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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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

    location icon

    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

    One of the best book for which I have come across is Think and Grow Rich which was written by Napoleon Hill. I read it last month because it gives me the clear understanding of success and how the individual each and every individuals can attain with just following simple steps and just nourishing their present situations and present skills they can easily get success. In that book he mainly covers three different domains in which one was desire that how desire can attain your success. Desire of individual can be so passionate that he or she can easily attain the success. Further he was describing about faith and subconscious mind. The thing subconscious mind he is telling that if individual is having faith and have a deep desire then he can attain this control over the subconscious mind. In which he tells me to write down the phrase or a group of word and stick it over your wall and read it daily. The sentence should be emotionally attached to you. If it is not emotionally attached then it will not have any effect on your growth or getting success.

    Band 6-7

    To be honest I am not really into books I mostly prefer reading from my smartphone or my laptop which is quite familiar and convenient for me but if I had to answer that question I would say the book I read last month was Can't Hurt Me. The author of the book was David Goggins is David Goggins he the author himself is a retired Navy SEAL and has a mindset of toughness and resilience. I really found that book useful because it gives extremely good teachings and provide learnings about the obstacles and challenge we faced in life we face in life as the book suggests to never give up attitude a warrior mentality overall. Actually the book was recommended by one of my friend named Sangram. He really loved the book and he thought he would recommend me about it and I really give it a try and I found it useful and enjoyable book I say because there are a couple of pictures of David Goggins doing some riding of horses riding a bike and playing some physical sports which I really enjoyed looking at. Primary point I love about the book was the 40% rule yes the rule states that when we are in a difficult situation in our life or in an exam or anywhere we are just 40% of the mindset we have done. Basically it says

    Band 6-7

    so a few times ago I have read this book which is a holy scripture which is a holy book in India called Bhagavad Gita where it's a manuscript spoken by Lord Krishna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra to Arjuna in which it is basically Arjuna was confused to have battle with his relatives so it's a kind of there is a lot of learning in this book in a form of shlokas which is written in Sanskrit so I have read this book because I don't have the knowledge of Sanskrit but it was translated to English language so which is I remember that this book was given gifted by my employer, my last company employer she was my senior who gifted me because she was a devotee of Lord Krishna and she is also connected to this company

    Band 6-7

    I read a book named Robin Hood. When I am used to read that book, I felt like it was a nice book which helps in getting out from trauma. When I was reading that book, I was immersed in that book and I was with the author itself. The author had written that book like the people who are going to read that book, they should feel the presence of everything. He described it in that way. I loved that book and if anyone asks me to suggest a book, I would like to recommend that book named Write Me A Love Story written by Robin Hood. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    It was a book known as More Puzzles and the author was Shakuntala Devi. It was one of the first books that I ever read with my own willingness. I usually don't like reading books. I find myself lazy to read any good books. So, as it was a puzzle book, I was quite excited about reading the book. So, I read the book and it was one of the better reads in my life. It is a sequel to the book of puzzles written by Shakuntala Devi. I didn't read the first one but I read the second one. So, it helped me build my problem solving skills and it gave me exposure to the problem solving skills and puzzles at a young age. It helped me with several puzzles and problems in future competitive exams and also tests and interview rounds etc. I don't regret reading the book anytime because it always helped me increase my skills and I like solving puzzles especially because of the book.

    Band 6-7

    well I believe books are internal part of our life and I really fond of reading various types of books because I believe through the books we can enhance our knowledge about worldwide moreover in my life I have read a plethora of books related to my study and other types of book now I would like to talk about a specific book that I read and after reading this book I felt over them back in 2023 I visited a supermarket where I saw a bookstore so randomly I visited bookstore but when I visited it then I found it was useful for me because I found several types of books were like freedom fighters study English vocabulary and other types of however I really liked the book of English grammar that was written by Kiran Makar I bought it and I also read it then I read it when I was thrilled because I got ample of knowledge about that books that book was not only related to English grammar but also useful for my IELTS because as I mentioned it was written by Kiran Makar who is ex IELTS trainer so I read it for my pleasure and also for enhancing my knowledge about

    Band 6-7

    Thanks for giving me your card. I would like to talk about a book that I recently read in my free time. I most often read books in my free time as it gave me energy to revive my negativity around surrounding. So yeah, I read a book called Ikegai. It was a Japanese book that was written by Himao Heshe and the main aim and goal of the book was to tell people that you should have an aim of your life so as to achieve something in your life. Ikegai basically means the aim of the life. I think aim is very important. The book gave so many examples of the Japanese lifestyle which tells us that how they love and enjoy doing work even after 60 years. Ikegai helps us to develop the interest according to our hobby and it also focuses on what kind of hobby you can make to your passion so that you can enjoy your time as well as you can earn your money also. Through Ikegai, I have learned so many useful things like how to be happy in negative situations. It also motivates me to have a goal for my life.

    Band 6-7

    It is a fascinating question. I love reading books because books gives us entertainment, meaningful and a time pass. While just I had any thing to be bored, I just picked something books which had been from library to give myself joyful and happiness, not to think of living single or I am alone. I just read a book about democracy of America because at the last night which had not been followed with me, so I had taken something better to think for furtherness. I read it at last night. It is useful for important of technology and how the America is democratic and how their leaders are treated them to become something special compared with other countries. I felt it about very surprisingly because how a country can make GDP growth by keeping its place number one and how they leave the country very fascinating and fantastic things.

    Band 6-7

    The book I always find useful and it's kind of a bible to me is The Old Man and the Sea written by Mr. Ernest Hemingway. The book I always suggest for people to read and it's kind of a refreshing experience whenever I read the book. I always feel motivated and it gives me so much of confidence to move ahead with my life which is not something which a normal conversation can't give you. The book, actually I read the book during my college time while I was studying my English Literature and Language Masters and the book had a really good impact over my consciousness and how to perceive and how to analyze the world livings and how the world influences someone during their struggles and their low times. Additionally, the book has so much of simple writing, it's not some complex writing which is done by Mr. Hemingway. It gives a really beautiful life example with so much of simpler scenarios which the character goes through. It's basically in the old sea a man is getting trapped and how he survives, so that's the main synopsis of the whole story is. And how it gets the details of such the journey of that protagonist is what gives us so much of hope which is a greater thing for leading your life. It's something which I personally feel that everyone should look upon. And that's what the book is all about and what it gives.

    Band 6-7

    The book I found really useful is Stop Overthinking by Harvard Wordsmith. It was a wonderful book and it has many psychological facts that how people overthink about themselves, also about the situation they face, but rather it is not that crucial to think and waste our energy. So, that book made me don't think too much about any situation or any obstacles that I face in my life. Moreover, the book was really simple and even the layman can understand the language or comment the author used in the book. Also, I had a very good story how I bought the book. I was really overthinking about my exam like whether I'll crack the exam or what is gonna happen. So, I was just depressed myself and also stressed by thinking about the exam. And I went to the exam, but I couldn't clear the exam because of stress and overthinking. Then I realized something wrong is happening with me. So, later my teacher has suggested me this book that you are really overthinking about your exam. That is the reason you failed. Just read the book and you'll get an idea. Then after I finished the book, it made me really wonderful about me and how I was thinking about the situation when it is a waste of time and energy. So, I think everybody should read this book and I felt really useful about this book.
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