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Describe A Difficult Decision That You Made And Had A Good Result: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was the decision?
  • When did you make the decision?
  • How long did it take you to make the decision?
  • Explain why it was a difficult decision to make.
Show all 77 answers

Cue 1:What was the decision?

  • Clearly state the decision you made, providing context about the situation.
  • Mention the potential outcomes of the decision to highlight its significance.

Example

The difficult decision I made was to leave my stable job in a multinational company to pursue my passion for photography. I had been working there for over three years, and while it provided financial security, I felt unfulfilled.

Cue 2:When did you make the decision?

  • Specify the time frame when you made this decision, such as a particular month or year.
  • Share any relevant events that led up to this decision to give it more context.

Example

I made this decision in early 2022, after attending a photography workshop that reignited my passion. The workshop made me realize that I wanted to turn my hobby into a career.

Cue 3:How long did it take you to make the decision?

  • Discuss the duration it took you to arrive at this decision, emphasizing any internal conflict.
  • Mention any discussions you had with friends or family that influenced your decision-making process.

Example

It took me about two months to make this decision. I spent countless nights weighing the pros and cons, and I also spoke to my family and friends, who encouraged me to follow my dreams.

Cue 4:Explain why it was a difficult decision to make.

  • Describe the fears or concerns you had about making this decision.
  • Explain how the fear of failure or uncertainty contributed to the difficulty of the decision.

Example

This was a difficult decision because I was afraid of financial instability and the fear of failing in a competitive field. Leaving a secure job felt risky, and I worried about what others would think of my choice.

Conclusion

    Example

    In the end, I took the leap and started my own photography business. It was challenging at first, but I am now thriving and feel more fulfilled than ever. This decision taught me the importance of following my passion and believing in myself.

    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 Responses

    Providing vague or unclear answers can make it difficult for the examiner to understand your experience. Specific details help create a clearer picture of your decision-making process.

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    Tip

    Use specific examples and details when describing your decision to make your response more engaging and informative.

    2: Rushing Through the Explanation

    Rushing through your explanation can lead to missing important points. It may also make your answer sound unstructured and less convincing.

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    Tip

    Take your time to explain each cue clearly, ensuring you cover all aspects of the decision-making process.

    Neglecting Emotional Impact

    Ignoring the emotional aspects of your decision can make your response less relatable. Emotions often play a significant role in difficult decisions.

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    Tip

    Include how you felt during the decision-making process to add depth and connect with the examiner.

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    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 believe that decision-making is inevitable in our day-to-day activities. However, there are times when we are encountered with difficult decision-making. I remember back then, there was a time I had to make a very crucial decision in my life. It was an exam. I was out of time and I had to write that exam before the date elapsed. I haven't prepared fully for this exam, but I wrote it anyway. This was a promotional exam that is required for a placement in a college. I wrote the exam without proper preparation. It took me about 2-3 days to prepare for the exam and I was able to write it. The major reason why it was difficult was that I was on the fence about writing the exam. I was thinking whether I should forfeit or just sit for it and fingers crossed. But I was excited that I got to write the exam and I did excellently at the end of the day. It was a tough decision, but I was decisive. As the saying goes, all paths kneel before decisive mind. I think that was the major reason why I was able to do excellently in the exam.

    Band 6-7

    To talk about the decision that I made which was pretty difficult but had a good result would be taking up the current job that I'm particularly in right now. This requires, the difficulty arises when it, when it, the whole jazz with. To talk about the decision that I made which was pretty difficult but had a good result would be taking up the current job that I'm particularly in right now. This particularly required me to shift from my hometown to a whole new different place which is of a great experience to live alone, to look after your own things, your expenses, everything when it comes to jazz. And also the job got me a lot of learnings right from the business understanding because I wanted, I had a deep passion to learn about business. And the decision to move from my hometown for this particular job was taken later last year, soon after my graduation. And yeah, this basically was a very good decision from my life which I found it very difficult to take in but had a high impact in my understanding of things, my decision making power and also my, the way I could sustain my life alone. So this was a very good decision. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    From my childhood onwards, I wanted to become a doctor and in 10th, I decided to join in biology, physics and chemistry group that's majorly called as BIPC. But, before my passing in 10th, my sister joined in BIPC. So, my parents decided to me to become an engineer. I didn't understand these subjects and all and all. But, after so many time taken and so much of time taken by me, I went to MPC only. In that classes, I didn't understand the maths properly and I failed in some even weekend tests also. But, after so many struggles, I cleared my 12th examination with a distinction. And, after I joined in B.Tech in Engineering. In that 4 years, there are lot of subjects according to the MPC subjects only. But, I constantly crossed all the subjects. And, today I have placed in 2 MNC companies. But, who taken BIPC, my sister didn't completed her education also. Because, the course term of the BIPC. Today, I am so happy to taken that decision. But, not much happy because my aim to become doctor. But, I am also happy with this decision also.

