arrow back icon Top Answers

Describe a letter you have received in your life.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who sent to you you & when?
  • What was it about?
  • How did you feel about it?
Show all 33 answers

Cue 1:Who sent it to you & when?

  • Begin by mentioning the sender of the letter and your relationship with them.
  • Include the date or occasion when you received the letter to provide context.

Example

The letter was sent to me by my grandmother on my birthday last year. She always writes to me on special occasions, and I cherish her words.

Cue 2:What was it about?

  • Summarize the main content of the letter, focusing on key themes or messages.
  • Mention any specific anecdotes or personal touches that made the letter memorable.

Example

In the letter, my grandmother shared her fond memories of my childhood and expressed her pride in my achievements. She also included some family recipes that have been passed down through generations.

Cue 3:How did you feel about it?

  • Describe your emotional response to receiving the letter.
  • Reflect on the significance of the letter and how it impacted your feelings towards the sender.

Example

Receiving the letter made me feel incredibly loved and appreciated. It reminded me of the strong bond I share with my grandmother and filled me with nostalgia for my childhood days.

Conclusion

  • Summarize the overall impact the letter had on you.
  • Mention how such letters contribute to maintaining relationships.

Example

In conclusion, this letter not only strengthened my connection with my grandmother but also reminded me of the importance of family ties. It’s a treasure I will keep forever.

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 Responses

Providing vague answers can make your response less engaging and informative. It's important to include specific details to paint a clearer picture for the examiner.

bulb icon

Tip

Use descriptive language and include specific examples or anecdotes related to the letter to enhance your response.

2: Ignoring Emotional Impact

Failing to express your feelings about the letter can make your answer seem flat. Emotions add depth and connection to your story.

bulb icon

Tip

Reflect on how the letter made you feel and share those emotions to create a more compelling narrative.

Rushing Through the Cues

Skipping over the cue prompts can lead to an incomplete answer. Each cue is designed to guide your response and ensure you cover all aspects.

bulb icon

Tip

Take your time to address each cue systematically, ensuring you provide a well-rounded answer that fully responds to the prompts.

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

A letter I received in my life. In Saudi Arabia we had an Arabic institution called as Al-Wafi which was one of the most prestigious institutions in Saudi Arabia for learning Arabic. So they have a couple of tests and rounds which we have to clear to get selected for them. When we get selected we receive an acceptance letter from them directly to our house. So it was one of my biggest dreams to join Al-Wafi. After weeks of preparation I finally attended the exam. Two weeks later I get the acceptance letter from Al-Wafi board and that was one of the best days of my life as it was my dream to get into the institution. The letter was about how I performed in the exam, what I could have done differently and improved on to get better marks. Nonetheless they thought my performance was good and it also mentioned that the course will start after three months. The feeling I got after the reading that I got acceptance was one of the best feelings because it was my dream to get into that institution. The institution has a lot of competition to enter into it so I worked hard a lot and reading the letter made me feel good about myself and I achieved something great after a lot of hard work.

Band 6-7

The important letter that I have received is from my grandfather. He is not aware of present modern technology where we can send letter through phones and computer. So he usually sends letter. He feels like communicating in letter is same as speaking with the person you wanted. The letter is so special because it was his last letter which he posted before his death. In that letter he mentioned the things that men should follow to become successful in the life. So whenever I feel low or get tensed in my life, I usually read that letter to boost my mind and get relief from the stress. I have kept that letter in my desk as a memory of my grandfather. So that's it.

Band 6-7

The only letter I have received in my whole life is a love letter from a boy from my college. When I am going through undergraduation program at my college, a boy wrote a letter instead of confronting me. And that letter consists of what he liked about me and why he loved me. He described me in a very dreamy way and which is very adorable. And he also mentioned every small moment we had and the small things I used to do, the jokes I used to crack. Every memory of us was prescribed in it, written in it. I like it very much. I have kept the letter with me till now. That letter also is very special to me. Every time I see that, I feel myself special. I used to think about, I used to smile while I am reading that letter.

