Describe a person who has made you feel uncomfortable.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

Who was it?
What did this person do?
How did you tackle the situation?

8 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 8 answers

Cue 1:Who was it?

Introduce the person clearly, mentioning your relationship with them.
Provide context about when and where you encountered this person.

Example

The person who made me feel uncomfortable was a colleague named Rajesh. We worked together in the same department at my previous job, and I often interacted with him during team meetings.

Cue 2:What did this person do?

Describe the specific actions or behaviors that made you feel uneasy.
Explain how these actions affected your feelings or the environment.

Example

Rajesh often made inappropriate jokes during meetings, which made me and some of my other colleagues uncomfortable. His comments were not just unprofessional but also crossed personal boundaries, making it hard for me to focus on work.

Cue 3:How did you tackle the situation?

Discuss the steps you took to address the discomfort, whether directly or indirectly.
Mention any support you sought or actions you took to protect your well-being.

Example

To tackle the situation, I decided to speak to my manager privately about Rajesh's behavior. I explained how it affected the team dynamics and requested that he address it. I also started to distance myself from Rajesh during work-related activities to avoid further discomfort.

Conclusion

Summarize your feelings about the experience and what you learned from it.
Reflect on how this situation has influenced your interactions with others.

Example

In conclusion, dealing with Rajesh was challenging, but it taught me the importance of addressing uncomfortable situations directly. I learned that it's essential to maintain a professional environment and that speaking up can help create a more respectful workplace.

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 response unclear. It's important to provide specific details about the person and the situation to engage the listener.

Tip

Use descriptive adjectives and specific examples to paint a clear picture of the person and the uncomfortable situation.

2: Avoiding Personal Feelings

Not expressing your feelings can make your answer less relatable. Sharing how you felt adds depth to your response and connects with the examiner.

Tip

Include your emotions and thoughts during the situation to show your personal experience and make your answer more engaging.

Lack of Resolution

Failing to explain how you tackled the situation can leave your answer incomplete. It's important to show how you handled the discomfort.

Tip

Clearly describe the steps you took to address the situation, demonstrating your problem-solving skills and maturity.

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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

The person who made me feel uncomfortable was one of my friends who I had recently met, who consistently invaded my personal boundaries. He would ask overly personal questions, even after I politely deflected or signaled disinterest in sharing. His manner of speaking was intense. He was too close in physical proximity and with a tone that felt intrusive rather than generally curious. He often dismissed social cues, such as when I tried to steer the conversation to a lighter or more neutral topic. It wasn't malice, but the combination of disregard for boundaries and an overbearing approach created discomfort. He also used to question me on many different topics which I had no interest in. I do not like answering to people when I know that he is crossing my boundary.

Band 6

Okay, so when I was in my 10th standard, as I was in my school, so my school was over and I went to, took a metro. So while I was waiting at the station, there was a man who was continuously staring towards me. Like when I was talking to my friend, so he was just giving me an inside eye and it was like when I just looked at him, he tried to make an eye contact with me. And when my metro arrived, I went inside and I sat there. So the man was particularly going to take another section of the train, but where I was standing, he came there. And he was standing right in front of me and he was like continuously staring and staring and staring. And it was like quite uncomfortable for me. So what, and I told my friend, so she was also like my age, so what we are supposed to do, right? So she was like, just ignore it and don't look at him and all this stuff. So we were talking and then my station arrived. So when I got back, so he followed me. So when I came down in the metro station, I was like waiting with one of the policemen. Like I was talking to him randomly, like at what time your duty starts, where are you from and do you like your duty and all this stuff. So I had to talk with that police uncle like for about 10 to 15 minutes. So he just caught me like, he actually got an idea, like she's going to do something like, you know. So then he literally went and then I called my mom and dad and they were there to pick me up. Then I told my mom and dad that all this stuff happened. So they were like, okay, you did a great job. And if something like this happens again, so just call us up and don't.

Band 5-6

I want to share a story of that day on which I suffered and I have faced this situation. So, I was travelling to my hometown and I was travelling by train. So, I was sitting inside it, after that I randomly saw everyone and there is a particular person who was looking at me continuously and I started seeing outside the window. So, after that he come towards me and sat down nearby, I was reading a newspaper. So, he was trying to touch me and the newspaper was very big. So, nobody was able to see him that he is touching me. So, I started shouting on him and ask random people to help me out that this person is doing something which is not relevant and after that people around me take a strict action on him and this is how I solved this problem, but till now I can remember this situation. I always thought of this in my mind, I should be trained myself, I should go to self-defence institute and learn some self-defence things. So, this is how.

