How long should my answer to this Part 2 cue card be?

Speak for 1 to 2 minutes. The examiner will stop you at 2 minutes, so aim for roughly 220-300 words that cover every bullet on the card and end with how you feel about it.

What Part 3 questions follow this cue card?

After "A Long Walk You Enjoyed", examiners have asked 9 follow-up discussion questions, listed above. They move from your personal story to general opinions on the same theme.

Is this cue card still being used?

It was most recently reported by test-takers in May–Aug 2026. Cue cards rotate every four months, and many topics return in later seasons with slightly different wording.

IELTS Speaking Part 2

A Long Walk You Enjoyed

Most recently asked in May–Aug 2026

The cue card

Describe a long walk that you enjoyed

You should say:

where and when you went on the walk
who you went with
what you saw on the walk
and explain why you enjoyed this long walk

Sample answers: Band 6.5, 7.0 & 7.5

Three versions of the same answer, each written to sit genuinely at that band — compare them to see exactly what separates the scores.

Band 6.5

The account uses plain time phrasing ('It took us almost four hours') and closes with a short, simple statement ('we still talk about the monkeys now'), which keeps it clear but linguistically modest.

The long walk I really enjoyed was on Son Tra Peninsula with my father, about a year ago when he came to visit me in Da Nang.

We started early in the morning, around six, because it gets very hot later in the day. We walked along one of the paths through the forest instead of driving, which most tourists do. It took us almost four hours to go up and come back down.

On the way we saw a lot of things. There were monkeys jumping between the trees close to the road, which my father found very exciting because he'd never seen wild monkeys before. We also stopped at a viewpoint where you can see the whole of Da Nang city and the sea at the same time, and near the top we saw the big Lady Buddha statue, which is very famous here.

I enjoyed the walk mainly because I don't often get to spend a whole day with my father. We talked a lot while we were walking, about small things and also about his work when he was younger. By the end my legs were aching, but it was one of the best days I've had with him in a long time, and we still talk about the monkeys now.

215 words · about 2 minutes

Why this band

FC“we still talk about the monkeys now” — The answer ends on a concrete but unelaborated fact — that the monkeys are still mentioned — without stepping back to say why that detail matters or connecting it to the father-daughter bond described earlier. This kind of plain, fact-based closing, rather than a reflective wrap-up, is typical Band 6.5 coherence: it's clear and relevant, but a Band 7.0 answer would more likely frame it explicitly as evidence of how special the day was.
LR“It took us almost four hours” — "It took us almost four hours" uses the most common possible construction for stating duration, with no more specific or vivid alternative attempted. Compared to a Band 7.0 answer, which might describe the same stretch of time more descriptively (e.g. "we were on our feet for the better part of a morning"), this plain, accurate phrasing is exactly the safe, high-frequency vocabulary that defines Band 6.5 lexical resource.
GRA“I don't often get to spend a whole day with my father” — This is a single simple sentence with no subordinate clause — it states a fact about limited time together without a "because," "since," or "even though" attaching a reason or contrast to it. A Band 7.0 answer would likely extend this into a reason clause (e.g. "because he lives so far away"), but standing alone as a plain statement, it demonstrates the modest, accurate-but-basic grammatical range that Band 6.5 targets.

Band 7.0

The corrective structure 'wasn't really the scenery... but the conversation' develops a reflective point, and the past-perfect-plus-comparative sentence shows a comfortable, accurate range of grammar typical of Band 7.0.

The long walk I really enjoyed was through the rice paddies just outside Hoi An, with my friend Mỹ, about eight months ago.

We'd originally planned to rent bikes, but Mỹ's back was still recovering from an old injury, so we decided to walk instead, starting from the old town early in the morning before the heat became too much. Neither of us had a proper route planned; we just followed a path along the edge of the fields and kept going whenever it looked interesting.

It ended up taking us nearly five hours, including several stops, which was much longer than either of us expected for what we'd assumed would be a short stroll. Along the way we saw farmers already out working in the paddies, a few water buffalo standing almost motionless in the mud, and at one point a small wooden bridge that looked far too fragile to cross, though we crossed it anyway. Further along, the path opened out near a quiet stretch of coastline, where we sat for a while and ate the bánh mì we'd brought with us.

What I enjoyed most about the walk wasn't really the scenery, nice as it was, but the conversation. Mỹ and I had been busy with work for months and hadn't properly talked in ages, and something about walking slowly, side by side, with nowhere particular to be, made it much easier to talk honestly than sitting across a table usually does. We ended up discussing things neither of us had really planned to bring up, including some worries about work that we'd both been keeping to ourselves.

By the time we got back, my legs were aching and my shoes were covered in mud, but it was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time, and we've promised to make it a regular thing.

312 words · about 2 minutes

Why this band

LR“a small wooden bridge that looked far too fragile to cross, though we crossed it anyway” — The description builds a small piece of narrative tension — the bridge "looked far too fragile to cross" — and then undercuts it with the contrastive aside "though we crossed it anyway," all using entirely ordinary vocabulary. A Band 6.5 answer would likely just state the fact ("we crossed an old bridge"), while this version adds a flexible, slightly playful framing that brings the moment to life without reaching for any unusual or idiomatic word, matching Band 7.0's target of natural, everyday-but-flexible lexical choices.
FC“What I enjoyed most about the walk wasn't really the scenery, nice as it was, but the conversation.” — The "wasn't really X... but Y" frame explicitly redirects the listener's expectation (that a walk through rice paddies is mainly about scenery) toward the real point of the answer, and the inserted aside "nice as it was" concedes the first point before dismissing its importance. This kind of self-correcting, concessive move is a genuine reflective structure rather than a flat statement, and it's what pulls the paragraph's focus toward the conversation that the rest of the answer goes on to develop — precisely the Band 7.0 pattern of using one reflective or evaluative point rather than pure description.
GRA“Mỹ and I had been busy with work for months and hadn't properly talked in ages, and something about walking slowly, side by side, with nowhere particular to be, made it much easier to talk honestly than sitting across a table usually does.” — This long sentence opens with two coordinated past perfect clauses establishing the backstory (being busy, not having talked), then pivots to a present-tense comparative clause ("made it much easier... than sitting across a table usually does") that generalises beyond this one walk. Holding a shift in tense and a comparative structure together accurately across a sentence this long, without losing control, is the comfortable-but-not-yet-maximal complexity Band 7.0 grammar targets — a Band 6.5 version would likely break this into two or three much shorter, simpler sentences.

