Updated Oct. 10, 2019
IELTS Part 2 and Part 3 Topics and Questions
Page 178
896.
A Beautiful City
897.
A Time When you Were Afraid
898.
A Time When You Had
to Take Some Medicine
899.
A Film or TV Program
that Made You Laugh
900.
A Time You Received Money
as a Gift
FQ = frequent question = a question that has frequently been reported = a question that is probably in the examiner's question book
* = my guess at a question
Notes
If this wording is accurate, it doesn't have to be a city you have actually visited; it could be a city you have read about or seen in photos or videos.
See also any related questions
in the Part 3 of
Topic 620,
Topic 653 also has some questions related to public facilities.
Living in Modern Cities
Why do so many people want to (or,
choose to) live in
modern cities
What are the main differences between the cities and the rural areas in your country?
Where can people experience a higher quality of life, in a city or in a rural area (or village/small town)?
For most people, what makes cities more interesting than small towns?
What are some of the negative results of having many people living in a city?
What do you suggest could be (or, should be) done to address these problems?
How do think the problem of traffic congestion in a city could be solved (or reduced)?
Can you explain why (big) cities have so
many tall buildings
Do you think it's good to have hi-rise buildings?
How do you think developments in engineering and technology have helped the building of tall buildings?
Do you think people who live in cities are losing touch with nature?
How do you imagine cities will change in the future?
Tourism (to historical locations / historical towns)
Do people in your country like to visit historical sites (or, places)?
What can (or do) people learn from visiting those places?
What sorts of problems, or challenges
are there in maintaining historical sites
How do you think these problems can be managed?
Do you think it's good if too many tourists go to a historical site?
What can be done to prevent damage to historical locations by tourists? See Note 1
Do you think it's a responsibility of the government to maintain and protect historical places?
897. A Time When you
Were Afraid
Notes
This topic has not been used before.
Interestingly. the emotion of fear is related to what we think, or anticipate, might or will happen in the future; it hasn't happened at the time of feeling fearful, and might never happen. For example, if you see a poisonous snake near you, you don't really fear "seeing" the snake; you fear that the snake might bite you.
Since this is a past tense question, you should not talk about something that you might be always scared of (including now), such as catastrophic global warming, or a nuclear war.
Being Scared (= Being Afraid)
What are some examples of what frightens (or, scares) people?
Do you think people like being (or, feeling) scared?
Do children like to scare other people? Can you suggest why?
Do you think it's good (or, positive) to scare other people?
Can you explain why some people are more easily scared than others?
Who would you say are more easily scared, children or old people?
What do you (or, do people) usually do when you (or, they) are scared?
(Similar to above)
Notes
If the words, "had to" are included in the wording (which seems to be the case) then the most suitable example is to talk about a time when you were sick (ill) or were experiencing pain such as from an injury or a bad headache.
Most, but not all examples of traditional medicine are examples of "preventative medicine", which are used in order to prevent illness, not cure an illness.
There might be times when people genuinely need to (= have to) take a preventative medicine, such as when experiencing an extreme climate or when the diet is lacking a certain nutrient but in most cases, talking about taking a preventative medicine is not a suitable example of when you "had to" take a medicine. For example, many people say that green tea has medicinal properties. But people usually don't drink green tea just at one time; they usually drink it habitually.
On the other hand, a "medicine" can sometimes be a traditional medicine that has been used to treat or cure an illness for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Such an example would be suitable in your answer here, even if the examiner, a Westerner, might not agree that this traditional medicine is an effective way to treat or cure an illness.
Almost everyone has taken a painkiller at some time in their lives, which can include the relatively mild painkiller, aspirin. Aspirin is also used to treat fever, not just pain.
If you put something on your skin because of some skin problem, we don't usually describe it as "medicine", although we might be able to call it "a pharmaceutical product" or even "a medicinal product". This is because a "medicine" is a chemical that enters the body more deeply, usually through the mouth, not something that just affects the (surface of) the skin.
Medicine
What do you think of buying medicine online?
Can you suggest why people sometimes dislike taking medicine?
Some people say that taking medicine is harmful. Do you agree?
