Describe a surprise you planned for someone else.
A card about a surprise party, an unexpected visit, a secret trip or a homemade gift. The planning and the near-misses make the story; the reaction is the payoff.
The task card
Describe a surprise you planned for someone else.
You should say:
- who the surprise was for
- what you planned
- how you kept it secret
and explain how the person reacted.
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
Open with the person and the occasion, and give one detail that explains why they deserved a surprise — a difficult year, a big birthday, a habit of organising things for everyone else. This makes the whole story feel motivated rather than random.
For 'what you planned', walk through the preparations in order: who you recruited, what had to be booked, what went wrong. Sequencing language — 'first of all', 'by the following week', 'the night before' — keeps a busy story easy to follow.
'How you kept it secret' is your best source of humour and tension. Describe one near-miss: a message sent to the wrong group, a cover story that almost collapsed. A specific lie you had to tell is far more memorable than 'it was difficult to keep it secret'.
Slow down for the reaction. Describe the first second — the face, the silence, the first words — before the celebration that followed. The common mistake is rushing this moment, which is the whole point of the card.
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 surprise my brother and I organised for our parents' thirtieth wedding anniversary, last March. They're the kind of couple who organise everything for everyone else and never make a fuss about themselves, so we decided it was about time someone made a fuss for them. The plan was a lunch at the small restaurant where they'd had their first meal as a married couple. It's still running, though it's now managed by the original owner's son. We showed him an old photo of our parents sitting there, and he got quite excited and offered to cook a dish from the menu back then. Then we invited about fourteen relatives, including my father's sister, who flew in specially from Toronto. Keeping it secret was the hard part. Our cover story was that we were all going to a lunch for my cousin's engagement, which was believable because the engagement was real. The near-disaster came a week before, when my aunt posted 'see you all at the surprise on Saturday!' in the big family group chat — the one my mum is in. My brother spotted it within about two minutes, and luckily my aunt deleted it before Mum looked at her phone. I don't think my heart rate came down until the evening. The reaction was the best part. My father walked in first, saw his sister and just stopped dead in the doorway — he was completely lost for words, which never happens. My mother recognised the place a second later and started laughing and crying at the same time. And then, typically, my father said, 'This is the wrong table — we sat by the window,' so the whole party had to move. It was worth every awkward lie.
Why this works: The motivation is set up in one line — parents who never make a fuss about themselves — the planning is sequenced clearly, and the group-chat near-miss turns 'how you kept it secret' into real tension rather than a general claim. The reaction gets the time the strategy asks for, from the frozen doorway to laughing and crying at once, and the father's quoted correction about the table ends the story with character and humour.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- to be in on the secret
To know about something that is being hidden from someone else.
- a cover story
A false explanation used to hide what is really happening.
- to give the game away
To reveal a secret by accident; perfect for near-misses.
- to catch someone off guard
To surprise someone when they are not prepared.
- to be lost for words
Too surprised or moved to speak; useful for the reaction.
- behind the scenes
Describes the hidden organising work.
- worth all the effort
Simple, natural way to close the story.
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 people enjoy giving surprises as much as receiving them?
- 2Some people dislike surprises. Should others respect that?
- 3Have personal celebrations become too expensive?
- 4How has social media changed the way people celebrate birthdays and anniversaries?
- 5Is it harder to keep a secret today than it was in the past?
- 6Do different cultures have different attitudes towards surprises and gifts?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: Events and experiences. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.