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Describe a journey that didn't go as planned.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was the destination?
  • With whom were you going?
  • What went wrong?
Show all 34 answers

Cue 1:What was the destination?

  • Begin by clearly stating the destination of your journey, making it relatable and specific.
  • Provide some context about why you chose this destination, such as its significance or your expectations.

Example

I was supposed to travel to Manali, a beautiful hill station in Himachal Pradesh, known for its stunning landscapes and pleasant weather. I had been looking forward to this trip for months, as it was my first vacation after a long time.

Cue 2:With whom were you going?

  • Mention the people you were traveling with, highlighting your relationship with them.
  • Share a brief insight into why this group was significant for this journey.

Example

I was going with my college friends, who I hadn't seen in years. We had planned this trip as a reunion to relive our college days and create new memories together.

Cue 3:What went wrong?

  • Describe the specific issues that arose during the journey, ensuring to convey your feelings about the situation.
  • Explain how these problems affected your plans and the overall experience.

Example

Unfortunately, our bus broke down halfway through the journey due to engine failure. We were stranded for hours in the middle of nowhere, and by the time we got a replacement bus, it was too late to reach Manali before nightfall. This unexpected delay turned our excitement into frustration.

Conclusion

  • Summarize the overall impact of the journey on you and your friends.
  • Reflect on any lessons learned or how you adapted to the situation.

Example

Despite the setbacks, we made the best of our time together, sharing stories and laughter while waiting. This experience taught us the importance of patience and adaptability, reminding us that sometimes the journey is more memorable than the destination itself.

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: Lack of Detail in the Journey

Providing vague information about the journey can make your answer less engaging. Specific details help the examiner understand your experience better and keep their interest.

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Tip

Include specific details about the destination, the people you traveled with, and the events that unfolded during the journey.

2: Neglecting Emotional Impact

Failing to express how the journey affected you emotionally can make your answer feel flat. Sharing your feelings adds depth and personal connection to your story.

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Tip

Reflect on your emotions during the journey and share how the unexpected events made you feel, whether it was frustration, disappointment, or humor.

Ignoring the Structure of the Answer

A disorganized response can confuse the listener. It's important to structure your answer clearly to ensure it flows logically and is easy to follow.

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Tip

Use a clear structure: start with the destination, introduce your companions, describe what went wrong, and conclude with your reflections on the experience.

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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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
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Reported by

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.
Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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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

Few years ago, I and my family, we decided to go on a trip to Sikkim. It was a very well planned trip. We reached the destination on time, but unfortunately we couldn't see much places over there. And it was due to the heavy snowfall. And our plan went completely ruined because of the heavy snowfall over there. So we had to change our schedules and plans on our trip, which made us feel so unpleasant about it. Then the place where we stayed, there was no heater. Which made us so angry and hesitant to leave.

Band 6-7

We all were embarking on a so-called cousin's trip. Back to our home from Delhi. Our home is a valley surrounded by tall mountains. It's named Dehradun and is located in Uttarakhand. However, we took another route and instead of ending up at our home, we went all the way to the mountains to a hill station named Masuri. We ended up seeing a beautiful picturesque view filled with tranquillity. The journey was exhilarating and the experience was worth remembering. What went wrong was that we got to inform our parents and they got really scared since we were in a no network zone, it became extremely hard for them to contact us. Although we tried our level best to contact them, we were unable to. Two days later we went back home after having a wonderful trip in the mountains. Our parents had got to know that we were in the mountains beforehand and the journey was worth remembering.

Band 6-7

I would like to talk about a journey that did not go as I planned. It was a trip to Srisailam, generally it was a trip to go to the Srisailam temple and then return to the home but due to some vehicle problems and vehicle got insufficient fuel so the car had stopped in the middle of the way. I planned this with my friends, most of them are of my age. I planned it a day before but due to insufficient funds we have to cancel the trip and we planned it on next week. Moreover when the petrol tank is not sufficiently filled it got stopped in the middle of way so we were unable to reach the temple and we felt very sad about that. Moreover in future we will learn from this mistake and try to avoid it for any travelling plans. In addition to that we also check thoroughly the fuel before starting any journey or trip so that we will never face the problem we faced this time. So that's my opinion.

