Speaking Part 2: the cue card template that always works
Lala Hasanova
April 24, 2026 · 3 min read
You get one minute to prepare and two minutes to talk. Here is the four-bucket template you can plug any cue card into.
Most cue cards ask you to describe a person, a place, an event or an object. The same four-bucket template fits all of them.
Bucket 1 — what or who. One sentence of identification.
Bucket 2 — when or where. One or two sentences of context.
Bucket 3 — why it matters to you. This is where you spend the most time. Add a memory, a feeling, a small story.
Bucket 4 — how it shaped you. A reflective sentence to close.
During your one-minute prep, write four keywords — one per bucket. Do not write full sentences. Then talk for two full minutes. Fluency carries weight; do not stop.
A student last month went from 6.0 to 7.0 on Speaking just by drilling this template ten times. The fluency improvement was visible inside a week.
