Part 2: storytelling and past tenses
Turn ‘Describe a time when…’ cue cards into gripping two-minute stories. Learn a five-stage narrative structure, accurate narrative tenses, natural time sequencers, vivid feelings and a reflective ending that answers the ‘explain’ bullet.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Structure a Part 2 story in five stages: scene, events, turning point, outcome and reflection.
- Use the past simple, past continuous, past perfect, used to and would accurately and flexibly.
- Link events with a range of time sequencers instead of ‘then… then… then…’.
- Add feelings and sensory detail that make a story vivid without slowing it down.
- Finish with a reflection that fully answers the ‘explain…’ bullet on the cue card.
Why storytelling decides your Part 2 score
Look through any collection of recent Part 2 cue cards and you'll see the same openings again and again: Describe a time when you…, Describe an occasion when…, Describe a journey…, Describe a mistake you made…. A large share of cue cards ask you to tell a story about the past, and even ‘describe a person’ or ‘describe a place’ cards usually invite a short story.
Quick reminder of the format: you get one minute to prepare (with paper and a pencil), then you speak for one to two minutes. The examiner stops you at two minutes and may ask one or two short follow-up questions.
That's good news, because a story is the easiest way to show the examiner what band 7+ requires:
- Fluency and Coherence: a story has a natural order, so you can talk for two minutes without losing your way.
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: narrative tenses (past continuous, past perfect, used to, would) are exactly the ‘range of complex structures’ the band descriptors reward.
- Lexical Resource: feelings and sensory detail let you use precise, less common vocabulary naturally.
- Pronunciation: clear -ed endings and expressive intonation make a story easy to follow.
The typical band 5–6 story is a flat list (‘Then I went… then we ate… then I came home. It was very nice.’). It often slides into the present tense and runs out of ideas after a minute. In this lesson you'll learn the structure, the tense toolkit and the reflective ending that turn the same experience into a band 8 performance.
The five-stage story map (about 2 minutes in total)
- 1
1. Set the scene (about 15–20 seconds)
Answer when, where, who and what was going on. Use the past continuous for background and the past perfect for anything that had already happened.
It was the day before Eid, and we were travelling to Sylhet. We'd booked our tickets weeks earlier.
This usually covers the first one or two bullets on the card.
- 2
2. Tell the events (about 30–40 seconds)
Move the story forward with the past simple and varied sequencers. Three or four key events are enough; this is not a minute-by-minute report.
For the first few hours, everything went smoothly. But just after Srimangal, the train shuddered to a halt.
- 3
3. Hit the turning point (about 15–20 seconds)
This is the surprise, problem, decision or discovery, the moment the story ‘turns’. Slow down here and add a feeling and one sensory detail.
It wasn't until the guard came through that we realised the engine had broken down. My heart sank.
- 4
4. Give the outcome (about 15 seconds)
How did it end? One or two sentences with in the end, eventually, by the time…
In the end, we reached Sylhet nearly eight hours late, exhausted but strangely happy.
- 5
5. Reflect (about 20–30 seconds)
Most band 5–6 stories stop before this stage, and it's where band 8 stories stand out. Answer the ‘explain…’ bullet directly: why it mattered, how you feel now, what you learned. Useful frames:
- Looking back, I think…
- In hindsight, I should have…
- What I took away from it was…
- If I hadn't…, I would never have… (third conditional)
- Ever since then, I've… (present perfect links the past to now)
Your narrative tense toolkit
| Tense | Job in a story | Example | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
Past simple | The main events, in order | We boarded the bus at six and reached Cox's Bazar by noon. | Present tense for past events (Yesterday I go…); swallowing the -ed so the examiner can't hear it |
Past continuous | Background scene; an action interrupted by another | It was pouring with rain and everyone was rushing for shelter when the lights went out. | Using it for every action: I was going… I was seeing… |
Past perfect | An event before the main story time; realisations | When I reached the exam hall, I realised I had left my admit card at home. | Using it as a ‘fancy’ past simple: I had gone to Sylhet last year |
Past perfect continuous | How long something had been going on before a past moment | We had been waiting for nearly three hours when the announcement came. | We were waiting for three hours when… loses the sense of duration |
used to | Past habits and past states that are no longer true | I used to be terrified of public speaking. | I use to… (missing -d), or confusing it with I am used to (= accustomed) |
would | Repeated past actions only, not states | Every Friday, my grandfather would take us fishing in the pond. | I would live in Khulna (live is a state, so say used to live or lived) |
was going to / was about to | Plans or near-actions in the past, often interrupted | I was about to give up when my phone buzzed. | I was about give up (missing to) |
It was the night before my HSC chemistry exam. I was sitting at my desk, revising the last chapter, and my mother was making tea in the kitchen. I had been studying for six hours straight, so my eyes were burning. Just as I was about to go to bed, the power went out, and I suddenly realised I hadn't charged my phone, which was my only torch. My father used to keep candles in the kitchen drawer, so I felt my way there in the dark…
- Past continuous (scene)‘was sitting / was making’: background actions in progress, like a camera slowly showing the room before anything happens.
