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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 199 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

    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

    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

    Band 6-7

    Most of the times, a good piece of advice is pivotal in character development. One of the opportunities that I had to deliver a good piece of advice was to my friend. His name is Chris Matthew. I would describe him as a well-groomed and elegant looking man. He is such an optimistic person. I still remember back in the days we met in college. We had a beautiful front bonding. It was such a good time. Back then, he was troubled in financial stability. That was the time when I gave him a piece of advice. It was like, saving money now is very crucial for the future. That was the advice that I gave him. Although he listened to that very keenly. He also started to follow the steps to implement it. Overall, he was inspired by my words.

    Band 6-7

    People often come to me for advices because I try to understand their problems, I empathize with them and try to put myself in their shoes and after understanding the entire situation then only I advise them on some issues. So it is very often that people reach out to me for advices. One such situation I can recall is when I was advising one friend of mine when he was struggling with migraine and anxiety. Actually he was in a situation when he used to sleep late at night and then he used to work a lot, ruining his entire cycle and like his biological cycle was completely destroyed and he was so stressed, struggling in his personal life that he was often encountering this migraine and headache. So he reached out to me, I tried to understand the problem in its entirety and I also tried to go through some of the articles, research articles available on how can we mitigate and resolve the problem, what actually can be the reason behind it. So after doing all the research and taking some advices from the counsellor, I decided to help him out and for that first of all I advised him to improve his biological clock so that to go to bed on time, rise early and then stop taking stress, doing some meditation and yoga. He implemented that as well and he saw a quick improvement and that made him really relaxed and happy.

    Band 6-7

    So recently, a month back, I had a friend called Hassan Wirk. He had gone through a serious heartbreak with a girl he loved for over four years and they had to break up due to mutual understanding and family problems. So Hassan would ask me for advice on what to do and I told him that it's for the best for the both of you if you moved on because I already knew she moved on and it was just going to hurt Hassan telling him to continue with it. So I gave the advice to Hassan that it's beneficial for you to move on and find someone else as it would clean your mental state and get you out of depression because Hassan was really depressed and he was suffering from anxiety attacks. So I gave him the advice to leave her and move on and find someone else and I think it really did help him because just a few days ago I met with him again and he was incredibly happy. He seemed like he got out of depression and he did not face anxiety anymore and he did not talk about the girl so I definitely feel like my advice helped him and that he's happy in life currently.

    Band 6-7

    A piece of advice once I gave to my friend. It was about saving money. She was my old friend and she used to eat snacks every day and spend at least 10 to 20 rupees on this type of snacks. So one day I told her that she didn't do that because she could use that money on something healthy or even something useful like books or notes. She really took my advice seriously and reduced her spending and then she realized that how huge mistake she was making. It helps to save her money and also it positively affects her health which she was ruining with the everyday fast foods and all. I really feel good that she is happy with my advice and she is so thankful to me for advising her because she never thought about that before.

    Band 6-7

    I advised my friend, my best friend, because he was going through a tough phase and he did not know what to do because he was going to take a drastic step in his life. So I told him, everything happens for a reason, trust your timing and it will not go away. I told him everything will happen for a reason and this has happened to you for a reason and every time after every bad time there will be a good time and it calmed him a lot and I told him because he was going through a tough phase in his life and I couldn't bear it. I told him. Then after that he kind of found out some sort of spark in his life and he tried to move on. That is the best thing I have ever heard with that my friend. He tried to come out of it after taking my advice and he felt so good and he told me thank you Ashwin, thank you for making me feel good.
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