MET Speaking Task 2, talk about a personal experience: how to fill 60 seconds

Task 2 sounds simple, because you only have to talk about your own life. It is also easy to turn into a flat summary: "I went to the beach, it was nice, I liked it." Sixty seconds is long enough to tell a proper story, and the scale rewards the detail that makes it one. This guide shows how to build that story quickly, in the right tense, from whichever experience comes to mind first.

What does MET Speaking Task 2 ask you to do?

You see and hear a prompt that asks you to talk about a personal experience related to the picture from Task 1 in some way. You have 60 seconds to talk about that experience in as much detail as you can. Michigan's sample in the Speaking Resource Pack follows a picture of a family meal with a prompt about a family meal you really enjoyed.

Tasks 1 to 3 share one general topic, so the picture tells you roughly what kind of story is expected. For the whole section at a glance, see MET Speaking, task by task.

Checked 15 and 16 October 2026 against Michigan's Speaking Resource Pack, March 2026 and Test Taker Handbook. ScoreFluent is an independent practice platform and is not affiliated with Michigan Language Assessment.

How do you choose an experience when there is no planning time?

Michigan's Speaking Resource Pack describes no separate planning period. The prompt is read aloud, you hear "Begin speaking now", and recording starts automatically. The read-aloud happens before the timer, so it is the only thinking time you can count on. This is our reading of the process, not a Michigan statement.

Use it to make one decision: which experience. Do not search for the best one. Take the first that fits the prompt and that you can describe in detail. The scale rewards relevance and elaboration, and it does not mention how impressive or unusual a story is.

One preparation habit helps a great deal. Before the test, build a bank of five flexible experiences, for example:

• a trip or an outing
• a meal, celebration or gathering
• a day at school, college or work
• a difficulty you handled
• a surprise or a change of plan

Prepare the material, not a script. Practise telling each one differently for different prompts, so you are choosing details live rather than reciting. Michigan's pack tells you to practise speaking spontaneously for the full time allowed.

Do you have to tell a true story?

Michigan's published scale says nothing about whether the experience is true. It rates how relevant your answer is, how much you say, how well you elaborate, the range and accuracy of your language, and how your speech sounds. So the practical rule is to choose a story you can describe in concrete detail. For most people that is a real one, because real memories come with details attached. If a prompt matches nothing in your life, a plausible story you can tell fluently is better than a pause.

What are raters looking for in a personal experience?

Trained raters score MET Speaking on three criteria, each rated 0 to 4. Here is how each shows up in this task. The mapping is our reading of the published scale, not Michigan's wording.

• Task Completion. Relevance, how much you say, and your ability to elaborate with relevant supporting detail. Some prompts add a second question after the first, such as "what made it memorable?" or "how did you feel?". Treat that second question as a required beat, not an optional extra.
• Language Resources. Range and accuracy of vocabulary and grammar. A story naturally calls for past tenses, time markers and words for feelings, so it is a good place to show control of each.
• Intelligibility / Delivery. Fluency, hesitation, rhythm and pronunciation. Telling a story you know well makes smooth delivery easier than inventing an argument.

For how ratings become a 0 to 80 score, see how MET is scored.

How do you structure a 60-second story?

Michigan suggests starting from Wh- questions (who, where, when, what, why, how) and building the story from there, adding what happened, how you felt and anything else relevant. Here is a frame that turns those questions into a timed route. The timings are approximate and the frame is ScoreFluent's technique, not an exam rule.

1. Set the scene, about 10 seconds. When and where it happened, and who was with you.
2. The event, about 25 seconds. What happened, in order. Use "first", "then", "after that", "by the time".
3. The turn, about 10 seconds. The moment that made it memorable: something went wrong, something surprised you, something changed.
4. The feeling and the point, about 15 seconds. How you felt, why it stays with you, or what you learned.

Past tenses are the trap. Use the simple past for events ("we missed the bus"), the past continuous for background ("it was raining"), and keep them consistent. Michigan's pack warns that mixing tenses can make your meaning hard to follow, and it adds that if you notice a mistake you should go back and correct it, which shows control.

Keep a short kit for feelings and sequence: "I was nervous because", "to my surprise", "looking back", "that was when", "in the end".

Worked example

Prompt from the ScoreFluent bank: Describe your first day at a new school or job. What did you do, and how did you feel?

The answer below was written by ScoreFluent to show the frame. It is not a Michigan sample and has not been rated.

I remember my first day at a new job very clearly. It was a warm Monday last spring, and I arrived twenty minutes early because I did not want to be late. My manager met me at the door and introduced me to the team. First, I filled in some forms, and after that I sat with a colleague who showed me how the booking system worked. At lunchtime I was so nervous that I spilled my coffee on my desk, but everyone laughed kindly and helped me clean it up. That was the moment I stopped feeling like a stranger. By the end of the day I was tired but relieved, and I felt that I had made a good start.

What each part does: the first two sentences set the scene, the next two carry the events in order, the coffee is the turn, and the last three give the feeling and the point. Both halves of the prompt are answered: what the speaker did and how they felt.

What mistakes cost marks in Task 2?

• A summary instead of a story. "I went to a restaurant and it was good" gives the listener nothing to follow. Add the who, when and what happened.
• Ignoring the second question. If the prompt asks how you felt or what the experience taught you, skipping it leaves part of the task incomplete.
• Tense slips. Starting in the past and drifting into the present ("so we go to the station and then...") is the most common one.
• Spending 40 seconds on background. Long set-ups leave no time for the event or the feeling. Keep the opening to two sentences.
• Stopping at 35 seconds. Michigan's advice is to say as much as you can. If you finish early, add what you saw, what someone said or what you did next.
• Reciting a memorised story. If it does not fit the prompt, relevance drops. Adapt the details to the question you were asked.

What practice prompts can you try for Task 2?

Practice items from the ScoreFluent bank (not real exam questions).

1. Tell me about a trip or an outing with friends or family that you remember well. Where did you go, and what made it memorable?
2. Describe your first day at a new school or job. What did you do, and how did you feel?
3. Describe a time you changed your mind about something or someone. What made you see things differently?
4. Describe a time when you had to learn something new very quickly, perhaps for a job, a class, or a hobby. What made it difficult, and how did you handle it?
5. Tell me about a time when you had to adjust to an unexpected change in your plans or environment. How did you handle the situation, and what did the experience teach you about dealing with uncertainty?

The bank has no model answers for these prompts, so the worked example above is ours. Prompts 3 to 5 sit higher in the bank's difficulty ratings because they ask for reasons and reflection, not just events. Our blog set MET Speaking practice questions has a different Task 2 prompt, about shopping somewhere crowded.

How do you practise Task 2 on your own?

Michigan's pack suggests two activities. Alone, keep a daily video journal: talk for 60 seconds about a key moment of your day, using strong adjectives and action words. With a partner, take turns interviewing each other about a memorable event using Wh- questions, take notes, then report back what you heard and compare it with what each of you meant to say.

Add these ScoreFluent practice activities:

• Same story, three prompts. Tell one experience in answer to three different prompts, changing which details you choose.
• Question cards. Write who, where, when, what, why and how on cards. Draw three and make sure your story answers them.
• Tense check. Record, listen back, and write down every verb. Any that are in the wrong tense are what to practise tomorrow.

Reading a model shows the shape. Only a recording shows whether your story held together in 60 seconds. Start practising MET free and you get 40 free credits. Credits never expire and there is no subscription. A Speaking examiner report costs 8 credits. Results are practice estimates, not official MET scores. See pricing.

Next in Part One: Task 3, express a personal opinion. Back to the Michigan English Test overview or the full list of MET task guides.