- Past perfect continuous‘had been studying for six hours’: duration up to that moment, and it explains why the speaker's eyes were burning.
- was about to + past simple‘Just as I was about to go to bed, the power went out’: the classic interruption pattern that builds suspense.
- Past perfect (realisation)‘I realised I hadn't charged my phone’: the not-charging happened earlier, so it goes one step back in time.
- used to‘My father used to keep candles’: a past habit given as background information, not as a story event.
- Past simple (action)‘went, realised, felt’: the main events that move the story forward.
Time sequencers: replace ‘then… then… then…’
| What you want to show | Sequencers | Example |
|---|---|---|
Starting the story | It all started when… / It was back in 2023, when… / At first… / Initially… | It all started when my cousin dared me to enter a debate competition. |
Moving the story on | After that… / Shortly afterwards… / A few minutes later… / Before long… | Before long, half the passengers were sitting on the grass. |
Two things at once | Meanwhile… / While… / As… | Meanwhile, my mother was frantically phoning the bus company. |
A sudden change | All of a sudden… / Out of nowhere… / Just as… / The next thing I knew… | Just as I stepped onto the stage, my mind went completely blank. |
Immediately after | As soon as… / The moment… / No sooner had I… than… | No sooner had we sat down than the rain started. |
A late realisation | It wasn't until… that… / Only later did I realise… | It wasn't until I got home that I noticed my wallet was missing. |
The ending | Eventually… / In the end… / At last… / By the time… | By the time we reached the village, it was almost midnight. |
Feelings and sensory detail: make the examiner see it
A band 5 story tells: I was very happy. It was very nice. A band 8 story shows the feeling with precise vocabulary and one or two physical or sensory details.
| Plain | Band 7+ alternatives | Show it with a detail |
|---|---|---|
| very surprised | taken aback, stunned, speechless | my jaw literally dropped |
| very happy | thrilled, over the moon, elated | I couldn't stop grinning |
| very scared | terrified, petrified | my heart was pounding |
| very nervous | on edge, jittery | I had butterflies in my stomach |
| very angry | furious, fuming | I could feel my face getting hot |
| very disappointed | crushed, gutted (informal) | my heart sank |
| very relieved | hugely relieved | it felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders |
| very embarrassed | mortified | I wanted the ground to swallow me up |
Sensory detail works the same way. One well-chosen sound, smell or texture is worth more than a list:
- the smell of wet earth after the first monsoon rain
- the deafening horns on Mirpur Road
- the sticky heat of the launch terminal at Sadarghat
- the crunch of gravel as the bus finally pulled in
Rule of thumb: two or three feeling moments per story (before, at the turning point, after), plus one sensory detail in the scene and one at the turning point. More than that and the story slows down.
Register note: gutted and fuming are informal but perfectly appropriate in a spoken story. Avoid slang that sounds forced or out of place (it was lit, I was shook).
Cue card: Describe a journey you went on that did not go as planned. You should say: where you were going · who you were with · what went wrong · and explain how you felt about the journey.
I'd like to talk about a train journey I took a couple of years ago, which turned out to be one of the most memorable trips of my life, though not for the reasons I expected.