Band 7.5

The figurative claim 'eight hours of walking loosens things' and the closing generalisation 'they're too long for small talk' show the idiomatic lexis and reflective coherence that mark genuine Band 7.5.

The long walk I'd talk about was over the Hải Vân Pass with my father last spring. Most people drive it — it's the mountain road between Da Nang and Hue — but there's an old, quieter route that follows the original road, and my dad had been saying for years that he wanted to walk it before his knees gave up. So one Saturday in March we took a taxi to the bottom on the Da Nang side and started up at six in the morning.

It's about fourteen kilometres to the summit and part of the way down toward Lăng Cô, and it took us most of the day, partly because my father stops to look at everything. We passed the old French and American bunkers at the top, which he remembers from stories rather than from seeing them, and there's a point about halfway up where the road bends and you suddenly see the whole bay of Da Nang below you, the city looking small and white, and then on the other side the lagoon at Lăng Cô, flat and green. We ate sticky rice on a wall and watched the clouds come up the valley and cover the road behind us.

What I enjoyed most, though, wasn't the view. My father and I don't talk much — we're both quiet — but eight hours of walking loosens things. He told me about cycling this road to Hue for a job interview in the eighties, sixty kilometres each way, because there was no bus. I'd never heard that. By the time we came down, my legs were wrecked and I knew things about him I'd missed in twenty-eight years. I think that's what long walks are for: they're too long for small talk.

296 words · about 2 minutes

Why this band

LR“eight hours of walking loosens things” — "Loosens things" treats an abstract idea — emotional openness between father and son — as if it were a physical object being unstuck, a genuinely figurative use of an everyday verb rather than a literal one. This is a real idiomatic stretch, not just a flexible collocation: a Band 7.0 answer would more likely state the idea literally ("walking together made it easier to talk"), while this compressed, metaphorical phrasing is exactly the "one figurative or idiomatic touch" that Band 7.5 lexical resource calls for, deployed naturally rather than as a showy set phrase.
FC“I think that's what long walks are for: they're too long for small talk.” — The colon structure turns a specific personal anecdote (this one walk, this one father) into a general claim about long walks as a category, which is a genuine act of reflection rather than just a summary of what happened. This move from narrative to insight — drawing a broader conclusion the listener hasn't been told to expect — is what distinguishes Band 7.5 coherence from the single reflective point typical of Band 7.0, which would more likely stay focused on this particular walk rather than generalising outward.
GRA“the road bends and you suddenly see the whole bay of Da Nang below you, the city looking small and white” — The clause "the city looking small and white" is a participial absolute attached loosely to the main sentence, adding a visual detail without needing its own subject-verb-object structure or a connecting word like "and it looked." This kind of economical, literary construction — grammatically independent but semantically fused to what comes before — is a genuinely varied structure a Band 7.0 answer would be unlikely to attempt, and its accurate, natural use here is what Band 7.5's "varied complex structures... mostly error-free" descriptor is describing.

How this card was asked, by exam period

Describe a long walk that you enjoyedMay–Aug 2026

Part 3 follow-up questions

These are the discussion questions examiners asked after this cue card. Sample answers are shown where available.

