Describe a time when you helped someone

The cue card

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

• who you helped
• what the situation was
• how you helped
• and explain how you felt about it

You have 1 minute to prepare and should speak for 1 to 2 minutes.

🎙 Practise this card with the examiner

Notes you could make in 1 minute

Write key words only, one line per bullet point:

• elderly neighbour, Mr Rossi
• power cut, heatwave
• fan, water, checked on him
• glad, small thing mattered

Band 7+ sample answer

I'd like to talk about a time last summer when I helped my neighbour, Mr Rossi. He's in his eighties and lives alone in the unit next to mine. We usually just say hello in the corridor, but we'd never really had a proper conversation.

One afternoon in January there was a power cut across the whole street, right in the middle of a heatwave. It was nearly forty degrees, and I suddenly realised that he might be struggling, because he doesn't have air conditioning and he's not very mobile.

So I knocked on his door, and he looked quite unwell, to be honest. He was very hot and hadn't been drinking enough water. I brought him some cold water and wet towels, opened all the windows on the shady side, and then drove to the shops to get a battery-powered fan. I also rang his daughter, whose number was on his fridge, so she knew what was happening. I stayed with him for a couple of hours until the power came back on.

Afterwards I felt really glad that I'd thought of him, because it could have been quite serious. It also made me realise how easy it is to live next to someone for years without really knowing them. Since then we've become quite friendly. I pop in once a week or so, and he's started giving me tomatoes from his little garden, so I think we both got something out of it.

🔊 Listen to the sample answer

About 245 words, or roughly 2 minutes at a natural speaking pace.

Useful vocabulary for this topic

• to lend a hand
• to check in on someone
• it was the least I could do
• a sense of community
• to go out of my way
• it made my day

Why this answer works: it covers every bullet point, tells a short story with specific details (names, places, numbers), uses a range of tenses, and finishes with the "explain" point, which is where you show your best vocabulary.

Follow-up and Part 3 questions

Examiner's follow-up (Part 2): Did they thank you?

Part 3 discussion questions:

• Why do some people volunteer without being paid?
• Are people less helpful to strangers than in the past?
• Should schools require students to do community service?
• Who should help elderly people: families or the government?

Answer Part 3 questions in 3–4 sentences: your view, a reason, an example, and the other side.

More cue cards

• Describe a skill you learned that is useful to you
• Describe a gift you gave to someone
• All 30 IELTS cue cards