It was the day before Eid, and my parents, my younger sister and I were travelling from Dhaka to my grandparents' home in Sylhet. We'd booked our tickets weeks in advance, because getting a seat on an intercity train at Eid is almost impossible, and we were all in high spirits. My sister was chattering non-stop and my father was reading the newspaper, as he always does.
For the first few hours, everything went smoothly. But just after we'd passed Srimangal, the train shuddered and came to a complete stop in the middle of a tea garden. At first, nobody was particularly worried. However, an hour later we were still sitting there, and eventually a guard came through the carriage and announced that the engine had broken down and a replacement wouldn't arrive until the evening.
I have to admit I was absolutely fuming, because I'd been looking forward to Eid shopping with my cousins. But then something unexpected happened. A family who worked on the tea estate came down to the tracks with flasks of tea and a basket of fruit, and before long half the passengers were sitting on the grass, chatting and sharing food. I can still remember the smell of the wet tea leaves and the sound of children laughing along the line.
In the end, we reached Sylhet nearly eight hours late, exhausted but strangely happy.
Looking back, I think the reason that journey has stuck with me is that it taught me not to get so worked up about things I can't control. If the train hadn't broken down, it would have been just another forgettable trip. Instead, it reminded me how generous complete strangers can be, and these days, whenever a plan falls apart, I try to remind myself that the detour might turn out to be the best part.
- Opening lineNames the story and creates curiosity (‘though not for the reasons I expected’) without a memorised template like ‘Today I am going to talk about a very interesting topic’.
- Scene: tense mix‘We'd booked our tickets weeks in advance’ (past perfect for an earlier action) and ‘My sister was chattering non-stop’ (past continuous for background).
- Events: sequencers‘For the first few hours… just after we'd passed… At first… an hour later… eventually’: a clear timeline with no ‘then… then’.
- Turning point: reported speech‘announced that the engine had broken down and a replacement wouldn't arrive’: backshifted tenses show strong grammatical control.
- Feelings, honestly told‘absolutely fuming, because I'd been looking forward to…’: a strong adjective plus the past perfect continuous to give the reason.
- Sensory detailOne smell and one sound, enough to make the scene vivid without turning it into a list.
- Outcome‘In the end…’ plus a compact summary: ‘exhausted but strangely happy’.
- Reflection = ‘explain’ bullet‘Looking back…’, a third conditional (‘If the train hadn't broken down, it would have been…’) and a link to the present (‘these days… I try to’). This is the band 8 finish.
Listen: the band 8 journey story
Check your narrative tenses and sequencers
8 questions- 1
I (walk) home from coaching when the storm suddenly broke.
- 2
By the time we reached Kamalapur station, the train (already / leave).
- 3
Find and correct the mistake:
Last year I had gone to Cox's Bazar with my cousins.
- 4
Find and correct the mistake:
When I was a child, I would live in a small village near Bogura.
- 5
Which sentence uses ‘would’ correctly?
- 6
Choose TWO options that fit naturally: ‘We searched for the hotel for hours and ___ we found it, just before midnight.’
Select 2.
- 7
Put the five stages of a Part 2 story in the best order.
Drag the cards (or use the arrows) into the correct order.
- 1Events: what happened, in order
- 2Set the scene: when, where, who and what was going on
- 3Reflection: why it mattered and how you see it now
- 4Turning point: the problem, surprise or key moment
- 5Outcome: how it ended
- 8
Match each sequencer to its function in a story.
MeanwhileIt wasn't until… that…The moment…Before longEventually
Answer every question to check.
Same story, two bands: ‘Describe a time you helped someone’
Band 5.5 (stops after about 45 seconds)
I want to talk about when I helped my friend. Last year I had helped my friend Rafi. He had a problem in maths. So I help him. Then we go to library and I explain him the chapter. Then he understand. Then exam came and he passed. He was very happy and I was also very happy. Helping is very good thing. Everyone should help other people. So that's all.
Band 8 (about 2 minutes)
I'd like to talk about the time I helped my friend Rafi get through his HSC maths exam, which, to be honest, I'm still quite proud of.
