This IELTS speaking part 2 topic is a very common one and it is a very easy topic card to answer because many of us regularly face some terrible / horrific matters or incidents. The title of the topic card is “A terrible/ horrific experience that you had”. We need to talk about any dangerous experience here. The answer provided here is a band-8 standard. Hopefully, this model answer will help you to prepare for the cue card and some other cards as well.
Notes for the cue card:
- A fire breakout
- Last year- summer time
- With my family & neighbours
- Very hot weather – battery of a car exploded – garage exploded – caught the electric line
- Devastating,
- Fire engulfed the whole house- everything burned
- No casualties – house was under insurance
- Never experienced such damage by fire
Model answer:
Thank you for the topic card. Being an active social worker, I have had a number of terrible experiences in my life. I saw car accidents, sudden deaths, fire breakouts and collapse of buildings etc. I respond to such incidents quickly. For this cue card, I’m going to share the experience of a devastating fire breakout that I experienced a couple of years ago.
It was summer time and the weather was extremely hot that day. We learnt from the weather forecasts that it was going to be one of the worst summer times as we were about to face an average temperature of 44-46°C. It was just like being in the desert.
I was enjoying TV and having a cup of iced tea in the afternoon. Suddenly I heard a violent sound of explosion in my neighbourhood. I came out of my house with my family members. We saw the pink house opposite our house just caught fire and black smoke was coming out of the garage. The fire spread out quickly and engulfed the whole house in minutes. My father, me and my elder brother along with some of our neighbours rushed to the spot to check if there were any casualties.
Fortunately, we found the owner of the house, Mr James, his wife Mrs James and their two little daughters Cathy and Casey came out of the house unharmed but all of them were trembling out of shock. Cathy and Casey were just like my sisters and when they saw me and my brother they jumped to our lap. We took them to our house but Mr James wanted to go into the house in the hope that he could save some properties.
My father, however, didn’t let him enter the danger zone. Actually, there was nothing he could do at all. He started crying and I felt very sad for him. My mother also started crying but took Mrs James inside our house. Someone called the local fire service immediately and they responded as quickly as they could. However, the house kept burning. It was my first-time experience and I observed the rage of fire. I was scared too. Two fire control units kept working on the fire until they were able to stop it in 45 minutes as the local community helped them.
Later investigation revealed that the battery of the car in their garage exploded because of the heat it took on that day in the front yard. Fortunately, the house was under insurance so the owner got it rebuilt soon. It was the worst-case scenario I have ever experienced. I’ll never forget it.
This is the end of the answer.
If you can successfully talk about this topic card, you will also be able to talk about the following topics:
- A dangerous disaster you observed
- A sad incident
- A situation when you felt scared
- A situation when you helped someone
- A fire accident you saw
