Describe a gift you chose carefully for someone.
A card about one present you thought hard about — for a parent, a friend, a colleague who was leaving. The thinking behind the choice is the content, so the gift itself can be modest.
The task card
Describe a gift you chose carefully for someone.
You should say:
- who the gift was for
- what the gift was
- how you chose it
and explain why you think it was the right gift.
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
Name the person and the occasion together in your first sentence — 'my younger brother, when he moved out for university' — because the occasion explains why the choice mattered. Then say what the gift was in one clear line before you explain anything else.
'How you chose it' is the bullet that carries this card. Narrate the process: the ideas you rejected, what you noticed about the person that gave you the answer, where you finally found it. A rejected option ('I nearly bought a voucher, which would have been safe and forgettable') shows judgement and gives you contrast language for free.
For the final bullet, describe the reaction as a scene — what they said, whether they understood the thought behind it straight away — and then explain what made the gift right: it solved a problem they had, it referred to a shared memory, it showed you had listened.
The common mistake is choosing an expensive gift and talking about the price. Cost is the least interesting thing about a present; the examiner wants evidence that you know the person.
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
I'd like to talk about a present I gave my closest friend, Anya, when she moved to Canada for work about two years ago — it's probably the one gift I've ever been genuinely proud of. The gift itself was a small notebook, nothing expensive, with fourteen of her mother's recipes written inside it in her mother's own handwriting. The choosing took weeks, honestly. My first ideas were the obvious ones — a decent suitcase, a framed photo of our group — and they all felt like things she'd either already have or leave in a drawer. Then I remembered something she'd said months earlier, almost as a joke: that what she'd miss most wasn't us, it was her mum's cooking, and that nobody had ever written any of it down. So I rang her mum in secret, which was a slightly nervous phone call, and she loved the idea. She spent a fortnight writing the recipes out by hand, with little notes in the margins like 'don't rush the onions' and 'Anya always steals the crispy bits'. I gave it to her at the airport, and for a moment she didn't understand what it was — she flicked through it politely, and then she recognised the handwriting and went completely quiet. Why was it the right gift? Because it was useful and sentimental at the same time, which is rare. She cooks from it most weekends, apparently, and she says the margin notes are the best part — it's a bit like having her mum in the kitchen with her. And it taught me that a good gift usually starts with listening rather than shopping.
Why this works: The answer spends its middle on the choosing — two rejected ideas, a remembered remark, a secret phone call — which is exactly where this card is won. The reaction is told as a small scene with a pause in it rather than reported as 'she was happy', and the final line turns one gift into a general idea about listening. Use the shape — rejected options, the moment of insight, the reaction as a scene — with a gift of your own, never these sentences.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- a thoughtful gift
The standard collocation for a present that shows care; stronger than 'a nice gift'.
- to put a lot of thought into something
Natural phrase for the effort behind the choice.
- to drop a hint
To suggest something indirectly; useful for explaining where the idea came from.
- it's the thought that counts
Fixed expression; use it with a twist rather than as your whole conclusion.
- to be touched by something
To feel emotionally moved; precise for the reaction.
- tailor-made for someone
Perfectly suited to one particular person.
- to go down well
Informal phrasal verb meaning something was well received.
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.
- 1Why do some people find choosing presents stressful?
- 2Is giving money or vouchers a thoughtful choice or a lazy one?
- 3How has online shopping changed the way people choose gifts?
- 4Can expensive gifts put pressure on a relationship?
- 5Why do companies give gifts to their clients and employees?
- 6Will experiences replace physical objects as the most popular kind of gift?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: Objects and possessions. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.