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Describe a piece of good advice that you gave to someone: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who did you advice?
  • What was the advice?
  • Why did you give the advice?
  • How was it helpful, and how did he/she feel about it?
Show all 209 answers

Cue 1:Who did you advise?

  • Begin by introducing the person you gave advice to, including your relationship with them.
  • Mention any relevant background information that helps to understand the context.

Example

I advised my younger sister, who is currently in her final year of college. She was feeling overwhelmed with her studies and unsure about her future career path.

Cue 2:What was the advice?

  • Clearly state the advice you gave, ensuring it is specific and actionable.
  • Explain any reasoning behind your advice to provide context.

Example

I told her to take a step back and focus on her strengths and interests. I suggested that she explore internships related to her field of study to gain practical experience and clarity on what she truly enjoys.

Cue 3:Why did you give the advice?

  • Share your motivation for giving this advice, including any personal experiences that influenced your decision.
  • Discuss the importance of the situation to emphasize why your advice was necessary.

Example

I gave this advice because I had faced similar challenges during my college years. I remember feeling lost and stressed about my future, and I wanted to help her avoid that anxiety by guiding her towards practical experiences.

Cue 4:How was it helpful, and how did he/she feel about it?

  • Describe the outcome of your advice and how it positively impacted the person.
  • Share their feelings or reactions to your advice to illustrate its effectiveness.

Example

After following my advice, my sister secured an internship at a local marketing firm. She felt much more confident and excited about her future. She expressed gratitude for my support and mentioned that it helped her gain clarity about her career goals.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, giving advice to my sister not only strengthened our bond but also helped her navigate a crucial phase in her life. It was rewarding to see her grow and find direction, and it reminded me of the importance of sharing experiences and supporting loved ones.

    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 Responses

    Avoid giving vague or general answers that lack detail. This can make your response less engaging and informative, leading to a lower score.

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    Tip

    Provide specific examples and details about the advice you gave, including the context and the person's situation.

    2: Neglecting Emotional Impact

    Failing to discuss how the advice affected the person emotionally can weaken your response. It's important to show the significance of your advice.

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    Tip

    Include how the person felt after receiving your advice and the positive changes it brought to their life.

    Ignoring the 'Why'

    Not explaining why you gave the advice can leave your answer incomplete. This is crucial for understanding your thought process.

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    Tip

    Clearly articulate your reasons for giving the advice, linking it to the person's needs or situation.

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    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band 6-7

    Yes, preliminarily I gave an advice to my niece who supposed to be my elder sister daughter. She is into graduation right now and she is into biomedical studies. So, she was quite confused about her career because usually we see a biomedical or biochemistry does not have a good future or market nowadays in India especially. So, I just advised her to focus on two things. Firstly, do masters in management and business so that she can grow an equal balance between management and how to handle a business and she can go for multiple opportunities in company side corporate sector. Yes, apart from that I also advised her to concentrate more on presentation and communication skills because how good you are in your academics whether you are a very bright student or you are a very good student it is important to convey the information to the other person in a prominent way is very important nowadays. So, based on that I advised her to concentrate more on presentation and communication skills. So, the combination of doing MBA and focusing on these two aspects will help her to get a good career and settle her future. So, I took almost an hour to explain the importance of these two things and I also suggested few platforms that can help her in this process. Apart from that yes of course, after we had a wonderful conversation she felt very good about it and she even thanked me a lot to advise a better one in this competitive world which will not only make her confident and settle in her life.

    Band 6-7

    The good advice I have given to one of my friend was to trust on her abilities. One day she called me out of the blue to tell me that she got fired from her job due to her insecurities because she was unable to perform job well. She got into a job, it was not related to her education in the first place but she was doing very well initially, after that due to the upgradation of technology she was unable to perform and she was unable to learn the technology with the upgradation. So eventually she got fired from her job, she asked me for my advice when she was trying for another job, I told her trust on your instincts first, you have ability to get the job in the first place, it means that you have that within yourself, you have the talent to get another job also, so please trust on your abilities first and start attending further interviews so that you can see where you are right now, then she started applying for the interviews and eventually she got the job and after that she never looked back. I feel many people don't trust on their abilities and that make themselves feel worthless because of that they lose many opportunities, I am giving this advice to everyone that you have to trust yourself.

    Band 6-7

    I still remember when I gave advice to my cousin when he was jobless and not doing anything he was at home. The reason behind giving him advice was that he was in tension and in anxiety. He was thinking a lot about his future. So I have to interrupt and I have to give him advice that what he should do in his future. He was very much confused at that time. After doing his secondary education he couldn't pursue his higher studies because of his father's demise. So it was not possible for him to afford the expenses of higher studies. Now after his schooling he was free and two years had passed and he was not doing anything. Now he was worried about what he should do. At this point I gave him advice that he should go to a foreign country like Dubai and over there he should learn some practical skills. As he was confused about what he should do, so I gave him advice that he should learn some practical skills like he should have the mastery over the skill of driving. He can join the school of driving and he can learn driving and after that he would have lot of opportunities to work in a foreign country like Dubai. So this advice was very useful for him at this point of his career. So it was very important for him to keep him busy and there is also a need for earning. So he was happy after listening this advice. It was helpful to come out of his dilemma. So now he has joined a driving school in Dubai.