Band 6-7

Yes, so the journey was to Singapore and it was an international trip for sure. So we started packing our bags and then just hurrying up to the airport and after landing to the airport, I realized that I have forgotten my passport at home. So everyone was like, what did you do Pankaj? What kind of behavior is this? So I was like, you guys were only making me to do things in a hurry and just saying, yeah, do it quickly and yeah, we are running out of time, our flight will miss. Then I suddenly ran home and took a cab, got the passport, locked the door again, checked thrice all the things are organized in my house or not. I was going with my family, so they scolded me very well and God, it was a hectic day and it is really a lifetime experience where you forget your passport and you are going on an international trip with your family, which is just not acceptable.

Band 6-7

In my college days, I, in my third year, I planned a trip to Goa with my college friends. We were six girls and we were going in the semester break, but it did not go as we planned because two of my friends backed out at last moment and we didn't even book the flights on time. Then the four of us, yes, we decided to go, but the flights were too expensive. Then one of the girl backed out saying she has a family emergency and then it was awkward for just three of us to go. So we just canceled the trip and I felt really bad after canceling that trip because it was supposed to be the last trip of our college life and Goa is a part of our college trip.

Band 6-7

It was during one of our family get-together. All the family members wanted to go for some water activities. As we lived near to a coastal area there was a place nearby which offered various activities like speed boating, house board, kayaking etc. So we have never been to that place and we very ardently wanted to try one. So on one fine weekend our family members set out for experiencing these activities. We had made all the required reservations and we were looking forward to a great experience. However an unforeseen situation arose. It started raining all of a sudden. So we had booked for speed boat experience but due to the rain we were sure that we were going to get drenched. There were also elders in our family. However they couldn't get cold. Anyways we proceeded to the destination. During our travel it was raining profoundly. However we thought that since we have booked it already let's go experience it. But to our astonishment when we reached the location the rain had ceased and we could continue like how we have planned. It was an all very well experience.

Band 6-7

Today I am going to talk about a journey that didn't go as planned. So what really happened was that we wanted to travel to China. So we had to take a bus to Hyderabad and from Hyderabad to Delhi we need to catch a flight. From there we need to go to China. So what happened was that we missed the bus to Hyderabad. So we had to take a cab and the cab driver was dragging the time to reach the destination that we planned earlier. So we had to shout at him and then he was just going fast to reach the destination. So

Band 6-7

Three months ago, I went to Shirdi with my friends. It was a sudden planned trip. So, we didn't get the train tickets confirmed. One week ago, we booked our train tickets, but they were not confirmed. So, during the journey, we faced a lot of issues with seating arrangement, with people around the seats. As it was not confirmed, we had to share the seat with somebody else, like some stranger. The coach was very dirty. The washrooms were not clean at all. The water supply was also not good in the train. It was a mess-up feeling. When I try to remember that journey, I get a very unpleasant feeling. Next time, we try to avoid it by booking priorly, by planning a trip in a very sophisticated way. Not only the train journey, but we booked our rooms also very lately. But after going to that hotel, our rooms were occupied with somebody else. So, we try to roam around the streets for that room. We have to arrange four of them in just one single room.

Band 6

So I got one journey in my mind which did not go as planned but it was so beautiful. One day, me and my friends were going on a trip to Hawaii. We boarded the plane and we landed in Hawaii at 12 o'clock in the night. There, we were searching for our Airbnb but we couldn't find it. Soon, a fellow stranger, he came to us, he approached us and stabbed my friend in the eye. My friend got the eye infection and we rushed to the hospital. Moreover, my friend got injured and she could not see well. Her vision was disturbed. We rushed back to the Airbnb and had to take care of our dog. The Hawaii trip was a disaster and we headed back home.

Band 5-6

In this contemporary era, it is an irrefutable fact that growing is being faced and going on in a new way. Planning is a crucial role in everyone's life, so I would like to thank you for giving this interesting new art. I would like to talk about a journey which did not go as planned. We had planned to go to Thailand in this summer, but we weren't able to due to various reasons. We have planned for Thailand to see many things and explore, and it is one of the most favorite destinations for every age person. We have seen many videos in YouTube regarding these cities which are here in Pattaya, Arabi, Thailand, etc. We have consulted a travel consultancy, so he said give me 1.5 lakh and I will book a ticket. We are very happy and excited to go to Thailand. It has not happened that way. The consultant did not book the tickets due to COVID restrictions. We were very sad and angry on the consultant. He did not even show the ticket. This was not planned.
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