Band 6-7

As far as I can recollect, I have received a letter in the year 2013, which was an allotment letter. Now, the allotment letter is a letter which you get when you successfully pass an exam. In this case, I get the NEET-PG exam and so I got the allotment letter in the year 2013. It was sent by the NBE or the National Board of Education. It contained a very good news about my qualification and allotment to a certain medical college as I had cracked the exam with appropriate marks to qualify. So, it contained my name, my candidate number and details of the college. It also mentioned the time that I had in my hand in order to go and enroll in the college and the necessary documents that I had to take while enrollment. The letter itself brought a feeling of joy in my heart and I instantly called my mother, breaking the good news that I had successfully qualified and got an allotment to a college. Though the college was not the college that I wanted to get enrolled in, but nevertheless, you know it's a highly competitive exam and when you crack it and the allotment letter comes to you, it's an achievement in itself. So, till now I have preserved the letter with me. Yes, obviously the photocopy because the original has already been taken during my enrollment process. And now, I am here studying in that college.

Band 6-7

I still remember the day when I received a letter from my friend who shifted to the new city for admission in Bachelor of Education in the year 1994. She informed me through letter that she procured an admission in the well-known college of that city. It has best facility and one of the renowned college of the state. At that time, I still remember that I felt very proud of her because it was not easy to get admission in that well-known college. Also felt sad because I will not have easier access to her and cannot meet her frequently as I used to do as a child.

Band 6-7

sending or receiving letter is a part of or part of past right now some people consider it an old time thing and if I have to pick a one situation when I found when someone gave me gave me the letter then I would pick last year when I received a letter on my birthday actually the letter was sent by my own brother during my birthday as he is working in a different region of the Indian continent so he don't usually communicate with me daily it has been almost a week since I have received any information about him so it was a really surprise for me when he sent me a letter because he can talk to me about everything but he sent me a letter by congratulating me on my birthday he sent some money for me as well to celebrate my birthday with my family and he also appreciated me for being an honest and good brother with him he also motivated me in this letter in about upcoming exam that I was going to appear in. Actually I had an exam exam in September it was a CCNA exam that I have to prepare so he sent me back regarding the exam he told me about many things

Band 6-7

I received a letter from my boyfriend back when we were dating I was in my final year and we were doing this long-distance relationship thing and we decided to take a break then suddenly out of nowhere I get a letter and when I open the letter it was from my boyfriend who has been missing me very much he writes down about all the incidents that we have encountered since the day we met all those meetings all those dates he manages to write down every romantic detail that he could remember and he expressed his feelings the turmoil that he has been going through due to this break that we've been a part of and he managed to express his commitment towards me and he sort of proposed to me and that made me feel very much loved and I was very much overwhelmed I was on cloud nine when I read that letter and I still have that letter with me and I read it from time to time whenever I feel low whenever I feel like I can't do this anymore I just go back to reading that letter which instantly gives me a sense of strength to go on

Band 6-7

The letter I got recently is from my nephew who is currently staying far away in a residential school and the only mode of communication is through letters. I got it two weeks before and he wrote about how he's been doing and what are the activities he's been engaging in in school and about the food he ate and the lab he went and how the people he's with and about his friend, who are his friends and how good the environment is. I think it's a very good habit that he started writing letters because he's a person who is more of a technical communication person and I felt very good that he started writing. And even though I haven't wrote a letter almost ever since, it felt pretty much nostalgic.

Band 6-7

A letter I have received in my life. My mother had sent a letter to me when I was 8 years old. This was during the time when I had stayed with my grandparents and my mother had to leave the home due to some financial problem which had led her and her husband to leave my house. She had written this letter to keep me updated about her whereabouts and also to let me know that she will not come home anytime soon. This letter had a variety of things included. Basically it had information about her current whereabouts, where she was, what she was doing and how she was doing. She also had written more about where to find her and what to do once I grow old. It also had a message for my grandparents which was to make sure that I personally don't go in search of her. This experience had made my life entirely sad and difficult. During growing up I did not have a mother or a father to lean on or to grow up with. I had the support of my grandparents who showed me how to make life beautiful and there is something called a slice of life. This letter made me feel very sad and I felt as an 8 year old I was unwanted and not needed in the family.

Band 6-7

I'd like to describe a time when my friend sent me a letter. It was my close friend, Tanushree. We have known each other since 10 years and she sent me that letter on the day we marked our 10 year anniversary. Well, it's not exactly called an anniversary for our friendship, right? She sent me a very detailed letter on how we have spent the last 10 years. All the small details starting from our school time till how we have achieved so far in our lives that we have secured jobs and we are working now. She also mentioned about the time when we were so childish that we used to play around all day and we used to just laugh and sit around all day. But now she highlights the fact that how matured we have become, how we are handling our own lives. I felt really emotional and also a little bit surprised that it had been 10 years since I have known her. I felt really happy and I texted her back thanking her to make me realize how far we have come along and how far we have still yet to go.
1 2 3 4
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