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Describe a goal you set that you tried your best to achieve: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What Is the Goal?
  • When did You First Begin to Have This Goal?
  • How You Would Achieve the First Step of Your Goal?
  • How Easy or Difficult Do You Think It Will Be to Reach This Goal?
Show all 100 answers

Cue 1:What Is the Goal?

  • Clearly state the goal you set for yourself, making it specific and personal.
  • Explain why this goal was important to you and what motivated you to pursue it.

Example

The goal I set was to improve my English speaking skills, particularly to achieve a band score of 7.5 in the IELTS speaking test. This goal was important to me because I wanted to pursue higher studies abroad, and a good score in IELTS was a requirement for my university applications.

Cue 2:When did You First Begin to Have This Goal?

  • Mention when you first realized you wanted to achieve this goal.
  • Share any experiences or events that influenced your decision to set this goal.

Example

I first began to have this goal during my final year of college when I attended a seminar about studying abroad. Listening to the experiences of students who had successfully gone through the process inspired me to improve my English and aim for a higher score in IELTS.

Cue 3:How You Would Achieve the First Step of Your Goal?

  • Describe the initial steps you took to start working towards your goal.
  • Include any resources or strategies you used to help you get started.

Example

To achieve the first step of my goal, I enrolled in an IELTS preparation course. I also started practicing speaking with friends who were fluent in English. Additionally, I began watching English movies and listening to podcasts to improve my vocabulary and pronunciation.

Cue 4:How Easy or Difficult Do You Think It Will Be to Reach This Goal?

  • Reflect on the challenges you anticipate facing while pursuing this goal.
  • Discuss your mindset about overcoming these challenges and staying motivated.

Example

I think reaching this goal will be quite challenging, especially since I need to practice consistently and manage my time effectively. However, I believe that with dedication and the right resources, I can overcome these difficulties. I stay motivated by reminding myself of the opportunities that a good IELTS score will open up for me.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, setting the goal to improve my English speaking skills for the IELTS test has been a significant step in my academic journey. I am committed to working hard and believe that with perseverance, I will achieve my desired score and fulfill my dream of studying abroad.

    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 Goal Description

    Avoid being unclear about your goal. A vague description can confuse the examiner and make your answer less engaging.

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    Tip

    Clearly define your goal with specific details. Explain what it is and why it matters to you.

    2: Neglecting Timeline

    Not mentioning when you started working towards your goal can make your response seem incomplete. It lacks context.

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    Tip

    Include a timeline in your answer. State when you first set the goal and any important milestones.

    Ignoring Challenges

    Failing to discuss the difficulties you faced can make your answer sound unrealistic. It’s important to show the effort involved.

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    Tip

    Talk about the challenges you encountered and how you plan to overcome them. This adds depth to your response.

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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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    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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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    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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    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

    Growing up, I've always wanted to make my parents proud. That has been the main goal forever. But inside that goal, it contains a list of other tasks that I need to complete in order to reach the ultimate goal, which is to make them proud. So every time I do something, I think about the overall journey. If I do this, how proud will my parents feel about it? Would this be helpful in making them proud and helping them reach what they wish their life was, having a child who is successful in life? So I want to buy them a house whenever I earn my first salary. So to earn my first salary, the first step has to be that I have to study well and get great marks in whatever I am doing. And in order to do that, I have to study and work hard. Although it's a bit difficult to always stay connected with my books or always like just keep reading. But now that I am about 20 years old, I know that I can do this because I've just been imbibed. I love being around books. So now that first step has been achieved, that I've gotten good marks. Now I have to make sure that my parents can get whatever they want by earning as much as I can. In the end of the day, they'll always be proud of me no matter what. At the end of the day, they'll always be proud of me no matter what. But I want to achieve something in life that not just makes them proud, but the country proud as well.

    Band 7

    One significant step I took towards my personal development was joining a public speak course. I enrolled in it about 6 months ago during my summer vacation. It was offered by the local training center and the course lasts for the 8 weeks. The reason I decided to take this step was that I used to be extremely shy and nervous while speaking in front of others, especially in English. I knew that effective communication is an essential skill for both academic and professional success. So, instead of avoiding presentation and group discussion, I chose to work on this weakness. The course includes various activities such as impute speeches, group debates, and one-on-one feedback session. At first, I felt awkward and unsure about myself, but gradually I gained confidence and began to enjoy the process. The trainer was very supportive and gave personal tips to improve body language, voice modulation, and vocab. This experience helped me grow in many ways. Not only did I become more confident in public speaking, but I also developed better listening skills, critical thinking, and self-awareness. Now, I can express my thoughts clearly and handle pressure during interviews or discussions. Overall, it was a turning point in my personal development and I am really proud that I took that initiative.

