arrow back icon Top Answers

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 56 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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    Tip

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

    calendar icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    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

    There are multiple things in my life when I felt like it is a very difficult thing for me to do but eventually we had to do it as we don't have any other option. One of such thing was travelling to mountains and drive my car there. This was an experience when I had back in 2020 in January month when we were visiting McLeodganj. At that moment there was a situation where we had to drive our car on the icy surface. It was drizzling and because of the temperature the raindrops were converting into the ice and we have to drive our car on to that particular icy surface. I personally did not had any prior experience of riding my car in such scenarios or situations but I did had some experience where I have seen videos how to do and when to do. The steps which we have taken is like considering the pace with which the car is moving, if it is moving in the correct direction and the nearby circumstances as well where we are currently. That was the most difficult part of my life till date which I felt like that I can be dead if I make any mistakes in this situation. Well, after succeeding it was a feeling of relaxing and I felt like that I have achieved something because that was very difficult and it was a life threatening situation in which we were and after that I felt very relaxed and it was a great achievement for me to have it in my record.

    Band 6-7

    The most difficult thing I ever did and succeeded in is passing this subject called signals and systems, which was part of my curriculum in the BTech program of Electronics and Communication. In general, I am actually a bright student and I don't find most subjects difficult. However, this one subject took the life out of me because I had a very bad teacher for the subject and she wasn't teaching anything properly in the classes. It was totally a waste of time sitting and listening to her in classes. So the entire burden of doing well in the subject was put on our heads and I did face many challenges like dealing with the math of the subject because it involved lots of integrations and calculations which were very complicated math problems. So I practiced a lot of problems of each type to tackle the issue of math and I also went through previous year question papers in addition to the question bank given by our university. Eventually, I could score a very good marks of 99 out of 100 in the subject after hours and hours and hours of study and grind for the subject. Most of the subject preparation I think happened the day before the exam because that's when I understood that it needed so much practice from my end and I am really happy that I could successfully complete and finish the subject with flying colors and I hope everyone else also succeeds in things they find difficult in.

    Band 6-7

    One of the most difficult things I would say was the adventure sport that was in my bucket list for such a long time. It happened when I went for a vacation to Dubai so there was no certain plan for such an event but I had that in the back of my mind so as the days were going by I was contemplating about it but then I decided to go forward with it so I sat with my family, I told them I wanted to do this, they were not really on board about this but they didn't disagree so I went through the forms, the instructions, what I had to do for it, what are the requirements so after going all through the documentation I signed up for it, I booked a session, they had a training session for it and the compound was very big and spacious so once I got my instructor, I got the training, then they allocated a time for my jump so we went up to about 13,000 feet and then I finally did it. I jumped and it was an exhilarating and amazing experience.

    Band 6-7

    First of all, I learned my coding skill and that is most important part of my career because in this time my career is in IT field and it helped me to enhance new skill and add new thing to my life and I learned around six months ago in my college while pursuing my bachelor degree and I learned from different things and different places by my teacher. They helped me to enhance and trying to understand the complex topic and the most important part is that I learned multiple things from the internet like YouTube, Google and I tried to learn by step by step one thing at a time and trying to practice as many times as I give the time on the specific topic and after succeeding this after gaining this skill I thought now I get some opportunity in this field I can get a good job and it feels me motivated and inspiring and I thought like now I can achieve anything or any part of my life because coding was my the headache part I used to think that maybe the coding the term is not made for me and the programming skill is very essential as a IT student so yeah I learned the coding and that is the most difficult and I love when I succeed in this

    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.
    1 2 3 4 5 6

    Master IELTS Speaking with Leap's Self-Prep Course

    student enroll count

    Students Enrolled

    review count

    2,411 Reviews

    app download banner image
    See Course Details

    Master IELTS Speaking with Leap's Self-Prep Course

    student enroll count

    Students Enrolled

    review count

    2,411 Reviews

    app download banner image
    See Course Details