IELTS Speaking Part 1

Delays: questions and Band 8 answers

The examiner asks three to five short questions on two or three everyday topics in the first four to five minutes. Here are 5 questions about delays written by BandLadder in the examiner's style, each with a Band 8 sample answer. Aim for two or three sentences each: answer, reason, one detail.
  • 5 questions
  • 5 Band 8 answers
  • 4 to 5 minutes

5 answers

Sample answers

1

How do you usually handle travel delays?

To be honest, I try to take them in my stride. Getting stressed out doesn't make the train arrive any faster, so I usually just accept it. Last week, when my morning commuter train was held up, I simply grabbed a flat white from a station café and read the news.

2

What do you do to pass the time while you are waiting?

Most of the time, I tend to listen to audiobooks on my mobile phone or catch up on messaging friends. If it's a really lengthy wait at an airport or bus terminal, I'll wander round the duty-free shops or browse in a bookshop to kill time.

3

Do you get annoyed when people keep you waiting?

It depends on the situation, really. If someone is just five or ten minutes late, I don't mind at all. But if they leave me waiting for over half an hour without letting me know, I do get a bit frustrated, because it feels like they don't value my time.

4

Have you ever experienced a very long flight or train delay?

Yes, definitely. A couple of years ago, on my way back from a holiday in Spain, my flight was delayed for nearly six hours because of bad weather. The airline handed out food vouchers, so my friend and I just sat in a lounge chatting and playing cards.

5

Do you think people are less patient with delays nowadays?

I'd say so, yes. We live in such a fast-paced world where everything is on demand, from same-day deliveries to instant streaming. Because of that, people expect immediate service and tend to lose their temper much more quickly whenever there's an unexpected hold-up.

Details are invented. Use the shape, not the sentences: examiners mark memorised answers down.

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7 words

Useful vocabulary

  • take (something) in one's stride

    deal with a problem calmly without becoming upset

  • held up

    delayed or prevented from moving forward

  • kill time

    do something while waiting to make time pass faster

  • fast-paced

    moving or developing very quickly

  • on demand

    available immediately whenever someone requests it

  • lose one's temper

    become suddenly angry

  • hold-up

    a delay that stops progress temporarily

  • →Give concrete examples of how you spend unexpected free time rather than just stating you dislike waiting.
  • →Incorporate natural phrasal verbs and idioms like 'held up' or 'kill time' to show idiomatic control.
  • →Distinguish between transport delays and social lateness to demonstrate a wider range of vocabulary.

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