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Describe a historical building you have been to: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Where it is?
  • What it looks like?
  • What it is used for now?
  • What you learned there?
  • And how you felt about this historical building.
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30 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 30 answers

Cue 1:Where it is?

  • Begin by mentioning the city and specific location of the building.
  • Include any notable landmarks or features nearby to give context.

Example

The historical building I visited is the Red Fort, located in the heart of Delhi. It's situated near Chandni Chowk, a bustling market area known for its vibrant culture and street food.

Cue 2:What it looks like?

  • Describe the architectural style and materials used in the building.
  • Mention any distinctive features that make the building unique.

Example

The Red Fort is an impressive example of Mughal architecture, with its massive red sandstone walls and intricate carvings. The main entrance, called the Lahore Gate, is adorned with beautiful floral patterns and gives a glimpse of the grandeur inside.

Cue 3:What it is used for now?

  • Explain the current function of the building, such as a museum or tourist attraction.
  • Mention any events or activities that take place there.

Example

Today, the Red Fort serves as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular tourist destination. It hosts various cultural events and exhibitions, especially during national holidays like Independence Day.

Cue 4:What you learned there?

  • Share any historical facts or insights you gained during your visit.
  • Reflect on how this knowledge impacted your understanding of history.

Example

During my visit, I learned about the rich history of the Mughal Empire and the significance of the fort in India's struggle for independence. It was fascinating to see how the fort has witnessed many important events in Indian history.

Cue 5:And how you felt about this historical building?

  • Express your emotions and thoughts about the building and its history.
  • Mention any personal connections or reflections you had while visiting.

Example

I felt a deep sense of pride and nostalgia while exploring the Red Fort. Standing in such a historic place made me appreciate my country's heritage and the sacrifices made for our freedom.

Conclusion

  • Summarize your overall experience and feelings about the historical building.
  • Mention the importance of preserving such sites for future generations.

Example

In conclusion, visiting the Red Fort was a memorable experience that deepened my appreciation for India's history. It is vital to preserve such historical buildings so that future generations can learn from and cherish our rich cultural heritage.

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 less engaging and informative. Candidates often fail to provide specific details about the building, which can lead to a lack of clarity.

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Tip

Use descriptive adjectives and specific details to paint a clear picture of the building. Mention colors, shapes, and unique features.

2: Ignoring the Cues

Not addressing all the cues can result in an incomplete answer. Candidates may focus too much on one aspect and neglect others, which can affect their score.

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Tip

Structure your response by addressing each cue in order. This ensures a comprehensive answer and helps you stay organized.

Lack of Personal Reflection

Failing to share personal feelings or insights can make your response less engaging. Candidates often miss the opportunity to connect their experiences with the historical significance of the building.

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Tip

Include your emotions and thoughts about the building. Explain what it meant to you and how it impacted your understanding of history.

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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.
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Anonymous student Band 6.5

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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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Reported by

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

I would like to talk about one of the most beautiful buildings that has ever been created in the history of mankind. Last year, in winters, I visited the northern state of India called Yubi. In one of the cities called Agra, sits the most famous building and it's one of the seven wonders of the world, Taj Mahal. Taj Mahal is a pristine white colour building that is made out of marbles by carving them, creating special pieces of art and design all over the building. It has a massive tomb on the top and there's a squarish building below it. Taj Mahal also has four pillars that surround the squarish building and everything put down together gives it an amazing look. When you enter the premises of Taj Mahal, you feel awestruck because of the way it looks. It's surprisingly magnetic to the eyes. It literally pulls you towards it and you can't help but notice the building itself. Your vision just eliminates everything around it.

Band 6-7

I have been to Konark Sun Temple, it is situated in Odisha, India, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is actually a tourist place, Konark Temple is an epitome of beauty, the whole structure is carved out of a kondolite stone, it is also known as Black Pagoda, during earlier times Konark Sun Temple was used by seafarers for navigation to identify the direction, Konark Temple is also known for its 12 carved wheels, which is used to measure time, one wheel has 12 spokes, every 2 spokes count for, wheel has actually 8 spokes and every in between 2 spokes, 3 hours of time measures, which calculates to 24 hours, we can, the sun rays fall on the wheel and at the point where the rays fall, we can calculate the exact time during the day, I have been there via train from Bihar to Odisha, it took me around 18 hours, it is actually a historical building restored by Britishers and one of the part has collapsed, the Jagmohan and the Pirhadevul is still intact, which is in a form of a stool.

Band 6-7

The historical building that I've been to, I would say it's Kalakshetra in my hometown, Assam. So Kalakshetra, it's not exactly a building, but it's rather a museum sort of thing. It's like a museum park sort of thing where people go for its cultural relevance. It has a big amphitheater where lots of plays are held, plays and acts are held. Yeah, I love going to, I've been to that place, it's been some time since I've been to that place. Last time I went was when I was still in school, middle school. So since then, I think there has been a lot of changes in its structure, but it is really important for its cultural relevance of course and it's definitely a tourist attraction spot. It's definitely a tourist attraction spot and that's all.

