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Describe a book you read that you found useful: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What it is
  • When you read it
  • Why you think it is useful
  • And explain how you felt about it
Show all 97 answers

Cue 1:What it is

  • Begin by naming the book and its author clearly.
  • Provide a brief summary of the book's main theme or subject.

Example

The book I found particularly useful is 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle. It focuses on mindfulness and living in the present moment, which I believe is essential in today’s fast-paced world.

Cue 2:When you read it

  • Mention the time period when you read the book, such as during a specific year or season.
  • Share any relevant context about your life at that time that influenced your reading.

Example

I read this book last year during the summer while I was on a break from college. I was feeling quite stressed about my future and needed some guidance on how to manage my thoughts.

Cue 3:Why you think it is useful

  • Explain the key lessons or insights you gained from the book.
  • Discuss how these lessons have impacted your daily life or mindset.

Example

I found it useful because it taught me the importance of being present and not getting lost in worries about the past or future. This perspective has helped me reduce my anxiety and focus more on my studies and relationships.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt about it

  • Share your emotional response to the book, such as whether it inspired or motivated you.
  • Mention any changes in your behavior or attitude after reading it.

Example

After reading 'The Power of Now', I felt a sense of relief and clarity. It inspired me to practice mindfulness daily, and I noticed a positive change in my overall well-being and happiness.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, 'The Power of Now' has been a transformative read for me. It not only provided practical advice but also changed my outlook on life, making me more present and appreciative of each moment.

    Following this structure will ensure you cover all the essential points while providing a clear and engaging response to the cue card topic.

    Tips to answer this Cue Card

    1: Vague Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your answer unclear and unengaging. It's important to provide specific details about the book to make your response more interesting.

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    Tip

    Include specific examples from the book, such as key themes or memorable quotes, to illustrate your points clearly.

    2: Ignoring Personal Feelings

    Failing to express your personal feelings about the book can make your answer less relatable. Sharing your emotions helps the examiner connect with your response.

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    Tip

    Discuss how the book impacted you personally, mentioning any changes in your perspective or feelings after reading it.

    Rushing Through Points

    Rushing through your points can lead to a lack of clarity and depth in your answer. It's important to take your time to explain each cue thoroughly.

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    Tip

    Practice pacing your speech by elaborating on each cue, ensuring you cover all aspects without feeling rushed.

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    I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.
    Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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    Anonymous student Band 8

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    The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.
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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.
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    When I was a kid, I had a little pencil box which had these four buttons which gave the pencil box an operative use. When you press the button, the box would open up. When you press the second button, a little part of it would slide out. Basically it was just a little electronical and a fun thing to have and I owned it when I was in 6th. One day after break, I was standing and talking there with one of my friends and another friend of mine was running through the hallway and accidentally she pushed my shoulder and my pencil box hit the ground and it broke into multiple pieces to the point that it was not functional anymore.
    Describe a book you recently read
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    Answer

    It Ends With Us is a book I read recently. It's by the author Colleen Hoare. It's mainly a story about two teenagers, Atlas and Lily, and how they just handle their life going through high school, adolescence, and just domestic violence at home. Both of them come from very, very different families. However, they have one common determining factor between them, which is domestic violence. The abuse that they've seen their moms go through is just insane, and they connect through that on a different level. They're actually in the same high school, but they never speak to each other until Atlas actually crashes into an empty house next to Lily's villa. When Atlas is homeless and he doesn't have anywhere to go, he just comes and breaks into the house next to Lily's, and Lily helps him with all the daily necessities like clothes and food, medicines and stuff. Furthermore, their friendship blossoms into love, but it doesn't really fructify as Atlas has to leave. This book really gave me a lot of knowledge about domestic abuse and how to deal with it.

    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band >7

    So, the book that I read and found quite useful was recently, it is a really famous book. It is the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred book for Hindus. I am a kind of a person who would never read a book as I am more into seeing podcasts. But there was a time when I felt really low and I thought I didn't have a purpose in life. That's when someone recommended to me to try reading. Initially I thought that it was really stupid advice but once I started reading the book, I got to understand the realities of life. The book is really, I was really intrigued by the book in the sense that if I open a random page from the book, I knew that I am going to get the answer that I am looking for. It was not like that I have to read the book chapter by chapter or sentence by sentence. I feel it's really extraordinary but in a good way, unusual book as I got the answers to my life and it really helped me to feel a lot more better about myself and look forward to the life in more positive way. I thank the person who advised me to read a book and that's when I felt that reading a book isn't really a boring thing to do if you get the right book.

    Band 7

    A useful book I read recently is Automatic Habits by James Clear. I read it last year when I was preparing for my exam. I found it very useful because it explains how small daily habits can create big changes in your life. It also gives practical tips to stay consistent and avoid distractions after reading it. I felt motivated and more organized and it recently helped me improve my study routine. Thank you for watching!

    Band 7

    A book that has been detrimental and useful in my life is Throne of Glass written by Sarah J Maas. She is also my favorite author. Every book she has written has impacted me profoundly, so has this book. Throne of Glass follows the story of a young female protagonist who despite all odds against her manages to survive in critical conditions and achieve happiness. It has taught me about resilience and the determination at the same time to never settle for less. Additionally, the book touches themes of sexual assault which has really profoundly impacted me and inspired me to learn self-defense. I read it two years ago when I was a junior in high school and it has stayed in my mind ever since. I would recommend it to anybody who has an interest in fantasy thriller books that focus on a strong female hero. All her books follow similar themes although this one has something so special about it that I just cannot explain in words.