    Band 6-7

    I have a friend who advises me of anything and even I advise her if she needs one. Recently I have advised my best friend, one of my best friends, that is to have patience. I advised her to have patience in every step of her life. The reason I gave her this advice is that she was suffering from various problems. She had various family problems. She was suffering from academic issues. She constantly failed in the subjects. So I advised her to have faith, to have patience so that she could have a calm mind and overcome all the problems in her life. It is better to give an advice to someone who is actually suffering and who really needs one. Patience is something which can give ease to someone's brain. It could help a person to regain its consciousness and regain the quality of the life he or she is living. It was very helpful to her because it made her think wisely before acting on something. She gave time for herself. She maintained a calm and proper manner so that she can tackle things in her life. However, it managed her to come out of the problem.

    Band 6-7

    A piece of advice that I gave was to my cousin's sister, she was stressed because her friends were not treating her right and they also made her insecure about few things like they used to bully her, they used to call her ugly. So the piece of advice that I gave her was to not be around people who don't treat you right, to not be with people who don't treat you right. I gave and it really helped her as she thanked me later on and she is no more friends with them as they used to bully her and they used to make her feel insecure about her, about her features while she was the most beautiful person out there. And I also implement this advice in my life because if someone does not respect you for who you are and make fun of you and your features then I don't think they are supposed to be called as your friend, they are more like your enemies than your friends and they are more worse than your friends, than enemies surely.

    Band 6-7

    Once my cousin sister came to me crying as she was not able to attend her exams. Then I got to know that she has a problem of taking leaves during her exams. As she felt very anxious and due to her unpreparedness, in the end moment she would take leaves. As she would feel sick, she would have a stomach ache or a headache. So I told her this was normal. I didn't make her feel bad about herself or feel embarrassed. I first made her feel comfortable with her sharing her issues with me. Later on I first asked her to make a routine, a proper schedule to eat, sleep and to study. So that her work is properly divided in the whole day. She took out a pen and a paper and started jotting down whatever I was saying. Next I asked her to make a list of all the unaccomplished tasks. So that she would know what is pending and whatever she has finished till date. She took these advices and she also started facing her fears which was another advice I gave her. Later on I asked her not to compare herself with her fellow peers. As each one has their own capabilities and their own weakness. Alongside with that she took all these advices. Right now she is one of her class toppers. She is having better grades and also better...

    Band 6-7

    While I can't pinpoint the exact reason, many people around me, friends, colleagues and so on have sought my advice on various matters including work, studies and graduate school. I am going to describe a piece of good advice I give to one of my students. I work as a part-time lecturer or a clinic training prospector at the public university here in Jordan. My previous works involved monitoring, training and examining students. One of my students named Malak was truly exceptional student. She was intelligent, polite, hardworking and possessed high moral standards and manners. On one occasion, she approached me seeking advice regarding a personal struggle. She confided in me that she had been pushing herself to the limit in her studies, working hard and dedicating all her time to academics. Unfortunately, this had taken a toll on her health. She complained of gastrointestinal issues and conditions called polycystic ovary syndrome. She expressed her frustration at being unable to balance her studies with her well-being. I advise her to be too kind herself, while hardworking and academic success are important. Her health should always be her top priority. I emphasized the need to set priorities explaining that achieving high grades is commendable but should never come at the expense of her health. I encouraged her to prioritize her well-being, seek medical attention to address her health concerns and find a balance between her studies and self-care. I reassured her that she could still work hard and excel in her studies while taking care of her health.

    Band 6-7

    The piece of advice that I would give to anyone is that practice a hobby for 20 days and you would see a result that you would make it as a habit which stays for a long time in a lifetime. This happened during I was pursuing my school in 11th and 12th grade I guess I quite don't remember the exact grade which I was in and I had this habit of sleeping for a long hours like I won't get up that early in morning obviously you would feel tired and you don't feel that how it how important is it to get up early to do your things that you have to make it before going to the school and I would say I had this habit of sleeping for long hours so the one advice that I got from my dad is make a habit for a lifetime so for that you have to practice something so my dad gave me an advice to get up early by 5 a.m. and do this for entire lifetime. I was facing a hurdle because that was quite a burden for me because I'm not that kind of morning person and I would feel so tired so I have decided I had decided to get up early for 20 days and till now I'm been waking up morning at the same time

    Band 6-7

    Piece of advice that I clearly remember giving was to my younger cousin who was quite stressed about his upcoming board exams. He was feeling overwhelmed because he thought he would not be able to cover entire syllabus on time. I advised him to stop worrying about the vastness of syllabus and instead create a simple timetable. I told him to divide subjects into small manageable parts and focus on consistency rather than trying to study everything at once. I also suggested him to take breaks in between because studying continuously for hours only reduces concentration. He actually followed the advice and later told me that it helped him to gain confidence and prepare in a more organized way. Eventually, he scored well in exams and he thanked me for motivating him at the right time. Personally, I felt very happy and proud because my words had a positive impact on him. This experience made me realize that sometimes even small piece of advice if given sincerely can help someone overcome challenges and perform better.

    Band 6-7

    I have a habit of waking up early and it's been an instrumental thing into my daily routine and to develop my overall personality and I have given this advice to many of my friends specifically my friend Vishnu whom I told to wake up early as he used to wake very late I told him to just wake up early and you will see drastic change in your daily routine having been much more productive days and just managing your overall time and since he's been following my advice he's been witnessing drastic and dramatic change in his daily routine and the things that he's been able to achieve in terms of the study goals in terms of the overall development overall health and wellness part of the day he is just so thankful to me
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