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Describe a difficult thing you did and succeeded in: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What the difficult thing was
  • When you did it / where
  • How you did it / steps you took
  • And explain how you felt after succeeding
Show all 52 answers

Cue 1:What the difficult thing was

  • Clearly state the challenging task you undertook, making it relatable and specific.
  • Explain why this task was difficult for you personally.

Example

The difficult thing I did was preparing for the IIT JEE entrance exam. It was a significant challenge because it required extensive knowledge of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and I had to compete with thousands of other students.

Cue 2:When you did it / where

  • Mention the time frame when you undertook this challenge, such as during your final year of school.
  • Describe the environment, like your study space or school, to give context.

Example

I started preparing for the exam in my final year of school, around January 2022. I spent most of my time studying in my room, which I had turned into a mini classroom, filled with books and notes.

Cue 3:How you did it / steps you took

  • Outline the specific steps you took to overcome this challenge, such as creating a study schedule.
  • Include any resources or support systems you utilized, like coaching classes or study groups.

Example

To tackle this challenge, I created a strict study schedule that included daily study hours, practice tests, and regular revisions. I also joined a coaching class where I could get guidance from experienced teachers and interact with fellow students.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt after succeeding

  • Describe your emotions upon achieving your goal, emphasizing the sense of accomplishment.
  • Reflect on how this success impacted your future aspirations or self-confidence.

Example

After successfully clearing the IIT JEE and securing a seat in my desired engineering college, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and pride. It boosted my confidence and motivated me to pursue my dreams in engineering with even more determination.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, overcoming the challenge of preparing for the IIT JEE was a transformative experience for me. It taught me the value of hard work and perseverance, and I believe it has set a strong foundation for my future endeavors.

    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

    Avoid being too general when describing the difficult task. Vague answers can leave the examiner confused and uninterested in your story.

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    Tip

    Provide specific details about the task, including what made it difficult and the context in which you faced it.

    2: Skipping Steps

    Do not skip important steps in your explanation. Omitting details can make your answer seem incomplete and less engaging.

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    Tip

    Outline the steps you took clearly, ensuring you explain how each step contributed to your success.

    Neglecting Emotions

    Failing to express your feelings after succeeding can make your answer less impactful. Emotions help connect with the examiner.

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    Tip

    Share your feelings in detail, explaining how you felt during and after the experience to create a more compelling narrative.

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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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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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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    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

    If I had to tell a difficult thing that I did and succeeded in it would be my NCC drills. I did it and it was exhausting but moreover it made me feel happy because it is challenging and I did it though I was feeling exhausted I felt disheartening most of the times because my body wasn't reacting well enough but still I had instilled in my mind that I would do whatever it takes and I did it. I guess it's enough.

    Band 6-7

    That's a very interesting question. I would like to talk about my student formula journey, which I succeeded. During my third year of my graduation, I came across a team, which is Yeti Racing, which was inactive during that period. And my faculty asked me if I can handle that team or not. And I accepted that opportunity and recruited new members and led a 60-member team. So from the beginning, it was hard for me to control that whole big team because it was the first time for me. So I planned the whole journey, divided the whole journey into different months, deadlines. And I also recruited different sub-team leads under me so that I can divide the work between them. And also we have divided to sponsorship, media and mechanical design, as well as machining departments. So that each department can co-exist and work simultaneously. So during the period, we faced different problems and we got suggestions from our faculties as well as our alumni, which helped me up to a limit. But at the end, it was my decision for different things. And we participated for Formula Bharat 2025, where we won the championship, even though we were a first-year team. That moment was priceless for me because it made me so happy and feel motivated to pursue my career in automotive engineering, because it proved my leadership quality as well as my team management skills.

    Band 6-7

    Well, it's a quite interesting topic to talk about it and today I would like to talk about one of my exam which is a linguistic exam and I prepared for it after my high school and I start preparing for it and firstly I think that it was very easy to me to handle it but after some practice and after giving some mock test I realized that it is very difficult to me because there I need a high vocabulary and with a good fluency and also very excellent I need to pronounce it but I was a quite not a good in that things and then I decide to do a hard work for it and I burn a midnight oil as I do a lot of hard works in my home and also in the institute where I studied about it and moreover I do many of the things on a daily basis I do a many of things like I preparing for it and also suggest with the I also take a suggestion from my teachers and also do a some online classes take online classes and took online classes and also many of the other things I did and when I succeeded I was over the moon because the result was a very nice and it was a grateful and I never think about that type of result I will get but I was a very happy to see that kind of result and I did it after a very hard work.