1. Do you think leisure activities are becoming more dependent on income?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The closing claim is delivered as a plain repeated structure ('isn't really about income, but... is') rather than the more precise 'dependent on'/'entitled to' pairing the higher bands use.
Increasingly yes, I think, although free options still exist. Ba Na Hills, the resort in the mountains behind Da Nang, costs more than many people here earn in a week, while the beach at the bottom of the same road costs nothing, and both are always full. What's changed is that the expensive version gets all the attention, like gyms instead of parks or holidays that need flights. A lot of leisure now also needs equipment, like a bike or a good camera, which quietly separates people by money. So leisure itself isn't really about income, but the leisure people feel they should have is, and that causes real unhappiness.
Why this band
FC“So leisure itself isn't really about income, but the leisure people feel they should have is, and that causes real unhappiness.” — A plain closing sentence. 7.0 and 7.5 both upgrade 'about income' to the more precise 'dependent on income' and 'should have' to 'supposed to have / entitled to', giving the same contrast sharper, more formal vocabulary.
LR“quietly separates people by money” — A plain verb phrase. 7.0 and 7.5 both replace 'separates' with the more precise 'sorts', a term that suggests a subtler, more systematic process than the general verb used here.
GRA“A lot of leisure now also needs equipment, like a bike or a good camera, which quietly separates people by money.” — A single sentence with a simple 'like' list. 7.0 and 7.5 both use dashes to insert a fuller three-item list as a parenthetical aside ('— a bike, a decent camera, a subscription —'), a more flexible structure than this comma-based version.
Band 7.0
The colon-led list ('gyms instead of parks, cafés instead of doorsteps, holidays that need flights') replaces 6.5's single example with three parallel contrasts, a more developed structure.
Increasingly, yes, though the free options haven't disappeared entirely. Ba Na Hills, the resort in the mountains behind Da Nang, costs more than many people here earn in a week, while the beach at the bottom of the same road costs nothing, and both are always full. What's changed, I'd say, is that the expensive versions get all the attention: gyms instead of parks, cafés instead of doorsteps, holidays that need flights. A lot of leisure now also involves equipment — a bike, a decent camera, a subscription — which quietly sorts people by money. So leisure itself isn't dependent on income, but the leisure people feel they're supposed to have is, and that gap causes real unhappiness.
Why this band
FC“isn't dependent on income, but the leisure people feel they're supposed to have is” — Uses the more precise term 'dependent on' in place of 6.5's vaguer 'really about'. 7.5 keeps this same core phrasing, swapping 'supposed to have' for 'entitled to', a further small refinement.
LR“which quietly sorts people by money” — The verb 'sorts' is more precise than 6.5's 'separates', suggesting a subtle, systematic classification rather than a blunt division. 7.5 keeps this exact verb.
GRA“gyms instead of parks, cafés instead of doorsteps, holidays that need flights” — A colon introduces a three-part parallel list of contrasts, more developed than 6.5's single example ('like gyms instead of parks or holidays that need flights'). 7.5 keeps a nearly identical list structure.
Band 7.5
The added clause 'without anyone naming it' at the end of the equipment sentence is the kind of extra evaluative layer that separates this band from 7.0's already solid version.
Increasingly, yes, though the free options haven't vanished entirely, just lost their share of the spotlight. Ba Na Hills, the resort in the mountains behind Da Nang, costs more than many people here earn in a week, while the beach at the bottom of the same road costs nothing at all, and both are perpetually full. What's shifted, I'd argue, is that the expensive versions monopolise the attention: gyms instead of parks, cafés instead of doorsteps, holidays that require flights. A great deal of leisure now hinges on equipment too — a bike, a decent camera, a subscription — which quietly sorts people by income without anyone naming it. So leisure itself isn't dependent on money, but the leisure people feel they're entitled to is, and that gap breeds genuine unhappiness.
Why this band
FC“just lost their share of the spotlight” — A vivid metaphor extending 7.0's plainer 'haven't disappeared entirely', giving the idea of free options fading from view a more concrete, visual image.
LR“the expensive versions monopolise the attention” — The verb 'monopolise' is stronger and more precise than 7.0's 'get all the attention', capturing the idea of exclusive dominance rather than just receiving focus.
GRA“which quietly sorts people by income without anyone naming it” — Adds a trailing clause ('without anyone naming it') to 7.0's already tightened sentence, extending the observation into a subtler point about unspoken social sorting that neither lower band makes explicit.
2. Do you agree or disagree that society today defines people more by their leisure activities than by their profession?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The closing claim uses the plain verb 'replaced', simpler than the higher bands' more nuanced 'displaced... so much as shared the stage' construction.
I partly agree, at least among people my age. When I meet someone new in Da Nang now, they often ask what I do at weekends before they ask what my job is, and their social media says things like 'runner, coffee, cat' rather than 'accountant'. Work has become less stable and less something to be proud of, so people build their identity around what they choose to do instead. But I don't think leisure has fully replaced profession. The second question is still 'what's your job', and for my parents' generation it's still the only question that really counts.
Why this band
FC“I don't think leisure has fully replaced profession” — A plain verb choice. 7.5 replaces this with the more nuanced 'I don't think it's displaced profession so much as shared the stage with it', a more sophisticated way of describing a partial rather than total shift.
LR“less something to be proud of” — A plain descriptive phrase. 7.5 upgrades this to 'considerably less a source of pride', a more formal noun-based construction than this simpler adjective phrase.
GRA“Work has become less stable and less something to be proud of, so people build their identity around what they choose to do instead.” — A single sentence with one 'so' clause. 7.5 extends a similar idea with an added contrast at the end — 'instead of what they're paid to do' — layering a second comparison into the same sentence.
Band 7.0
The added qualifier 'entirely' after 'replaced profession' softens the claim into a matter of degree rather than 6.5's flatter absolute statement.
I partly agree, at least among people my age. When I meet someone new in Da Nang now, they often ask what I do at weekends before they ask what I do for a living, and their social media bio says 'runner, coffee, cat' rather than 'accountant'. Work has become less stable and less something to be proud of, so people build identity around what they choose instead. But I don't think it's replaced profession entirely. The second question is still 'what's your job', it still shapes how people treat you, and for my parents' generation it remains the only question that really counts.
