# Describe a person you admire: IELTS Speaking sample answers Speaking Part 2 - People Describe a person you admire. You should say: - who this person is - how you know this person - what this person has done - and explain why you admire this person Source: Sample answers and examiner notes are written by Testmigo. ## Band 6 sample The person I admire most is my mother. Her name is Sunita and she is fifty-two years old. Of course I know her my whole life, but I think I only started to really admire her when I became adult and understood how difficult her life was. When I was ten years old, my father had an accident and he couldn't work for nearly two years. At that time we had very little money, and my mother decided to start a small tailoring business at home. She already knew how to sew because her mother taught her, but she had never run a business before. She bought a second-hand sewing machine and started making school uniforms and blouses for the women in our neighbourhood. In the beginning she was working from early morning until midnight, and she also looked after my father, me and my brother. Slowly she got more customers, and after five years she opened a small shop in the market. Now she has three women working for her, and they are all women who needed a job, like she did before. I admire her for many reasons, but mainly because she never complained. Even when she was very tired, she always smiled in front of us and she made sure that we didn't miss school. Also she is very generous. If somebody in the neighbourhood is in trouble, she is the first person to help them, even though she is not rich. I hope one day I can be strong like her. When I have some difficulty in my life, I always think about what my mother would do. **Examiner notes.** This Band 6 answer is sincere and well organized, and the story of the tailoring business gives it real substance. The speaker uses some complex sentences, such as "they are all women who needed a job, like she did before", but the vocabulary is mostly everyday ("very tired", "very generous"). Errors are noticeable without blocking meaning: "I know her my whole life", "when I became adult" and "strong like her". For Band 7, the speaker would use the present perfect correctly ("I've known her"), add precise phrases like "kept the family afloat", and vary the linking. ## Band 7 sample The person I'd like to talk about is my cousin Tomás, who's about fifteen years older than me and has worked as a nurse for nearly twenty years. Because of the age gap, he was more like an uncle to me when I was little, but we became much closer when I was a teenager, because he lived just around the corner from us and I'd often go to his house after school when my parents were working late. He's the sort of person you can tell anything to without worrying that he'll judge you. What he's done is quite impressive when you think about it. He trained as a nurse straight after school and spent most of his career in the emergency department of a busy public hospital, which is an incredibly demanding job. Then, about eight years ago, he took a year off to volunteer with a medical charity in a rural area where there was hardly any healthcare at all. When he came back, he studied part-time and qualified as a nurse practitioner in his late thirties, while still working full-time. I admire him for a few reasons. The first is his calmness under pressure. I saw him deal with a real emergency once, when a man collapsed in a supermarket, and he just took charge while everyone else was panicking. But more than that, I admire the fact that he's never stopped learning. A lot of people settle into a routine by middle age, whereas he keeps setting himself new challenges. He's also the main reason I'm considering a career in healthcare myself, so in a way he's shaped my plans for the future as well. **Examiner notes.** This is a coherent Band 7 answer with a clear shape: relationship, achievements, reasons, and a personal consequence. The speaker uses natural expressions such as "just around the corner", "calmness under pressure", "took charge" and "settle into a routine", and controls tenses well, especially the present perfect in "he's never stopped learning". The supermarket example makes the first reason concrete. For Band 8, the speaker would develop the second reason with the same detail, use more precise and less familiar vocabulary, and reflect more deeply on what makes the cousin different. The Band 8 sample is free with an account on the [topic page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/speaking/topics/describe-a-person-you-admire). ## Part 3 follow-up questions 1. What qualities do people usually admire in others? 2. Is it better for young people to admire famous people or people they know personally? 3. Have the kinds of people we admire changed compared with the past? 4. Does the media give too much attention to celebrities? 5. Can ordinary people be heroes? In what ways? ## Common questions ### How long should an IELTS Speaking Part 2 answer be? You get one minute to prepare and then speak for up to two minutes; the examiner stops you at two. Aim to keep talking for the full time, which is usually 220 to 300 words. ### Can I use these sample answers in my test? No. Examiners are trained to spot memorised answers, and a learned script is marked down. Use the samples to see what each band does, then answer in your own words.