Band 6-7

Recently I visited Ratangarh fort which is located near Pune with my friend Ravi. We are like two peas in a pod and we get this type of chance once in a blue moon to go out for a trip. Though it is situated around 10-15 km and has most exposure to the nature, we used to click so many photos of each other and beautiful sceneries and environment. In Ratangarh fort there are various pieces of art such as sword, armour, cloth and so on. However, my most favourite artefact was sword which was about 30 kg. Normal people can't lift it which described the physical capability of Maharana Pratap and his intelligence and physical ability were far more beyond the human. After completing our trek we reached a bus station which was located just beside Ratangarh fort. Usually bus which was going to Surat departed at 8 pm. However, there was no sign of bus regarding the departure time. So, we have waited almost 2 hours at night. The main attraction site of the Ratangarh fort is its waterfall, temples and roadside stalls. While describing waterfall, there are numerous amount of waterfall which are located near the Ratangarh fort. Every waterfall has its own unique origin story. Several of the waterfall have the story back from the ancient India such as Mahabharata and Ramayana. And secondly, the beautiful temples which were crafted from the stone and there were several artefacts which were used to describe the temples and the rich history of that temple. Last but not the least, there were roadside cafe was so fabulous that we were feel energetic and well refreshed while drinking the beverages and the food of that stalls.

Band 6-7

So one historical building that I have been to when I was a child is Taj Mahal. It is situated in Agra and it's a symbol of love. So when I visited it with my parents, there was a lot of crowd, lot of congestion. But when we went inside the gate, it felt like a beautiful mastery piece that was standing there. You can just admire it by watching it completely like whole 10 hours, 15 hours or whole day you can just watch it and relax. The things that I learnt from Taj Mahal is dedication, love. Dedication because the piece itself requires a lot of dedication when you see the sculpture and everything. The artists who have been working so hard to build it and even in that era where there were no mechanical advancements, you can just see the beauty of that piece. There is no single error in that magnification building. Also for the love part, I can say that if somebody can build this monument for their love, then I don't know how much they loved the other person but truly it is admirable. Thank you.

Band 6-7

Last January we accidentally went to Hampi which is in the border of Karnataka and Goa. It was one of the oldest monuments in our country. It was constructed during the time of Cholas. We have several temples there. Also the sun chariot which is present in the Hampi temple was in our 50 rupees note. The building, several parts of the...

Band 6-7

In India, we have so many historical buildings in these days because India is really famous for their own architectures and traditional things. So I would like to one step well, which is really famous in all over the world because the step wells were also generated by India firstly. So the step well's name is Adalajni well, which is located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. I remember this thing, I went to, I visited the step wells and I experienced so many things like I saw the well and the infrastructure and the step, it was unpredictable, the beauty around the wells, it is really good. I think in that time, the step wells are created for preserving the water, for pure water. It was really helpful for villages and for everyone in that time and also in these days, they represent our cultures and infrastructures and sculptures, also preserve the pure water and I really felt great.

Band 6-7

I like to talk about Meenakshi Amman temple which is located in the city of Madurai under the states of Tamil Nadu. This temple stands a unique identity and a famous tourism spots till now. This temple has been used as a monument as well as temple. Despite being a national treasure, it has several unique areas including thousand storey pillars, anti-crafts scripted along the walls and much more. Apart from its ancient and old unique sculptures, it describes the sculpturing as well as the architectural skills of ancient Chola empire. It stands a unique point for indicating the interest of King Raja Raja Chola in building a identity for Sri Meenakshi who is a ruling queen on several decades before. Apart from this, Raja Raja Chola has depicted the ancient stories in the walls of the temple. Summarizing, this building stands as an important and as well as an ancient monument for Tamil Nadu till now.

Band 6-7

I have been to plenty of historical places in my life. I have been to many forts and many museums which are quite historical. But there's this one place that is extremely close to my heart and it's the temple of Mahadev, Lord Shiva. It's called the Somnath temple and it's just 40 km from my house, from the city of Raipur. The temple is around 1000 years old and it's constructed enhancing and embracing the culture of Sanatan Dharma. It is constructed in an extremely ancient architectural design. The main emphasis of temple is on the Shivling which according to legend actually grows a centimeter year by year. The temple also has various statues which are actually designed showcasing different gods and goddesses in the Sanatan Dharma culture. There are also plenty of monkeys around the temple which are fun to interact or engage with. The temple also has a humongous garden where one can just sit in and have a picnic over there. There are also plenty of shops there which sell a lot of traditional goods such as lockets or rings. They also sell a lot of statues and lots of regional and basically spiritual goods such as agarbattis which are also called incenses. So there are lots of things.

Band 6-7

So, the place where I went to is the historical village situated in Kerala, Tripunithara. It is called Hell Palace and it is looked like a huge heritage with lots of room, with lots and in there, there is so many ancient things like gold, the card they have used in all the times, the plate, the glasses, the statues of leaders, princes, clothes they have used and everything. Now, the huge heritage is used as a museum, as a collection of memories of the old time. So, when we visit the palace, we have to pay fees for entry and we have to pay extra fees for taking cameras and mobile phone inside there because it is illegal to take the things inside there. There are so many statues of ancient peoples and their dresses, their books and they are also playing videos of the ancient historical things that have been and I have learnt so many things from there, especially the history of the palace, how the palace is built, the people, the members of the palace and how they interact to others and how people are connected to each other and their memorable things are kept as a showcase there. I really admire the way they just keep the things good.
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