Why this band
FC“I don't think it's replaced profession entirely” — Adds the qualifier 'entirely', turning 6.5's flat claim into a matter of degree. 7.5 goes further still, reframing the whole idea with 'displaced... so much as shared the stage with it', a more developed metaphor.
LR“social media bio says” — The more precise noun 'bio' replaces 6.5's vaguer 'social media says', specifying exactly which part of the profile is meant. 7.5 keeps this same precise noun.
GRA“The second question is still 'what's your job', it still shapes how people treat you, and for my parents' generation it remains the only question that really counts.” — A three-part list joined by commas without connectors, more compact than a version using 'and' throughout. 7.5 keeps this exact three-part structure, showing it was already well-formed at 7.0.
Band 7.5
The metaphor 'shared the stage with it' reframes the whole relationship between leisure and profession as coexistence rather than replacement, a more sophisticated take than either lower band offers.
I partly agree, particularly among people my age. When I meet someone new in Da Nang now, they'll often ask what I do at weekends before they ask what I do for a living, and their social media bio reads 'runner, coffee, cat' rather than 'accountant'. Work has grown less stable and considerably less a source of pride, so people build identity around what they choose to do instead of what they're paid to do. But I don't think it's displaced profession so much as shared the stage with it. The second question is still 'what's your job', it still shapes how people treat you, and for my parents' generation it remains the only question that ever counted.
Why this band
FC“I don't think it's displaced profession so much as shared the stage with it” — A theatrical metaphor ('shared the stage') replacing 7.0's plainer 'hasn't replaced profession entirely', giving the nuanced claim about coexistence a vivid, memorable image.
LR“considerably less a source of pride” — A more formal noun-based phrase than 7.0 and 6.5's shared adjective phrase 'less something to be proud of', giving the claim a more essay-like register.
GRA“people build identity around what they choose to do instead of what they're paid to do” — Adds a second parallel clause ('instead of what they're paid to do') to 7.0's shorter sentence ending at 'instead', layering an explicit contrast into the same sentence rather than leaving it implied.
3. Is there more pressure on people today to try adventurous activities, such as extreme sports?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The verb 'turns into' is plain and direct, unlike 7.5's more vivid 'curdling into pressure', which treats pressure as something that develops slowly and unpleasantly.
There's more visibility now, which turns into pressure. My studio's group chat spent a month organising a canyoning trip in Da Lat, which means jumping off waterfalls, and at least half of us didn't want to go but went anyway, because saying no felt like admitting something. Social media is most of the reason, since an ordinary weekend doesn't get posted but a cliff jump does, so people feel a life without adventure isn't really being lived. Tourism sells this idea too. I don't think the pressure is huge for most people, but for a certain age group, adventure has become something you're expected to try occasionally.
Why this band
FC“which turns into pressure” — A plain, literal verb. 7.5 replaces this with the more vivid, almost visceral 'has a way of curdling into pressure', a striking metaphor this flat version doesn't attempt.
LR“adventure has become something you're expected to try occasionally” — A plain noun phrase. 7.0 and 7.5 both upgrade 'something' to the more precise 'a kind of performance' / 'a small performance', a sharper metaphor for the social pressure being described.
GRA“which means jumping off waterfalls” — A plain relative clause. 7.0 and 7.5 both replace this with a dash-set appositive ('— jumping off waterfalls —'), a more compact and stylistically varied way of inserting the same clarification.
Band 7.0
The dash-set appositive 'jumping off waterfalls' replaces 6.5's relative clause, a tighter and more natural way of inserting the same clarification mid-sentence.
There's more visibility, which quietly turns into pressure. My studio's group chat spent a month organising a canyoning trip in Da Lat — jumping off waterfalls — and at least half of us didn't want to go and went anyway, because saying no felt like admitting something. Social media is most of the reason: an ordinary weekend doesn't get posted, a cliff jump does, so people feel a life without adventure isn't really being lived. Tourism sells it too, of course. I don't think the pressure is huge for most people, and plenty happily ignore it, but for a certain age group, adventure has become a kind of performance you're expected to give occasionally.
Why this band
FC“quietly turns into pressure” — Adds the adverb 'quietly' to 6.5's plain 'turns into pressure', hinting at a slow, unnoticed process. 7.5 pushes this further with the stronger verb 'curdling'.
LR“adventure has become a kind of performance you're expected to give occasionally” — The metaphor 'a kind of performance' is more precise than 6.5's vague 'something', capturing the idea that adventure is now staged for an audience. 7.5 keeps this same metaphor with 'small performance... every so often', a slight variation.
GRA“a canyoning trip in Da Lat — jumping off waterfalls — and at least half of us didn't want to go and went anyway” — Dashes insert the clarifying detail directly into the sentence, more compact than 6.5's separate relative clause ('which means jumping off waterfalls'). 7.5 keeps this same dash structure with 'essentially' added.
Band 7.5
The verb 'curdling' for how visibility becomes pressure is a vivid, unusual choice, typical of this band's more original vocabulary.
There's more visibility now, and visibility has a way of curdling into pressure. My studio's group chat spent an entire month organising a canyoning trip in Da Lat — jumping off waterfalls, essentially — and at least half of us didn't want to go and went anyway, because saying no felt uncomfortably like admitting something. Social media is most of the reason: an ordinary weekend never gets posted, a cliff jump always does, so people start feeling a life without adventure isn't really being lived at all. Tourism, naturally, sells this idea too. I don't think the pressure is enormous for most people, and plenty happily tune it out, but for a certain age group, adventure has become a small performance you're expected to give every so often.
Why this band
FC“visibility has a way of curdling into pressure” — The verb 'curdling', normally used for milk turning sour, is a striking, unusual metaphor for a social dynamic — well beyond 7.0's plainer 'quietly turns into pressure' and 6.5's flat 'turns into pressure'.
LR“plenty happily tune it out” — A more idiomatic phrase than 7.0's plainer 'plenty happily ignore it', with 'tune it out' suggesting an active, ongoing effort rather than a simple state.
GRA“an ordinary weekend never gets posted, a cliff jump always does” — Adds the adverbs 'never' and 'always' to 7.0's plainer version of the same contrast ('doesn't get posted... does'), sharpening the parallel structure with stronger absolutes.
