Tài liệu ôn thi B2 - Sample questions and answers

IELTS Speaking – Part 2
Describe a job that you or someone you know have done. You should say:
what the job was
what you had to do exactly
if you would do this job in the future
and explain what you liked and didn’t like about it.
Describe the job that you would most like to do in the future. You should say:
what the job is
what skills and qualifications you would need to get the job
if you think you will ever do this job
and explain what appeals to you about this kind of work.
Describe a recent restaurant experience. You should say: 
where you ate
who you went with
what you ate
and explain how you feel about the experience.
Describe a memorable meal. You should say:
what you ate
what the occasion was
what happened during the meal
and explain why the meal was memorable.
Describe a job that you think would be enjoyable. You should say:
what the job is
what tasks the job involves
what qualifications or qualities you would need to do it
and explain why you think it would be enjoyable.
Describe a job that you think is very important for society. You should say:
what the job is
what the responsibilities of this job are
what kind of person would do this job well
and explain why you think it is important for society.
Describe a meal or dish that people in your country like to eat on a special occasion. You should say:
what it is
how you make it
who you eat it with
and explain why you eat it on this occasion.
Describe your favourite place to eat out. You should say:
what type of place it is
how often you go there
who you usually go with or meet there.
And explain why you like going there.
Describe an item of technology that you use a lot. You should say:
what it is
why you use it
when you use it
and how it might change in the future.
Describe your habits for watching TV or listening to the radio. You should say:
how much time you spend doing it
what type of programme you prefer
why you choose those programmes
and say whether you think TV/radio is bad for us.
Describe a machine you own which is important to you. You should say:
what it is
how you got it
what you use it for
and explain why it is important to you.
Describe a place you have visited which impressed you. You should say:
where this place is and how you traveled there.
what it is like
why you went there
and explain why it made an impression on you.
Describe an animal that you find particularly interesting. You should say:
what the animal is
what you know about it
how you know about it
and explain why you find this animal particularly interesting.
Describe your favourite way of relaxing. You should say:
what you do to relax
where you do it
how often you do it
and explain why you enjoy this way of relaxing.
Describe a public building that you like very much. You should say:
where the building is
what it looks like
what it’s used for
and explain why you like the building so much.
Describe someone you know who is popular in your neighbourhood. You should say:
who this person is
when you first met this person
what sort of person he/she is
and explain why you think this person is popular.
Describe a place you know that has a beautiful natural environment. You should say:
where it is located.
what it looks like
when you first went there
and explain why you find this place especially beautiful.
Describe a newspaper or magazine article you found interesting. You should say:
what it was about
where you read it
how it made you feel
and explain why you found the article interesting.
Describe the sport or physical activity you would like to be good at. You should say:
what the sport or activity is
what skills you would need
where you would do it
and explain why you would choose this sport or activity.
Describe a transport problem in your town/city. You should say:
what the problem is
what the causes are
how it affects you
and explain how you think it might be solved.
Describe an occasion when you were pleased that an object was made of plastic. You should say:
what the object was
how you were using it
what happened
and explain why you were pleased that the object was made of plastic.
Describe an occasion when you couldn’t pay for something you wanted. You should say:
what you wanted to pay for
why you weren’t able to pay
what you did
and explain how you feel about the situation.
Describe a city that you know well. You should say:
how big the city is
what kind of building it has
what transportation is available.
and explain what you particularly like or dislike about this city.
Describe your first day in a new job or at college. You should say:
what the job or course was
what you had expected before you started
what happened on the first day
and explain how you felt at the end of the day.
Describe an occasion when you did something for the first time. You should say:
what you did
why you did it
why you hadn’t done it before
and explain how you felt about doing it.
Describe a special occasion when you had an unforgettable time. You should say:
what the occasion was
what you did
how you felt at the time.
And explain what made it unforgettable.
Describe an important letter you received. You should say:
Who the letter was from
What it was about
Why it was important.
and explain how you felt about it
Describe your favourite style of dress. You should say:
What kind of clothes you like to wear
What fabrics and colours you prefer
What (or who) influences you in your choice of clothes
and explain whether clothes are important to you or not
Describe a school you once attended. You should say:
What the school classrooms were like
What the teachers where like
How the subjects were taught
and explain whether you feel it was a good school.
Describe a skill you learnt successfully. You should say:
What skill you learnt
When and where you learnt it
How you learnt it
and explain what helped you to learn successfully?
Sample answers for Part 2
Ok, let’s see. The job I have at the moment is my first job. I am a waitress in a coffee bar. When I started, I only cleaned the tables. It was a little boring because I did the same thing all the time, but after a short time, I got a promotion. You know, a higher position. Now I make coffee and serve the customers at the cash register. It’s more interesting. Would I do it in the future? I think, yes, why not? If I am a student, it is a good job to earn some money. The hours are very flexible. It’s convenient in that way. What do I like? Hmm Well, my colleagues are very nice and so is my boss. They are very friendly. But what really don’t like is the uniform. It is a little stupid with this hat.
