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Describe a disagreement you had with someone: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who was the person?
  • Why did you have the disagreement?
  • Was the issue resolved? If yes, how?
  • And explain what happened after the disagreement.
Show all 117 answers

Cue 1:Who was the person?

  • Introduce the person you had the disagreement with, mentioning your relationship with them.
  • Provide some context about how long you have known this person and the nature of your interactions.

Example

The person I had a disagreement with was my younger brother, Rohan. We have been close since childhood, sharing everything from toys to secrets. We often have friendly debates, but this particular disagreement was more serious.

Cue 2:Why did you have the disagreement?

  • Clearly explain the topic of the disagreement and why it was important to both of you.
  • Share your perspective and Rohan's perspective to give a balanced view.

Example

The disagreement arose over our plans for a family vacation. I wanted to go to the mountains for some adventure, while Rohan insisted on a beach destination for relaxation. Both of us felt strongly about our choices, as I wanted to experience the thrill of trekking, and he wanted to unwind by the sea.

Cue 3:Was the issue resolved? If yes, how?

  • Discuss how you both approached the resolution of the disagreement.
  • Mention any compromises or discussions that led to a solution.

Example

Eventually, we decided to sit down and talk it out. We listed the pros and cons of each destination and realized that we could combine both ideas. We agreed to spend a few days in the mountains and then relax at the beach. This compromise made both of us happy.

Cue 4:And explain what happened after the disagreement.

  • Describe the aftermath of the disagreement and how it affected your relationship.
  • Share any positive outcomes or lessons learned from the experience.

Example

After resolving the disagreement, our relationship grew stronger. We learned to appreciate each other's viewpoints more. The trip turned out to be a fantastic experience, and we created wonderful memories together. It taught us the importance of communication and compromise.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, disagreements can be challenging, but they also provide opportunities for growth and understanding. My experience with Rohan taught me that listening and finding common ground can lead to better relationships and enjoyable experiences.

    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. It's important to provide specific details about the disagreement to engage the listener and demonstrate your language skills.

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    Tip

    Use clear examples and specific details about the disagreement, such as the person involved and the exact issue to make your response more vivid.

    2: Ignoring Resolution

    Failing to discuss how the disagreement was resolved can leave your answer incomplete. It’s essential to show how conflicts can be managed and resolved.

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    Tip

    Always include how the issue was resolved, whether through discussion, compromise, or another method, to show your problem-solving skills.

    Lack of Reflection

    Not reflecting on what happened after the disagreement can make your answer seem shallow. It's important to show personal growth or changes in your relationship.

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    Tip

    Conclude by explaining what you learned from the disagreement and how it affected your relationship with the person involved.

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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

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    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.
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    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.
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    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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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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 7

    One disagreement I remember clearly was with my school friend Parth. We had been good friends for many years. But I remember when I was appointed as the school captain and he was appointed as vice captain of the school. Then we were assigned a task to make a presentation on environmental pollution. There was disagreement between us due to difference of opinion. So he wanted to create large colorful posters with charts and pictures. But I felt that we should make a powerpoint presentation with short video to make it look more modern and interesting. We both felt strongly about our own ideas. And so slowly and slowly the argument become heated. We spent more time arguing than actually working. So the next day our school teachers noticed that something is really wrong. So she asked us. We explained everything. And she calmly told us that good teamwork means understanding and combining both the strengths. Like you should understand each other's point of views and opinions. And then you can mix both the methods and choose a holistic approach in which you can make a short video and also prepare a poster for the display. And we agreed to that. And to our surprise the final presentation was really balanced. And the poster helped those who liked visual displays. And the video made it interactive. So we got a great feedback. And it became one of our best school projects ever. So this experience really taught me that disagreements are not always bad. They help us to see things from a new angle sometimes. And now I try to listen more and understand others view before reacting.

