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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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    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
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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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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 am a voracious reader. Last Sunday I have read a book named Westistan Divan by Johan Ulfgang von Goethe. Yes, I consciously tell the world have because the effect after reading the book, the effect is still now in my mind. The Westistan Divan broke with established ideas of poetry in Europe at the time. It introduced new themes, new cultural references and a different spirit of poetic exchange that was very unusual for the 19th century. At the time European poetry was seen mostly in a classical, romantic or national tradition. Goethe disrupted that by drawing deeply on Persian poet Hafez by celebrating cross-cultural exchange and by envisioning poetry as a universal dialogue between East and West. But what's important is that he did not throw away German poetic traditions. Now what should I say that the poetry tells us about the philosophy of carpe diem. The eminent Goethe scholar Karl Otto Conradi has revised Goethe's summary of his themes also. I love this book very much. After reading this book I was mesmerized.

    Band 6-7

    A book that I read that I found very useful was The Most Good You Can Do, which was written by Peter Singers. I read this book back in 2023, which was two years ago, around the time I had just graduated. So it was a time when I was not very sure what direction my career is supposed to take or what I should be doing. I stumbled upon this book and I knew that it had called me for a reason. And once I read this book, I knew that my life belonged in the social sector. And I wanted to work for the development of the less privileged, work for the environment as well. So in a way, I found this book very, very useful because it gave me a lot of clarity on what I wanted to pursue in my life. I had a general idea about what I wanted to do in my life, but after reading this book, it was much more stronger in my head. And I knew that there was a reason I stumbled upon this book. And I knew that the path I had chosen to pursue was my actual purpose. Another book I found equally useful, which also changed my life was Atomic Habits. It taught me a lot about improving yourself 1% every day, which is what I've tried to do ever since I read that book. And I also like to go back to that book sometimes and reread it. But I still think between the two of them, The Most Good You Can Do by Peter Singers remained my number one book that I found useful because that led me to my career path.

    Band 6-7

    Hari ini, saya ingin berbicara mengenai sebuah buku yang saya baca dan saya menemukan sangat berguna. Nama buku adalah Rich Dad Poor Dad, tulis oleh Robert Kiyosuki. Buku ini mengenai pendidikan kewangan dan bagaimana menyimpan wang. Saya mula membaca buku ini tiga tahun yang lalu ketika saya berada di sekolah dan seorang kawan saya menyarankan saya untuk membaca buku ini kerana saya berminat dengan pendidikan dan pelaburan. Pertama sekali, saya berfikir bahawa ia adalah sebuah buku yang perlu dibaca tetapi kemudian saya menemukan ia sangat mudah untuk difahami. Buku ini sangat membantu saya dan meningkatkan kebiasaan kewangan saya. Buku ini sangat penting bagi pengetahuan praktikal yang kita tidak belajar di sekolah. Saya rasa sangat terkejut dan menikmati setelah membaca buku ini dan saya menemukan ia sangat berguna bagi saya untuk meningkatkan kebiasaan kewangan saya. Saya menyarankan kepada orang lain untuk membaca buku ini sekali dalam hidup mereka untuk meningkatkan kebiasaan kewangan dan kebiasaan pelaburan mereka.

    Band 6-7

    Recently I have started reading a lot of self-help books and one of the books that I read was Never Split the Difference by David Blaine. David Blaine himself is a former FBI negotiator in kidnapping and extortion cases. So he had an elaborate experience of dealing and bargaining in such situations. He in this book has shared all the tips and tricks that he had found to work during his time as a negotiator and presented it in a simple way that we can use in our daily lives. After reading the book, all the tips and the things that he has provided regarding bargaining and putting forward your offers in a formal or a business setup, I found them very useful. On top of it, the research aspect of it and the psychological aspect that he has presented makes a lot of sense. And this book was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone who is into self-help books.

    Band 6-7

    Personally, I'm a huge bookworm and I absolutely love reading books, so there are quite a few that I find useful. However, if I had to pick one, it would be The Great Gatsby. I read it for the first time back in 2024 when I was still preparing for my SAT exams. My teacher recommended that I start reading a few classics to familiarize myself with more of the old English concept and also that it would help me learn more of the difficult or C1-C2 type vocabulary. So, I picked up The Great Gatsby at my local bookstore and I absolutely fell in love with it. Even though there were quite a few pages, a few sentences and even a few pages that I couldn't understand, I had my laptop with me at all times and whatever word I couldn't understand, I would just underline it and then look up the meaning. It was really fun in a way that it helped me learn new words, even though I've always felt like I've been quite good with my English, but that was an amazing learning experience.

    Band 6-7

    Book is a very important task for everyone and I would like to talk about when I was bought a book and it is a very useful. I really remember it was my first year in nursing pandemic. My language is English language. So, I was starting English language but I am not English medium person and it is a rocket science for me English language. So, first of all I was joining English classes and after few days my friend tell me about it is a very useful book. So, I was bought a very useful book and I read everyday. It is a very useful book. I was everyday 2-3 page read and I was make some sentence by verbs. However, it is a very useful and I am easily learning and speak of language by this book. I was travelling by my train in my college. So, in travelling I was everyday reading a book and then after I was completely my speaking language. I am very over the moon and it is a very useful book in my life.

    Band 6-7

    One of the recent books I read was Deep Work, I have recently shifted out of my jobs and my first manager in the previous job gifted me that book as a farewell gift. That book basically focuses on not just overviewing the entire work but getting into deep and deep to a root to understand the core problem statement of what you are working on. This book also tells us a lot about taking a time off from your busy schedule just to think on problem statements which you have been working on. No mails, no meetings.

    Band 6-7

    The book I read was psychology of money. I read it last year after I completed my 3 month course of architecture. At that time I was doing some stock market also. So I decided to study this book because one of my friend suggested me because he also do stock market. It is very useful for me in aspects of money that it gives us some management how to manage your money how to invest your money wisely in stock market not in stock market in other aspect also like in real world how to manage your money how to structure your salary and how to divide your money in different parts so that you can be easily adjust your daily life. After reading that book I felt very good and now I also implement that book theory in my real life also and I felt very good at that time.

    Band 6-7

    Recently, I read a plethora of books related to my field, but I would like to talk about the personal MBA written by Josh Kaufman. It is a very precious book for me because I want to start my startup in India and I always like to know about how to manage all things. In this book, there are a plethora of things like how to manage all things in your company, in business and how to advertise your item in many places. In this book, there are a plethora of useful things about finance because I don't have lots of knowledge about finance. So, I decided to read this book. Recently, six months ago, my uncle came to my home and we were talking about some aspects of things in business because he had been working in their personal business for the last four years. He suggested me to read the personal MBA because he read about this before I talked to him. He gave me some suggestions and I read this book. It is very useful for me and I always suggest it to some people around me. My feelings were very similar because recently I started my own startup about providing some services in the tech field.

    Band 6-7

    In my life, I have read multiple books, mostly from fantasy and horror novels, but here I would like to talk about one of the best books I have ever read, which is How to Talk to Anyone. Basically, that particular book contains 92 simple tricks which enhance our communication skill in our society. I vividly remember that when I was applying for an application to Canada for my college, I thought like I need to improve my communication skill by watching videos or even watching some reels. After that, my sister advised me to read this particular book and I just read more than came for 2-3 days and got interested.
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