Describe a time you had to speak in front of a group of people.
A card about a presentation, a wedding speech, a talk to new students, a toast or a pitch. Nerves are expected here, so the interesting part is what you did with them.
The task card
Describe a time you had to speak in front of a group of people.
You should say:
- when and where it happened
- who you were speaking to
- what you talked about
and explain how you felt before and after speaking.
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 the scene precisely: the room, the size of the audience, why you were the one speaking. Whether it was twelve colleagues or two hundred wedding guests, a clear picture of the audience makes the nerves in the rest of your answer believable.
For 'what you talked about', summarise the content in two or three sentences, then pick one moment from the talk itself — a joke that landed, a slide that failed, a question you had not expected. One live moment is worth more than a summary of every point you made.
The final bullet asks about before and after, which gives you a ready-made contrast. Describe the physical side honestly for 'before' — a dry mouth, shaking notes, rehearsing in the corridor — then the relief, pride or surprise afterwards.
The common mistake is claiming you felt no nerves at all, which sounds unconvincing. A strong answer admits the fear and explains one practical thing you did to manage it.
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 describe the time I was invited back to my old secondary school to give a talk at their careers day. This was last spring, in the same hall where I used to sit through assemblies, which was a slightly strange feeling in itself. The audience was about a hundred and twenty fifteen-year-olds, plus a few teachers standing along the walls — including my old biology teacher, which didn't help my nerves at all. I'd been asked because I work as a lab technician in a hospital, and the school wanted someone who'd taken a less obvious route into science. The talk was meant to be fifteen minutes on what my job involves and how I got there. I started badly. I opened with a question — 'Who here knows what happens to a blood sample after it's taken?' — and got absolute silence. Not one hand. My mind went blank for a second, so I abandoned my plan and told them instead about failing my first-year exams at college and nearly dropping out, and you could actually feel the room wake up. By the end they were asking proper questions, and one boy at the back asked how much I earn, which got the biggest laugh of the day. Beforehand I felt awful. I'd barely slept, I'd rehearsed three times in my car, and my hands were shaking so much that I put my notes in my pocket so nobody would see them tremble. Afterwards, though, it was a huge weight off my shoulders — and something more than relief, actually. A girl came up at the end, said she hadn't known my job even existed, and asked which subjects she'd need. That one conversation made the sleepless night completely worth it.
Why this works: The scene is set with telling details — the old assembly hall, the former biology teacher by the wall — so the nerves feel earned. The failed opening question gives the talk one live moment and shows the speaker thinking on their feet, and the before-and-after contrast in the final bullet moves from physical symptoms to a specific conversation that proves the talk mattered, rather than ending on general relief.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- butterflies in my stomach
Idiom for nervous excitement before an event.
- my mind went blank
To suddenly forget what you were going to say.
- to break the ice
To make people feel more relaxed at the start.
- to win the audience over
To make listeners friendly and supportive.
- to think on my feet
To react quickly and well to something unexpected.
- to stumble over my words
To make small speaking mistakes because of nerves.
- a weight off my shoulders
The relief you feel when something stressful is over.
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 are so many people nervous about speaking in public?
- 2Should public speaking be taught as a subject in schools?
- 3Which jobs require strong presentation skills, and why?
- 4Is a confident speaker always a trustworthy one?
- 5How is speaking to an online audience different from speaking to people in the same room?
- 6Do audiences pay more attention to how something is said than to what is said?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: Events and experiences. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.