IELTS Speaking Part 2
Describe a person who gave a clever solution to a problem
You should say:
• Who the person is
• When and where it happened
• What the problem was
And explain why it was a clever solution.
Sample Recording
Sample
To ‘think outside of the box’ is always the term that comes to mind whenever a problem arises and not everyone succeeds in coming up with a solution, but there is one person on this planet though who always surprises me with his cleverness and ability to come up with a solution to even some of the toughest problems. His name is Nam and he’s my older brother.
My mother always told us that even though we’re brothers and we have a close–knit relationship, we’re still as different as two people could possibly be. I’m quite an active person and have a tendency to make very quick decisions, while my brother is extremely calm and usually solves problems in a level-headed kind of way, and that’s the reason why he has been a kind of saviour to me on a number of occasions.
There was a time that I consider as an important landmark in my life which was when I took the entrance exam to university. And similar to my mother, I suffer from hypotension which is low blood pressure and sometimes causes dizziness when I’m hungry or tired. In certain circumstances, I just need the sugar from a couple of candy bars to recover, but actually I’m quite an absent-minded person so I usually forget to carry any with me.
On that day, when the start of the examination was getting nearer, I was so nervous that I couldn’t think clearly and my hands had begun to shake. All of a sudden I found some tiny chocolate bars in my pocket, and they absolutely saved my life! In the end, it turned out that my brother remembered to put some in my pocket for me in order to avoid this situation. So thoughtful and so smart he was to do such a thing!
Vocabulary highlights:
1. think outside of the box – to think in an original or creative way
2. cleverness – smart, good problem solving ability
3. a close–knit relationship – a good and close relationship
4. level-headed – calm and sensible even in difficult situations
5. saviour – a person who saves someone from harm or danger
6. landmark – an important moment, time or event
7. hypotension – a disease related to blood-sugar levels
8. dizziness – when you feel like your head is spinning around and you cannot stand up normally
9. absent-minded – to be forgetful or easily distracted