Before I came back to my studies, I was a teacher in a primary school. My students were young, perhaps 5 or 6 years old. I taught students many many different subjects, for example, we studied reading and writing and mathematics, err art and music and others, but music was my favourite. I was a little like a mother in some ways. I listened to their problems sometimes. I enjoyed my job very much but now I want to change. I want to do something completely different in the future. But I am not sure what exactly. I liked teaching very much especially because I love children. But I did not like the administration. There were a lot of papers to write out everyday and I’m not very good at office work.
I used to be a chef in a kitchen in a busy restaurant. The restaurant was in a hotel and sometimes I cooked for 40 people, err, guests in the hotel. I liked my job and would like to do it in the future, but especially if I could have my own restaurant. I liked it because it was creative and you could use your imagination, but the think that I didn’t like was it was very hard work. When I finished my work, I was usually exhausted. I was only able to go home and sleep.
Well, the last time I ate at a restaurant was about two weeks ago, when I went to a fast food place in Oxford Street with my girlfriend. It was early in the evening, about six o’clock, and Oxford Street was very busy. It was also very wet because it was raining heavily, and we didn’t have an umbrella.
Anyway, I’m a vegetarian, so I had a veggie burger with French fries and a large chocolate milkshake which was SO good and only cost $4. My girlfriend, Tomoko, had a salad and a bottle of mineral water because she doesn’t like the type of food they have there. She didn’t say anything, but I don’t think she liked the salad very much because it was covered with a very oily dressing. She was pretty angry by the end of the meal.
Ok, well, I once had an interview for a job assistant teacher. I was still a student and I was studying Education, but I wasn’t qualified at that time, so I was only applying to be an assistant. I thought it would be good to get some teaching experience during the long university winter break. Erm, how did I prepare for it? I looked at all my notes again from lectures at university to remind myself of the important things to do with primary school children. I also went to the school’s website to get as much information as I could about the place before I went. It was quite a modern primary school with good computer rooms, so I planned to talked about my computer knowledge and how I could use that with the children. What else? Erm, I made a few notes to take with me into the interview in case I got nervous and forgot everything.
So what did they ask me? I can’t remember everything they asked. It was quite a long interview, but I remember they asked me about my qualifications and experience with children. They wanted to know why I was applying for the job, of course. One difficult they asked was about my strengths and weaknesses, which is a very tricky one to answer without saying too many negative things about yourself.
I’m going to talk about being a musician, which I think would be enjoyable, even though in reality I wouldn’t want this job personally.
There are many attractive aspects to this job, I think. First of all, if you are a rock star or pop artist, you’d get to travel a lot, possibly in a private jet if you were really successful. Fans would go crazy about you everywhere you went, although that could become a disadvantage eventually. On top of that, there would be all the financial advantages: enough money to buy anything you wanted, such as property, cars, clothes or whatever you were interested in as well as free gifts or maybe even contracts with companies in return for advertising or endorsing their product. In my opinion, the biggest attraction is of course that you would be doing something you really enjoyed, making music and performing it which is a dream come true for many amateur musicians.
What about qualifications? Well, I don’t think there are any specific requirements as far as qualifications are concerned, but you do need some talent, or luck, or both. And finally, what qualities would you need to do this job? Let me think. I suppose you would need to be an extrovert. It isn’t easy to go out on stage in front of thousands of people or to read negative reviews in magazines about your work, for example. Yes, I think the most important thing is not to be too sensitive. And you should be passionate about the music you write or sing as well.
Ok, erm, I’m going to talk bout the meal we usually eat at Christmas in my country. We call it Christmas Dinner and it is eaten either on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day. It depends on the family. It is a really important family occasion so we generally eat it at home or at the home of a close relation such as our grandparents. Some families celebrate it with just the close family but some have the extended family there as well, so there can be many people at the table.
I’ll explain the details of the meal to you. It takes many hours to prepare and so everyone helps, for example to prepare vegetables or to lay the table. We decorate the table with Christmas things and maybe some paper hats to wear as well. The main dish usually consists of turkey with stuffing, though I think some families eat other meats such as pork, duck or goose. At my house Mum is in charge of the turkey because she’s so good at it. She roasts the whole turkey in the oven for several hours and the smell is really good. We also have lots of vegetables with the turkey, especially potatoes and then we do carrots and broccoli and lots of gravy to go with it. We carry the whole cooked turkey to the dinner table and someone carves it at the table and then we help ourselves to all the other food. It is a very heavy meal so we always feel very full afterward and need a rest before we have dessert. The traditional dessert is Christmas pudding or plum pudding which is made with dried fruit several weeks before. Then we can’t move for a few hours because we’ve eaten too much, so owe watch TV and chat. I love Christmas dinner. It’s my favourite meal of the whole year.
I’d like to tell you about something special we eat in Germany although it isn’t exactly a meal or a dish. We eat these at Easter and they are called ‘ostereiser’ which in English means Easter eggs.
