Part 2 — Long turnQ3/2026Difficulty 3/5

Describe a person who has influenced you the most

IELTS Speaking questions reported by recent test-takers, compiled each quarter. Cambridge does not publish the active list, so this is a compilation of reports, not official material.

Questions

Question 160s to prepare · 120s to speak

Describe a person who has influenced you the most. You should say: • who this person is • how you know them • what they did • and explain why they influenced you

Model answer

Written by 8020 teachers. Do not memorise it — take the structure and the way ideas are developed, then speak about your own life.

I'd like to talk about my aunt, who has probably shaped the way I think more than anyone else in my family. I've known her my whole life, obviously, but we only got close when I was about fifteen. That was the year I nearly failed maths, and my parents were quite angry about it. She was the one who sat down with me instead of lecturing me. What kind of person is she? Practical, I'd say. She runs a small tailoring business, so she thinks in terms of what actually gets done, not what sounds good. She's also very direct — sometimes uncomfortably so. If you make an excuse, she'll point it out. As for why she influenced me — well, I mean, it's not one dramatic moment. It's more that she taught me to separate the problem from the panic. When I told her I was failing, she asked exactly one question: which topics, specifically? And it turned out there were only three. Three, not the whole subject. That reframing changed how I handle everything now, from work deadlines to learning English. I still catch myself using her question when I'm overwhelmed. I ask: what exactly is the problem? Not how do I feel about it. And nine times out of ten the real problem is much smaller than the feeling around it.

Vocabulary you can use today

shape the way someone thinks
định hình cách ai đó suy nghĩ — trang trọng hơn 'change my mind'
get close to someone
trở nên thân thiết với ai
sit down with someone
ngồi lại nói chuyện tử tế, khác 'lecture' là lên lớp
uncomfortably direct
thẳng đến mức làm người ta khó chịu
separate the problem from the panic
tách vấn đề ra khỏi cảm giác hoảng — cụm ghi điểm ở Part 2/3
nine times out of ten
mười lần thì chín — thay cho 'usually', tự nhiên hơn

Common traps for Vietnamese speakers

Bám đúng 4 gạch đầu dòng theo thứ tự: ai → biết bao lâu → người thế nào → vì sao ảnh hưởng. Giám khảo chấm "có trả lời đủ ý không", nên bỏ một gạch là mất điểm dù nói hay. Ý thứ tư (vì sao) phải chiếm nhiều thời gian nhất — khoảng nửa bài. Ba ý đầu chỉ là dựng bối cảnh. Đừng chọn người nổi tiếng. Bạn không có chi tiết cụ thể về họ, nên sẽ phải nói chung chung, và chung chung là chỗ mất điểm nặng nhất ở Part 2.

/ʃ/ trong shape, shaped/θ/ trong think, threeâm cuối /d/ trong influenced, changedâm cuối /s/ trong problems, deadlines

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