Describe a place where you used to study that you remember well.
A card about a library, a classroom, a coaching centre, a café table or a corner of your home. It does not need to be impressive — the habits and atmosphere you remember are the answer.
The task card
Describe a place where you used to study that you remember well.
You should say:
- where it was
- when you studied there
- what it was like to study there
and explain why you remember it so well.
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 place and the period together: 'the back room of a coaching centre, the winter before my entrance exams'. The period matters because it gives the place a purpose — an exam, a degree, a new job — and that purpose explains why you remember it.
For 'what it was like to study there', describe a typical session: when you arrived, where you sat, what you could hear, what you did on breaks. Routine detail lets you use 'used to' and 'would' for past habits, which is exactly the grammar this card invites.
Include one rule, character or object that made the place unique — the librarian who switched the lights off at ten, the sign that banned food at the desks, the chair you always tried to get. One vivid detail is worth a minute of general description.
The common mistake is answering the last bullet with 'because I studied hard there'. Explain the memory: it is tied to a result, to people you met, or to a version of yourself you can still picture. If you have been back since, say how that felt.
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 place I want to describe is a self-study hall I used during my last year of school — basically a big room above a chemist's shop, about fifteen minutes from my house, where you paid a monthly fee to rent your own desk. Our house was noisy that year, because my cousins were staying with us, so my father found the place through a friend. For about ten months I went almost every day after school, from around four until nine or ten at night. It was very strict, in a good way. There were maybe forty desks in rows, each with wooden panels on three sides, so all you could see were your own books. The owner, a retired schoolteacher we all called Masterji, sat by the door and enforced one rule above all: no talking, not even whispering. If your phone buzzed, he'd look at you over his glasses, and that was enough. The only sounds were the ceiling fans, pages turning, and now and then someone sighing at a maths problem. On breaks we'd go downstairs for sweet tea from the stall outside, and that was the only time anybody spoke. One reason I remember it so well is that it worked. I'd never studied that consistently before, and my results were better than I'd expected. The other is the feeling of the place: everyone in that room was working towards something, and you could sense it in the silence. Last year I went back to drop something off for my younger brother, who studies there now, and walking up those narrow stairs took me straight back — the smell of dust and old paper, and that very serious quiet.
Why this works: The first two bullets are combined into one opening paragraph, which leaves time for the routine. Past-habit grammar ('he'd look at you over his glasses', 'we'd go downstairs') carries that routine naturally, and the no-whispering rule gives the place a personality. The last bullet goes well beyond 'I studied hard there': a result, a shared sense of purpose, and a return visit that brings the memory back through smell and silence.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- to knuckle down
To start working hard and seriously; natural for exam periods.
- a study routine
The regular pattern of when and how you study.
- free of distractions
Without things that pull your attention away from work.
- a focused atmosphere
Describes a place where everyone is working seriously.
- to cram for an exam
To study intensively just before a test; informal but very common.
- he'd look at you over his glasses
'Would' for a repeated past habit — the structure this card naturally pulls out.
- it took me straight back
Natural phrase for a memory returning vividly when you revisit a place.
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.
- 1What makes a good environment for studying?
- 2Do students today find it harder to concentrate than students in the past?
- 3Should libraries change to meet the needs of modern students?
- 4Is it better to study alone or with other people?
- 5How has technology changed where and how people study?
- 6Should schools and universities provide more quiet space for students?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: Places. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.