It was about three months before the exams, and Rafi had just failed a mock test quite badly. He'd always been brilliant at Bangla and English, but calculus used to terrify him. One evening he called me, sounding completely deflated, and asked if I could help.
So we came up with a plan. Every afternoon after college, we'd go to the public library near our house and work through past papers together. At first, progress was painfully slow, because he kept making the same mistakes with differentiation, but after a couple of weeks something seemed to click. It wasn't until he solved a really tricky question on his own, without even glancing at me, that I realised he'd turned the corner.
When the results came out, he'd got an A, and he turned up at my door with a box of sweets from his mother.
Looking back, I think it mattered to me because I learned more from explaining maths than I ever had from studying it alone. It also showed me that confidence is often the real problem, not ability.
Same friend, same exam, same ideas. The difference is control. The band 8 answer stays in the past, uses the past perfect only for earlier events (‘had just failed’, ‘He'd always been’), uses ‘would’ and ‘used to’ for habits, varies sequencers (‘One evening’, ‘At first’, ‘after a couple of weeks’, ‘It wasn't until… that…’), shows feelings through precise words (‘deflated’, ‘something seemed to click’), and ends with a reflection that explains why it mattered. The band 5.5 answer slides into the present (‘I help him’, ‘we go’), misuses ‘had helped’, links everything with ‘then’, and finishes after 45 seconds. Running out of content is a fluency problem in itself.
What your one minute of notes should look like
You get one minute and a pencil. Don't write sentences. Write a story map: one line per stage, two to five words each, plus two or three ‘power words’ you want to use. Here are the notes behind the journey model above:
- S (scene): 2 yrs ago · eve of Eid · train Dhaka → Sylhet · family
- E (events): smooth start · stopped after Srimangal · tea garden · waiting
- T (turning point): engine broken · tea-estate family · tea & fruit · picnic
- O (outcome): 8 hrs late · tired but happy
- R (reflection): can't control everything · kindness of strangers · detours now
- Power words: fuming · before long · looking back
That's about 40 words, easy to write in 50 seconds and easy to glance at while you speak. Look down at one line at a time, then look back up at the examiner.
If you finish early: don't stop at 1:30. Expand the turning point (what exactly happened, what people said) or add how you would handle the same situation today (If it happened now, I'd probably…). The examiner will stop you at two minutes. That is normal and does not lose you marks.
Can't think of a real story? The examiner is assessing your English, not checking facts, so you may adapt a real experience or borrow a friend's. Just keep it simple and believable, because invented stories with too many details are harder to tell fluently.
Speaking Part 2 practice
1 min prep · up to 2 min talkDescribe a time when you were surprised.
You should say:
- when it happened
- where you were
- what surprised you
and explain how you felt about it.
Start your one minute of preparation, then talk for up to two minutes.
Tips for a band 7+ answer
- • Use your minute to note the five stages (Scene, Events, Turning point, Outcome, Reflection) in two to five words each, not full sentences.
- • Build up to the surprise. Use the past continuous for what you were doing (‘I was sorting through old papers when…’) and slow down at the moment of surprise.
- • Use the past perfect for what you had believed or expected before: ‘I'd never once heard her mention poetry.’
- • Name the feeling precisely (taken aback, stunned, speechless) and add a physical reaction (‘my jaw dropped’, ‘I burst out laughing’).
- • Spend your last 20–30 seconds on the ‘explain’ bullet: why it surprised you and whether it changed how you think.
- • Keep talking until the examiner stops you. If you run out of ideas, describe what happened afterwards.
Speaking Part 2 practice
1 min prep · up to 2 min talkDescribe an achievement you are proud of.
You should say:
- what the achievement was
- when it happened
- what you had to do to achieve it
and explain why you are proud of it.
Start your one minute of preparation, then talk for up to two minutes.
Tips for a band 7+ answer
- • Contrast past and present to show growth: ‘I used to be quite shy… but…’.
- • Use the past perfect continuous to show effort over time: ‘I'd been practising for months.’
- • Include at least one obstacle and how you overcame it. That is your turning point.
- • Don't list everything you did. Pick two or three key actions and one vivid moment.
