IELTS Speaking · Part 2 Cue Card
A complete preparation guide: the cue card itself, a 60-second prep framework, a band 7.5 sample answer, topic vocabulary, and likely Part 3 follow-up questions.
Cue card
Describe a piece of music you particularly love.
You should say:
Specific to this cue card — not generic advice.
Read it once for shape, then aloud for rhythm. Don't memorise it — examiners can tell.
The piece of music I'd talk about is 'Spiegel im Spiegel' by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. It's a very minimal composition — just a piano and a violin, repeating an extremely simple pattern for about ten minutes. Almost nothing happens in it. I first heard it about twelve years ago in a friend's car, in winter, on a long drive between two cities at night. He played it without comment, and by the end of the piece neither of us had said anything for the whole drive. Since then I've listened to it probably hundreds of times. It's not background music for me — I can't have it on while working, because it pulls all the attention out of whatever else is going on. I usually listen to it before bed, or on walks when I want to think clearly. The reason I love it is hard to put into words, which is true of most music I really love. It does something with time. The piece is genuinely slow, but it doesn't feel boring, because each note seems considered. Most of my life is the opposite — fast and approximate. Listening to that piece is one of the few reliable ways I have of slowing down without forcing it.
Phrases used in the sample answer that lift fluency naturally.
minimal composition
music with very few elements
background music
music played behind another activity
fast and approximate
rushed and imprecise
considered
thoughtful, deliberate
without forcing it
naturally, not artificially
do something with time
alter how time feels
The examiner will move from your story (Part 2) to broader, abstract questions (Part 3). Prepare answers for these.