An older person you admire
IELTS Speaking Part 2 · cue card
Describe an older person you know whom you admire.
You should say:
- who this person is
- how you know them
- what they are like
- and explain why you admire them
You have one minute to prepare and should speak for one to two minutes.
Free account required for the live AI partner.
Band 7+ sample answer
About 233 words, roughly two minutes spoken. Use it for ideas and language, not to memorise: examiners notice rehearsed answers.
The older person I admire most is my grandfather, my dada, who is eighty-two and still lives in our village home in Rajshahi.
I spent most of my school holidays with him, so I know him far better than most grandchildren know their grandparents. He was a farmer for most of his life, and later he became the chairman of a small cooperative that helped local farmers sell mangoes directly to buyers in Dhaka instead of through middlemen.
In terms of personality, he's calm, curious and remarkably stubborn in a good way. Even now, he wakes up before sunrise, walks to the orchard and checks every tree himself. What amazes me is that he's always willing to learn. Two years ago he asked me to teach him how to use a smartphone, and now he video-calls me every Friday and even watches videos about new farming techniques.
I admire him for a few reasons. One is his resilience. He lost almost his whole harvest in a flood in the late nineties, and instead of giving up, he organised the other farmers to rebuild together. Another is his honesty; people in the village still come to him to settle disagreements, because they trust him to be fair. Basically, he shows me that getting older doesn't have to mean slowing down mentally, and I hope I'm half as curious as he is at his age.
Useful vocabulary
- middlemen
- traders between producers and buyers
- stubborn in a good way
- determined and not easily discouraged
- resilience
- ability to recover from difficulty
- settle disagreements
- help people end an argument
- slowing down mentally
- becoming less active in thinking
- remarkably
- surprisingly, noticeably
Part 3 follow-up questions
- What can young people learn from older people?
- How are elderly people looked after in your country?
- Is it better for old people to live with their families or in care homes?
- Why do some older people find technology difficult?
- Will people work for longer in the future? Why?
Tip: in Part 3, give an opinion, a reason and an example, and consider another point of view. Aim for 3–5 sentences per answer.
How to practise this card
- Set a one-minute timer and write keywords for each bullet, not full sentences.
- Speak for two minutes and record yourself on your phone.
- Listen back: did you cover every bullet and the "explain" part? Note one phrase from the vocabulary list to use next time.
- Answer two Part 3 questions out loud, then try the card again with the AI Speaking Partner.