Onterra TutorDescribe a person who has inspired you
An IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card, with the structure examiners reward. You get 1 minute to prepare and up to 2 minutes to speak.
The cue card
Describe a person who has inspired you.
You should say:
- who this person is
- how you know them
- what they have done
- and explain why they inspire you.
Your 2-minute structure
- Open with a direct answer (10 seconds). Name your choice immediately: one sentence that answers "describe a person who has inspired you". Do not waste your first 20 seconds on "that's an interesting question".
- Who this person is (about 25 seconds). Give the fact, then add one detail and one feeling. A specific memory always beats a general statement.
- How you know them (about 25 seconds). This is where a past-tense story earns grammar marks. Set the scene in one sentence, then say what happened.
- What they have done (about 25 seconds). Slow down and be concrete: a name, a place, a number. Details are what make an answer sound fluent rather than memorised.
- And explain why they inspire you (about 25 seconds). Link back to your opening sentence with a connector like 'which is exactly why' so the whole answer feels planned.
- Close with why it matters (15 seconds). End on how it affected you or what it taught you. A natural closing line signals confidence to the examiner.
Sample band 8+ answer
About 90 seconds when spoken at a natural pace. Notice how specific the details are; that specificity is what you should copy, not the story itself.
The person who has inspired me most is my Aunt Ronke, my mother's younger sister. I've known her my whole life, obviously, but I only really understood her story when I was a teenager. She lost her job at a bank during a downsizing, and instead of collapsing, she started selling fabrics from the boot of her car. Today she owns two shops and employs six people, and she trained herself in accounting at night while raising three children. What inspires me is not just the success, it's her attitude to setbacks. When something goes wrong she gives herself one evening to be upset, and the next morning she's already asking what can be done. I try to copy that habit before exams and interviews. Honestly, whenever I feel like giving up on something, I picture her arranging fabrics at six in the morning, still cheerful, and my own problems suddenly look smaller.
Why this answer works
- A specific person, a specific setback and a specific habit: detail is what examiners score.
- Past tenses, present tenses and a conditional all appear naturally, showing grammatical range.
- The closing sentence answers 'why they inspire you' instead of trailing off.
What the examiner listens for
Fluency (can you keep going for 2 minutes without long pauses), vocabulary range (topic words, not just "good" and "nice"), and grammar variety (past tenses and linking words like "which is why" and "even though"). Hesitation is normal; stopping is what costs bands. If you lose your thread, say "what I mean is..." and keep moving.