4. How important are outdoor activities in helping children develop?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The repeated verb 'teaches them' in two consecutive clauses is plainer than the higher bands' varied 'is how they learn' construction.
Very important, and in ways that indoor activities don't really replace. I watched my cousin's kids and some strangers' children work out, entirely on their own, how to share a rope swing at a park in Hue — negotiation, patience, a fair system, all learned in twenty minutes with no adult involved. Outdoors, children take small physical risks, which teaches them to judge risk, and they get bored, which teaches them to invent games. There's the obvious physical health benefit too. What worries me is how much of this has moved to screens or supervised classes, where every problem is already solved for them.
Why this band
FC“which teaches them to judge risk, and they get bored, which teaches them to invent games” — Repeats 'teaches them' twice in one sentence. 7.0 and 7.5 both avoid this repetition with the parallel construction 'which is how they learn to judge risk... which is how they learn to invent', a more elegant, varied structure.
LR“some strangers' children” — A vague quantifier. 7.0 and 7.5 both replace this with the specific 'three strangers' children', a precise number that makes the anecdote feel more concretely observed.
GRA“where every problem is already solved for them” — A passive construction with 'is... solved'. 7.5 compresses this into 'every problem arrives pre-solved', a tighter, more original phrase using 'arrives' as the main verb instead of a passive construction.
Band 7.0
The parallel construction 'which is how they learn to judge risk... which is how they learn to invent' avoids 6.5's repeated verb, a more elegant structural choice.
Very important, and in ways that indoor activities don't really replace. I watched my cousin's kids and three strangers' children work out, entirely on their own, how to share a rope swing at a park in Hue — negotiation, patience, a fair system, all learnt in twenty minutes without an adult. Outdoors, children take small physical risks, which is how they learn to judge risk, and they get bored, which is how they learn to invent. There's the obvious physical health benefit too. What worries me, honestly, is how much of that has moved to screens or supervised classes, where every problem is already solved for them.
Why this band
FC“which is how they learn to judge risk, and they get bored, which is how they learn to invent” — A parallel repeated structure ('which is how they learn to...') rather than 6.5's repeated verb 'teaches them'. This is a more deliberate rhetorical device than accidental repetition.
LR“three strangers' children” — A precise number, more concrete than 6.5's vague 'some strangers' children'. 7.5 keeps this exact number, showing it was already a good specific detail at 7.0.
GRA“how much of that has moved to screens or supervised classes, where every problem is already solved for them” — Still uses the passive 'is... solved'. 7.5 replaces the whole clause with the more compact 'every problem arrives pre-solved', showing a further tightening beyond this already reasonable version.
Band 7.5
The closing phrase 'every problem arrives pre-solved' compresses a whole idea into three words, the kind of economy that marks the top band's sentence construction.
Very, and in ways indoor activities simply don't replace. I watched my cousin's kids and three strangers' children work out, entirely unsupervised, how to share a rope swing at a park in Hue — negotiation, patience, a genuinely fair rotation system, all learnt in twenty minutes with no adult anywhere in sight. Outdoors, children take small physical risks, which is precisely how they learn to judge risk, and they get bored, which is precisely how they learn to invent. There's the obvious physical-health case too, of course. What worries me, honestly, is how much of that has migrated to screens or supervised classes, where every problem arrives pre-solved.
Why this band
FC“with no adult anywhere in sight” — A more vivid, idiomatic phrase than 7.0's plainer 'without an adult', painting a fuller picture of the children being genuinely on their own.
LR“which is precisely how they learn to judge risk” — Adds the intensifier 'precisely' to 7.0's already parallel construction, sharpening the causal claim slightly further than the 7.0 version.
GRA“every problem arrives pre-solved” — A compact, original construction using 'arrives' as the main verb with the compound adjective 'pre-solved', replacing 7.0's more conventional passive 'is already solved for them'.
5. Do you agree or disagree that women today have less time for leisure than men?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The phrase 'squeezed into small pieces' uses a plain noun where the higher bands reach for the more precise 'fragments'.
I agree, in most households I know. My mother's idea of a Sunday off is cooking three meals for six people while my father reads the paper, and if you asked her, she would say they both rested. Women still do most of the housework and childcare even when they also have jobs, so their leisure gets squeezed into small pieces, and it's often not really leisure, since even a trip to the market with the kids counts as an outing. Younger couples are more equal now, and some men I know genuinely share the load. But usually a woman's free time is still just the time left over after everyone else's.
Why this band
FC“so their leisure gets squeezed into small pieces” — A plain, everyday noun ('small pieces'). 7.0 and 7.5 both replace this with the more precise 'fragments', a slightly more formal and vivid word for the same idea of leisure being broken up.
LR“even a trip to the market with the kids counts as an outing” — A plain verb ('counts as'). 7.0 and 7.5 both replace this with the more idiomatic 'somehow counts as / gets filed as an outing', which adds a note of wry observation this flatter version lacks.
GRA“But usually a woman's free time is still just the time left over after everyone else's.” — A simple closing sentence. 7.0 and 7.5 both restructure this with 'the default, I'd say/argue, is still that...', a cleft-like opener that frames the claim as a considered generalisation rather than a flat statement.
Band 7.0
The opener 'the default, I'd say, is still that...' frames the closing claim as a considered generalisation rather than 6.5's flatter direct statement.
I agree, in most households I know. My mother's idea of a Sunday off involves cooking three meals for six people while my father reads the paper, and if you asked her, she'd say they both rested. Women still do most of the housework and childcare even when they also have jobs, so their leisure gets squeezed into fragments, and it's often not really leisure — a trip to the market with the kids somehow counts as an outing. Younger couples are more even, and some men I know genuinely do share the load. But the default, I'd say, is still that a woman's free time is whatever's left over after everyone else's, and that's a real difference.
Why this band
FC“gets squeezed into fragments” — A more precise, slightly formal noun than 6.5's plain 'small pieces'. 7.5 keeps this exact word, showing it was already a strong choice at 7.0.
LR“a trip to the market with the kids somehow counts as an outing” — The added adverb 'somehow' introduces a note of wry observation absent from 6.5's flatter version. 7.5 varies this slightly to 'somehow gets filed as an outing', a further small refinement.
