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Describe a plan that you had to change recently: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What the original plan was?
  • Why you had to change it?
  • What you did differently?
  • And explain how you felt about the change.
Show all 135 answers

Cue 1:What the original plan was?

  • Begin by clearly stating what your original plan was, including details like the time and place.
  • Mention any specific goals or expectations you had for this plan.

Example

My original plan was to travel to Manali with my friends for a week-long vacation during the summer holidays. We had booked our tickets in advance and were really looking forward to enjoying the beautiful mountains and the cool weather.

Cue 2:Why you had to change it?

  • Explain the reason for the change, focusing on any unexpected circumstances that arose.
  • Be honest about how this change affected your initial excitement or plans.

Example

However, just a week before our trip, I received a call from my family informing me that my grandmother had fallen ill. I felt it was important to stay back and support my family during this difficult time, so I had to cancel my trip.

Cue 3:What you did differently?

  • Describe what alternative plans you made instead of the original trip.
  • Share how you adjusted your time and activities to accommodate the change.

Example

Instead of going to Manali, I decided to spend my time at home with my family. I helped take care of my grandmother and also spent quality time with my relatives who came to visit. We shared stories and memories, which brought us closer together.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt about the change.

  • Reflect on your feelings regarding the change, both positive and negative.
  • Discuss any lessons learned or insights gained from the experience.

Example

Initially, I felt disappointed about missing the trip, as I had been looking forward to it for months. However, as I spent time with my family, I realized how important it was to be there for them. It taught me that sometimes, family comes first, and I felt a sense of fulfillment in being supportive.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, while I had to change my travel plans due to unforeseen circumstances, I found value in the time spent with my family. This experience reminded me that life can be unpredictable, and adapting to changes can lead to meaningful moments.

    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. Candidates often fail to provide specific details about their original plan or the changes made, which can lead to a lack of engagement.

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    Tip

    Be specific about your original plan and the changes. Use clear examples and details to illustrate your points.

    2: Neglecting Emotions

    Ignoring how you felt about the change can make your response less personal and relatable. Candidates often focus only on facts and miss the emotional aspect of their experience.

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    Tip

    Include your feelings about the change. Describe how it affected you emotionally to create a more engaging narrative.

    Lack of Structure

    A disorganized response can confuse the listener. Candidates sometimes jump between points without a clear structure, making it hard to follow their story.

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    Tip

    Follow a clear structure: start with the original plan, explain the reason for the change, describe what you did differently, and conclude with your feelings.

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    Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    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
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    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

    So, we had initially planned a trip to a native place Ratnagiri, the last home of me. However, due to sudden heavy rainfall in the state of Maharashtra, we had to cancel the plan of day off driving all the way to Mogan. The plan was originally planned for my father's birthday, we were going to celebrate in Ratnagiri. However, due to rains and high tides, it wasn't really safe to drive all the way there and we would have been stuck in the house itself. We would have planned to go and stay there. Instead of cancelling the plan, I made another plan of staying in a resort nearby in Kalsar along with some of the family members and close friends. Since it was my father's 60th birthday, I also arranged a small party in the resort itself which made him feel better and happy about celebrating his 60th birthday with his friends and family. Even though we had to cancel some kind of our reservations there, which costed us a little bit of extra money, I just make you feel dejected because I was very keen on driving all the way to the border of Konkan. But, since the main reason of going there was my father's birthday and that protected me perfectly. Even in the resort of Kalsar, I am naturally happy about that.

    Band 6-7

    One plan that I had to change recently was my travel plan to attend a friend's wedding in another city. Originally I had a plan to travel by train and reach a day earlier so I could help with the wedding and also spend time with my old friends. I had even booked my tickets and arranged for accommodation. However just two days before the journey I felt sick with a mild fever and fatigue. My doctor advised me not to travel until I fully recover. I had no choice but to cancel the trip. Instead I decided to attend the wedding virtually through a video call. I also sent a small gift and a handwritten note which my friend really appreciated. Honestly I was disappointed at first because I was looking forward to meeting my friends after a long time but later I felt it was the right decision for my health and I was glad I could still be a part of the celebration in some way and if I get a chance I'll definitely meet her after my recovery.

    Band 6-7

    So, doing physical activity is my favorite thing. I learn new things in exercise. So my plan was learn calisthenics or martial art because both are both required so much control practice and dedication to learn that sport. So, I was aiming to do that this year. So, I started my gym in last year to gain some strength to do this activity. So, I have done six months of gym in last year. After that I had leg injury during my leg workout and that got serious and that was related to muscle. So, it is not recovered yet. So, I started doing yoga this year. Actually, I love yoga from starting. I also master some of the poses but I thought to learn more poses. With yoga, yoga is like meditation for me. I feel more relaxed. My patience level is increased. My daily life came into rhythm because of this activity. Because in middle after my leg injury, I was resting my foot but then I decided to do yoga and do some lighter activity for my body.

