Describe a little-known historic place that you think deserves more visitors.
A card about a fort, temple, ruin, old well or abandoned station that most people have never heard of. The history only needs a sentence or two; what carries the two minutes is your experience of being there and your case for why others should go.
The task card
Describe a little-known historic place that you think deserves more visitors.
You should say:
- where it is and how you came to visit it
- what is left of it today
- something you learned about its past
and explain what would be gained or lost if it became better known.
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
Choose somewhere you have really been. Small and local is exactly what the card wants — a crumbling stepwell at the edge of a market town, a temple ruin in the middle of a farmer's field. Say where it is and how you ended up there within the first few sentences; the 'how' is often a story in itself.
'What is left of it today' is your description bullet. Make the place physical: walls, gateways, carvings, the view from the top, what has grown over it. Describing what you saw, heard and touched is what turns 'it was very old' into precise, band 7 language.
Do not attempt a history lecture. Pick one fact that genuinely surprised you and say how you learned it — a guide, an information board, an older relative. If you are unsure of a date, say 'around' or 'I think'; that is natural and costs you nothing.
The final bullet asks for an argument, so give reasons beyond 'it is beautiful': what it teaches, what it feels like to have it nearly to yourself, what more visitors might pay for. A strong answer also admits the risk — crowds, litter, damage — and says what kind of visitors the place could cope with.
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 an old hill fort just outside the village where my grandmother grew up. Almost nobody in my city has heard of it, and I only went because, two winters ago, she decided she wanted to climb up there once more while her knees still allowed it. She'd played there as a girl, so my younger brother and I went along to carry the water and the shawls. What's left is mostly in ruins: thick stone walls along the top of the hill, a couple of gateways still standing, and steps worn smooth and slightly hollow in the middle by hundreds of years of feet. We got there early, and the only other person around was a man selling tea at the bottom of the path. What I learned, partly from a faded information board and partly from my grandmother, was about water. The fort was built around four hundred years ago, and the builders cut huge tanks into the rock to collect rain, because whoever controlled the water could survive a siege. Apparently it was only taken once, and not in battle — the defenders gave up after a dry year. Standing at the edge of one of those tanks, looking down at the green water, I actually got goosebumps. I think more people should see it because it teaches you something a famous monument can't. With no queues or loudspeakers, you notice small things, and you have time to imagine the people who lived there. I wouldn't want coach parties, because the paths couldn't take it. But a steady trickle of school groups, and a few more signs from the main road, would stop it being forgotten.
Why this works: The history is limited to one fact, delivered with natural hedging ('around four hundred years', 'apparently'), so the answer never turns into a lecture. Worn steps and green water make the place physical, and the final bullet is argued rather than gushed: a reason a famous site cannot match, plus an honest limit on the kind of visitors the fort could cope with.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- off the beaten track
Away from the places most tourists go; precise for a little-known site.
- to date back to
Standard phrase for the age of a place: 'it dates back to the sixteenth century'.
- mostly in ruins
Describes a building that has largely fallen down.
- to be overlooked
To receive less attention or value than something deserves.
- a sense of history
The feeling that important past events happened in a place.
- to bring the past to life
What a good guide or information board does; useful for the 'learned' bullet.
- it gave me goosebumps
Informal but natural for a sudden strong emotional reaction.
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 is it important for a country to preserve its historic sites?
- 2Why do a few famous sites attract most of a country's tourists?
- 3Should historic places be free to visit, or should visitors pay?
- 4Do large numbers of tourists damage historic places?
- 5How can schools make history more interesting for young people?
- 6Should ruined buildings be rebuilt, or left as they are?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: Places. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.