arrow back icon Top Answers

Describe a gift you would like to buy for your friend: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • How you knew your friend?
  • How long have you known him/her?
  • How would you choose a gift for him/her?
  • And explain why you would choose that gift for him/her.
people images

64 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 64 answers

Cue 1:How you knew your friend?

  • Begin by mentioning how you met your friend, whether it was in school, college, or through mutual friends.
  • Share a brief anecdote that highlights your initial connection or shared interests.

Example

I met my friend Priya in college during our first year. We were both part of the same orientation group and quickly bonded over our love for literature and poetry. I remember how we spent hours discussing our favorite authors and sharing book recommendations.


Cue 2:How long have you known him/her?

  • Clearly state the duration of your friendship, such as how many years or months you have known each other.
  • Mention any significant milestones or experiences you have shared during this time.

Example

I have known Priya for about five years now. Over these years, we have celebrated each other's birthdays, supported one another through exams, and even traveled together during our summer breaks.


Cue 3:How would you choose a gift for him/her?

  • Discuss the thought process you would go through when selecting a gift, considering your friend's interests and preferences.
  • Mention any specific occasions or reasons that might influence your choice.

Example

When choosing a gift for Priya, I would think about her passion for reading. I would consider getting her a special edition of her favorite book or a personalized bookmark. Since her birthday is coming up, I want to make it memorable.


Cue 4:And explain why you would choose that gift for him/her.

  • Explain the significance of the gift and how it reflects your understanding of your friend's personality.
  • Share how you believe the gift will make her feel appreciated and valued.

Example

I would choose a special edition of her favorite book because it shows that I pay attention to her interests. I know how much she cherishes her books, and I believe this gift would make her feel appreciated and loved. It’s not just a gift; it’s a way to celebrate our friendship.


Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, choosing a thoughtful gift for a friend like Priya is a wonderful way to express my appreciation for our friendship. It reflects the bond we share and the memories we have created together over the years.


    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: Avoid Vague Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your answer less engaging and informative. It's important to provide specific details about your friend and the gift to create a clearer picture.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Use descriptive adjectives and specific examples when talking about your friend and the gift to make your answer more vivid.


    2: Neglecting Personal Connection

    Failing to explain your relationship with your friend can weaken your response. The examiner wants to understand the significance of the gift in the context of your friendship.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Share a brief story or memory that highlights your friendship to emphasize why the gift is meaningful.


    Rushing Through the Explanation

    Speaking too quickly can lead to unclear answers and missed points. It's essential to take your time to articulate your thoughts clearly.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Practice pacing your speech by pausing briefly between points to ensure clarity and allow the examiner to follow your ideas.


    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

    So my friend's name is Matla and I met her in a dance class where we used to go as children and I have known her for more than a decade now so I know what she likes and what she dislikes. I have an idea of her taste. So it won't be very difficult for me to choose a gift for her. And I know one thing she does not like or does not have any interest in are clothes. So I definitely wouldn't gift her clothes. I know she is tomboyish so she will like watches and perfumes. But people say that we shouldn't gift perfumes as they are considered as a bad gift and if you gift someone a perfume there is a possibility that you guys might fight. So I cannot take that risk with my best friend. So I would gift her a watch which she likes and I know which kind of watches she wears and furthermore I have seen her wearing a certain type of watches so I would gift her a similar one so that she can also use it.

    Band 6-7

    My friend, Suya, we have been really good friends from our childhood. I believe our friendship extends back to around 18 years ago. I met him in my hometown. He really likes to play games. So, I would like to buy him a PS5, which is a new addition of the Sony's consoles, which is a really powerful console. You can play a large number of games in it. It helps him to relax during the weekends. He is a really professional player and I believe it would help him to get into esports and train a bit more with this advanced equipment. So, I would like to buy him a PS5, which will be a really good gift for him.

    Band 6-7

    A gift that I could buy to my friend is a brand new Rolex watch, to be specific. I knew my friend from my childhood as a friend and a neighbor. We lived here in our neighborhood and played along the days. A gift I would like to buy to my friend would be a brand new Rolex watch, to be specific. He is so crazy on collecting watches as collectibles. I want to buy him a watch that he could see every single moment when he wishes to see the time. Not only that, a watch would purport a good personality in a person. For example, when he goes to a family function, there people would look into his watch. This adds to his personal status. Hence, I would gift him a brand new Rolex watch for any occasion.

    Band 6-7

    A gift I would like to buy for my friend is our terracotta seals from the Harappan civilization. I came across an advertisement on Instagram where an artist was selling these and this instantly caught my attention. I have known my friend for about four years now. He was a former colleague and now a dear friend. He has interests in reading, in art, in history. I was initially thinking of buying some books for him which would be of his topics of interest in history, in geopolitics and politics. And when I came across this advertisement on Instagram, I was instantly intrigued to buy it. I inquired about the prices and although it was slightly costly given that the gift was handmade, I went ahead to order this for my friend. It has the various depictions of the life of the people in the Harappan civilization and it includes some of the patterns which were made in the caves of the Harappan civilization and which were found in the excavation site.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to buy a yoga mat for my friend Apeya. I knew her from my postgraduate days. It's been 5 years since I have known her and she is one of my greatest friends till date. The reason why I want to buy a yoga mat for her is because I know that she is a bit hesitant towards having physical exercises. Yoga is something which would help us to support our physical and mental well-being. Having a yoga mat and learning a set of yoga lessons would ensure that she has a good posture and a balance throughout her entire life. It would also deepen the bonds of friendship which exist between us.

