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Describe A Person Who Solved A Problem In Smart Way: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who is this person?
  • What was the problem?
  • How did he/she solve it?
  • What about the solution makes it smart?
Show all 19 answers

Cue 1:Who is this person?

  • Introduce the person by mentioning their relationship to you, such as a friend, family member, or colleague.
  • Provide a brief background about their qualities or skills that make them capable of solving problems.

Example

The person I want to talk about is my elder brother, Raj. He is a software engineer and has always been known for his analytical skills and creative thinking. Growing up, he often helped me with my studies and taught me how to approach problems logically.

Cue 2:What was the problem?

  • Clearly state the problem that needed to be solved, providing context to help the listener understand its significance.
  • Mention any challenges or difficulties that arose due to this problem.

Example

Last year, our family faced a significant issue when our small business was struggling due to a lack of customers. The pandemic had hit us hard, and we were unsure how to attract more people to our store.

Cue 3:How did he/she solve it?

  • Describe the steps the person took to address the problem, highlighting their thought process.
  • Include any innovative methods or strategies they employed to find a solution.

Example

Raj suggested that we shift our focus to online sales. He quickly set up a website and helped us create social media accounts to promote our products. He even organized a small online campaign to reach out to potential customers.

Cue 4:What about the solution makes it smart?

  • Explain why the solution was effective and how it addressed the problem efficiently.
  • Discuss any long-term benefits that resulted from this smart solution.

Example

What made Raj's solution smart was his ability to adapt to the changing market. By moving online, we not only reached our existing customers but also attracted new ones from different areas. Our sales increased significantly, and we are now considering expanding our online presence further.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, Raj's innovative thinking and quick actions helped our family business survive during a tough time. His ability to solve problems in a smart way not only resolved our immediate issue but also set us up for future success.

    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 unclear. It's important to provide specific details about the person and the problem they solved to engage the listener.

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    Tip

    Use clear examples and specific details to describe the person and the problem. This will make your answer more interesting and easier to understand.

    2: Lack of Structure

    Failing to organize your response can confuse the listener. A well-structured answer helps convey your ideas more effectively.

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    Tip

    Follow the cue prompts in order: introduce the person, explain the problem, describe the solution, and highlight why it was smart. This will create a logical flow.

    Overly Complex Solutions

    Describing overly complicated solutions can lose the listener's interest. It's better to focus on clear and relatable solutions that demonstrate smart thinking.

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    Tip

    Choose a solution that is straightforward yet clever. Explain it simply, focusing on how it effectively addressed the problem.

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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
    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

    I clearly remember that it was my 10th examination, board examinations. I went to the exam center and I was so hurry. In that hurry, I forgot to bring my hall ticket to the center. I didn't realized that I didn't brought my hall ticket. After sometime, one of my friend came near me and she asked me, what's your hall ticket number? Then I suddenly remember that I forgot to bring my hall ticket to the examination center. My brother also came along with me to the center for dropping. Just after that, I went to my brother and I told him everything. Instead of he went back to the home to get my hall ticket, he went to the net center and he brought me Xerox copy of my hall ticket in color print so that no one can recognize the real or Xerox one. I think it felt very smart way. He solved the problem in a very smart way. Instead of going back to home, he went to the Xerox shop nearby center and he brought me within time and happily I have taken that and I went to the exam center.

    Band 6-7

    I'd like to talk about one of the most inspiring person of my life is my manager at my workplace. She is a brilliant lady and exactly knows how to tackle people. There was a time when I faced a lot of challenge from one of the employees of my organization. I was about to get into an argument where that person was completely wrong. But I never wanted to show him that he is wrong. I just wanted to show him that how to rectify the mistake which he had done earlier. But despite of telling him several times, he insisted to take a side and insisted me to get into an argument. So I called up my manager. She came and she just talked to that person. And the way she broke into the problem and step by step she made him realize that what he had done and how it impacted the entire organization in a very negative way. So that's how it makes her pretty smart in that way. And not only that whenever I felt that I am stuck in a position where I can't get out of it. She was always the one who helped me to understand the problem better. To break into the problem into small pieces.

    Band 6-7

    This person is my uncle. The problem was that my father took a loan on my uncle's home which was of around 35 lakhs and my father was unable to pay the loan. So my uncle came up with the idea that when the bank was on verge of doing auction on my uncle's house, my uncle took a good solution that you transfer the home on my name and I'll be able to repay the loan. The smart solution is that by the means of paying loan, my uncle took the house worth 60 lakhs on his own name. This was the smart thing he came up with. And my uncle also told that all the interest and all the other EMI's that were pending, till this duration he would pay the same and he would make the home on his own name. By this I could learn that this was a good and smart way to solve a problem.

    Band 6-7

    A person who solves a problem in a smart way, not to be narcissistic, but I can only think about me because I am more of a solver than creating a problem. So, there was this one time at work where we bought a lot of snacks for our US counterparts, so we had to send them snacks from here, and we ordered a lot of snacks, and we ordered a gift bag with it as well, but unfortunately the gift bag was way too small to fit all the snacks, and we were just all worked up about it because the person who was going to US was living in another 10 minutes, he was leaving the office, so we had to do something in the next 10 minutes, so I just remembered that I had a shopping bag in my locker, so I quickly took the shopping bag which said Forever 21, and the team we work for is called Paint, we work in the paint division, so quickly I just took a marker and I just struck the 21, and I just used my artistic skills and quickly whipped up a creative bag which said Forever Paint instead of Forever 21, which I think was making pretty good use of the resources we had at that given time, and later our counterparts received that bag, and they really loved it, and they couldn't stop praising me about how creative it was and how much they loved the bag, in fact they loved it more than the snacks we sent them.