    Band 7

    I would actually like to list two such incidences, first of which happened with Priyanshu, my best friend. We kind of disagreed upon the Indian work culture opinion. He believes that Indian work culture isn't all that bad, whereas I believe that it is pretty horrible and it doesn't have any empathy for the workers. The laws and the labour laws are just not good at all. They are too taxing, the work culture is too demanding. We have CEOs like Narayan Murthy and the CEO of Ola coming to live interviews and saying that it's okay to work for 70 hours a week, which in my opinion is very very wrong and I strongly disagree with this opinion and me and my best friend, we have settled our differences and we don't argue about it anymore. Secondly, I disagreed with Aman about Indian culture. He believes that Indian culture is the best culture in the world, which I strongly disagree with. He thinks that Western culture is too individualistic, whereas Indian culture is too holistic, but I completely disagree with his opinion. I believe there is no such thing as best culture in the world. Every culture has its positives and negatives. Even though I have respected Indian culture a lot, it's always okay to respect other cultures as well.

    Band 7

    A disagreement I clearly remember was with a colleague during a group project at work. We were tasked with developing a proposal for a new client and although we both had the same goal, we had very different approaches to how the work should be done. My colleague preferred a fast-paced, result-driven method aiming to complete the draft as quickly as possible to meet the deadline. On the other hand, I believe that we should spend more time refining our ideas and conducting thorough research. Even if it meant working overtime, the disagreement came to a head during a team meeting where we both expressed our opinions rather passionately. It was uncomfortable because it happened in front of others and I was concerned it might affect the team dynamic. However, after some reflection, I decided to have a private conversation with him later that day. I explained my perspective calmly and listened to his side as well. We eventually agreed to find a middle ground. He would draft the structure quickly and I would refine the content in detail. Looking back, I actually appreciate the disagreement. It challenged me to be more flexible and helped me develop better communication and collaboration skills. It also reinforced the idea that disagreements, when handled maturely, can lead to more balanced outcomes. I feel proud of how we managed the situation and interestingly, we ended up working very well together on future projects.

    Band 7

    I am trying to recall an incident that happened 3 years back at my home. It was regarding the purchase of a motorcycle for me regarding my work. I really wanted a motorcycle to have a convenient commute to and fro from my office. So we had a discussion planned at my home in order to decide on which motorcycle that I have to purchase. But my parents were more inclined towards fuel efficiency of the vehicle. But instead I was more passionate towards the performance of the motorcycle. So the discussion went on for weeks actually in my home. On the one hand, I was more interested in having a race edition motorcycle. On the other hand, my parents were more interested in a cruise bike. So at the end of the day, I decided to purchase the motorcycle in my dreams. So I purchased a bike called Apache RTR 200 which is a race edition superb bike of TVS. But I did it after convincing my parents of my interest and my passion to have my dream motorcycle. So ultimately they agreed with me and helped me in buying my dream bike. Still now, I am using the same bike and I am really happy that I made this decision because I had the bike of my dreams and I am also happy with the fuel efficiency that this bike is providing me and till now no problems have been observed.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to share an experience that I've had when I was in college. So when I was in college I was looking for internships during my summer break. So I applied for a couple of internships. As a result, I have started getting callings from different recruiters. Since I've started getting calls, I started preparing for interviews. I gave quite a few interviews after that. In one of the interviews, when I was discussing the stipend with the recruiter, he said that you won't get any stipend but you will get a Certificate of Completion and you will get to learn a lot of new things. So I got a bit disheartened because I'll be putting my time in it, my effort, so I deserve to get paid. I mean Certificate of Completion and experience obviously I'll gain, but for the time and effort that I'm going to put, I deserve to get paid for that. So I haven't taken that internship, but I was later discussing that thing with my friend that everyone should deserve to get paid no matter how small. Because we have been investing our time, our knowledge and the things that we have learned for the things that we have paid lakhs, we deserve to get something in return, right? So I had that disagreement with the interviewer later on when I was discussing this thing with my friend. It wasn't solved.