GRA“the default, I'd say, is still that a woman's free time is whatever's left over after everyone else's, and that's a real difference” — A cleft-like opener ('the default... is still that...') frames the claim more formally than 6.5's plain direct sentence. 7.5 keeps this same structure with 'argue' and 'accounted for', small further refinements.
Band 7.5
The verb 'shoulder' for housework and childcare is a more precise, almost physical metaphor than the plainer 'do' the lower bands use.
I agree, in most households I'm familiar with. My mother's idea of a Sunday off involves cooking three meals for six people while my father settles in with the paper, and if you asked her, she'd insist they both rested equally. Women still shoulder most of the housework and childcare even when they hold down jobs of their own, so their leisure gets squeezed into fragments, and it's often not really leisure at all — a trip to the market with the kids somehow gets filed as an outing. Younger couples are more balanced, admittedly, and some men I know genuinely share the load. But the default, I'd argue, is still that a woman's free time is whatever's left over once everyone else's has been accounted for.
Why this band
FC“Women still shoulder most of the housework and childcare” — The verb 'shoulder' is more vivid and precise than 7.0 and 6.5's plain 'do', implying a physical burden being carried rather than a neutral task being performed.
LR“somehow gets filed as an outing” — The verb 'filed' is a more original, slightly bureaucratic metaphor than 7.0's 'counts as', suggesting the trip is being administratively reclassified rather than simply labelled.
GRA“whatever's left over once everyone else's has been accounted for” — Uses a passive perfect construction ('has been accounted for') in place of 7.0's simpler 'after everyone else's', a more formal and precise way of closing the comparison.
6. Why is leisure time so important for people of all ages?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The three-part semicolon list ('for children... for adults... for older people') is already strong here, but the closing sentence stays short and plain rather than adding the higher bands' final reflective tag.
Because the parts of us that work need the parts that don't. There was a month when my studio worked every weekend for a launch, and by the end my designs were noticeably worse, flat and repeated, because there was no space for anything new to get in. Leisure is where people recover, obviously, but it's also where they get to be themselves rather than a role, which matters as much at seventy as at seven. For children it's how they learn; for adults it's how they stay sane; for older people it's often the main source of purpose once work ends. A life that's all function eventually stops functioning.
Why this band
FC“A life that's all function eventually stops functioning.” — A short, self-contained closing sentence. 7.0 and 7.5 both extend this with an added clause — 'and most people find/learn that out the hard way' — which draws a further conclusion this shorter version stops short of.
LR“There was a month when my studio worked every weekend for a launch” — A plain time reference ('a month'). 7.5 upgrades this to 'a stretch... every single weekend', where 'stretch' is a more idiomatic noun than the plain 'month' and 'single' adds emphasis.
GRA“by the end my designs were noticeably worse, flat and repeated, because there was no space for anything new to get in” — A comma-separated list of adjectives ('flat and repeated'). 7.0 and 7.5 both use dashes to set off a three-item list instead ('— flat, safe, repeated —'), a more visually distinct and slightly more developed structure.
Band 7.0
The added clause 'and most people find that out the hard way' extends the closing aphorism into a fuller observation than 6.5's shorter version.
Because the parts of us that work need the parts that don't. There was a month when my studio worked every weekend for a launch, and by the end my designs were noticeably worse — flat, safe, repeated — because there was no space for anything new to get in. Leisure is where people recover, obviously, but it's also where they're themselves rather than a role, which matters as much at seventy as at seven. For children it's how they learn; for adults it's how they stay sane; for older people it's often the main source of purpose and company once work ends. A life that's all function stops functioning, and most people find that out the hard way.
Why this band
FC“A life that's all function stops functioning, and most people find that out the hard way.” — Adds a second clause to 6.5's shorter standalone sentence, extending the aphorism into a fuller observation about how people learn this. 7.5 keeps this exact structure with 'entirely function' and 'learn' as small variations.
LR“flat, safe, repeated” — A dash-set three-item list, more developed than 6.5's comma-joined two-item version ('flat and repeated'). 7.5 keeps this identical three-item list.
GRA“for older people it's often the main source of purpose and company once work ends” — Adds 'and company' to the list of what leisure provides, a fuller idea than 6.5's shorter 'main source of purpose'. 7.5 intensifies this further with 'the last real source', a stronger claim.
Band 7.5
The phrase 'the last real source of purpose' is a stronger, more pointed claim than the lower bands' more modest 'main source of purpose'.
Because the parts of us that work need the parts of us that don't. There was a stretch when my studio worked every single weekend for a launch, and by the end my designs were noticeably worse — flat, safe, repeated — simply because there was no space left for anything new to get in. Leisure is where people recover, obviously, but it's also where they're themselves rather than a role, which matters as much at seventy as at seven. For children it's how they learn; for adults it's how they stay sane; for older people it's often the last real source of purpose and company once work has ended. A life that's entirely function eventually stops functioning, and most people learn that the hard way.
Why this band
FC“the last real source of purpose and company once work has ended” — The word 'last' makes a stronger, more pointed claim than 7.0's 'main source', suggesting leisure isn't just important but potentially the only remaining source once work ends.
LR“a stretch when my studio worked every single weekend” — The noun 'stretch' is more idiomatic than 7.0 and 6.5's plain 'a month', and 'single' adds emphasis that the plainer versions lack.
GRA“A life that's entirely function eventually stops functioning, and most people learn that the hard way.” — Replaces 'all function' with 'entirely function' and 'find' with 'learn', small but deliberate lexical variations on an already well-formed 7.0 sentence, showing polish rather than structural change.
7. What are the most popular outdoor leisure activities in your country?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The closing list of shared qualities ('social and cheap, happening in groups, in public') runs as one plain sentence rather than the higher bands' punchier dash-led summary.
If you stand on My Khe Beach at six in the morning, you see most of them at once: swimmers, badminton nets, groups doing tai chi, and a permanent football match at the far end. Coffee on a pavement is probably the true national pastime, and that counts as outdoor here too. Beyond that, motorbike trips into the countryside are huge among young people, hiking and camping are growing fast, and in the cities an evening walk around a lake or park is a ritual for every age. Fishing is quietly everywhere. Most of these are social and cheap, happening in groups, in public, and early before it gets hot.