    Band 7

    Well, I am an avid reader, who always prefer to read different kinds of books. Whenever I get free time, I read many types of books, such as novels, dramas, storybooks and so on. However, today I would like to talk about a specific book that I have recently read. One of the most interesting book, the name of the book is Atomic Habit by James Clear. It's a non-fiction book that focuses on the science of habit, formation and how tiny changes can lead to remarkable results over time. I read this book about 2 months ago during my semester break. I had been hearing a lot of positive reviews about it from friends online, so I decided to give it a try. I am really glad I did because it offered practical advice that I could apply immediately in my daily life. The book explained how habits are formed and how we can break bad habits, while building good ones. One of the key ideas that stayed with me is the concept of getting 1% better every day. The author emphasized the importance of consistency over intensity, which made me rethink how I approach my goals. What I love most about the book is that it is based on real research, but written in a very simple and engaging way. There are lots of examples and stories that inspired and motivated me to make meaningful changes in my life and routine. Overall, I think Atomic Habits is a book that I found good to use and everyone should read at least once. It's practical, insightful and genuinely helpful, especially for people who want to improve their productivity.

    Band 7

    Recently I came across a book called Dopamine Detox. This book was a self-help book for removing distraction from our life. I chose to read this book during the time I was very distracted by things like social media or entertainment like movies, anime series. This book basically explains how our body releases dopamine whenever we are doing pleasurable activities like scrolling on the phone, watching TV or eating junk food. The author suggests the method of Dopamine Detox which means trying to take a break from all the necessary distraction for a few hours or entire day and instead he encourages to do the activities which are prone to very less dopamine like reading, planning something out or walking. I find this book very helpful because it helped me to control my unhealthy habits and at the same time this book is like very small, it can be finished within few hours.

    Band 7

    Last year, I remember reading the book called Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. This book is written based on the letters which Marcus Aurelius had written to his friends and I would say people who were close to him. He recommended or suggested them to follow paths in life or rather lessons for life which is useful for everybody. This was very important to me as it was recommended to me by one of my office colleagues at a point in my life where I was low and I needed some motivation to go forward or to seek out my goals. I needed that. When I started reading the book, I felt it suggested some great life lessons but more important part was the practical application of these lessons in our day-to-day lives. I finished the book in almost a week and I felt actually great by incorporating those life lessons in my daily day-to-day activities. For example, to calculate the amount of words which I speak on a daily basis and how I respond towards other people's emotions. For example, if a person is angry, how I respond to it, I started controlling these factors. I also recommend this book for other people as it would be a great turning point in their lives after reading this book.

    Band 7

    I like to think of myself as a voracious reader. I read books ranging from history, politics to science and economics. But I think the genre which hits a string in the heart would be spirituality. India, as you may know, is the birthplace of three of the five major religions of the world. And as a result of that, we've got many great saints and seekers. So the spiritual wisdom that these books contain, that the books of these people contain, offer insights which are very hard to come across in daily life. One such book which I read recently, perhaps the last month or so, is the book of Yoga by Swami Vivekananda. And as you might know, Swami Vivekananda was a great teacher and a very respected figure of his time. What I really liked about the book was that he mentioned the greatness of work and how that by working alone one could attain the divine.

    Band 7

    The book that I found really useful is Atomic Habits. I read that book every day. If someone wants to change their habits or anything like that, I feel that Atomic Habits is a great way to start because I noticed a drastic change in my habits when I started reading the book. As it says that step by step and take baby steps when you want to leave a bad habit. I feel that it is very useful if someone wants to notice a drastic change in their day to day life.

    Band 7

    So, in my first year of university, I chose Japanese for my language elective. And in our Japanese class, when discussing about how the Japanese way of life is generally slow, healthy, and how people in Japan have a higher life expectancy than the rest of the world, our teacher brought up the idea of a book review. And she suggested that we all read the book Ikigai, which is the Japanese way of life, to give a book report after two weeks. Now, our first thoughts about Ikigai were, okay, it's just another book. What could be special about it? But when we started reading Ikigai, we really understood the subtle nuances about the Japanese way of life, and peace, and tips on food, mindset, etc. Ikigai really outlined how we can lead a healthy and peaceful life, the importance of exercise for a long-lasting health. It also outlined or explained why it is important to meditate and give time for ourselves every day. And in the end, it concluded with a short checklist of things that we need to incorporate into our lives in order to lead healthy and long lives. In the end, during the day of the book review, we gave a very solid presentation, and the teacher and all of our peers also appreciated our book review, because we went beyond the book and we actually tried out Ikigai for about a week in our lives. Needless to say, it had a very positive impact, and in the end, we learned a lot from the book.

    Band 7

    So, I read this book called The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. This book entails Niccolo Machiavelli's, the writer's perspective on human nature in general and how humans operate in the world. And I found this book very interesting and as well as intriguing because of the revelations that the author makes with respect to the human nature and the different viewpoints that the author puts out was just a mind baffling thing for me. I read this book back in September last year and I remember I was just completely shook by this book and it just changed my perspective and my outlook towards the world.
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