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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 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.

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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

    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

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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

    so this happened a while ago when I was studying in 11th grade and my school was you know conducting one day field trip to a nearby farm and they also held a lot of activities that day and a lot of competitions and a lot of tasks like treasure hunting and you know so many games so and we had to do a lot of tasks we are assigned to do different tasks and one thing I particularly remember is the fact that we had to come up on the stage and advertise on different stuff that we made out of paper and I am someone who is generally an introvert and I do have stage fear so going out in the public in front of everyone and talking was not something I am not I am for I was fond of doing and I thought I couldn't do it but I mustered up the courage and I went up on stage and I advertised it was a production and I delivered the advertisement in a very funny way and I remember people having a good laugh about it and I felt so proud of myself for making people laugh and yeah that boosted my self-esteem a lot and when I came off of the stage I was you know more confident than I ever was I still I'm attached and I still associate the day with happy memories and confidence and it is very special to me because I did something I thought I'd never do and I succeeded in it and I'm so proud of myself

    Band 6-7

    So the most difficult thing that I faced and I succeeded would be when I was in my 11th grade I was the house captain and I mean I was the assistant house captain and my house captain was busy with his 12th grade performance marks and everything so he was into studies so when all these culturals came up and that was a time where they had sports, culturals everything together so single handedly I had to look for all the classes let it be primary, secondary and everything so that was very challenging for me I was running up and down the whole time making sure that everything was on place and everyone practices and everything was perfect so that was really difficult for me to single handedly do everything then I had to coordinate with the faculties, with the students and do n number of auditions and teach them after selecting each students I had to teach them each and every cultural and look on to the sports, make the teams for cricket, football and so on and so forth so all that was very challenging and end of 3 days of program when my house was Rua house so when I came to know that we were leading and we won the first place and that was the most memorable, succeeded, the successful moment for me I was very happy and the faculties and my house captain all were really happy with my performance and that really touched my heart actually I was I actually lost around 4-5 kgs in a week I was literally running up and down

    Band 6-7

    Well, to kick things off, I think all people have to do challenging tasks in their life because through this type of task we have a opportunity to learn new things like we can enhance our skill such as problem-solving skill and critical skill. Now I would like to talk about a time when I achieved a difficult thing that was a rocket science for me. Back in 2022, that time I was in 10th standard. To be honest, I was not good in math. I had to do lots of struggle to achieve good marks in that subject. Due to low marks, I got stressed and also I was externally disappointed. After that, one of my friends suggested me that you should take participate in coaching center. After that, I joined a tuition center. I did not join tuition class but also took an online course which was really helpful for me. I did a lot of practice as well as took lots of class to achieve good marks in my math subject because it was a difficult for me. Furthermore, my parents had lots of acceptation related to my marks. So, I had to do many practice. After my practice, when I got my result, then I was over the moon because I passed with fly color. My family and my friend really appreciated me. Last but not least, it was time when I completed a difficult task and I felt good.

    Band 6-7

    When I was a child, I always wanted to be an assistant professor and when I reached the college level, I got a clue that in order to become an assistant professor, it is necessary to attempt an exam called as NET. And when I was looking through the syllabus, it was a quite difficult exam, but I wanted to crack it. And after so many months of practice, I attempted that exam for the first time when I was doing my post-graduation. And the situation was not much easier. I was struggling to study and late night I used to sit, early morning I used to sit in order to crack that exam. It seems to be very difficult for me. And after so many months of practice, after the completion of my post-graduation, finally I succeeded. And after the results came out, I was really enthusiastic to announce my result to my family. And when I was talking to my family members regarding that result, they all were very happy because they know how hard

    Band 6-7

    Since my childhood days, I have been very poor in mathematics. And so, I often used to take classes of mathematics from my teachers, from my mentors who had a very significant impact on my overall score in mathematics. The reason behind this is because of the fact that, like, I still remember I was in class 8 and my pre-boards were about to happen and on that time I had no strategy nor I had neither any good strategy nor I had a plan on how to cope up with the exam and it's obvious that you have lots of anxiety and issue, but still I managed to cope up with it because of the well-trained mentor. What they did was, in the last moment, they helped me to provide some good strategies and techniques through which I could get marks of around, like, I could score 80% in my mathematics exam. And apart from that, I think my mother, father and my siblings have motivated me a lot. Whenever I used to feel sad, like, because of bad score in mathematics, they used to help me by helping me to solve, they used to give me some puzzles which I had to solve and they used to set a timer and I just used to finish those stuffs, finishing the puzzle on time. And that also improved my mathematics skills and by the end of the semester, by the end of the results, when the results were out, I was amazed.