Why this band
FC“Most of these are social and cheap, happening in groups, in public, and early before it gets hot.” — A plain closing sentence listing shared features. 7.0 and 7.5 both restructure this with a dash-led cleft ('What most of these share is that they're social and cheap —'), a more analytical and emphatic way of making the same closing point.
LR“Fishing is quietly everywhere.” — A simple, short sentence. 7.0 upgrades the adjective to 'quietly enormous', and 7.5 to 'quietly, enormously popular', both more precise and emphatic than this plainer version.
GRA“in the cities an evening walk around a lake or park is a ritual for every age” — A plain noun phrase ('an evening walk'). 7.5 upgrades this to 'the evening lap around a lake or park', where 'lap' is a more specific, athletic-sounding noun than the general 'walk'.
Band 7.0
The dash-led cleft sentence ('What most of these share is that...') gives the closing generalisation more analytical weight than 6.5's plain listing sentence.
If you stand on My Khe Beach at six in the morning you see most of them at once: swimmers, badminton nets, groups doing tai chi, and a permanent football match at the far end. Coffee on a pavement is probably the true national pastime, and that counts as outdoor here. Beyond that, motorbike trips into the countryside are huge among young people, hiking and camping are growing fast, and in the cities the evening walk around a lake or park is a ritual for every age. Fishing is quietly enormous too. What most of these share is that they're social and cheap — Vietnamese leisure tends to happen in groups, in public, and early in the morning before it gets hot.
Why this band
FC“What most of these share is that they're social and cheap” — A cleft construction that frames the closing observation as a deliberate analysis, more developed than 6.5's plain 'Most of these are social and cheap'. 7.5 keeps this exact opening structure.
LR“Fishing is quietly enormous too.” — More precise than 6.5's vague 'quietly everywhere'. 7.5 intensifies this further to 'quietly, enormously popular', adding a second adverb for extra emphasis.
GRA“the evening walk around a lake or park is a ritual for every age” — Still uses the general noun 'walk'. 7.5 replaces this with the more specific, athletic 'evening lap', a small but real upgrade in precision.
Band 7.5
The closing phrase 'early enough to beat the heat' is a punchier, more idiomatic way of stating the timing point than the lower bands' plainer 'before it gets hot'.
If you stand on My Khe Beach at six in the morning you see most of them at once: swimmers, badminton nets, clusters doing tai chi, and a permanent football match down at the far end. Coffee on a pavement is arguably the true national pastime, and it counts as outdoor here. Beyond that, motorbike trips into the countryside are huge among young people, hiking and camping are growing fast, and in the cities the evening lap around a lake or park has become a ritual for every generation. Fishing is quietly, enormously popular too. What most of these share is that they're social and cheap — Vietnamese leisure tends to happen in groups, in public, and early enough to beat the heat.
Why this band
FC“clusters doing tai chi” — The noun 'clusters' is a slightly more vivid, specific word than 7.0 and 6.5's plain 'groups', suggesting small, loosely gathered circles of people.
LR“Fishing is quietly, enormously popular too.” — Stacks two adverbs before the adjective, more emphatic than 7.0's single-adverb version ('quietly enormous') and far beyond 6.5's plain 'quietly everywhere'.
GRA“early enough to beat the heat” — A punchy idiom replacing 7.0's plainer 'early in the morning before it gets hot', compressing the same idea into a tighter, more natural-sounding phrase.
8. How are the outdoor activities people do today different from those in the past?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The comparison between father and nephew is joined with the plain connector 'while', simpler than the higher bands' punchier semicolon.
They are more organised now and less local. My father's outdoor childhood was catching crabs in the paddy field behind the house, while my nephew's is a supervised swimming lesson booked through an app. Activities used to happen where you lived, with whoever was around, and they were often half work, like fishing or foraging. Today people travel to do things: a specific mountain, a specific beach, with equipment bought just for the purpose. There's also more documenting now, since an outdoor activity often exists partly to be photographed. People probably go further and try more, but the ordinary outdoors, the field behind the house, has stopped counting.
Why this band
FC“My father's outdoor childhood was catching crabs in the paddy field behind the house, while my nephew's is a supervised swimming lesson booked through an app.” — Joins the two contrasting clauses with 'while'. 7.0 and 7.5 both replace this connector with a semicolon, a tighter, more balanced way of setting the two generations directly against each other.
LR“they were often half work, like fishing or foraging” — A two-item list. 7.0 and 7.5 both extend this to a three-item list — 'fishing, foraging, herding' — a fuller and more rhythmically balanced set of examples.
GRA“People probably go further and try more, but the ordinary outdoors, the field behind the house, has stopped counting.” — A single 'but' sentence. 7.0 and 7.5 both restructure this as a semicolon-linked upside/downside pair ('The upside is that... the downside is that...'), a more clearly organised way of presenting the same trade-off.
Band 7.0
The semicolon-linked upside/downside sentence gives the closing trade-off a clear, balanced structure that 6.5's single 'but' sentence doesn't achieve.
They're more organised and less local. My father's outdoor childhood was catching crabs in the paddy field behind the house; my nephew's is a supervised swimming lesson booked through an app. Activities used to happen where you lived, with whoever was around, and they were often half work — fishing, foraging, herding. Today people travel to do things: a specific mountain, a specific beach, with equipment bought for the purpose. There's also the documenting: an outdoor activity now often exists partly to be photographed. The upside is that people go further and try more; the downside is that the ordinary outdoors, the field behind the house, has stopped counting.
Why this band
FC“The upside is that people go further and try more; the downside is that the ordinary outdoors, the field behind the house, has stopped counting.” — A semicolon-linked pair of parallel clauses, more clearly organised than 6.5's single 'but' sentence on the same trade-off. 7.5 keeps this exact structure with small lexical changes ('range further', 'simply stopped').
LR“fishing, foraging, herding” — A three-item list without connecting words, fuller and more rhythmic than 6.5's two-item 'like fishing or foraging'. 7.5 keeps this same three-item list.
GRA“My father's outdoor childhood was catching crabs in the paddy field behind the house; my nephew's is a supervised swimming lesson booked through an app.” — A semicolon joins the two balanced clauses without a connecting word, tighter than 6.5's version using 'while'. 7.5 keeps this exact semicolon structure unchanged.
