken a promise?
- Is it easy for you to trust other people's promises?
- Do you think promises are more important between friends or in business?
Part 3 follow-up questions & answers
Why is it important for people to keep their promises?
I'd say it's the foundation of trust — if someone repeatedly breaks their word, you simply stop relying on anything they say. On a bigger scale, whole relationships and even reputations are built on reliability. Once you've earned a name for keeping promises, people trust you with far more important things.
Do you think people make promises too easily nowadays?
I do, actually. People often say 'I promise' or 'let's definitely meet up' almost as a social reflex, without really meaning it. I think we underestimate the weight of the word, so it gets watered down. A promise should be something you only make when you fully intend to follow through.
Are promises between friends different from promises made in business?
Yes, quite different. Between friends a promise is informal and rests on personal trust and goodwill. In business it's usually formalised into contracts with real consequences if you break them. That said, a business that consistently keeps its informal promises tends to build the strongest loyalty, so the line isn't as sharp as it seems.
What should a person do if they realise they can't keep a promise?
The honest thing is to own up as early as possible rather than leaving the other person hanging. A sincere apology and a proper explanation go a long way, and where you can, you should offer some alternative. What really damages trust isn't so much the broken promise as staying silent and letting someone down without warning.
Do you think politicians generally keep the promises they make?
Sadly, I'm fairly sceptical about that. Election promises are often made to win votes, and once in office politicians blame circumstances or the previous government for not delivering. To be fair, some pledges are genuinely derailed by events outside their control, but the pattern is common enough that most voters have grown quite cynical.
Is it ever acceptable to break a promise?
I'd say yes, in certain situations. If keeping a promise would cause real harm, or if circumstances change so dramatically that the original promise no longer makes sense, then breaking it can be the responsible choice. The key is your intention at the time — breaking a promise for a good reason is very different from never meaning to keep it.
How do children learn the importance of keeping their word?
Mostly by example, I think — they watch whether the adults around them actually do what they say. When parents keep their small promises, kids absorb that it matters; when they don't, children learn the opposite. Gently holding children to their own little promises, too, teaches them early that words carry weight.
Useful vocabulary
| Word / phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| to keep your word | to do exactly what you said you would do |
| to go back on your word | to fail to do something you had promised |
| to let someone down | to disappoint someone by failing to do what they expected |
| to raise the stakes | to increase the importance of or the risk involved in something |
| to have second thoughts | to begin to doubt a decision you have already made |
| to follow through (on something) | to complete something you started or promised to do |
| to throw in the towel | to give up or admit defeat |
| to bite off more than you can chew | to take on more than you are able to manage |
| to wriggle out of (something) | to avoid doing something you should do, often by making excuses |
| priceless | so valuable or meaningful that it cannot be measured |
More cue cards
Describe a Piece of Advice Someone Gave You
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