First we boil the eggs until they are hard and then leave them to go cold. Then we colour them with food dye and paint them. If you like, you can buy decorations for the eggs at some shops as well. When they are finished, parents hide them in the garden before the children get up. The children go into the garden with a basket and collect the eggs and then the whole family eat them for breakfast. These days, some families buy chocolate eggs to hide but traditionally we use real eggs. Eggs are important at Ester because they symbolize spring and a new life.
Another thing we do with the eggs at Easter is to make an Easter tree and decorate the tree with painted eggs. To do this, we make to small holes in a fresh egg and blow out the inside. We rinse the eggs and then paint them with all sorts of colorful designs. We hang these eggs on the osterbaum or Easter tree. I love Easter eggs as they remind me of happy times with my family when I was young.
I’d like to talk about my memory stick, a small stick that stores electronic files. It’s about 8 centimetres long and one centimetre wide, so it’s very convenient to carry from place to place. It’s better than a floppy disc or CD because it holds so much information for its size, and its really flexible. The other advantage of memory sticks is that they can be used in all computers whereas floppy discs can’t. If you are a university student like me, you need to take information from university to home and back again easily, for example, so I used it every day. I also like to save digital photos and these can be very big files, so again it’s the best way of storing and carrying them. I’m not really sure how memory sticks might change in the future. After all, they have large memories and they’re a convenient size already, but I’m sure that floppy discs will disappear completely in the near future.
I’m going to talk about watching television. I used to watch more than I do now, but I don’t really have a lot of time for TV at the moment. That’s because I’m studying full time. But when I was at senior high school, I watched a lot more, probably several hours every day. I really liked drama series and game shows. In my country dramas are really popular and I like them too, as long as the storyline is sad. I don’t know why I like emotional types of programs. I used to watch one series every day because I loved the characters and the story but I think another reason was that everyone used to talk about it at school.
I don’t agree that television is bad for you, actually. I think that if people choose carefully, there wouldn’t be a problem. After all you can switch to another channel if you don’t like what you’re watching, can’t you? TV can be educational on the one hand and pure entertainment on the other, but in my view, that doesn’t make it a bad thing. Entertainment is an important part of our free time.
I would like to talk about a machine, a machine I have. It’s mine. It’s a computer. This computer is very special to me. My parents gave it to me. It is a really good computer, also it looks really cool. It has a slimline tower and I have some really powerful loudspeakers. I kind of wanted a notebook, you say notebook or laptop? But I need a lot of power sometimes and if you want a lot of power in a notebook, that’s very very expensive, so I talked about it with my parents, what we could afford, and I decided a PC, like for my desk, would be better because with this I can do many different things. 
I like to do many many things with this computer. I like to go online and I spend a lot of my free time online. It’s good because you can go in chat rooms and you can talk to friends. Maybe some of these friends are really friends, you know, like people you know in your studies or in your university, but also other friends who may be I have never met in my life because they live in different parts of the world, like sometimes I play chess with a guy in Russia. I mean, like I’ve never been to Russia, and maybe I’ll never go, but I have a friend there and that’s cool. But you can do a lot of other games on the internet, I mean like online gaming, and that’s really cool, like you can be playing in this environment with different people at the same time and they can be anywhere you know. Sometimes I like to try out new games too like on CDs and I have some friends. We get a lot of these CDs and we swap them, so you can try a lot of good programs and games without you know need to buy them all and you see which one you like. Also I like very much to download music and I have an ipod so I like to use my computer in this way too, and it’s a bit the same with movies. I like to make a video films and I can edit them with my computer.
I love Lone Pine. It’s near Brisbane in Australia, actually just outside Brisbane, I think. I visited some friends who live in Brisbane and they suggested I could go there. I got a bus from the city and it took half an hour. It’s a big park or something like that. There are many different kinds of animals. They are interesting animals, too. I saw so many different kinds. There were koalas and kangaroos, and I think maybe the other kind – what’s that called? Wall. Wallabies. Also there were snakes and I have a picture of me holding a snake. I liked the lorikeets best. It made an impression on me because there were so many kinds of animal I had never seen anywhere before.
Actually, I’d like to talk about my favourite place in England, which is York Minster – that’s the Cathedral in the city of York. I never heard of this work, Minster, before I went there. I thought maybe it was some special kind of minister but I soon found this was wrong. I know about York Minster because I was studying English near there in Harrogate and they told me in the language academy I must visit the Minster in York. So I took the train, which was just half an hour, and then to reach the Minster from the station is easy, only ten minutes on foot. And I can say this Cathedral is really one of the great buildings of Europe. It’s a very special piece of architecture, so beautiful with such fine lines, so tall. I have seen many wonderful buildings, and many of the great Gothic Cathedrals, and this is absolutely my favourite. So I walked around this cathedral and enjoyed the arches, the sculptures and the ceiling especially, until I came to the east end. And here something quite unexpected for me happened. There is a place, just behind the, I can say, the formal part of the cathedral, where you can sit. It’s very impressing, astonishing, not so much because of what it looks like but because of how it makes you fee. There is a space between where you can sit and look at the final, east wall, which is only a few metres from yo