Part 2 Practice: Describe an Experience

Card 1 > Describe a memorable journey you have taken. > > You should say:

• where you went > - when you went there > - who you went with > > and explain why it was memorable.

Card 2 > Describe a time when you learned something new. > > You should say:

• what you learned > - how you learned it > - how long it took > > and explain how you felt about it.

Card 3 > Describe a time when you helped someone. > > You should say:

• who you helped > - what the situation was > - what you did > > and explain how you felt afterwards.

This is the main grammar test. Use three tenses naturally:

Mix all three in a 2-minute answer. Using only past simple caps you at around band 6.

I want to talk about the time I learned to drive — which, looking back, was probably the most frustrating and rewarding thing I have done as an adult.

I had moved to a smaller town for work in 2023, and I quickly realised that public transport there was limited and I'd need a car to get around properly. I'd put off learning to drive for years because I'd been nervous about it, but at that point I didn't have a choice.
I signed up with a local instructor — a very calm older gentleman called Raj. We had lessons twice a week, each one about an hour. The first three lessons were a disaster. I was stalling constantly at junctions, I couldn't judge distances on roundabouts, and I genuinely thought I would never pass the test. I remember one evening I came home, and I was close to giving up. But Raj had a trick: he would end every lesson with one specific thing I had done well, however small. That kept me going.
By about the eighth lesson, something clicked. I suddenly wasn't thinking about the gear stick anymore. It took me about three months from my first lesson to passing the test on the second attempt.
What I took from it was that I learn slower than I want to but faster than I fear. And honestly, being able to drive has changed my life in unglamorous but important ways — I can visit my parents more often, and I don't have to plan around bus schedules.

• Flat tense. "I went to Tokyo. I saw Mount Fuji. I ate sushi. I came home." — no past continuous, no past perfect. Upgrade to: "I'd always wanted to see Mount Fuji, so when I was planning the trip I made sure..."
• No moment. An experience card without a specific moment is a travelogue. Pick the most dramatic 10 seconds of the experience and build around that.
• Ending too early. If you're at 1:10 and out of things to say, add the reflection section: "What I took from that was..."

Pick Card 1. Without writing anything, tell the story out loud for 2 minutes. Notice where you slowed down or froze — those are the spots where you need vocabulary or a clearer structure. Try it again with a plan.