How to Talk About Past Experience & Learning

1. Why This Skill Matters

Examiners aren't just checking whether something happened to you — they're listening for whether you can narrate a personal memory naturally, with the right past tenses, time markers, and a bit of real detail. A bare "yes, I did" or a vague "when I was young" both answer the question technically, but neither sounds like a genuine memory. This guide fixes both problems.

2. How IELTS Tests This Across All Three Parts

• Part 1: short questions about your own past — "Did you learn to swim as a child?" "When was the last time you took photographs?" These need a specific age or moment, plus a small detail that makes it feel real.
• Part 2: cue cards very often ask directly for a past experience — "Describe a memorable trip," "Describe something you learned to do" — making this one of the most heavily tested skills in the whole exam.
• Part 3: broader questions about how people learn or what shapes childhood experiences generally, which need the same narrative techniques applied to more general, less personal statements.

3. The Core Toolkit

3.1. Pin the memory to a specific age or moment

A vague "when I was young" sounds like a rehearsed generalisation. Swap it for something concrete — "when I was about seven" — since a precise anchor signals a real memory, not a summary.

3.2. Say how or from whom you learned

Naming who taught you, or how you picked something up yourself, turns a bare fact into a small story the listener can actually picture:

• I was taught by my dad, who used to take me to the pool every weekend that summer.
• I basically taught myself, when I was about ten — my older brother had an old desktop, and I used to sit with him after school until I picked it up naturally.

3.3. Zoom into one specific memory, not a general habit

"I used to play sports a lot" is a habit, not a memory — it doesn't show off much detail. Narrow it down to one specific afternoon or event:

• I played a lot of sports growing up, but football was the one that stuck — I joined my primary school's team when I was about eight, and I still remember scoring my first goal in a match against a rival school, which was really exciting.

3.4. Add what happened or how you felt

A small consequence or feeling gives the memory an ending, the same technique the describing_in_detail skill uses to add texture to a description:

• ...and by the time I was about nine I'd read almost the whole adventure section, so it was really enjoyable.
• ...and I remember feeling so grown-up just being able to text my friends after school.

3.5. Give the timeframe first, then narrate the mini-story

When asked "when was the last/first time...?", answer the direct question in one short clause, then spend the rest of your turn narrating the actual moment — the date alone doesn't show off your English.

3.6. Use past continuous or past perfect to set the scene

A clause like "I was walking along the beach when..." shows background action before the main event — the same scene-setting technique used in describing_in_detail — and makes the story feel like it's unfolding rather than being listed.

4. How These Words and Structures Relate to Each Other

The past experience and learning toolkit (formulas F10, F11, and F24) draws directly on techniques documented elsewhere in the vocabulary data as shared across multiple skills:

1. The specific-detail and result-or-feeling techniques are the same moves used in describing_in_detail — zooming into one memory and adding a small consequence or feeling is not a separate skill, it's the describing move applied specifically to the past tense.
2. Time markers cluster into two families that shouldn't be confused: "when I was + age" and "the last/first time I..." are used to introduce a memory, while "before vs. ago" is a common grammar trap — "before" needs a following clause or time phrase ("a few years before I went to university"), while "ago" stands alone ("a few years ago"). Using "before" the way you'd use "ago" is one of the most common errors at this level.
3. Past continuous + past simple, and past perfect + past simple, are two distinct scene-setting patterns, not interchangeable: the past continuous version shows a shorter action interrupting a longer background action ("I was studying at university when I heard an interesting story"), while the past perfect version shows one action completed before another began ("I had studied at university for a few months before my teacher told me...").

Together, a complete past-experience answer runs: [specific age or time-frame clause] + [who/how you learned, or scene-setting clause] + [the specific event] + [result or feeling].

5. Part 1 in Practice — 5 Topics

Topic	Weak answer	Upgraded answer
Sport & exercise	Yes, I did. My dad taught me.	Yes — I learned to swim when I was about seven. I was taught by my dad, who used to take me to the pool every weekend that summer.
Technology & communication	I taught myself, when I was a kid.	I basically taught myself, when I was about ten — my older brother had an old desktop, and I used to sit with him after school until I picked it up naturally.
Reading & books	Yes, I did.	Yes, I really did — I used to borrow a book every Friday from the school library, and by the time I was about nine I'd read almost the whole adventure section, so it was really enjoyable.
Photography	Last week, I think.	The last time I took photos was just last weekend — I was hiking with some friends, and when we reached the top of the hill the whole valley was covered in mist, so I couldn't resist stopping to take a few shots.
Technology & communication	When I was about twelve.	The first time I owned a mobile phone was when I was about twelve — it was a basic hand-me-down from my sister, and I remember feeling so grown-up just being able to text my friends after school.