- • For ‘explain why you are proud’, give two clear reasons and link them to the present: ‘Ever since then, I've…’.
- • A third conditional makes a strong final line: ‘If I hadn't…, I would never have…’.
Final check: storytelling for band 7+
12 questions- 1
Which is the best opening for the cue card ‘Describe a time when you were surprised’?
- 2
We (wait) for nearly two hours when the bus finally arrived.
- 3
Find and correct the mistake:
Last night I was watching TV when suddenly the lights go out.
- 4
Part 2 facts: you have one minute to prepare and may make notes. You should speak for one to two minutes, and the examiner will stop you after two minutes; this is normal and does not affect your score. The bullet points are there to help you. There is no separate mark for covering each one, but they help you stay relevant and organised.
You automatically lose marks if you don't mention every bullet point on the cue card.
- 5
Part 2 facts: you have one minute to prepare and may make notes. You should speak for one to two minutes, and the examiner will stop you after two minutes; this is normal and does not affect your score. The bullet points are there to help you. There is no separate mark for covering each one, but they help you stay relevant and organised.
It is best to stop at about one minute so that the examiner does not have to interrupt you.
- 6
Which ending best answers ‘…and explain how you felt about it’?
- 7
Choose TWO sentences that use the past perfect correctly.
Select 2.
- 8
No sooner had I sat down the phone rang.
- 9
Match each plain phrase to a more precise band 7+ alternative.
very surprisedvery happyvery nervousvery relievedvery embarrassed - 10
In which word is the -ed ending pronounced /ɪd/ (an extra syllable)?
- 11
Put this mini story in the correct order.
Drag the cards (or use the arrows) into the correct order.
- 1Looking back, it taught me to leave home earlier, and that people are often kinder than we expect.
- 2In the end, I arrived twenty minutes late, but they still interviewed me.
- 3I was rushing across the road when my phone slipped out of my hand and smashed.
- 4Just as I was about to give up, a stranger offered to call the office for me.
- 5It was the morning of my first job interview, and I was already running late.
- 12
Find and correct the mistake:
I use to play cricket in the street every afternoon when I was small.
Answer every question to check.
Storytelling takeaways
Story and feelings vocabulary
Saved as flashcards with a free accounttaken aback
adjective phrase/ˈteɪkən əˈbæk/
so surprised or shocked that you cannot react immediately
হতচকিত
I was completely taken aback when my quiet brother volunteered to give the speech.
stunned
adjective/stʌnd/
extremely surprised, so much that you cannot speak or think clearly
স্তম্ভিত
We were stunned to see our names at the top of the scholarship list.
fuming
adjective (informal)/ˈfjuːmɪŋ/
extremely angry, often without showing it openly
রাগে ফুঁসতে থাকা
I was fuming when the bus drove straight past our stop.
deflated
adjective/dɪˈfleɪtɪd/
suddenly less confident or enthusiastic, usually after a disappointment
হতোদ্যম, মনমরা
He sounded completely deflated after failing the mock test.
relieved
adjective/rɪˈliːvd/
happy because something unpleasant has ended or did not happen
স্বস্তি পাওয়া
I was hugely relieved when the results finally came out.
turning point
noun/ˈtɜːnɪŋ pɔɪnt/
the moment when a situation starts to change in an important way
মোড় ঘোরানো মুহূর্ত
Winning that debate was a turning point for my confidence.
in hindsight
phrase/ɪn ˈhaɪndsaɪt/
thinking about a past event with the knowledge you have now
পরে ভেবে দেখলে
In hindsight, I should have left home an hour earlier.
out of the blue
idiom/ˌaʊt əv ðə ˈbluː/
suddenly and completely unexpectedly
হঠাৎ করে, অপ্রত্যাশিতভাবে
Out of the blue, an old school friend called me from Toronto.
my heart sank
idiom/maɪ ˈhɑːt sæŋk/
used to say you suddenly felt disappointed or worried
মন দমে যাওয়া
My heart sank when I saw the queue outside the visa office.
memorable
adjective/ˈmemərəbl/
special or unusual enough to be remembered for a long time
স্মরণীয়
It turned out to be the most memorable journey of my life.
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