Describe an Interesting Conversation You Had
A Band 8 model answer for the IELTS Part 2 conversation cue card, showing how to use reported speech across two minutes without repeating said.
Cue Card
Describe an interesting conversation you had with someone.
You should say:
- who you talked to
- where the conversation took place
- what you talked about
And explain why you found it interesting.
This card is really a reported speech exercise, and that is where most answers come apart. Candidates either quote directly for two minutes or repeat he said and she said until it grates.
The answer below moves between direct quotation, reported speech, and summary. Notice how rarely the verb said appears.
Model Answer
Band 8The conversation I keep thinking about was with a taxi driver in Istanbul, about four years ago, and it lasted maybe forty minutes because the traffic was appalling.
He asked what I did and I told him I worked with data, and he wanted to know whether that meant I could predict things. I said not really, that mostly I described what had already happened. He found this very funny. Then he told me he'd been an engineer in Bulgaria before he moved, and that he'd spent eleven years designing water systems for small towns.
What made it interesting was what came next. I asked whether he missed it, expecting him to say yes, and he said something I've thought about ever since. He explained that he'd loved the work but hated who he became doing it, because the job required constant arguing with officials and he'd turned into a person who argued at home as well. Driving a taxi bored him, he was quite clear about that, but he said he was a better father now and that he'd made the trade knowingly.
I found it interesting partly because it demolished an assumption I hadn't noticed I was carrying, which is that people in less prestigious jobs are there because they ran out of options. He hadn't run out of anything. He'd done a calculation I'd never thought to do. I got out of that taxi slightly rearranged, and I've been more careful since about deciding what someone's life looks like from outside it.
Why This Answer Works
- Reported speech is varied throughout. Asked, wanted to know, told me, explained, was quite clear about. The verb said appears twice in the whole answer.
- The conversation has a turn in it. The expected answer and the actual answer are set against each other, which gives the story a hinge rather than a summary.
- The speaker's own assumption is examined. Naming a belief they had not noticed carrying is reflective in a way that memorised answers rarely achieve.
- "Slightly rearranged" is a small unusual phrase that does the emotional work without any big adjective. Restraint like this reads as genuine.
Key Phrases to Steal
“the traffic was appalling”
Strong adjective used casually. Natural British collocation.
“expecting him to say yes”
Participle clause carrying the speaker's assumption efficiently.
“he'd made the trade knowingly”
Past perfect plus adverb. Compact and precise.
“it demolished an assumption”
Vivid verb with an abstract object. Less common pairing that sounds deliberate.
“slightly rearranged”
Understated figurative description of changing your mind.
Part 3 Follow-Up Questions
Do people have fewer face to face conversations than before?
Fewer long ones with strangers, certainly. The conversations that have disappeared are the incidental kind, in queues, on public transport, with a neighbour, because those spaces are now filled by phones. Conversations with people we already know may not have declined much, they've just moved to text. I'd say the loss is specifically the unplanned exchange with someone unlike you, and that was probably the most useful category.
What makes someone a good conversationalist?
Listening in a way that produces the next question, mostly. Poor conversationalists wait for their turn and then deliver something they'd prepared, whereas good ones build on what you actually said, which requires giving up control of where the conversation goes. Curiosity that isn't performed is the underlying thing. You can generally tell within a minute whether someone is interested in your answer or in appearing interested.
Is it easier to talk to strangers or to people you know well?
Strangers are easier for a certain kind of honesty, because there's no history and no consequences, which is why people tell things to someone on a long train journey that they've never told a friend. People you know well are easier for everything else, since you can skip the context and start in the middle. The hardest conversations tend to be with people you know moderately well, where there's enough relationship to damage but not enough to survive real disagreement.
Now Try It Out Loud
Reading a model answer is one thing — saying it under pressure is another. Practise this exact cue card with our AI examiner and get instant band-score feedback.