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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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    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

    Every person should set their goal to achieve their career. In my case, I would like to tell about which is the best to achieve my goal. That was SAT exam that is State Eligibility Test to teach the higher secondary students in Kerala. So after my post graduation, I prepared for that exam. It was it wasn't quite easy because of the wide syllabus, it included the physical chemistry organic and inorganic and then the psychology and pedagogy and all these general knowledge topics. Firstly, I prepared the notes into small, small stick notes and mounted on my wall of my room and then I whenever I struck on this wall, I reminds it the topic and then I prepared a timetable for that exam. After that, I after that I attended many mock exams for the the feedbacks are very important. Moreover, it is very easy to reach because we approached these steps like say plan, prepare and then.

    Band 6-7

    अपि तेल से नहीं बोल रही I want to clear GATE 2026 I started preparing for this last year and after that I am preparing right now I will appear for the exam in 2026 I appeared last time in 2025 but I didn't clear it so I will appear next year and I am preparing for it right now I am in my college final year I have my semester exams also then also I will try to keep it up and after I have still remaining many subjects to complete I haven't watched all the lectures of all subjects of my coaching I am still having many backlogs I need to get a perfect schedule and a routine to complete my backlog and cover all the subjects which are remaining I need to do MCQ practice and concept clarity I need to complete my PYQ book which is whole remaining I have a lot to do but still I am not doing I will be doing all the subjects and completing all my syllabus by December this year and well after that start my test series in Jan and I will be doing test series of each subject after one subject completion this is what all I will do

    Band 6-7

    A goal that I try to achieve best in my life is to become a successful and a good person and an astrophysicist. I believe that I am preparing very hard for all universities work and completing all my tasks on time so that I'm able to get into a good university and then I'm able to become an astrophysicist. Now I wish to do that because I believe by doing that I'm able to do a lot of research, gain a lot of knowledge and insights about things that I don't even know and better discover the universe and even I'm also able to serve my community that allows me to provide the community whether it's of scientists or of people or my country. I'm able to serve everyone with a good knowledge and immense techniques that is very useful in today's world as we are going towards

    Band 6-7

    My dream goal is pursuing my PhD in the IIT Bombay. It became my goal after the completion of my PhD. I believe that IIT will produce a top quality education in India. Since so, I am really interested to do my PhD in the IIT, mainly in IIT Bombay. So, in order to achieve this PhD program in IIT Bombay, I wrote an entrance exam and then I qualified for the exam. I attended an interview in the department of biotechnology and bioengineering. They were really interested in taking me as a PhD scholar. I really loved the IIT Bombay campus. It is equipped with full advanced infrastructure facilities. I prepared very hard to get my goal achieved. There are lot of people who supported me to achieve this goal, including my father. The main reason behind achieving my goal is my professor Dr. ESV Narayan Rasa. Finally, I achieved my goal in the year of 2025.

    Band 6-7

    Everyone has some or the other goals in their life and for me one of the biggest goal that I have achieved is to become a doctor. And from my childhood when I was a student in elementary classes, people used to ask me what is your goal in your life, whom you want to become when you grow up, what you want to become in your future etc. At that time I never bothered to think about my future or whom I want to be in my future. But eventually when age of the classes or age of the years passed by, I had to take one or the other decision to become a doctor, an engineer, a professor etc. So when I was in my 10th standard, after completing my 10th standard, I had to pick the spring to study again in my 11th and 12th to take science or mathematics or computer. At that time for the first time in my life I had to make a decision where it is going to reflect on my future. So at that time I prayed a lot, I asked opinions of my parents, my friends etc. and took biology to become a doctor. And it was my goal to become a doctor. For that I studied so hard.

    Band 6-7

    I strongly believe in continuous personal development. Over the past year, I have focused on strengthening my time management, emotional intelligence, and communication skills. I regularly take online courses to build both technical and soft skills and maintain a growth mindset through reading and goal-setting routines. This personal discipline helps me adapt quickly and remain committed to my long-term goals in both academic and professional life. Outside of academics and work, I enjoy exploring the world of artificial intelligence through open-source projects and online competitions. I also like solving coding problems, learning about tech trends, and learning languages like German to expand my global communication skills. In my free time, I stay active through cycling and enjoy occasional creative projects like digital photography and writing.

    Band 6-7

    I set a goal to study the research engineering which is different from the coursework engineering in Australia's top university in the year 2027. I am very much interested and had and have an innate curiosity to pursue this field. It interests me, the field is called electronics and communication specifically the embedded system. It has to do a lot with data processing and I have decided steps that I will take to achieve that goal. It includes but are not limited to creating the best possible resume and a cover letter by the end of next year and I have exactly 16 months for that. Till then I am devoting a dedicated slot every day in addition to my extracurricular activities which will remain constant. I have decided to do this as it will be a positive addition to my career which is an engineer master degree and I will be able to make a change in the digital signal processing group as well as make money and have a high honor degree in my basket.

    Band 6-7

    My goal is to travel the entire countries. First of all, it was my dream to go to Canada and study there and settle. Unfortunately, I was not passed in my 12th exam, so I have to study in India for the three-year course in BBA. But after graduating from my bachelor's degree, now I am eligible for going to Canada. It is my dream to travel to foreign countries. The difficulties are such long as I was not able to score six bands and aisles in all the modules. So, it is my hard work that will bring and the belief in God that I can do it. I believe in hard work rather than karma or any luck. But I think my hard work will pay me off back and I will definitely achieve my goals and study and settle in Canada.

    Band 6-7

    I have many goals in my mind right now but that one I could think of when you ask for a most important goal is getting into PES University which is situated in Bangalore, Karnataka. So getting into that college is moderately difficult. I had this idea of getting into that university started when I was in 12th. So the JEE means exam has just ended and I was looking for the colleges which are better suitable for me. Then I went through their website and that told me that this university was best fit for me. So I set up my goal to secure a seat in PES University no matter what. And I searched up Google and I reached out few of my friends to know the process to apply for that university. In order to secure a seat in that university, I need to appear for an exam that is PESAT. That exam is not so simple. We need a lot of hard work in order to crack that examination. I did luckily. I finally achieved and I secured a seat in that university. Right now I am studying in that university. This gave me a lot of exposure and a new perspective of my life. Achieving this goal made me realize many things and contributed to build my confidence that I can achieve anything if I work hard. So this is the most important goal and the first goal I have set in my life.

    Band 6-7

    I have always thought of starting a company as my goal. I have just started my company and it is called Liflo Art Design Studios. It has not been easy for me on this journey because ever since I started studying architecture, I always had this in my mind and it has always been challenging for me to start. Because to start a business, to initiate a business, we need networking. And networking was very tedious for me because, mostly because I am an introvert and for me even talking and socializing with people drained all my battery levels. My energy was totally drained even if I had to talk for two minutes with somebody. Going on, I was always wanting to achieve this goal.
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