6. Part 2 in Practice — A Full Model Monologue

Cue card: Describe something you learned to do when you were young. You should say: what it was, how you learned it, who helped you, and explain how you felt about learning it.

"I'd like to talk about learning to ride a bike, which I think is one of those experiences almost everyone remembers pretty vividly. I learned when I was about six, and it was my dad who taught me — I remember him running alongside me holding onto the back of the seat, promising he wouldn't let go, even though he actually did let go several times without telling me.

I was practising in the car park near our house, which was mostly empty on weekends, so there was plenty of space to wobble around without worrying about traffic. The moment I actually remember most clearly is the first time I realised I'd been cycling on my own for a good ten seconds without my dad holding on — I turned around to check he was still there, panicked slightly when I saw he wasn't, and immediately fell off, which in hindsight is a fairly classic first-bike-ride story.

As for how I felt about it, I was honestly a mix of proud and a little embarrassed — proud that I'd actually managed it, but a bit embarrassed about the fall, especially since a few older kids from the neighbourhood happened to be watching. Looking back now, though, it's one of those small, ordinary memories that's stuck with me far more clearly than plenty of bigger events from around that time, probably because it was one of the first times I felt like I'd properly achieved something on my own."

7. Applying the Skill at Part 3 Register

Part 3 questions about past experience and learning are usually broader — about childhood, education, or how people learn generally — so they need less personal narrative and more generalised, reasoned language, while still drawing on the same time-marker vocabulary.

Q: Do you think children learn better from parents or from teachers?

"I think it really depends on what's being learned. For practical, everyday skills — things like basic manners or how to handle small responsibilities — children often pick these up naturally from parents, simply by observing them repeatedly over time. For more structured knowledge, though, like reading or maths, I'd say a trained teacher generally does a better job, because they've been specifically taught how to break a skill down into manageable steps. So rather than one being definitively better than the other, I'd say they complement each other at different stages."

Q: How has the way children learn changed since your parents' generation?

"I think the biggest change is how much earlier technology gets involved. My parents' generation mostly learned from books, and from direct instruction by teachers or family members. Nowadays, children are exposed to educational apps and videos from a very young age, sometimes even before they start school. I'd say this has some clear benefits — it can make learning feel more interactive — but there's also a valid concern that it reduces the amount of hands-on, physical learning that used to be much more common."

8. Academic Words (AWL)

Word	Definition	Example
considerable	fairly large in amount	I've made considerable progress since I first started learning.
ultimately	in the end; finally	Ultimately, I managed to learn it through a lot of practice.
perspective	a way of viewing something	Looking back from an adult perspective, it seems like a small moment.
notion	an idea or belief	The notion that children learn best under pressure isn't well supported.
valid	reasonable and well-founded	That's a valid point about how learning styles differ.
context	the situation something happens within	In the context of my childhood, this was a big milestone.
exposure	contact with or experience of something	Early exposure to reading really helped my vocabulary.
retain	to keep or remember something	I've retained very few details from that time, oddly enough.
formative	having a strong influence on development	Those were quite formative years for me.
acquire	to gain a skill or piece of knowledge	I acquired most of my English through casual conversation.
gradual	happening slowly over time	It was a gradual process rather than a sudden breakthrough.
milestone	a significant point in development or progress	Learning to ride a bike felt like a real milestone.

9. Idioms

• like riding a bike — a skill you never forget once learned: "Swimming's like riding a bike — you never really forget it."
• learn the ropes — to learn the basics of something new: "It took me a while to learn the ropes at my first job."
• a steep learning curve — something that's hard to learn quickly: "The first few months were a pretty steep learning curve."
• pick something up — to learn something informally, without being taught: "I picked up most of my cooking skills just by watching my mum."
• cut my teeth on — to gain early experience doing something: "I cut my teeth on a really old, basic computer."

