Part 2 cue cardCities and urban life

Describe a park or garden you like

Four easy bullets, and the trap is the brochure: listing the park's lakes and flowerbeds instead of what you actually do there. The marks are in the last bullet, which needs something the park gives you that nowhere else in your city does.

1 minute to prepare
Up to 2 minutes
Samples at Band 6, 7 and 8
Updated 20 October 2026

Describe a park or garden you like.

You should say:

where it is
how often you go there
what you do when you are there
and explain why you like it

Rehearse the long turn

1 minute to prepare · 2 minutes to speak

Sit this card with the AI examinerThen the Part 3 discussion, and a full report

A 60-second plan

where it isLalbagh, south Bengaluru, metro ride
how often you go thereevery other Sunday, before seven
what you do when you are therelap with Dad, guavas, sketch glasshouse
and explain why you like ittraffic noise vanishes; time with Dad

Sample answers

224 words · about 1:57 spoken at a Band 6 pace

Well, the park I like the most is Lalbagh, which is a big botanical garden in the south of Bengaluru, the city where I live. It's very famous in my city and it is there since more than two hundred years, so the trees are really huge and old.

I go there about every two weeks, usually in Sunday morning with my father. We try to get there before seven o'clock, because after that it becomes very crowded and also too much hot.

When we are there, mostly we walk around the lake, and my father always buy guavas from the man at the gate, with chilli powder on top. Sometimes I bring a notebook and I am drawing the glass house, which is a beautiful old building in the middle of garden. My father likes to sit on a bench and read his newspaper, so we don't talk much, but it's nice.

The main reason I like it is because it's very peaceful. Bengaluru has a terrible traffic and there is noise everywhere, but inside Lalbagh you can hear only birds. I think it gives me a fresh mind for the whole week. Also, it reminds me that our city was once full of gardens, before all the apartments were built. So for me it's like a small escape from the city life.

The mistakes that keep it at Band 6

it is there since more than should be it has been there for more than
in Sunday morning should be on Sunday mornings
too much hot should be far too hot
my father always buy guavas should be my father always buys guavas
I am drawing the glass house should be I draw the glasshouse
in the middle of garden should be in the middle of the garden
has a terrible traffic should be has terrible traffic
gives me a fresh mind should be clears my head

Why this is Band 6, not Band 7

Fluency and coherence: Keeps going and covers every bullet in order, with simple links ("Well", "So for me"). It stays at Band 6 because the third bullet is a run of separate activities joined with "and" and "so" rather than one connected morning, and the ending falls back on a stock phrase.
Vocabulary: Has the topic words to be clear ("botanical garden", "chilli powder", "peaceful"), but some choices are awkward: "gives me a fresh mind" is not a natural collocation, and "too much hot" misuses an intensifier. Band 7 needs a few less common items used precisely.
Grammar: Attempts relative clauses and reasons, but errors cluster where the structure is harder: "it is there since more than two hundred years" needs the present perfect with for, and "I am drawing" uses the continuous for a habit. Roughly three errors every eighty words is Band 6.

Pronunciation is the fourth criterion; it is judged from your voice, so a written sample cannot show it.

252 words · about 1:56 spoken at a Band 7 pace

I'd like to talk about Lalbagh, which is a botanical garden in the south of Bengaluru. It's been there since the eighteenth century, so some of the trees are absolutely enormous, and these days it's only ten minutes from my flat by the metro.

I go roughly every other Sunday, and always early, because by nine it's packed with families and the sun's already fierce. I usually go with my dad, which has become a bit of a ritual since he retired.

What we do there hasn't really changed in years. We do a slow lap of the lake, and Dad stops at the gate to buy guavas sprinkled with chilli and salt, which is non-negotiable as far as he's concerned. Then he settles on a bench with his newspaper, and I wander off to sketch the glasshouse. It's a lovely Victorian structure, all iron and glass, and I've drawn it probably thirty times without ever getting the roof quite right.

As for why I like it, the main thing is the quiet. Bengaluru's traffic is notorious, and you can hear horns from pretty much everywhere, but once you're a few hundred metres inside the gates, the noise just fades away. I also like that the trees are older than the city around them; it puts my own little worries into perspective. And honestly, those mornings are the only time my dad and I spend together without our phones, so it means more to me than just a walk in the park.

The slips

by the metro should be by metro

Why this is Band 7, not Band 8

Fluency and coherence: Speaks at length with flexible signposting ("As for why I like it", "And honestly") and gives each bullet a real scene. Not Band 8 because the last bullet stacks three reasons one after another ("the main thing", "I also like") rather than building one point fully.
Vocabulary: Natural, less common items with good collocation ("absolutely enormous", "a bit of a ritual", "non-negotiable", "notorious"), and a neat play on "a walk in the park". Band 8 would show that precision throughout, including the plainer middle stretch.
Grammar: A range of complex structures used accurately: present perfect for a continuing habit ("has become"), relative clauses, a time clause with "once you're". One small slip, "by the metro", where no article is needed; a Band 8 speaker would rarely make even that.

Pronunciation is the fourth criterion; it is judged from your voice, so a written sample cannot show it.

288 words · about 1:59 spoken at a Band 8 pace

The place that springs to mind is Lalbagh, the old botanical garden in the south of Bengaluru. It was laid out in the 1760s, which makes it older than most of the city, and it's a ten-minute metro ride from where I live, so I've got no excuse not to go.

I'm there every other Sunday, more or less, and always first thing, because by nine o'clock it's heaving with families and the heat becomes oppressive. I go with my father; it started as a way to get him out of the house after he retired, and it's turned into something we'd both be lost without.

The routine is almost comically fixed. We do one unhurried lap of the lake, Dad haggles half-heartedly with the guava seller at the gate, who's been there as long as I can remember, and we eat his guavas dusted with chilli and salt. Then he disappears behind his newspaper on the same bench, and I go off and sketch the glasshouse, a Victorian iron-and-glass building I've drawn dozens of times and never quite done justice to.

Why does it matter so much to me? Partly it's the silence. Bengaluru's traffic is notorious, but a few hundred metres past the gates the horns simply fall away, and all you're left with is birdsong and the odd jogger. Partly it's the trees: some of them were planted before the city had a single traffic light, and standing under them has a way of shrinking whatever I'm worrying about. But if I'm honest, the real reason is my dad. Those two hours are the only time we spend together without a screen in sight, and I suspect he values them even more than I do.

Why this is Band 8, not Band 9

Fluency and coherence: Fully coherent and effortless: each bullet becomes a scene, and the last one is built in steps ("Partly it's the silence", "Partly it's the trees", "the real reason is my dad") that land on a personal point. Short of Band 9 only because the rhetorical question is a familiar device.
Vocabulary: Wide and precise: "heaving with families", "oppressive", "haggles half-heartedly", "never quite done justice to", "simply fall away". Band 9 would keep that precision even in the plainer sentences about the routine.
Grammar: Flexible and accurate: a reduced relative clause ("dusted with chilli and salt"), present perfect for change ("it's turned into"), a passive ("was laid out"), and a gerund subject ("standing under them has a way of"). No errors; the gap to Band 9 is the odd safe structure.

Pronunciation is the fourth criterion; it is judged from your voice, so a written sample cannot show it.

Rounding-off questions

Why are parks important in cities?: Mainly because they're the only free space where anyone can just sit. In a city like Bengaluru, a park also cools the air and soaks up the rain, so it's doing practical work as well as giving people a break.
Should there be more green spaces in urban areas?: Definitely, though I'd rather see lots of small ones than one grand park. A patch of trees at the end of every street does more for ordinary people than a famous garden they need a bus to reach.