IELTS-Simon’s video course

IELTS Speaking Part 2: describe your favourite

Describe a song or piece of music that you like.

what type of music it is

and explain why you like this song or piece of music.

Here’s the answer that I gave in the lesson. I’ve highlighted the best vocabulary.

I’m going to describe one of my favourite pieces of music, which is the theme music from
the James Bond films. This is the soundtrack that begins every one of these James Bond
films, and you hear the instruments straight away - it’s an instrumental piece of music;
there’s no singing, there are no lyrics, it’s just orchestra with electric guitar, and it begins
every one of the James Bond films.

So the first time I heard this soundtrack was probably when I was a child and I watched my
first ever James Bond film on television, and I was immediately struck by the music,
how impressive it was and how it gets you excited before the film’s even begun. The
spectacular opening sequences that always begin any James Bond film, matched with
this iconic music, are really exciting and memorable.

This is performed, obviously, by an orchestra, but as I said, it incorporates electric guitar

The reason I like this music then, is because of the expectation it creates at the
beginning of a James Bond film. You know that you’re about to watch something special
when you hear the first few notes of this soundtrack, of the theme music. It creates an
expectation of adventure, mystery, excitement; I think it’s really dramatic and powerful
to hear this music at the beginning of the film, and they always match it with a spectacular
opening sequence, and I think you’re already on the edge of your seat before the film’s
even begun because it’s a really special beginning to hear this music before the film gets
going.
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Describe a book that you enjoyed reading.

what the book was about

and explain why you enjoyed reading this book.

I’m going to describe a book that I really enjoyed reading recently. The name of the book
was ‘Mindset’. It’s a non-fiction book and the author is called Carol Dweck. I’m not sure
how to pronounce her surname properly, but she’s a psychology professor and so the topic
of this book was related to personality and development and motivation. In particular,
she was writing about people’s own personal views regarding ability. Some people,
according to this author, believe that ability is innate - you’re born with it, you have a
talent that you can’t change. Other people, on the other hand, believe that abilities can
be improved through gradual hard work, and this is the area of personality that she’s
looking at. So she divides the two types of people into people with a ‘fixed mindset’
and other people with a ‘growth mindset’; that’s why the name of the book is ‘Mindset’.
These two mindsets are about whether you believe that our traits are fixed or, on the
other hand, you think that we can grow and develop our talents through hard work.

I found out about the book from a friend who’d read it, who recommended it, said it was
really interesting.

And I chose to read it because I thought, well, this could help me with my job, with my own
aims or goals in life, and I’m interested in that kind or area, psychology, anyway.

And I really enjoyed reading the book because it did open my eyes to motivation and
people’s growth and development. I found it really informative, fascinating and even
inspiring to see how we can improve ourselves.

Note: As you can see, I spent most of the time describing the book, and I covered
the other 3 points quite quickly. It’s fine to answer in this way - you don’t need to
say an equal amount for each point; in fact, the points are there to guide you, but it
isn’t compulsory to cover them all.
 IELTS-Simon’s video course

Finally, here is the answer for the “favourite film” topic that I covered on my blog:

Describe a film that you would like to see in the future.

what the film is called

and explain why you would like to see it.

I’m going to talk about a film that I’d like to see when it comes out later this year. It’s the
new James Bond film, and I saw in the news that it’s going to be called ‘Spectre’. I think
‘Spectre’ refers to the name of the imaginary criminal organisation that James Bond
has to defeat in the film.

As ‘Spectre’ hasn’t been released yet, I don’t know exactly what it will be about. But I can
guess that the hero, Bond, is going to be on a mission to save the world from an arch-
criminal as usual. I’m sure it will be similar to most of the previous Bond films, with a plot
line involving lots of twists and turns, and with Bond using his skills to defeat his
nemesis in the end.

I first heard about this film when I was watching the news a couple of months ago, and
since then I’ve seen the official trailer on TV. There have also been various articles in
newspapers discussing the actors who have been cast to play supporting roles in the
film. The James Bond films are always big news here in the UK, probably because Bond
himself is an English character.

I’d like to see ‘Spectre’ at the cinema because I’m sure it will be full of action scenes and
special effects, and I like the fact that Bond’s missions always take place in
spectacular locations in different parts of the world. Of course Bond films are totally
unrealistic, you could even say ridiculous. But they're always fast, entertaining and fun,
a bit like a roller-coaster ride!