    Band 6-7

    When I was in school, we had to fight a cricket game against our seniors. Our teachers and supervisors had considered we were no match to the seniors and did not allow us to compete in the competition. But being the captain of the team, I knew my team had the strength, capabilities, and I had the total belief that team could beat any team in the school given their strengths. I persuaded my teachers that give us one chance to prove ourselves. Against all odds, I was able to convince the team and the teachers for giving us a chance. When the day came when we played against the 9th class students, we emerged victorious and then we were pitted against the 10th class. There were two teams in 10th class, one was English medium and another was Telugu medium. First we were pitted against the English medium school and the English medium were considered relatively easier competition compared to the Telugu team. We had beaten them as well and then we were pitted against the Telugu medium team. To the surprise and shock of everyone, we had beaten the 10th class Telugu medium as well. From that day, the perspective of teachers towards me and my friends had changed completely forever. This was a great experience. The day was filled with joy and ecstasy.

    Band 6

    One of the difficult things I have done is participating in a dancing competition. So, I know I am naturally not good at dancing, but people used to call me for some dancing competition etc. But I used to tell I am not good at that and my body is not flexible for dancing. But I had this friend who always constantly supported me to take part in dancing. She used to tell me that I should just go and participate. But I always resisted because I always thought I was not good at dancing. But there was this time when there was a shortage of one of the members in a dancing group. The group was very important to me. So, once there was a shortage, I took part in that. I practiced day and night and finally in the competition, I was able to dance. I was surprised. I never thought I would be able to, but I danced and our team won second place. I am not remembering which was exactly the prize we won, but I remember it to be second place. After that, I started participating in other dancing competitions and I used to win prize. I joined in a dancing academy and the teacher praised me. For 20 years of my life, I thought I would not be able to dance. I am not good at dancing. But a constant support from one of my friend and my need to encourage the team, I just went on for dancing. And that proved that if a person has a constant will, there is no entrance for it, just go for it. You will receive it. At any one or the other point of life, you will receive that. So, just go for it.

    Band 6

    The difficult thing I did and I succeeded in BTEC graduation. When I am starting my career in BTEC, little bit I get stressed and feel alone. All that time my brother suggest me don't get panic. It is very simple and enjoyable and entertaining education. So go with your experience and talent shown. And when I get into BTEC first year, I meet some friends. They give more energy to success my education journey. And after that four years, I completely graduated with first class. First, I think it is very difficult which I did not succeed. But end of the day, I did succeed with first class.

    Band 6

    The most difficult thing I did and succeeded in was my board preparation. I was actually an average student in my 11th grade. In 10th grade I was able to only get 80% as I am an average student but I understood how important studies and marks are for my college exam and I understood the seriousness of the studies. Then I started preparing for 12th with lots of caution. I had a goal to get good marks in my 12th grade. So I prepared so hard for that especially I am a pure science student. I took physics, chemistry and biology. Those were the core subjects in my field and in that physics was one of the most difficult paper for me and second it would be chemistry but I was able to manage chemistry as my teacher was good but physics was horrible. I was so terrorized by physics that I had one month to prepare for my physics board exam. During that one month I haven't stepped out of my room and stayed in my room for the whole one month. I just came out to eat my lunch, eat food, to go to bathroom, to drink water. Other than that I stayed in my room and studied rigorously. I was actually astonished by how dedicated I was back then.

    Band 6

    The most difficult thing I had to do and succeeded in doing was move away for my studies. I grew up in a large city known as Hyderabad, located in Telangana, and I have all of my family members living here with me. I'm extremely close to my mom and dad and also dependent, which I hadn't known until I had to move away. The time I had to move away was when I wanted to go for my higher education, focusing on culinary arts, and I had to do that in a different state, but in the same country. I was excited in the beginning, thinking of how I would make new friends and have new experiences and finally live the freedom that I never got to have. But then after I moved to Bangalore, it was a humbling experience, as I was scared and I didn't know what to do. I had to live there only for two years, but what felt like two years, what was two years felt like a longer time. And I came about that by living my day every day, counting down the days I would get to meet my family. I made new friends there and I went on touring the city and having new experiences with the friends I'd made. I realized that home is just a word that you create wherever you go. You find a home in it, if you live there long enough.
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