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

97 unique answers with expert feedback

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.

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.

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.

Tip

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

IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

Answer

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

Answer

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.

Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

Answer

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.

Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

Answer

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

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 6-7

In recent times, I have read many books, but in particular, if I want to say one book, I would really say the Cookery book, which helped me a lot during the pandemic days. So, in the initial days of the pandemic, I was being all alone. Since there were like corona period, we have been like suffocated, we have been separated. So, during that time, there were no one to cook and I was the one who need to take care of myself. In order to take care of myself, I learnt cooking. To be honest, I am not a cooking person. So, in order to learn the basic cooking, this Cookery book really helped me a lot. This book was given by my grandmother, who taught me the basic steps to cook in order to survive ourselves. So, this book has really helped me a lot and by practicing the methods that is being advertised in this book, I have learnt some basic dishes now and I am able to make those dishes and I am even presenting it to my family. So, now I am, I can say now somewhat I am 20-35% I am a good cook to serve my friends and family. In particular, one dish I have learnt is to make the chutneys and dosa varieties, which really helped me.

Band 6-7

The most valuable and most famous book The Waiting for a Visa, last Saturday I was reading that book and I realized how can we make a perfect laws for our society, probably when I was reading book that name is The Waiting for a Visa, that was very feasible and significant for every Indians, so The Waiting for Visa written by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and that is most popular book in America, Canada and European countries and India, so I can feel and I have to say that book is tells us every time how can we achieve our goals and how can we complete our studies and how can we stop discrimination which is called outrageous, egregious, purportless discrimination in India and how can we stop, how can we destroy a caste system, discrimination with language and state shall not discriminate with any individuals, so that is my personal opinion that book is very significant and feasible for law students and LLM students and scholars, so I have that book, every time I like that book and

Band 6-7

The book I most recently read by Jim Kwik named Limitless is an amazing guide for a student as a student. It's really useful. It has techniques too for like learning, reading fast that you can use in everyday life. Also I recommend it for people under 15 or above 15 as well. The second speaker, I read the book about adolescence. The name of the book was On the Horizon of Adulthood written by Dr. Ganga Khedkar. It was about sexual education and how one can get prevent from the sexually transmitted infection and diseases. The detailed information was given about the body parts, anatomy and how to take care of it. It was basically detailed information about the sexual organs and how we can protect from the sexually transmitted infections and diseases. What are the precautions to be followed, what are the measures to be taken to protect ourselves. And it is really amazing.

Band 6-7

So, I read this book called Not Without My Daughter, forgive me for I am not able to remember the name of the author. I read this book when I was 17 years old approximately back in school. The reason why I find this book useful is that it demonstrates the power of feminism, the strength which a woman could display when she really wants something in her life. It is a proof that when a woman puts her heart into doing something, she can bring miracles. I felt really emotional as I read the book. I saw how she struggled to escape the country wherein she was trapped. It also inspired me very deeply. I was really inspired by how much she had to struggle as they tried to cross the border between Iraq and this other country that I am not again able to remember the name. The book deals with a woman who migrates to Iraq, not really migrates. She is on a holiday with her husband who basically steals their documents and traps them in the country. The story revolves about how she escapes with her daughter. Her daughter is very young. I think it is like a symbol of feminism and I am a feminist. So I was really influenced by the book. I think I might have even cried while reading it because the end of the book was so emotional when she finally reaches her destination.

Band 6-7

The name of the book that I read one or two weeks back was Secret and the author of the book was Rhonda Byrne. Actually, usually I am not a person who is fond of reading, but my friend actually suggested me to read this book as it was a very good experience for her. So that I have just bought it from online stores. Actually, by reading it in the first week, I understand that it is not based on something story, but actually it mainly consists of some principles. First one is the principle of law of attraction, which means if you want something, then you need to attract to that, then universe will do itself a big time to get it you back. For example, if you want a good career or good improvement in your health care, then you need to attract with that and like a magnet. If you thoroughly think about the same object or about the same field even and even time, then it will bring you the most beautiful changes. The book which also consists of some stories, which are given by that author, which indicates that this principle will work very well in the person who attract the needed things like a magnet. So, in my opinion, it was a very natural experience to go to read that book.

Band 6-7

The book which I've read recently and I found it extravagantly useful was a book called Limitless. It is by an American writer. His name was Jim Kirk. That book really conveys a message and I found it amazingly fascinating and it covers the areas of different aspects on how to get your discipline back, how to be limitless, how to think beyond and how to be untamed. And that book has mentioned the particular and the day-to-day scenarios that we are facing such as phone, music and these aspects which are being distraction. I remember a quote in that particular book which said that you need to be limitless and the more you are going to consume this crap, that fact that it explained in that particular book was that the more you will consume data, you are ruining your mind and the higher the chances are for you to find into dementia. Dementia particularly is a disease which is forgetfulness and it is going to impact in long term even though we aren't able to observe or see the difference that it is making in day-to-day life but it will for sure impact our future wherein we will be addicted to it and we will be having it.

Band 6

Well, the book I read very recently was Theory of Film Reduction of Reality by Sidfrid Krakower. I finished reading this book just three days ago and it helped me a lot for enhancing my research and the preparation of my doctoral research proposal. This book was very much helpful for me because it introduces some fundamental aspects of film philosophy and film aesthetics and film theory and film philosophy and film phenomenology particularly. So, while my statement of purpose, it is about film philosophy and film phenomenology. So this book actually helped me a lot and I did a kind of this book actually did a kind of brainstorming to me and I loved to go through this intellectual cultivation, yes, of mind and thinking. This book is almost about thinking about cinema and that was great regarding this, yes, and you know the author is a brilliant theorist and a thinker of film theorist classical era. So I found this book actually brilliant, yes, this was brilliant.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10