    Band 6-7

    A very difficult decision that I made that changed my course of life was to study engineering. When I was in 10th, I was in a great dilemma to study literature or engineering or science because that is the stage where I had to make a very crucial decision of my life on which my whole career and my life depended on. Surely it was a very difficult decision to make because considering the exposure that we have at that stage or age is very less and the experience that you have around yourself is not very much to make a decision, quick decision, but yes, it took a whole year to let me understand my interests and what I want to pursue in life. There were two options, basically one was literature to become a teacher was my goal and second was studying technology. I went forward to take the decision of studying a technical field and I completed my computer engineering. Surely this decision changed me as a person because I got more interested and intrigued in technical stuff and how the softwares and various apps are built, how it functions, what is the back end, front end, everything it changed to my whole perspective of life and later in my stage, I also pursued yoga and became an instructor. I fulfilled both of my career aspirations that I wanted to because yoga helps me to lead a life and studying engineering helps me to be

    Band 6-7

    A difficult decision I made in my life was, I was choosing nursing as my career. You know, I was studying in the 12th grade, my brother was studying nursing. So it inspired me to do the same. So I was like asking my parents' opinion and my brother's opinion. They were not interested in my decision because they were reluctant to send me to this nursing education. They were telling me that nursing is not good for girls. So I was thinking what to do. I have a dilemma that because I got the chance to go for engineering as well as nursing. So I was thinking which career would be best for me. So even though it was very hard for me to take a decision that time, I finally chose nursing as my career because everywhere nurses has many opportunities as well as health industry is a growing industry. That makes me to think, choose nursing as my career. Apart from that, I think this is actually a, you know, bluff in disguise. Because people are maybe thinking they choose the wrong decision or they have to take the wrong decision, but later it become like a blessing for them. So I felt in my life.

    Band 6-7

    The most difficult decision which I made in my life was discontinuing my automobile engineering degree. I discontinued it because I met with an accident during the period of the course and I was not able to go to college for like three months because of my injuries so and I failed in three out of five subjects so I was a little bit taken back because of that so I decided to discontinue it and take BCA degree which is Bachelor of Computer and Applications and that was that was the most difficult decision which I took in my life and and now I'm very happy because I scored good marks in Bachelor of Computer and Computer Applications because it is very easy and that's all.

    Band 6-7

    A difficult decision that I made and that made a good result was after completing my higher secondary school, the decision I took to choose the course was between medical and computer science and I chose computer science as I had a huge interest in it. So after choosing it, I went into my college which is Wales University at Pallavaram. So over there, while learning computer science, I had a lot of struggle and many difficult time while doing my course where it's actually based upon, my course is all based upon coding and while running the code I faced a lot of bugs and errors in it. So at the starting stage, I really hated it but in a time I decided to change my course but then I started to learn coding from many social, from online courses. So then after reading all the coding, it actually made it a bit simpler, simple where all the errors and the things I faced, the problems that I faced became more helpful where I started to solve it by myself and after completely mastered in it, I decided to do web development where I basically build a website from scratch and maintain it. So after doing that, I got an internship now at an AI company and I recently started doing AI.

    Band 6-7

    After my 12th grade, it was a crucial time for me to decide what stream I would be taking for my tertiary education. The hard part was not about choosing what to study, but it was whether to stay at home or to move away from home. I was really apprehensive about moving away from home, but at the same time, I did want to do this. I did want to take that difficult step, because I knew if I stayed at home, I would just be more impoverished. Everything would be just perfect to me. Whereas, if I leave home and stay in a hostel, I would be forced to do all the things that I do in life, take care of my own affairs, manage the fucking money that I would be given, do my studies on an everyday basis, without somebody nurturing me, take care of my food, etc. So I made that difficult decision, and I did find it hard at first. I remember begging my mother to stay for a few more hours, because I was terrified to be living alone. Gradually, homesickness reduced and I grew more accustomed to my surroundings. I made new friends, I started to develop a timetable where I was comfortable managing my affairs. Looking back, I think that made me the person who I was, who I am today. It had a huge role to play in my personal development, in being independent and being self-sufficient.

    Band 6-7

    The decision that I took lately was going to the gym. Moreover, it was a new year resolution. I always wanted a slim and a fit body and in addition a healthy body. And the answer to that would be going to the gym or working out at home. I am someone who is very lazy and never ever took a chance of working out at home. So my mother pushed me to join the gym. It was the best decision that she has pushed me to do. I will always be thankful to her for doing that. And now I feel that it has been one of the best steps that I have taken because I can see the change in my body and also the relaxation and happiness I get out of doing it. More than the relaxation, I am also happy that I am striving towards leading a better and a healthy lifestyle which is very important for each one of us to lead a happy life. It was a difficult decision for me because I am someone who is very reserved and never likes stepping out of my house. So for someone like me it is a difficult decision.

    Band 6-7

    The hard decision that I had to make during my lifetime is the time when I was working in a private company and I had decided to quit the company. Firstly, there was no proper growth and the increment in salary provided by the company was quite low. So, to enhance my development in career, I had decided to take a break from working. Instead, I had decided to prepare for a competitive examination known as GATE, which is essential for recruitment in public sector companies and also for admission of masters in IITs. This decision was taken about a decade ago and it was a good decision eventually because I had utilized my time well to prepare for GATE examination and eventually secured a rank which guarantees me admission in IIT for pursuing my masters. The decision was quite difficult to make because I was getting resistance from all corners whether it was from my friend or my family and I was pondering to consider this decision over a period of two months. Finally, I have taken this decision.
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