    Band 7

    Nothing is impossible to achieve. If you put all your dedication, determination and courage into doing something, everything will be at your footsteps. As a person who belongs to medical background, I was keenly interested into becoming a doctor. So in my class 11th and 12th, I chose physics, chemistry and biology as my major subjects. During my 12th standard CBSE board examination, I decided to buckle up my shoes and get ready for the NEET examination, which is the National Eligibility Come Entrance exam. It is held in the month of May and it is very important for the medical field. So I put down all my strength into preparing for the exam. For past one year, I had lived away from my parents and I wanted to give my 100% into this exam. I was also guided by my teachers and friends who helped me a lot through my journey. But I feel this journey has always been a rollercoaster, there are so many moments when you feel you are not enough for it, but you have to gather strength and muster confidence in yourself. So recently I cleared my NEET examination with an All India rank of 16,228 and now I am just looking forward for the counselling to begin so that I get a go in medical college. And I am in high hopes into accomplishing my dream, becoming a doctor, serving lives and helping people get out of their problems. I feel I tackled my problem with courage and now it's my turn to help people recover.

    Band 7

    The goal that I set to achieve was to become a model and fortunately I successfully achieved that. I was around 12 years old when I decided to become a model and my mother motivated me a lot in this journey to become a model and I love to do hard work. I was like I can do anything to become a model. I was very determined and it was not very easy because there are so many competitors there which are also doing hard work. So you have a tough competition.

    Band 7

    In life, making a decision can be a daunting task because a good one can change your life while a bad one can have negative consequences. Today I would like to talk about my goal which motivated me to achieve success. The goal was to achieve 7 bands in speaking. Actually I want to go abroad and my requirement was 777 and 6.5 in writing. I was able to score more than 7 in all other modules except speaking. I felt devastated when I gave my exam for 3 times and didn't score my required bands. I felt down in the dumps. In order to improve my speaking, I installed various apps on my mobile phone so that I became more fluent with practice. I also listened to various podcasts and practiced in front of a mirror for about an hour. Eventually with a lot of practice and dedication, I improved and in my next attempt, I achieved my required band score and I was over the moon when I got my result because that represented my dedication and determination. I felt a sense of accomplishment. So this was the goal which was extremely important in my life and eventually I achieved it and I was very happy and this was the time when I learned that with constant effort, you can achieve a lot of success.

    Band 7

    I've always been very passionate for my dreams and goals. And one of the major goal that I had in my mind was I wanted to do maths honours that too from Hansraj College. Hansraj College is among the best colleges across India. So I had this in my mind since I was in class 10th. I decided in class 10 that this is my aim to be graduated in mathematics. And for that I had a very prudent approach. I made a timetable according to which I performed every day. I did a lot of hard work and finally I thrived to my target. I was very happy and I was in cloud 9 when I scored well as per the cut off list of that college and my dream came true. In this journey of making my dream true, my parents helped me thoroughly. They motivated and pushed me a lot to achieve my target. So it was the hard work and the love and guidance of my parents and teachers that I was able to attain this goal. I remember the day when my result of class 12th came and it was an unforgettable day. The memories that I cherish, the moments that I lived was ravishing. It is very important to have some goals in your life to be successful because I believe there has to be something that can push you to your limits and you can bridge the gap in between your improvement areas. So finally I got the admission and because of that dream.

    Band 7

    A goal I set for myself was to improve my painting skills. I started thinking about this goal a few months ago when I realized how therapeutic and creative it made me feel. The first step I took was to enroll in local art class and practice drawing different subjects like landscape and portraits. I also started watching YouTube tutorials and online courses to learn new techniques. I think it will be a challenging goal to reach as it required patience, practice and dedication. However, I am motivated by the perspective of creating something beautiful and expressing myself through art. I am excited to see my progress and explore different styles.

    Band 6-7

    Well, one goal that I have tried my level best from childhood till now is public speaking. I always wondered how people did that fantastic job without any fear in their eyes, at ease. So I practiced the same and I tried each and every chance that I got in school or in college, even in the professional arenas or in the public. So I try to keep my eye contact well and I try to keep my body language. So I think that gives me confidence today. This much practice what I have tried in the past years have given me a lot of lessons.

    Band 6-7

    So, my current goal is to speak fluent English with the best vocabulary. I started it ever since my childhood but was not able to achieve on the first step of fluency. But then gradually, I started reading books, started watching movies and videos of native English speakers, getting my mind instructions to have fluency and continue a conversation and then I opted for a one-to-one English tutor who taught me how to speak continuously without getting stopped or stuck somewhere or not getting off words. And then I think that I am very close to have my goal achieved in a very few days on this app studying and I think it is not a big task, everything can be achieved if you have confidence. For me, speaking is not a big goal, it's a small short-term goal and it's not as hard as I think previously. It's easy. It only requires time and some practice so you can have a better English.

    Band 6-7

    So, basically I have set a goal in my 12th standard and I really tried very hard to achieve that goal. The goal was to score 60% in my 12th standard because I was lacking in my preparation and I was not much prepared for the same before sitting for the examination. And I made this commitment to achieve that in before 4, like before the exam around 4 to 5 months ago because at that time I was working somewhere and I was running short of time. And I have created a chart basically about the daily because there were 5 subjects in my 12th and each subject I made a mind that I will be given one and a half hour every day to cover that in very shortest time. So, out of all of 5 I was able to score 60% and it was a bit difficult but my 10th exam has helped me to prepare because in my 10th also I set the same goal. But for the 12th the subject and course was a bit difficult in comparison to my 10th so I had to face a lot of difficulty but somehow I made it. And after making that I felt really proud of myself because in the very shortest time I was able to make what I have set in my 4 to 5 month scenario basically. So, I really felt very proud of myself after achieving 60% in my 12th standard.
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