    Band 6-7

    This disagreement happened around two years ago and it was about a very complicated thing, I'd say. We both were right in our own ways, but we had gone on a trip as an entire group and she promised to drop me off home and it was getting very late. So I, out of sympathy for the driver, thought instead of dropping me to a train station which was farther away, she could just drop me home which was nearby. But that translated wrong and we ended up having a huge feud over it and the issue wasn't resolved because she started spreading it around to everyone. Yaar! Haan! Arre main practice test le raha hai. This disagreement happened around two years ago, I'd say. And this was over an incident that happened as a group. So we all decided to go to a Magica and it's quite far away from my house, around two hours to get there. So I asked my friend and she agreed to drop me off home. Initially the plan was that she'd drop me off to a station, but it was getting really late into the night and it was getting closer to one and I knew that the driver had to get home before, I guess, around two. So I suggested that she drop me off to my place since it was nearby and the station was farther. But there was a lot of miscommunication which ended up really causing a rift in our friendship. The issue wasn't resolved and we just stopped talking and we drifted apart is what I'd say happened. We haven't talked since, our conversations have been minimal and she left school after a while. And by then we lost all track of communication.

    Band 6-7

    I remember one time when we had a little disagreement with one of my friend whose name was Sahil. It was something about when we were booking tickets to some of the destinations we want to visit but my friend was not quite interested for one of the destination but I really wanted to go there as I was very keen to visit that place and there were historical objects that I wanted to click my pictures with and there was also many beautiful things that I like to see in that place but my friend was like if you want to manage the budget accordingly and stay manage the budget accordingly.

    Band 6-7

    The person I had an argument with was a person named Bhuvan. Back in my school days, there was this political party named PJP. It so happened that there were taxes cut down for several castes of the Hindu society. Initially, people used to pay taxes equally. But as time flew, a few political parties made sure that the lower castes didn't pay taxes even if they were rich. This helped them grow up a lot by saving money. My argument with Bhuvan was that everyone should pay taxes equally. It happened that taxes were automatically solved by equalizing them for their income level and not castes later on by the next political company, which made our problem resolved in as it is.

    Band 6-7

    I had a heated argument with my manager on the tool that I was developing in the recent days using Gemini API key. I was building a tool and that tool used to take four resumes per time. My manager wanted it to take as many as resumes that we want, but due to some of the restrictions of Gemini API key, it was not able to take it. I made her understood that it is not possible to add more than four resumes at a time in that application, but it turned up into a discussion where she was being a bit harsh to me, but then we found a way by discussing that issue and she handed over this task to someone else and told me to help him throughout the process and I did that and now the application works smoothly and after that our relationship has been bonded more as we know each other more than we used to have and this argument turned up into a good bond to be started with as it was my internship and I recently started working. After that, she hasn't told me anything harsh.

    Band 6-7

    Yeah, there is a time when I disagree with one of my close friends. We were preparing a presentation for our college and me and my friend were in the same group. His name is Rupit. He was preparing. We were preparing a slide for economic establishment and inflation rate in India. And we were disagreeing on the particular part of the presentation where we have to show stats. I was saying that we should show stats instead of pictures. He said the picture is more attractive and people should love it. Like the teacher will give extra marks for that. But I said we have to do that ourselves and we have to take out all the information. We just don't download the pictures and put it on our presentation. It will get rejected by our coordinator. But he said we don't have to copy paste from Google and we should prepare by ourselves. And we were having an argument over it and we think that this is never going to resolve. But after 2 hours we were thinking about that and we added two more slides. One is preparing. One is showcase the picture and another was showcase the real stats. And we were both agreeing on that we should say give information to the class on a particular topic. Like he would prefer to give presentation on the picture and I would prefer to give presentation on the stats. And we had an argument and after that we gave the presentation. Our teacher really loved it. He also gave us the compliment that we have shared two different types of stats. Like while showcase the picture and as well as the stats.
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