IELTS Speaking Part 2 Sample Answer

This is a high-scoring sample answer for the following IELTS Speaking Part 2 question: Describe a House or Apartment You Would Like to Live In. Read them to understand what you need to talk about and the kind of answers you need to score well in your IELTS speaking test. For advice, strategies and tips on the best ways to answer (because 2 minutes is very long), this article will help.

IELTS Speaking Part 2 Sample Answer

Describe a house or apartment you would like to live in

You should say:

What it is like

Where it would be

Why you would like to live in this house or apartment

And how you feel about this house or apartment.

Read the Text

It’s difficult to say. I’m one of these people that find that well, I found over the years that the more you know what you want, the harder it is to find. And so, describing a house or an apartment that I would like to live in could vary dramatically from a country mansion to a seaside house to to a penthouse apartment in the city centre. And it’s the latter that I’m actually going to go with. I’d love to have an ultra-modern penthouse apartment in the city centre, maybe in a high-rise building, maybe at the top of a shopping mall, maybe right at the top of somewhere. So, you have fantastic views, you have fantastic vistas over the whole of the city, and you can see the weather coming and so on. It’s kind of like you’re in your own little world. And I think it would need to be decorated in warm colours and deep browns and deep reds and deep greens and so on, rather than trendy grey and white and so on, which I feel are really quite cold and not very interesting. I think it would be so convenient, a place like that would probably have a gym and a swimming pool, probably have an underground car park. And being in the city centre, it should be close to some kind of a transport and so it should be easy enough to get out to the countryside or the seaside, if need be. As for living there, I think it would be wonderful. I think it would be really relaxing and cool. But I think if it was a big penthouse apartment, I think I would need a cleaner or a housekeeper or something like that, just to keep it in good nick.

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Speaking Analysis

This is my opinion of the above answer. The answer was given as in a test, with minimal preparation time.

Good introduction, setting the context that there is more than one kind of house or apartment I would like, but today I’m going to choose this kind of apartment.

Good description using good vocabulary (see below)

The description of where the apartment is, and how it is decorated puts the picture in the speaker’s mind into the listener’s. Very good, it’s easy to imagine.

Also, good description of why he would like it with a note at the end to say that he needs a cleaner.

Less Common and Idiomatic Vocabulary

the more you know what you want, the harder it is to find – if something continues, then it has this result
vary dramatically – surprisingly big differences between choices
a country mansion – a very large expensive house in the country with it’s own land
a seaside house – a house beside the sea
a penthouse apartment in the city centre – an apartment at the top of a high rise building in the middle of a city
the latter – the choice at the end
ultra-modern – the latest
a high-rise building – a high building with many floors
views – being able to see the surrounding area
vistas – being able to see the surrounding area
It’s kind of like – it’s approximately the same as
your own little world – a space or a feeling where you feel the most comfortable
warm colours – colours that make a room feel warm
deep – (about a colour) dark
trendy – fashionable
an underground car park – a car park under a building
it should be easy enough – I presume it will be possible
if need be – if necessary
As for – regarding
or something like that (here, it should really be ‘someone’) – related to that
to keep something in good nick – to keep something as if it was new