    Band 6-7

    The most difficult thing I ever did is letting go of people who hurt me indifferently. And it's the most difficult thing I've ever done. I've done it not quite far away, like I've done very recently. It took me a lot of struggle and strength, mentally, intellectually and physically, to separate from the people who drain my energy and cause me harm. Because putting myself first and giving myself the respect and care I need has been very difficult for me because of all the people I've been with. Finally, after a lot of struggle, I have succeeded in it and now I'm happier than ever. I have no regrets of the decisions I took and the steps I took are pretty simple. I just counseled myself, knew my self-worth and I knew I need to be first in my life.

    Band 6-7

    it was the thing which I had done at my schooling when I was at my class 8th I have prepared for the mathematics Olympiad actually I was a mathematics student I have a every interest in the subject of mathematics I used to score more marks in mathematics compared to other subjects this made me to develop my keen interest towards the subject it was a challenging exam preparing for a mathematics Olympiad many people said that it's too hard to prepare and clear it but with some determination and strong willpower I had prepared one and a half month by covering various concepts and and writing few mock tests related to the exam moreover my parents motivated me in a better way by knowing my interest additionally on the exam day I was ill but I believed myself and wrote the exam in a good way and qualified with good number of marks I felt really amazing and my confidence level boosted a lot after qualifying in that exam

    Band 6-7

    Okay, so I had done so many difficult things in my life because I'm a keen and passionate learner. But I would like to share about my essay competition. So it all started from this childhood dream that I want to be a writer. And then I participated in Queens Commonwealth essay competition. At first, I didn't get any success because it was my first essay and I wrote a long words and too much biased. But later on, I began to study more and try to find like what is my mistake and what are the things that I need to solve. Later on, I participated in many other competitions. And finally, in 2022, I won the first prize, my first ever trophy in writing competition, which was not a district level, state level or national level, but it was an international level. So obviously, this boost my confidence and I think that I become a person, I become more confident person who wants to challenge people who wants to challenge new situation and all.

    Band 6-7

    Hey, the one thing I succeeded in that is DSA. DSA is very hard to solve, but I took it serious and without giving up, I continuously started doing DSA. While doing, even though if I stuck, I tried to solve it without giving up. And then, while doing it, I feel like, wow, there is something in that I have to hold the key in order to solve this DSA. I usually solve DSA problem in my home. After solving, really I felt like, wow, really, how am I doing this? How I did it? It feels like amazing. And I felt very well.

    Band 6-7

    for me the most difficult task was to learn how to drive a car when I turned 18 I was really frightened I didn't know how to drive a car so I was really frightened that I would damage the car or do something to it so one day to remove my hesitation my father gave handed over the car keys to me and he told me that without any hesitation you can drive it even if something happens I will manage over it you just learn how to drive a car so I I started it and I was really frightened that I would do something to it I or I would I would damage it but I started it and I started riding over it and I was really happy that I was able to drive it and I also got the license in the very next week and I was really happy and that was the best experience I ever had

    Band 6-7

    For me, the most difficult thing to do was to ride a two-wheeler, while my father being an instructor for me. Basically, I knew to ride a two-wheeler, but I wasn't completely perfect. So, my father used to sit behind me and teach me how to ride it. So, the thing is, most of the time, me and my father usually quarrel a bit. Like, we are same in behavior. So, I feel what I am doing is right and he feels what he is doing is right. So, that's where the problem comes. And each and every moment I used to make a smallest mistake, he used to scold me every time. So, one day what I did was, I took him on to an empty road where no vehicles were there. So, there we usually went for a half an hour to one hour ride. Where I told him, like, I instructed him while I was doing, while I was riding the scooty, so that he doesn't, he just knows what I am doing exactly when I am riding the scooty. So, that's how I did it.

    Band 6-7

    For the first time, I appeared before the Chief Justice of India for a transfer petition. It was last week and although I have drafted the whole petition, I have never appeared before the Chief Justice alone. I was stressed and afraid so I started by making notes, short notes of the case so that I will be able to answer the questions quickly in the court and on the day when I appeared before the Chief Justice, there were like 50 people, 50 lawyers, senior lawyers sitting behind me and the Chief Justice was sitting with another judge and I started to speak. I was shivering, my hands were shaking, I was all sweaty and words were escaping my mouth but eventually, I started to give answers and through correct answers, I gained some confidence and I was able to get a favorable decision in my transfer petition and as soon as I came out of the court, there was this sense of ecstasy which I felt which made me very happy and confident for my future trials.
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