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    Speaking Part 2Reported 6 August 2026

    Describe a piece of technology (not a phone) you would like to own

    The cue card

    Describe a piece of technology, other than a phone, that you would like to own.

    • You should say: what it is
    • You should say: how much it costs
    • You should say: what you would use it for
    • You should say: and explain why you want it

    How to answer it

    This question has come back: candidates reported it on 7 July 2026, 6 August 2026. Questions that repeat across sittings are the ones worth rehearsing properly.

    The card excludes phones on purpose, so have a second choice ready that is not a laptop either — a robot vacuum, an e-reader, a decent camera, a home espresso machine. The cost bullet is a gift: use approximation language rather than a bare number, then justify the price against how often you would use it. Keep the 'why' emotional as well as practical — say what it would let you stop doing.

    What moves the band

    • Price hedging shows range: it goes for around, upwards of, nowhere near as expensive as, a splurge but worth it.
    • The five Part 3 questions are broad. Answer each in two sentences — claim then example — rather than one long ramble.

    Two answers, two bands

    Both answers below respond to this exact question. Read them in order: the difference between them is what a band is actually made of. They are written by us for this page — they are not candidate transcripts.

    Band 6.5

    What a 6.5 sounds like

    The technology I would like to own is a good camera, a professional one, not the camera in a phone.

    I think it costs about eight hundred dollars, or maybe more if you buy extra lenses. It is quite expensive for me, so I have not bought it yet, but I am saving some money every month.

    I would use it for taking photos when I travel. I like nature and mountains, and I also take photos of my family at parties and celebrations. Maybe in the future I could do it as a small business at weekends.

    I want it because photos from a real camera are much better quality than photos from a phone. Also, photography is a good hobby because you go outside and you see things in a different way. So this is the technology that I would like to own.

    Why it scores what it scores: Clean and complete, and it will not go above about 6.5. The cost bullet is answered with a bare number and the word expensive, where the whole point of that bullet is that it invites hedging language. The reason for wanting it stays at better quality and good hobby — true, and identical to what the examiner has already heard four times that morning.

    Band 8

    What an 8 sounds like

    I'd go with a second-hand film camera, which I realise is an odd answer to a question about technology.

    Price-wise you're looking at somewhere around a hundred and fifty for a decent one, so nowhere near as expensive as the digital bodies people save up for. The catch is the film itself — it works out at maybe a pound a photograph once you've paid to have it developed, which adds up frighteningly fast.

    And that's actually the reason I want one. On my phone I'll take forty pictures of the same thing and look at none of them again. With thirty-six shots that each cost real money, you slow down. You have to decide something is worth photographing before you press the button, and I think I'd see more that way, not less.

    I'd mostly use it for travelling, and for the ordinary days too, which are the ones nobody photographs and everybody later wishes they had.

    So it's a downgrade on paper. That's sort of the appeal.

    Why it scores what it scores: The choice itself does half the work — an unexpected object forces original language, because there is no rehearsed script for it. The price bullet uses exactly the hedging range the plan asks for (somewhere around, nowhere near as expensive as, works out at). Crucially it says what the technology would let the candidate stop doing, which turns the last bullet from a list of benefits into an argument.

    Phrases worth stealing

    • “which I realise is an odd answer”
    • “Price-wise you're looking at somewhere around”
    • “nowhere near as expensive as”
    • “which adds up frighteningly fast”
    • “So it's a downgrade on paper. That's sort of the appeal.”

    Part 3 questions reported with it

    Part 3 follows the topic of the cue card, so these are the discussion questions the same candidates were asked next.

    • How is modern technology different from the technology of the past?
    • How has technology changed the way people work and study?
    • Do people rely too much on technology?
    • What technology is popular with younger people, and what with older people?
    • Should schools spend more on technology or on teachers?

    These are candidate recalls. These are questions reported by test-takers after their exams, not official or leaked IELTS material. Wording varies by test version, location and memory. Use them for timed practice — never as a prediction of what you will be asked.

    Practise these next

    Know the number. Now move it.

    A conversion table tells you where you stand today. Langujet's AI marks your writing and speaking against the real rubric and tells you exactly which criterion is holding your score down.