Onterra TutorDescribe a website or app you often use
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 website or app you often use.
You should say:
- what it is
- how you found out about it
- what you use it for
- and explain why you use it so often.
Your 2-minute structure
- Open with a direct answer (10 seconds). Name your choice immediately: one sentence that answers "describe a website or app you often use". Do not waste your first 20 seconds on "that's an interesting question".
- What it is (about 25 seconds). Give the fact, then add one detail and one feeling. A specific memory always beats a general statement.
- How you found out about it (about 25 seconds). This is where a past-tense story earns grammar marks. Set the scene in one sentence, then say what happened.
- What you use it for (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 you use it so often (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 app I use most, apart from the obvious messaging ones, is a budgeting app I discovered through a friend's recommendation about two years ago, after a month where my salary simply evaporated and I couldn't explain where it went. I use it to record every expense, split spending into categories, and set a weekly allowance for things like eating out. What keeps me using it daily is a small design touch: it sends one summary each evening, so I get a tiny moment of accountability without feeling policed. The results have been honestly life-changing in a quiet way: within six months I had built my first real emergency fund, and when my laptop died suddenly I replaced it without borrowing, which for me was a completely new experience. I use it so often because it turned money from a source of anxiety into something I feel I'm steering. I've probably recommended it to twenty people, the same way it was recommended to me.
Why this answer works
- The before-and-after (salary evaporating vs emergency fund) gives the answer an arc.
- 'Without feeling policed' and 'something I'm steering' are the precise word choices that score.
- How you found it, what you use it for and why: every bullet lands inside the story.
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.