Describe a member of your family you would like to be more like.
A card about a parent, sibling, aunt or grandparent whose character you envy a little. One quality, shown through a story, is stronger than a long list of virtues.
The task card
Describe a member of your family you would like to be more like.
You should say:
- who this person is
- what they are like
- which habit of theirs you have tried to copy
and explain how successful you have been.
Now say it yourself
Record your own two minutes on this card and have it transcribed and marked against the Speaking criteria. Practising is free; the band estimate is part of Pro.
Record my answerHow long you have
- 1 minute
Preparation
The examiner hands you the card, paper and a pencil. Make notes — a few words per cue point, never sentences.
- 1–2 minutes
Your long turn
Speak until the examiner stops you at two minutes. Finishing early is the most common self-inflicted problem in Part 2.
- 1–2 questions
Rounding off
The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions, then moves straight into the Part 3 discussion on the same theme.
Part 2 takes three to four minutes in total. The whole Speaking test runs 11 to 14 minutes across three parts, and Part 3 that follows lasts four to five minutes.
How to approach this card
Introduce the person and your relationship, then give a quick sketch: their job or stage of life and one habit that captures them. Keep this to around thirty seconds — the card is really about one quality, not a full biography.
Choose a single quality for the third bullet and prove it with an episode: the uncle who stayed calm when the car broke down on a motorway, the sister who can say no without apologising. Tell that moment with a line of direct speech if you can.
For 'why you would like to be more like them', contrast the quality with your own habits. Admitting a weakness — you over-explain, you panic, you agree to everything — makes the answer honest and gives you natural reasons to use conditionals such as 'if I could' and 'I'd probably'.
Model answer
Speak your own answer first. Examiners are trained to spot memorised speeches and mark them down — use this to study structure, pacing and naturalness, never to recite.
Show the model answer
The person I'd like to describe is my aunt — my mum's younger sister, Anita — who's in her mid-forties and manages a pharmacy on the other side of my city. She's the relative everyone phones when something goes wrong, partly because she's practical, but mainly because she never seems flustered. If I had to describe her in one word, it'd be 'clear'. She says what she means, kindly, and then she stops talking. That sounds simple, but in my family it's practically a superpower. The habit of hers I've tried hardest to copy is her ability to say no without feeling guilty. At one family wedding, a cousin asked her — in front of about ten people — whether she could host his whole family for three weeks. Everybody went quiet, because in our family that's not really a question, it's an expectation. And Anita just smiled and said, 'I can't do three weeks, but I'd love to have you for the weekend, and I'll help you find somewhere nearby for the rest.' No excuses, no long explanation. And nobody was offended. The cousin actually thanked her. So how successful have I been? Only partly, honestly. I'm a natural people-pleaser; I tend to say yes first and panic later. Last year I agreed to help three different friends move house on the same weekend, which went about as well as you'd expect. But I've started borrowing her formula: say what I can do, not just what I can't. Last month I told a colleague I couldn't cover his whole shift, but I could stay an extra hour, and he was perfectly happy. It's a small win, but it's a start.
Why this works: The answer focuses on a single habit and proves it with one public moment, including the aunt's exact words. The final bullet gets an honest, partial answer, one failure and one small success, which brings in the speaker's own people-pleasing, a reported conversation and a touch of self-deprecating humour without forcing any of them.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- to take after someone
To resemble an older family member in looks or character.
- level-headed
Calm and sensible, especially under pressure.
- to set boundaries
To make clear what you will and will not do; useful for describing quiet confidence.
- a people-pleaser
Someone who finds it hard to refuse others; natural for contrasting yourself with the person.
- I tend to
A useful way to admit a habit honestly without sounding dramatic.
- to know where you stand
To understand clearly what someone thinks or expects.
- to rub off on someone
When a quality gradually passes to another person through contact.
Part 3 discussion
After your long turn the examiner moves into a four to five minute discussion on the same theme, working from two related discussion topics with about three questions each. The first stays close to your own experience; the second widens out. Answer with reasons and examples, not one-line replies.
- 1Do children usually take after their parents in personality?
- 2Which has more influence on a young person's character: family or friends?
- 3Why do some young people choose role models from outside their family?
- 4Is it healthy for people to compare themselves with others?
- 5How have relationships between the generations in families changed?
- 6Can adults really change their personality, or only their habits?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: People and relationships. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.