Describe a piece of advice that helped you make a good decision.
A card about one useful suggestion before a real choice. It works best with a modest decision, such as choosing a course, changing a routine or taking an opportunity you nearly refused.
The task card
Describe a piece of advice that helped you make a good decision.
You should say:
- who gave you the advice
- what the decision was
- what they told you
and explain how the advice helped you.
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
Set up the decision first: explain the two options you were weighing and why neither felt easy. Then introduce the person who advised you and why you trusted them; a sibling, manager or teacher can all work if you give the relationship one concrete detail.
Quote or paraphrase the advice in a simple sentence, then show how it changed what you did. A strong answer includes the doubt you still had afterwards, because useful advice does not always make a decision effortless.
For the final bullet, explain the result and the lesson. Perhaps the advice stopped you rushing, made you value a long-term goal, or helped you notice a risk you had ignored. The common mistake is giving a moral without explaining the actual decision you made.
Ideas you can actually use
Three angles on this card. Pick the one closest to something real in your own life — invented material is what makes candidates hesitate at ninety seconds.
Advice worth talking about
- Advice you initially disagreed with, which gives you a much better story
- One sentence you can quote directly — the quotation is the centre of the answer
- Advice from someone unexpected: a stranger, a colleague, someone much younger than you
The decision it helped with
- Keep it modest and real — a course, a job, a move, whether to say something difficult
- Explain what made it hard: two good options, or two bad ones
- Say what you were leaning towards before the advice, so the change is visible
Why the advice worked
- It reframed the question rather than answering it
- It came from someone who had made the same decision and got it wrong
- It gave you permission to do the thing you already wanted to do
What your one minute of notes should look like
Not sentences — a few words per cue point. This is the level of detail sixty seconds actually buys you, and it is enough to speak from for two minutes.
- WHO — my old manager, Priya, over coffee, ~5 yrs ago
- DECISION — take a lower-paid job or stay put
- SAID — 'you're choosing between a year of money and five years of learning'
- HELPED — reframed the timescale; took it; still there
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 advice came from a former manager of mine, Priya, who I hadn't worked with for about two years at that point. We met for coffee, not to discuss it, and I brought it up mainly because I had run out of people to bore about it. The decision was whether to leave a comfortable, reasonably well-paid job for one that paid noticeably less but was in an area I actually wanted to work in. I had been going round in circles for about six weeks. Everyone I asked told me to follow my passion, which is advice that's completely useless because it doesn't engage with the fact that rent exists. And everyone older than me told me to be sensible. So I had two camps, both confident, and neither of them helping. What she said was short. She said: you aren't choosing between more money and less money, you're choosing between one year of money and five years of learning, and you're pricing them as if they were the same currency. And that was it. She didn't tell me what to do — she quite deliberately refused to, actually, when I pushed her. Why did it help? Because it didn't answer the question, it changed the question. I had framed it as a trade-off between now and now, and she reframed it as a trade-off between now and later, which is a completely different sum. Once I saw it that way the answer was obvious within about a day. I took the job. That was five years ago, and I'm still in that field, earning more than I'd have been on the other path, which isn't the point but is quite satisfying. The part I've kept, though, is the technique rather than the outcome — whenever I'm stuck now, I check whether I'm comparing two things that aren't actually the same kind of thing.
Why this works: The advice is quoted directly in one sentence, which is exactly right: the quotation is the centre of gravity and everything else supports it. The decision is set up so the listener understands why it was hard, including the two useless camps of advice, which is a genuinely observant detail. The last paragraph separates outcome from lesson and closes on the transferable technique, which is a considerably stronger ending than 'it was good advice'.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- to weigh up the options
To consider different choices carefully before deciding.
- a second opinion
Advice from another person before making a decision.
- to keep an open mind
To remain willing to consider a different view.
- sound advice
Advice that is sensible and reliable.
- to put things into perspective
To make a problem seem more manageable by considering the wider situation.
- to make an informed decision
To decide after considering useful information and consequences.
The same phrases in a full sentence
A phrase list is only useful if you know how the words sit around it. Say each of these aloud once before you attempt the card.
- it put things in perspective
- “One sentence from her put the whole thing in perspective.”
- I was in two minds about it
- “I had been in two minds about it for weeks and getting nowhere.”
- to talk it through with someone
- “I only really needed to talk it through with someone who had done it before.”
- with hindsight
- “With hindsight it was the single best decision I have made about work.”
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.
Giving and taking advice
Example questions
- 1Who do people usually turn to for advice in your country?
- 2Why do people sometimes ignore good advice?
- 3Is it better to get advice from family or from friends?
Making decisions
Example questions
- 1How much should young people rely on their parents when making decisions?
- 2Can you suggest why some decisions are harder than others?
- 3Do you agree that people make worse decisions when they are rushed?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: Events and experiences. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.