    Band 6-7

    Since ages, masters are doing hard work, but nowadays for having success, smart work is the key. And here I am going to talk about a person's smart work for the problem solution. It was a time of last year when I faced problem regarding to my tuition classes. Because at that time I was studying in graduation, so at that time I needed tuitions and other things from the outer market. But at that time due to the absence of my teacher, it was a lot of problems regarding to the subject. But my older brother came to me and he asked me what happened. Then I shared that thing that my teacher is not available for the classes. And he asked why are you getting that much depressed, you can check the classes online. That time he provided me several links of online platforms and one from them was the buy juice classes, where I started to do the preparation and I got really brilliant results. As compared to other students, I had around 20% more in the graduation. It was about 83% and others had around 63 or 65% in their graduation. So due to his advice, I did that. And I really appreciate his advice because in that smart way, I achieved my score. In other words, I can say that if he didn't came to me at that time, so that time I was taking that problem too much hardly. And also we can solve some problems in our life in smarter way with the help of technology.

    Band 6

    My mother is a smart, my mother is a person whom I admire a lot, from the 4 months back my father and our family has encountered a very huge financial losses in business and we were in the financial crisis situation. Since my mother was also not working she started supporting my father by starting a home based cooking services. I was surprised to see that she started connecting with her past colleagues and office friends who were in the requirement of tiffin services at that time. She contacted every individual person in the office and informed that she has started her home based cooking services. She included that this will give them sense of feeling of home food and it is also not a costly affair. My mother's initiative of coordinating and networking along with her will power inspired me a lot and it was a very smart move to reach to the old people and restart the relations. She also visited our neighbourhoods and informed about the new services she started. Another smart move was to post over the social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn, which

    Band 6

    The smartest way to solve the problem is smile and think so that the solution will come to you. This phenomenon is followed by a person who solved my problem. He is none other than my boyfriend and when I was learning driving classes, that time I felt very difficult to turn around and that time he came and he taught me how to use the accelerator and brake very smartly and he gave some key points which are not taught by my driving school teacher. That is the smartest way I admired that because whenever I go in a long drive, I every time feel that I am very proud that my driving skills are pretty well because of him only and he taught me very well with that simple, simple quite steps in how to learn and how to handle. Furthermore, he told me what to take care of the, what to take care in driving and not even that in addition to that, he gave some tips and tricks to avoid some accidents and how to handle a bike very smoothly and how to drive in a rush roads and in more traffic and he already taught me how to take care of the bike also and not only that, furthermore he is very gentle in teaching and I always feel very admired and I want to continue this way of tackling situations and this way of tackling.

    Band 6

    Well, everyone comes across many problems in their day-to-day life, but these days people try to solve such problems with the help of their best friend or their smartphones or the internet. Here I am going to take this opportunity to talk about an occasion when one of my best friends, John, solved my laptop issue. John is my college friend who is tech-savvy and has wonderful problem-solving skills. What exactly happened? A couple of months back, I was facing some problems with my Dell laptop like freezing automatic shutdowns, unable to connect to Wi-Fi networks, and overheating. I must say I was completely unable to figure out these issues due to a lack of technical knowledge. Moreover, one day, John came to my place to complete an assignment on my computer as its system got broken down. Fortunately, when he embarked on using my laptop, it was getting hence. The application used to crash as soon as he was opening them. Then I told him about the ongoing problem with my PC because of that it was not working properly. After that, I have to say it took him just a couple of minutes to find the exact problem with my system. Apart from it, he installed software on my laptop in order to boost its performance. On the other hand, at the same time, he uninstalled unnecessary applications and cleaned up my system drive. On the other point, after doing everything, he told me to take it and let him know about its performance. I was totally azzoyed.

    Band 6

    A person who solves a problem in a smart way is my best friend. She knows all the solutions for every problem. Because she can innovate and resolve the issue within minutes or hours. Because it is very difficult to understand the problem and also understand the way of thinking. And also to get the smart answer is a very difficult task. But she is known for her intelligence. Because her academic performance is very good. And her way of thinking and her behaviour and her personality is a very kind of different thing. Which we can appreciate. And her problem solving is completely based on the way she understands the question. The way she makes a way to solve the issue. And also she is very good at solving. And she is very good at maths too. Maths has lot of riddles and tasks which normal people can't do anything easily. But her intelligence makes way more easier. And she is very good at solving the problems which is related to maths or any life issues. Or anything problems that comes under her. Intelligence is totally based on her personality and way of thinking. People were not born with intelligence. But way of surroundings and personality makes them more intelligent persons. And solving a problem really takes a lot of efforts and way of thinking. But I think it is very suitable to solve a problem very instantly. And the answer was very really smart. Because she will tell you the answer based on not only on experiments but in reality.

    Band 6

    Well, I want to talk about my friend. His name is Nikhil Nimesh. Now he has been posted in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh. He is a deputy jailor in Bijnor that is placed in Uttar Pradesh and I would like to tell about his personality. He is a very gentleman and he knows how to solve a problem. Like many times I have fear from the examination and I got the panic problems and I would become a very nervous person when I am going to write any exam. He is the one who always motivates me to do the study in a right way and how to increase the performance in the examination. He always tries to motivate me for my journey of the exam and very nicely he can solve any type of problem.
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