10. Native-Speaker Ways of Saying It

• "I must have been about seven or eight..." (a natural, slightly imprecise way to anchor a childhood memory)
• "It's funny, I still remember..." (a very natural way to introduce a specific memory)
• "Looking back now, ..." (introduces reflection on a past experience from an adult perspective)
• "I basically taught myself, to be honest" (casual way of saying you learned something informally)
• "That was one of those moments that just stuck with me" (natural way to emphasise a memorable experience)

11. Common Mistakes at a Glance

Mistake	Why it's a problem	Fix
"Yes, I did" with no detail	Answers the question but tells no story	Add a specific age, person, and small detail
"When I was young"	Too vague to sound like a real memory	Swap for a specific age: "when I was about seven"
Describing a general habit, not one event	Doesn't demonstrate storytelling ability	Zoom into one specific afternoon or occasion
"It happened a few years before."	"Before" needs a following clause; misused as if it meant "ago"	Use "ago" alone, or "before + clause"
No feeling or consequence at the end	Memory feels unfinished	Add how you felt or what happened as a result
Overusing simple past only	Makes the story sound flat, list-like	Add past continuous or past perfect to set the scene

11.5. Grammar Note: Direct vs Indirect Speech in Past Stories

Personal stories about the past often naturally involve reporting what someone said, and mixing up direct and indirect speech is a common stumbling point. Direct speech quotes the exact words, usually in writing with quotation marks: She said, "I love you." Indirect (reported) speech drops the quotation marks and usually shifts pronouns, time markers, and the tense one step further into the past: She said that she loved him.

In a spoken narrative about a past experience, indirect speech is generally more natural and easier to control under time pressure — "My dad told me he wouldn't let go" flows more naturally in a spoken story than trying to reproduce an exact quote with the right intonation. A few quick shifts to remember: "will" becomes "would" ("I asked her if she would come" rather than "I asked her if she will come"), "can" becomes "could," and present tenses shift one step into the past ("I asked if she was ready," not "I asked if she is ready"). Getting comfortable with this shift lets you narrate conversations naturally within a past-tense story, which examiners notice as a sign of more advanced control over English structure.

12. Exercises

A. Gap fill — time anchors

1. I learned to swim ______ I was about seven.
2. The ______ time I took photos was just last weekend.

B. Upgrade the weak answer 3. "Yes, I did. My dad taught me." (add detail and a small story) 4. "I played sports a lot as a kid." (zoom into one specific memory)

C. "Before" vs "ago" — choose correctly 5. It happened a few years ______. 6. It happened a few years ______ I went to university.

D. Past continuous or past perfect — choose the correct form 7. I ______ (walk) along the beach when I noticed something strange. 8. I ______ (study) for a few months before my teacher told me about the competition.

E. Build a full past-experience answer using [specific age] + [how/who] + [specific event] + [feeling/result]: 9. Topic: learning a new skill. 10. Topic: a memorable school trip.

F. Idiom fill-in 11. It took me a while to ______ ______ at my first job. 12. I basically ______ ______ cooking, just by watching my mum.

G. Direct to indirect speech 13. Direct: My dad said, "I won't let go." → Indirect: My dad told me ______. 14. Direct: My teacher asked, "Are you ready?" → Indirect: My teacher asked if ______.

13. Answer Key

1. when
2. last
3. "Yes, I did — I learned when I was about seven. My dad taught me; he used to take me to the pool every weekend that summer."
4. "I played a lot of sports growing up, but football was the one that stuck — I joined my primary school's team when I was about eight, and I still remember scoring my first goal in a match against a rival school."
5. ago
6. before
7. was walking
8. had studied
9. e.g. "I learned to cook when I was about fourteen. My grandmother taught me over one particular summer, and I remember burning the first few dishes completely, which she found hilarious rather than frustrating."
10. e.g. "I went on a school trip to a science museum when I was about ten. We were split into small groups, and I remember getting completely absorbed in an exhibit about space, which is actually part of why I became interested in science."
11. learn the ropes
12. picked up
13. he wouldn't let go
14. she was ready

14. Glossary

• anchor (a memory) — to tie a memory to a specific, concrete detail like an age or date
• scene-setting — using past continuous or past perfect to establish background before a main event
• past continuous — the tense "was/were + verb-ing," used for an ongoing action interrupted by another
• past perfect — the tense "had + past participle," used for an action completed before another past action
• narrate — to tell a story or describe a sequence of events