Speaking Part 2 · ExperiencesIn the Sep–Dec 2026 reported set
Describe a Time When You Got Up Extremely Early
In short
“Describe a Time When You Got Up Extremely Early” 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 Time When You Got Up Extremely Early. You should say:
- •When this was
- •Why you had to get up early
- •What you did
- •And explain how you felt about getting up at that time
Band 9 model answer
The time I'll describe was about eighteen months ago, when a friend talked me into climbing a hill near where she lives to watch the sunrise. We set the alarms for half past two in the morning, which at the time I agreed to with what I can only describe as misplaced confidence.
The reason for the hour was simply arithmetic. Sunrise was at about twenty past five, the walk up takes a good two hours if you're not in a hurry, and she was adamant that we needed half an hour at the top beforehand rather than arriving at a sprint. Add the drive to the car park, and half past two was what fell out of the calculation. I remember arguing for three o'clock and losing.
What we actually did was drive out in complete silence — neither of us was capable of conversation — and start walking at about quarter past three with head torches. The first hour was genuinely unpleasant. It was cold, I couldn't see anything beyond a small circle of path, and I was privately composing an argument for turning back. Then somewhere around four the sky started going a very faint grey, and you could suddenly make out the shape of the hills around us, and the whole thing changed. We got to the top at about ten to five, ate the sandwiches she'd made the night before, and sat there while it got light.
How I felt about it moved through roughly three stages. At half past two I was resentful in a way I'm not especially proud of. On the way up I was cold and quietly furious. And then at the top I was — well, smug is probably the honest word. There's a particular satisfaction in having already done something significant before most people have woken up, and I understood for the first time why she does it regularly.
The part that surprised me was the quiet. I'd expected the view, and the view was good, but what I hadn't anticipated was how completely silent everything was — no traffic anywhere, no planes, just wind. I don't think I'd ever experienced that before, and I've thought about it since.
I'd like to claim it turned me into an early riser. It absolutely did not; I slept for most of that afternoon and was useless for a day afterwards. But I'd do it again, which I suppose is the real test, and I've stopped assuming that getting up before dawn is only ever a punishment.
Make it your own: three angles
An early start for travel, an exam or an interview
The most common experience and perfectly usable — anchor it to the nerves and the strangeness of the hour rather than to the logistics.
Getting up for something you chose (sunrise, a match, a market)
Usually the stronger answer, because the fourth bullet has somewhere interesting to go: you can contrast dreading it with being glad you did it.
A period when early starts were routine
Works if you had a job or duty that required it. Lets you use used to / would for habitual past, which is good range.
What the examiner is listening for
The fourth bullet is asking for a feeling, and a feeling that CHANGES gives you far more to say than one that doesn't — the model runs resentment, then anger, then something close to smugness. That progression also forces a range of past forms naturally. Keep the reason for the early start brief; candidates often spend a minute on logistics and then have nothing left for the part being marked.
Part 1 warm-up questions
- What time do you usually wake up?
- Are you a morning person or an evening person?
- Do you use an alarm?
- Has your sleeping routine changed in recent years?
Part 3 follow-up questions & answers
Why do some people prefer mornings and others evenings?
There's a genuine biological component — chronotypes are partly genetic and shift with age, which is why teenagers naturally sleep later and often can't help it. But habit and circumstance matter just as much. People whose work or family life forces an early start usually adapt, and people with quiet evenings tend to claim that time for themselves. So it's a mix of wiring and what your life actually allows.
Do you think people get enough sleep nowadays?
Broadly no, and the evidence on this is fairly consistent. Artificial light pushed bedtimes back long before screens did, and screens have accelerated it. What I find interesting is that sleep deprivation was treated as a badge of commitment for a long time — people boasted about it — and that attitude has only recently started to shift as the health consequences became harder to ignore.
Should schools start later in the day?
For teenagers there's a reasonable case, since the research on adolescent sleep cycles is quite strong — their body clocks genuinely shift later, so an eight o'clock start asks them to learn while biologically half asleep. The obstacle isn't really the evidence, it's logistics: school hours are built around parents' working days, and moving them creates childcare problems that nobody has properly solved.
Is it better to work early in the morning or late at night?
It depends entirely on the person and somewhat on the task. Mornings tend to suit anything requiring concentration, because you're less depleted and there are fewer interruptions. Late nights suit work that benefits from a looser, less critical frame of mind — a lot of creative work gets done then. The mistake is forcing yourself onto someone else's schedule because it sounds more disciplined.
How has technology affected people’s sleep?
Two ways, I think. The light itself is part of it, though probably overstated. The bigger issue is that phones are designed to be hard to stop using, so people who intended to sleep at eleven look up and it's one. And the boundary has gone: when work messages can reach you in bed, the day never formally ends, so the brain doesn't get the signal to wind down.
Do people in your country wake up earlier than in the past?
Earlier than a generation ago, I'd say, mostly because commutes have got longer and cities have spread out — people get up early to travel, not because they want to be awake. In rural areas it's probably been fairly stable for centuries, because the work has always been tied to daylight. So it's an urban change rather than a national one.
Are early risers more successful?
I'm sceptical of that claim, and it gets repeated a lot. Plenty of successful people are early risers and plenty aren't; the ones who are tend to write books about it, which skews the impression badly. What probably does matter is consistency and having protected time for your most demanding work — whether that lands at six in the morning or ten at night seems largely incidental.
Useful vocabulary
| Word / phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| to set an alarm | to arrange for something to wake you |
| the crack of dawn | very early in the morning |
| a morning person | someone who functions well early |
| to drag yourself out of bed | to get up with great difficulty |
| to be worth the effort | to justify the trouble taken |
| groggy | dazed and slow after waking |
| to have an early start | to begin the day very early |
| to wind down | to relax before sleeping |
| a body clock | your natural sleep and waking rhythm |
| to catch up on sleep | to sleep extra after losing sleep |
More cue cards
Describe an Outdoor Activity You Enjoy
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