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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 100 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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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

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

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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

    I recently read a book is Wings of Fire and it is written by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He is from India and he is a humble and kind hearted person and he came from poor background. In that book especially says about a big dream and do hard work and achieve the goal. And the author is a one of the great person in India and he survived the nation as a resident of India and a great scientist. He is also known as missile man of India. I read this book because of I have to achieve my goal and based on that I need some topics. However, teaching is the confidence for achieve my goal and it is mostly useful me for most of the times when I am feel unconfident like the situation which I got during my any other preparation for exam. If I think it is hard I mostly prefer to read this book.

    Band 6-7

    Actually, I read a book named The Test of My Life which is written by Yuvraj Singh who is a famous cricketer in India. The book suggests the life ups and downs of Yuvraj Singh which he faced in his cricket life and also how he suffered from cancer and how he have been challenged in order to correct the cancer and also he inspires many of the cancer survivors right now because he is the one who faced with the cancer which is metastatic and that is also rare. It is generally the cancer in the between the lungs. So how he faced the cancer and how he struggled what are the qualities will be discussed in this book and the cricket from where he started his journey of the cricket and where he ended and who have been inspired the most in his life has been given in this book where the father of him has been fought with all of their family members and for making him to be a good cricketer which is the best cricketer for India so that India gets win in every series of cricket.

    Band 6-7

    Well, a book that I have read recently and found useful was Master the Power of Mindset written by George Filler. This book holds a very special value in my heart because I am not a regular book reader. So very less and very rarely I read books that adds value. So I only read books which are very valuable and hold meaningful essence. This book holds all those strong verses which can motivate a person to be dedicated towards their life and can bring a 360 shift in their routine. Because nowadays I was preparing for my masters and there were lot of exams managing my professional life so I needed a book that would help me to concentrate on my goals and would increase my determination and focus. So this book was perfectly meant for it. When I read all the parts, I realized that how strong my mind has become after reading the important lines which signifies the value that holds a person's subconscious mind. So yeah, this book was a life changing for me I would say because in 30 days how can a person took the control of his life and can master a skill was taught in that book and this is not a regular book. This book actually gives us an idea about how a person can shift his normal routine to an active productive one. So I would recommend everybody to read this book and implement the values that it has been taught them in their daily life. It will make a very powerful change in them and they would be feeling happy about it. So yeah, this book is the best book that I have read so far.

    Band 6-7

    Well, I am a good reader. I enjoy to read books whenever I got free time. The main book that found me useful that the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, the fighting for truth. I read it from my childhood onwards because my teacher used to give me that book as a gift. From that days onwards, I tried to read every aspects and every pages of the book very clearly and it made me more courageous because Mahatma Gandhi and our renovers tried to make try to their best for the independence of our nation. That's why I mostly like the book and moreover that Mahatma Gandhi and the followers

    Band 6-7

    I really like the book rich dad and poor dad because it was really amazing and interesting concept as it teached me about how to control myself and how to like how to like spend my money right and like be humble as well as down to earth and I read it for the first time when I was 15 years old and it was really great experience for me at that age because it was really really really cool book for me and I would like to say it was life-changing kind of because as a middle-class family I learned many things by myself and had no one to teach me stuff about stuff about like saving my money and how to spend my money right too so it was really kind of helpful and I really enjoyed reading it

    Band 6-7

    One of my favorite books that I always relay upon is Paolo Coelho's One of my favorite books which I always relay upon is The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. It is a very useful and informative story about a traveler who travels around the world and the book describes his experiences and the lessons he learnt Moreover it helps us to learn how little things are mattered and how we should be grateful or happy for the little things that happen in our life I read it two years back during my semester end vacations It was a very worthfull read and I felt so happy and condensed after reading that Furthermore it described the situation of a normal man who tries to travel around the world and faces lot of challenges but how to overcome it It was very worthy read and then I recommended it to my friends and family They also find it very moral and good to read

    Band 6-7

    Well, reading is one of the greatest habits that not only improves our knowledge but also teaches us to remain patient. Today I would like to talk about a book that I found very useful. It was none other than the book named Atomic Habits by James Clear. One of my friends recommended me this book when I was struggling to manage my time with work or personal life. I am unable to do the both at the same time so it was much needed for me to get anything that helps me. This book proves me very useful because it not only teaches us how to manage the work but also teaches us that.

    Band 6-7

    A book that I had recently read and found useful was a fictional book on which the movie has been made by Rohit Val, the author of that book. The book name was Half Girlfriend. I read that book when I was in college. I got to know about that book from my class fellows as the book contains romantic fictional stories which attracts the girls. The story shows about the characters where earlier they used to be friends but later they fell in love and start dating together but on the other hand the girl refused to be in a relationship as she felt no it's just a friendship not more than that. So the half girlfriend title has been termed because a friend, a girlfriend who is not actually a girlfriend like who is not in your relationship that can be termed as half girlfriend means only friend with no benefits that is half girlfriend. I went to that movie also that engages

    Band 6-7

    In this, the book I read is The Secret. This book is very powerful and very important. Every person should read this book because this book is very strong message to every person who become success in their life and who work hard for something in their lives. So, I would like to say that The Secret is very powerful mindset thinking book which is all about the man or the human's nature or human's thinking power. What they have to think or what they think actually. It is totally the nature or the thinking power. So, it is very powerful book and every person must read this book carefully. Because you should prepare already your mind because the words in this book are very strong and their meaning is very deep. So, you should prepare your mind and motivate your mind like a successful person.

    Band 6-7

    Hi, one of the best books that I have ever read in my life is Love is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski. He is one of the greatest American poet in recent generation. Why I loved this book and enjoyed each and every page and rather to say each and every sentences is basically it talks about love from a very alternate point of view. In movies, in novels, mostly we see happy ending, but in real life, it doesn't happen always or all the time. During COVID in 2019, I was stuck inside my house. I was walking from home. I had some time to explore different types of alternate books and novels. That's where I came across to this book. I purchased it online and the moment I touched and started reading it, my life has started changing. After completing the book, now my perspective about romantic love, relationship, especially relationship and love from the point of view of giving and taking in a transactional way and also in the era of nihilism or maybe let's say individualistic ideas where we all are standing right now as a society gives a different narrative about love. And I think that's something which will stay with me for quite some time. Whenever I read the book, I was in a journey of retrospection and reflection. I kind of realized that I am someone who needs to work on expressing and maybe writing his own thoughts on paper because that's going to help. And apparently that's the way Charles Bukowski also started writing these poems. So these are all scribbles on napkins where he was having some whiskey in a bar. So I think I would love to explore the same.
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