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Updated on Nov 13, 2024, 05:49
The IELTS Speaking Cue Card contains a topic you must discuss during the test. These topics usually revolve around your life, career, hobbies, experiences, and challenges. They may also cover topics like technology, country, best places to visit, etc.
You will get a minute to prepare for all the given topics and then speak on them for 2-3 minutes. This practice page will show you how to better prepare for the IELTS Speaking test.
We are taking ‘Describe Something You Do Regularly That Helps You Work And Study Better’ as an example topic to show how to frame the answers.
Introduction
What is it?
When did you apply it?
How has it helped you?
Explain how you feel when you do it:
Conclusion
Introduction
What is it?
When did you apply it?
How has it helped you?
Explain how you feel when you do it:
Conclusion
Introduction
What is it?
When did you apply it?
How has it helped you?
Explain how you feel when you do it:
Conclusion
Here are the key things you need to discuss in our topic ‘Describe Something You Do Regularly That Helps You Work And Study Better’
Here’s how we can prepare the answers for our topic:
Introduction
What is it?
When did you apply it?
How has it helped you?
Explain how you feel when you do it:
Conclusion
Below are some sample questions and possible answers. Once again, we recommend that you only take the inspiration from the answers below and add your twist to it!
Answer 1: It is essential for me to set a priority for tasks to balance my work and studies. I make use of time-blocking and to-do list techniques to organise my work. This helps me keep track of my schedule and devote adequate time to each work to meet the specific deadlines without missing out on anything.
Answer 2: Managing my daily activities without compromising my study and work life was challenging. It required me to plan and arrange my tasks according to their priorities carefully. Then, I allocate the time based on priority to ensure that my regular activities and tasks are not hampered because of each other.
Answer 1: By adding time management to my life, I have experienced a lot of improvements in my productivity. I have also been able to meet my goals, find some time to exercise and care for my health. This has also allowed me to manage my work and studies together.
Answer 2: Learning how to do meditation has added many positive changes in my life. First and foremost, I can relax despite all the odds and evens of my life. I have also learnt how to hold patience and manage my things together without burning out of stress.
Answer 1: I had difficulty devoting time to strategising my whole day and task priorities. However, I realised the key importance of this and then stretched my active hours a bit to make plans and strategies. This has all added productive results and helped me in saving a lot of time.
Answer 2: Practicing meditation requires quality time, which I never had in my busy schedule. But one day, my friend pushed me to try it, so I tried to find time for this activity. This has been very helpful for me and added positivity and enthusiasm to my life. Now, I’m able to balance my health as well as my study and work life.
Answer 1: Time management has helped me to balance my professional and student life. It has allowed me to devote time to every activity without missing the deadline. I have also been able to take care of my health and do paced walking, exercises and even bicycling.
Answer 2: Through meditation, I have learnt how to handle the pressure and stress of managing multiple projects simultaneously. Whenever I feel stressed, I meditate. This helps me cool down, focus positively on my goals, and complete them without missing deadlines.
Ans. To prepare for the IELTS cue card topic, you can start practising the various example topics that can be asked in the speaking test. Search for the topics on the internet and start preparing for it. You can do the recording or ask your friends/family members to listen to your answers and provide feedback.
Ans. There is no hard and fast rule about following a specific structure in speaking topics. But yes, you need to follow a standard format that can give a brief insight into the given topic. It should include an engaging introduction, a body section containing the main areas of the topic, and a conclusion to derive meaningful output.
Ans. Yes, maintaining eye contact with the examiner makes you look confident. But do not gaze into the examiner's eyes, which will make them uncomfortable. Hence, balance eye contact and body language throughout the IELTS speaking test. This will create a good presentation and also secure a good band score.
Ans. We highly advise maintaining a formal tone while taking the IELTS Speaking test. But yes, you can be a bit informal while speaking on the cue card topic. However, while having a discussion round with the examiner, maintain a formal communication style and avoid using an informal tone with them.
Ans. The common cue card topics will relate to many distinct areas, such as your interests, likes and dislikes, passions, skills, hobbies, experiences, and other related topics. You can also get topics like the best places to visit, technology, society, environment, etc. The topics have no limitations, but they will, by and large, relate to the above fields only. For best results, start practising on them to get a practical idea on tackling these topics.
Ans. While attempting the cue card topic, taking care of the logical sequence of your answers, the grammatical areas, vocabulary, coherence, fluency and the right pronunciation is essential. The examiner will judge you based on all the given factors and give you a band score based on your performance.
Ans. Most students need more time to focus on the topic in the IELTS speaking test. However, they should remember the central theme of the questions. Some students also need to learn proper grammar and sentence structure, which negatively affecting their performance. Hence, they should always practice enough to avoid such problems.
Ans. It is quite natural to need help understanding the cue card topics. To tackle them better, you can read them in your mind. Try to decode their central topic idea and start framing the answers. If you are still facing the challenges, you can politely ask the examiner to clarify the topic. But don’t panic, as it doesn’t happen usually, and IELTS Speaking questions are self-understandable.
Ans. It is not allowed to choose cue card topics in the IELTS Speaking test, but you can better prepare yourself to tackle any topic that you encounter in the exams. Do enough practice to build yourself up, prepare for any of the topics, and deal with them more with a positive attitude and confidence.
Ans. The examiner looks at the four criteria in the IELTS Speaking test and allocates marks to each. These criteria are fluency and coherence, lexical resources, grammatical ranges and accuracy, and pronunciation. The average score will be taken out from all these four criteria. It will range from a band score of 0 to 9.
Ans. Yes, it is highly recommended for you to express your personal opinions during the IELTS Speaking test. This will add more value to our overall performance. But yes, ensure that the opinions are relevant to the context and backed up by examples. This will help to secure a good band score.
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