Describe a sport or physical activity you enjoy
Describe a sport or physical activity you enjoy
You should say:
- what the sport or activity is
- how often you do it
- who you usually do it with
and explain why you enjoy this sport or activity
Practise this card
One minute to plan, two minutes to speak, exactly like the exam. Nothing you record leaves your device.
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- what the sport or activity is
- how often you do it
- who you usually do it with
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How to approach this cue card
This card is testing whether you can talk fluently and specifically about a routine, rather than describing a sport in the abstract, textbook way you might see in a magazine article. Examiners want to hear personal detail — where you play, roughly how often, who is usually there — not a general description of the sport’s rules.
The easiest angle is whatever you actually do or used to do regularly, even if it sounds ordinary: jogging around a local park, playing five-a-side football with colleagues, weekly badminton with a sibling. Avoid choosing an impressive-sounding sport you barely play, since you will run out of authentic detail quickly once you get past the basic description.
Open with what the activity is, spend a good stretch on how often and with whom you do it, since that naturally produces routine-based language, and close with a specific, personal reason you enjoy it, rather than a generic “it’s good for my health,” which does not really answer the “explain” line on its own.
Vocabulary that lifts this answer
These phrases describe routine, effort and enjoyment more naturally than “I like sport” repeated throughout.
| Word or phrase | What it means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| work up a sweat | exercise hard enough to sweat | I always work up a sweat within the first ten minutes. |
| a great way to unwind | an effective method of relaxing | It’s a great way to unwind after a long day at work. |
| stay in shape | maintain physical fitness | I mainly do it to stay in shape rather than to compete. |
| clear my head | help think more clearly by relieving stress | A run in the morning really clears my head. |
| a regular fixture | something that happens reliably on a schedule | It’s become a regular fixture in my week, every Sunday morning. |
| push myself | make an effort beyond my comfort zone | I try to push myself a little further each week. |
| a friendly rivalry | light-hearted competition between friends | There’s a friendly rivalry between me and my brother over it. |
| team spirit | a sense of unity and cooperation within a group | What I enjoy most is the team spirit, honestly. |
| build up stamina | gradually increase physical endurance | It took months to build up the stamina for longer distances. |
| get hooked on (something) | become enthusiastic and unable to stop | I got hooked on it almost immediately after trying it once. |
A one-minute plan
- what: five-a-side football, local sports centre
- how often: once a week, Thursday evenings
- who with: same group of friends since school
- why enjoy: team spirit, clears my head, friendly rivalry
Sample answer
This is one way to organise an answer on this topic, meant as a model for structure rather than something to memorise word for word.
The physical activity I would like to talk about is five-a-side football, which I play with a group of friends at a local sports centre. We have kept it going almost every Thursday evening for the past four or five years now, ever since we all finished school together, so it has genuinely become a regular fixture in my week rather than something occasional. There are usually about eight or nine of us who show up, so we rotate who’s playing at any given time, and honestly the standard is not particularly high, which suits everyone fine since it is really about enjoyment rather than competition. What I enjoy most about it is probably the team spirit; even though we are not especially skilled, there’s a nice friendly rivalry between a couple of us that keeps things entertaining. It is also just a great way to unwind after a long week, since for that hour I am not thinking about work at all, only about the game. Physically, it has helped me stay in shape without it ever feeling like a chore, which I think is the main reason I have stuck with it for so long, unlike a gym membership I once had and barely used. If anything, the social side of it matters to me more than the exercise itself at this point.
Common mistakes on this card
- Describing the sport’s general rules instead of your own personal routine and experience with it.
- Giving a vague frequency like “sometimes” instead of a specific pattern such as “every Thursday evening.”
- Naming the activity but never actually explaining who you do it with.
- Ending with a generic health reason instead of a specific, personal reason for enjoying it.
Part 3 questions that often follow
After your two-minute turn, the examiner usually moves into a related Part 3 discussion — these are the kinds of follow-up questions that commonly come up around this topic.
- Should schools give more time to sport and physical activity in the curriculum?
- Do you think professional athletes are paid too much?
- How has the popularity of team sports changed in recent years?
- Are individual sports more or less beneficial than team sports?
Frequently asked questions
Does it have to be a competitive sport?
No, non-competitive activities such as swimming, cycling, or hiking work equally well, as long as you can describe how often you do it and why it appeals to you personally.
What if I do not currently practise any sport regularly?
Choose one you did regularly at some point, such as during school, and describe it using the past tense throughout, which is a perfectly natural way to answer this card.
Can I talk about a physical activity I do alone, like running?
Yes, and for the "who you do it with" bullet you can honestly say you usually do it alone, then briefly explain why you prefer that, which still gives the examiner something specific to hear.
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