Describe a time you solved a difficult problem
The full IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card, a band-8 model answer you can learn from, the Part 3 questions that follow, and examiner strategy. Free, no sign-up.
Describe a time you solved a difficult problem.
You should say:
- Describe what the problem was
- Explain where and when it happened
- Say who, if anyone, helped you
- Explain how you solved it and what you learned from the experience
You will have one minute to prepare and should then speak for one to two minutes.
Band-8 model answer
I'd like to talk about a payroll mix-up that happened about two years ago when I was working part time as an admin assistant for a small events company. One month, half the staff were paid twice and the other half weren't paid at all, and naturally people were furious by lunchtime. Nobody could work out where the fault lay because the payment software had just been updated, so at first we were going round in circles blaming the bank, then the software, then ourselves. My manager was away that week, so it fell to me and one colleague, Priya, to sort it out before the end of the day. We ended up printing every transaction from the last three months and cross checking it line by line against the old system, which was tedious but necessary. About an hour in, the penny finally dropped, the new software was rounding decimals differently, which had thrown off a batch export. Once we spotted that pattern, we could isolate exactly which accounts were affected and correct them within the hour. What I took away from it is that panicking gets you nowhere; you're better off going back to square one and checking the basics methodically rather than assuming the problem is something exotic. It also taught me to trust a second pair of eyes, because I'd have missed the pattern working alone.
Why this answer scores band 8
- ✓Wide range of tenses used naturally: past continuous, past perfect and present perfect to sequence the story
- ✓Idiomatic and topic-specific phrasing such as 'went round in circles', 'the penny finally dropped' and 'back to square one'
- ✓Clear coherence through discourse markers (as it turned out, in the end, looking back) and the final bullet is developed at length with reflection rather than a bare list
Part 3 follow-up questions
After the cue card, the examiner discusses the topic in more depth. Practise these aloud too — Part 3 is where the highest bands are won or lost.
Examiner strategy for this cue card
Practise this answer out loud in a real Speaking test
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Describe a time you solved a difficult problem — FAQ
How do you answer the 'Describe a time you solved a difficult problem' IELTS cue card?
Spend your one minute of preparation noting a few keywords for each prompt (Describe what the problem was; Explain where and when it happened; Say who, if anyone, helped you; Explain how you solved it and what you learned from the experience), then speak for the full two minutes. Cover each point briefly but give most of your time to the final 'explain why' prompt, where the marks are. A full band-8 model answer is shown on this page.
How long should the IELTS Speaking Part 2 answer be?
You should talk for up to two minutes without stopping. It is better to keep going and cover the topic in depth than to finish early — the examiner will stop you when the time is up.
What Part 3 questions follow 'Describe a time you solved a difficult problem'?
Part 3 broadens the topic into a discussion. For this cue card, expect questions such as: What kinds of problems do people usually find hardest to solve, personal ones or work related ones? Do you think people today are better or worse at problem solving than previous generations, given how much technology helps us? Is it better to solve problems alone or as part of a team, and why?