    Band 6-7

    I have a very close friend, in fact he is a childhood friend, we played together and we used to go to school together and we keep the friendship even now and I know he is fond of toys, so whenever I get opportunity to buy a gift and present to him, I choose to buy toys, especially he is very much fond of cars and he used to go for watching car race, even he is very good driver, he learned driving and he enjoyed driving, I used to go with him for picnics and other trips, so as he is fond of toys, during his birthdays and special events, I used to buy toys, different varieties of cars and present to him, whenever he gets such kind of gift, he used to express his happiness and joy in a way that we cannot forget a man who is very much fond of toys, that is what I love him, if we give whatever costly gifts other than the toys or the cars, he may not be able to enjoy, but the gift that I gave, knowing his interest, he keeps it very precious.

    Band 6-7

    The gift I want to buy for my friend is a mobile phone, an Apple iPhone, the latest model. I want to give, actually she is too close to my heart and she is my girlfriend. I just want to gift her an iPhone because she really likes the iPhone as I have one. And she is known to me from last 4 years. We were connected, we met in the starting semester of my bachelor studies and we got connected with each other. And I had the iPhone that time as well. Then I upgraded to another, now I purchased a latest version for me, it's iPhone 15. So I would definitely love to gift her a latest model iPhone because she really likes my phone and she really loves the features of the phone. How the camera works, how the settings and functions work, it's so smooth. And she is the only person that is so connected with my heart. However, I would love to buy some other gifts as well like clothes for her because I love to dress her like I want. And I would love to buy her clothes. Also, in addition to clothes and mobile phone, I would love to gift her some variety of makeup things. Like she is really fond of makeup of like skin care products or hair care products because she is so attentive.

    Band 6-7

    So, I will talk about my friend Sourup. We are very good friends. We have been friends for nearly about 20 years now. We first met in school, in kindergarten and that continued till now. So, we have been friends through college, through school, through college and even after that. I know him very well. I know some of his hobbies and interests. Like he likes playing games, computer games. He likes expensive watches, cars. He is very funny. He can crack a joke that would make the whole room laugh. He is that kind of funny. He could have been a very good stand-up comedian if he was not a bit pushed into the engineering and scientific roles. He is an engineer now to be clear. The gift that I would give him is an Audemars watch because he is a big fan of that ever since he saw that watch on Messi's hand. I mean Lionel Messi's hand and he has been a fan of that watch ever since. That's what I would like to give him. It's a little bit out of concern. It's a little bit of concern that the watch is out of my budget but still I would definitely being a good friend try to get it for him.

    Band 6-7

    Yeah, I have a friend called Rajesh. He's my best friend. We are friends since our graduation. We met each other on the first day of college when we started our graduation. And I know him since last five years. We are quite close friends. We share each other's every problems. We share our things with each other. We used to enjoy our college days together. So he's a good person. He's always helping my ups and downs. And he's always with me when I needed any help. And he's there for me every time. So we have a strong bond connected. And I would like to gift him one thing I know he likes the most. As a professional, we are doctors. So he loves to buy a Littman stethoscope. So I would definitely gift him a Littman stethoscope one day. I might gift him on his birthday and he would love the Littman stethoscope. Because he's going to be a cardiologist and he's preparing for the PG. So the stethoscope will help him to diagnose and auscultate cardiac patients. And it's very best stethoscope for this kind of patients. So I would love to gift him the stethoscope. And I think he will be amazed and surprised by this gift.

    Band 6-7

    So, I would give my friend the automatic watch. I recently received an automatic watch for my completion of the graduation from my father. So, what I learnt from the watch is it runs for a long time like it is equivalent to lifetime. Considering the mechanism, I learnt a lot about the mechanism. I was so much interested in the watch after that. So, to my friend, I want to experience the same. I don't want to, it is a bit expensive compared to the normal watches. Keeping it aside, it teaches us the value of time more than the money which is more precious. So, seeing it, I think he will remember me for a long time. Even if we lose our communication, it will remain with him like a permanent last moment. Anyway, I don't know if he will give me or not, but in my remembrance, he will have it with him. So, this is about the watch thing. So, coming to my friend, we had a really good time for four years in my college. In our college, we used to hang out, we used to study together, we used to get scoldings from our professors. So, these are some cherishable moments we had together. I don't want to lose these memories or forget me like our childhood friends, school friends, when we part ways after a period of time. But, the college friends will stay with us for a longer period of time. So, I want to gift them the automatic watch.
    ielts logo

    Get the IELTS Prep App

    Star rating icon

    4.2

    1M+ Installs

    app download banner image

    Get the app link on your phone

    +91

    Or download app from

    google play storeapp store
    master ielts speaking ad

    Want to know your score on this topic?

    Check your score now