Band 7.5
The added tail 'rather than leisure in any recognisable sense' pushes the point about half-work activities into a sharper, more explicit contrast than either lower band makes.
They're more organised these days, and considerably less local. My father's outdoor childhood was catching crabs in the paddy field behind the house; my nephew's is a supervised swimming lesson booked through an app. Activities used to happen wherever you lived, with whoever was around, and they were often half work — fishing, foraging, herding — rather than leisure in any recognisable sense. Today people travel to do things: a specific mountain, a specific beach, kitted out with equipment bought purely for the purpose. There's also the documenting: an outdoor activity now often exists partly to be photographed. The upside is that people range further and try more; the downside is that the ordinary outdoors, the field behind the house, has simply stopped counting.
Why this band
FC“rather than leisure in any recognisable sense” — An extra clause not present in the lower bands, making explicit the contrast between old half-work activities and leisure as we'd define it today, a more developed point than 7.0's version which just lists the examples.
LR“kitted out with equipment bought purely for the purpose” — The phrase 'kitted out' is a more vivid, idiomatic way of describing the equipment than 7.0's plainer 'with equipment bought for the purpose'.
GRA“The upside is that people range further and try more; the downside is that the ordinary outdoors, the field behind the house, has simply stopped counting.” — Reuses the 7.0 semicolon structure but swaps 'go further' for the more precise 'range further' and adds 'simply', showing the sentence pattern was already sound and mainly needed lexical sharpening.
9. How do you think technology will affect people's leisure time in the future?
May–Aug 2026
Compare Band 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.5 for this question
Band 6.5
The closing prediction ends on the plain phrase 'something people pay for', without the higher bands' final self-aware comment that this is a strange thing to predict.
It will keep blurring the line between leisure and everything else, mostly in ways people won't notice. My running watch has turned a relaxed beach jog into a small statistics project I feel obliged to check afterwards, so the leisure is still there, but there's a job attached now. I'd expect more of this, leisure that's tracked, scored, and shared, and more that happens entirely on screens, with virtual reality making a fake mountain cheaper than a real one. On the positive side, technology could free up time by automating chores, though so far it has mostly filled the time it saved. My guess is that 'unplugged' leisure becomes something people pay for.
Why this band
FC“My guess is that 'unplugged' leisure becomes something people pay for.” — A plain closing prediction. 7.0 and 7.5 both extend this with the self-aware tag 'which is a strange/genuinely strange thing to predict', adding a reflective final layer that this shorter version omits.
LR“becomes something people pay for” — A plain noun ('something'). 7.0 and 7.5 both replace this with the more precise 'a luxury people pay for', a sharper economic term than the vague 'something'.
GRA“so the leisure is still there, but there's a job attached now” — A simple 'but' sentence. 7.0 and 7.5 both replace the connector with a semicolon ('the leisure is still there... but there's a job attached to it now'), a slightly tighter way of joining the two related observations.
Band 7.0
The closing self-aware tag 'which is a strange thing to predict' gives the final sentence a reflective, considered ending that 6.5's flatter version lacks.
It'll keep blurring the line between leisure and everything else, mostly in ways we don't really notice. My running watch has turned a relaxed beach jog into a small statistics project I feel obliged to check afterwards; the leisure is still there, but there's a job attached to it now. I'd expect more of that — leisure that's tracked, scored and shared — and more that happens entirely on screens, with virtual reality making a fake mountain cheaper than a real one. On the positive side, technology could free up time by automating chores, though so far it's mostly just filled the time it saved. My guess is that 'unplugged' leisure becomes a luxury people pay for, which is a strange thing to predict.
Why this band
FC“which is a strange thing to predict” — An added reflective tag absent from 6.5's shorter, flatter closing sentence. 7.5 intensifies this with 'genuinely strange', a small further emphasis.
LR“a luxury people pay for” — A more precise economic term than 6.5's vague 'something people pay for'. 7.5 keeps this exact phrase, showing it was already the right word choice at 7.0.
GRA“the leisure is still there, but there's a job attached to it now” — Joins the two clauses with a semicolon before this sentence rather than 6.5's separate 'so' clause, a tighter structural link. 7.5 keeps this same semicolon join with 'technically' inserted for extra nuance.
Band 7.5
The inserted adverb 'technically' before the concession about leisure still being there is a small but telling touch of self-aware hedging beyond 7.0's plainer version.
It'll keep blurring the line between leisure and everything else, mostly in ways we barely register. My running watch has quietly turned a relaxed beach jog into a small statistics project I feel almost obliged to check afterwards; the leisure is still there, technically, but there's a job attached to it now. I'd expect more of that — leisure that's tracked, scored and shared — and more of it happening entirely on screens, with virtual reality making a fake mountain cheaper to visit than a real one. On the brighter side, technology could free up time by automating chores, though so far it's mostly just refilled the time it saved. My guess is that 'unplugged' leisure ends up a luxury people pay for, which is a genuinely strange thing to predict.
Why this band
FC“the leisure is still there, technically, but there's a job attached to it now” — Inserts 'technically' mid-clause, a more flexible and self-aware placement than 7.0's straighter version of the same sentence without this hedge.
LR“mostly just refilled the time it saved” — The verb 'refilled' is more precise than 7.0's plainer 'filled', implying the time was emptied out by automation and then filled right back up, a subtler causal image.
GRA“which is a genuinely strange thing to predict” — Adds the intensifier 'genuinely' to 7.0's already reflective closing tag ('which is a strange thing to predict'), a small deliberate emphasis on an already well-formed sentence.

Frequently asked questions

How long should my answer to this Part 2 cue card be?: Speak for 1 to 2 minutes. The examiner will stop you at 2 minutes, so aim for roughly 220-300 words that cover every bullet on the card and end with how you feel about it.
What Part 3 questions follow this cue card?: After "A Long Walk You Enjoyed", examiners have asked 9 follow-up discussion questions, listed above. They move from your personal story to general opinions on the same theme.
Is this cue card still being used?: It was most recently reported by test-takers in May–Aug 2026. Cue cards rotate every four months, and many topics return in later seasons with slightly different wording.