Band 5-6

Recently, I am sitting at my home with my parents and one of my uncle which is come far away from 20 km. So, he starts talking about my wedding to my parents that he should age enough like he is 22 years old. He should get married now as soon as possible and blah blah all over the things. So, these things made me so much uncomfortable because I want to study and I am currently pursuing my studies and I want to study further more as like I want to do my masters, I want to do a doctorate degree also. So, I don't want to get married currently. I will definitely get married in future but not now as like so much early in this age. So, I told him that I want to study further my masters degree and I want to build my future to enhance my skills in a particular field and made myself proud and make my parents proud. So, it should not be your headache that my marriage should be done early or before or after certain days. No, it's not your job.

Band 5-6

I currently reside in Hyderabad away so far away from my hometown so on the way back from the church I came across this random person who wasn't a spike I don't know who is he was is just a random person who called me from behind I while I was walking towards my PG with my mother on phone so he called me from back and asked me if I could help him with something like which was required for mainly visits and women so he asked me if I could get him one from the supermarket because his friend's daughter had her first visit and she is facing many issues she is confused state and she is not letting her father or him get near to her something of that sort so I told him that just go and get a paracetamol or a pad of any size would be fine but even after that he was not letting me go he was like he was using phrases like it's itching do you use do you use shaving I currently reside in Hyderabad far away from my hometown so on the way back from church I usually call my mom to be on a safer side if something happens while I'm walking back to PG so there was a random guy in the bike in front of a supermarket and he called me from behind while I was on phone with my mom I told him I'm gonna call is it urgent but he kept insisting me to come near him and I went because he because I thought it's some kind of emergency his face was all tensed up it was sweating so I thought it would be an emergency and I went to him and he started asking about the periods the pads that women use what and showered me with so many unnecessary personal questions with the intention of making me uncomfortable at the same time he was mentioning that his friend's daughter was in trouble due to periods and she is having a hard time so I thought it is genuine and I recommended him that of using a bigger pad or using paracetamol for cramps stomach cramps but again when I was trying to leave he kept on asking me few personal questions that striked me at that point that this is not normal come out of it if this is not normal for a person to ask a random girl walking by I was so stupid at that time I didn't

Band 5-6

There are many moments in life where a person can make you feel uncomfortable and one such moment happened with me when I was in my university pursuing my bachelors of business administration and I was in second year so the situation happened like I was waiting for my friend in a corridor and was waiting so that we could get to the classroom together so I was waiting in the corner and a sir whose name is Kapil sir he is a professor who teaches mathematics he came to me and out of nowhere he started shouting at me like why are you standing here in corridor this is not a place to stand this is not a place to roam you should go back to your class and I humbly told him that I am waiting for my friend so that we could go together and he just he was shouting so loud and making me feel embarrassed because of no reason I requested him to stop shouting at me I'll go but he kept on making more drama so what I did I tackled the situation by requesting him and applauding him that I will go to my classroom you should not shout at me like this it is a very embarrassing that you are shouting on me so I haven't wait for my friend and I just got to my classroom and I told this to my head of department that this thing happened with me so my head the HOD whose name is Satinder Singh he handled the situation very generously and he called that faculty professor Kapil sir and sorted our situation

Band 5-6

So, I don't exactly remember the person's name or the description, but it was TC. He didn't make me feel uncomfortable though, but I remember this incident which made me uncomfortable. So, it was completely my fault actually. So, it was my board exam and I was running late, very, very, very late for exam. It was my last paper. So, I was little happy, but late, it was my chemistry's paper and so I was running late. So, I couldn't get the ticket and I was in the mood of studying and I left the house at 6 in the morning and I thought there won't be any TC, so I decided to travel without any train ticket. That was completely my fault, but then what happened is TC came and he started asking for a ticket. So, I told him nicely that I don't have ticket and I'm getting late for exam, so please take this extra charge and let me go. But he didn't allow me to go. He took my college ID card, he took my boarding pass, everything he took and he started shouting. So, I was ready to pay the fine, but he couldn't allow me, so he made me very uncomfortable. I was already very nervous and on top of that, I had to beg him that allow me to go because I have exam to write, so that entire scene was very uncomfortable and still it makes me very uncomfortable whenever I see TC's or whenever I have such encounters with TC's, so that whole experience and the person was very uncomfortable.

Band <5

في حياتي، أغلب الناس الذين يجعلونني أشعر بالسعادة عندما أتجول بهم هم الناس الذين لا يملكون قيمة يخاطر، يخاطر، لا يؤمن بإيمان الله ولا يحترم أحداً، خاصة الناس القديمة عندما أجلس معهم، أحاول أن لا أتحدث معهم أو أحياناً حتى التواصل العيني عندما لا أريد التواصل معهم عندما يشعرون بي في الجانب النقاطي أنا متأكد، لذلك هؤلاء الناس يخطرون طاقتي لذلك حقاً أحاول أن أتجنبهم