What do you think of fake medicine?
899. A
Film or TV Program that Made You Laugh
Copy of Topic 494
Describe a film or TV program that made you laugh.
You should say:
what film or TV program it was
what the film or TV program was about
who the actors were
and explain why (or how) it made you laugh.
Notes
This seems to be a repeat of
See also the Part 3 of
Laughter
Would you say it's good for people to laugh?
Do you think children laugh more often
than adults
(Slightly different to above)
Do you think laughter is good for the health?
Do you agree that "laughter is the best medicine"?
Humour
Why do you think some people tell jokes more than other people?
Do you think it's important for teachers
to be funny
(Similar to above, but not exactly the
same)
(Different to above) Do you think it's
good for teachers to sometimes use humour in their lessons
(Similar to above) Do you think it's
good for students to laugh occasionally in class
Do you think humour is ever useful in meetings?
Do you prefer to make friends with people who have a sense of humour?
Would you say (the people of) different cultures are different when it comes to humour?
Do you think it's important to understand humour in another culture when learning about (or, in order to learn about) that culture?
How can someone from one culture learn about the humour in another culture?
Happiness
What are some examples of what makes people in your country feel happy?
Would you say children are generally
happier than adults
(Similar to above) Do you think it's
easier for children to be happy than it is for adults
What makes children happy?
What do you do when you feel sad?
Do you think happiness and stress are related?
(Similar to above)
Notes
This is probably a repeat of Topic 396, which was used in 2012.
See also
Money as a Gift
On what occasions in your country do people give money as a gift?
Would you prefer to receive money or something else as a gift from a friend?
How important do you think it is to save money?
Do you agree with the saying that, "Money is the root of all evil"?
Children and Money
What do they do with their pocket money?
Do parents in your country give their children
pocket money for
doing housework
Do you think there are any benefits from giving children money for doing housework?
Would you say it's important for children to develop good attitudes about money?
Do you think it's important for parents to teach
their children how to manage their money
Paying for Things
Note: Debit Cards are different to credit cards but are also used by people to buy things. The difference is that, when using a debit card, you are using money from your bank account but when you use a credit card, you are borrowing money.
In your country, do people prefer to pay
cash when they buy things, or to pay using a card
What do you think are the advantages and
disadvantages of using a credit card
Tourists throwing rubbish on the ground is not really an example of "damaging" a tourist spot because the rubbish can easily be picked up, with no permanent damage done to the place.
Before you answer this question, you need to consider what type of damage to talk about, and how it is caused. For example, at the Buddhist caves (the Yungang Grottoes) near Datong, Shanxi Province in China, the caves have ancient paintings on the walls. When I visited there, only a limited number of tourists were allowed into each cave at one time. Why? Because the moisture in the exhaled breath of people makes the air moist, and too much moisture in the air damages the paintings.
Also, think of fences or glass walls to keep tourists at a distance away from important things that could be damaged by tourists who might want to commit vandalism (e.g., writing on something), or steal something.
Of course, important historical sites also need to have security guards and video cameras installed.
The following points apply to other types of tourist spots, not historical sites -
Fences could be installed to prevent people from picking flowers and plants in places where the flora is protected. Similarly, hunting and fishing need to be banned in places where the fauna is protected. And often camping or lighting fires (for cooking) are also banned. These rules apply mostly to national parks, which are one example of a tourist location.
Another factor is the sewerage and other waste from tourist hotels. This can damage nearby rivers or beaches. So the number of tourist hotels at some places needs to be limited.
As someone who has lived in several parts of north-east Asia (Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea), I agree that many of the big, modern cities look similar. This is probably because the modern development of all of these cities took place at approximately the same time, and because they all are in places where there is limited land but many people wanting to live in these cities. The result is that many buildings are of the same age and style in these countries, and hi-rise apartment buildings are the norm in these places, unlike cities in other places such as Australia, Canada, Europe etc.
If the question only gives you those two choices, you should begin your answer by addressing the choice between these two. However, in many parts of the world today people, especially young people are not using either of those two very much but are, instead, paying by using their smartphones to scan a QR code.
"Funny" does not mean the same as "interesting".