    Band 6-7

    Well, coming to plans, I really made a good plan for my future before, but I had changed recently. Firstly, the plan I thought that is to get a good job as engineering in a renewable energy sector, but recently only not renewable energy is, the country was developing more in electric vehicles. This is, after, see, after seeing this history of electric vehicle engineering in future, I had changed my plan to this. After completing my B.Tech in final year, I got the job in renewable energy engineering. On that, on the job, I learned a lot and search for a future according to, according to electric vehicle engineering. After that, I take decision of my final plan to becoming engineering in electric vehicle engineering. After that, I make my, I am making, I make plan for studying master's abroad in electric vehicle engineering. After take this decision, I feel very happy and, and I feel very happy.

    Band 6-7

    In personality, communication plays a pivotal role. When I speak about my personality, I daily grow myself to be a better person. Daily I am focusing on my body language, personality, dressing, gestures, communication skills, and day-to-day habits to improve. Because personality plays all these things. Our day-to-day habits, our dressings, our body language, our gestures, our communications, and our knowledge plays a pivotal role that really plays well to depict our personality in front of others. A plan that I will tell you today is that I changed my communication skills recently because I had a little bit fear to present in English in front of a group around 3-4 years back. Around one year back I could aware that I need to improve my communication skills. I really focused on that. I joined a training institute to improve my communication skills. I read a lot of books and all. I improved my pronunciation, phonetics, and varied vocabulary that I had studied by reading newspapers, reading writings of famous authors and all. I improved my vocabulary. I could make my sentences correct through grammatically putting the correct words and all. So I am very confident now that I improved my communication skills very much. I really focused on how to focus on a person.

    Band 6-7

    If I want to say about a plan which I had changed recently, it was something which me and my cousin had prepared for a one day trip to Koh Phalam beach and we also planned for staying there and having fun, but it got cancelled for an array of reasons like due to financial issues and some personal things were going on our different families, so it got cancelled, everyone was in a bad mood, so that day didn't happen, the next day for rectifying the things what had happened yesterday for solving and we got planned for another event and we gathered at a place and had fun.

    Band 6-7

    There are many plans that I have changed, but I would like to say about a plan which I have changed recently, that is preparing for promotions. I have changed that because I am going to quit my job due to some personal reasons, such as my marriage, because my marriage is fixed. My partner is living in Australia, so I am planning to move to Australia and to search for a career which is related to social work because it is my area of study. I think it is a good plan because it is my area of study and I am interested in it so that I can spend the rest of my life in a career which is better for me. I took social work because it is my area of study. I did my graduation in B.Com and after that I changed to MSW because I like to work in hospitals so that I can interact with individuals. Engaging with individuals is one of my hobbies. Moreover, it will benefit for others because we can understand their problems and help them. In addition, it will provide personal fulfillment as it is not only a profession, it involves many values and roles and all. After getting this government job, I thought of continuing it and preparing for promotion, but due to some circumstances, I wanted to change it. Now I am happy because it will be helpful in my personal growth as well as for my family growth because moving to abroad will make me more financially stable so that I can help my family better and also it will help me in my family life also.

    Band 6-7

    Previous year, I started preparing for my Masters in Business Administration. My wish was to complete post-Madrid, was to complete my MBA and then to look for a job. But then I realized I am currently working as a software engineer in one of the previous jobs and then I realized my interest in computer science, that I don't want to leave the field. And I completely had to switch my preparation from getting an MBA to getting Masters in Science. So I had to switch my priorities completely. I needed to prepare for my graduate record examination to study MS Abroad and I had to clear my language test, which I am currently sitting in now. So I had to pivot in life and follow my passion. And as I realized my passion, I had a clear vision on what I should do. And according to my vision, I proceeded and today I am standing here now and I can say proudly that I am one step closer to achieving my dream. I worked for my dream, I noted down all the points I need to consider before moving abroad to pursue my Masters. I took a brave step, both financially as well as personally. I come from a very middle class background, so I think diving deeper into this area of studying abroad, completely independent, is a very huge step for me.

    Band 6-7

    Let me tell about my plan of my career like I was planning to do my masters once my college is over then I thought however we could require a work experience so I just joined a company and thought of working for two years but however I changed my mind that one year is enough so I just dropped my two years plan and I have to start it now within a year to do my masters and the change it makes me better that it could really help my career.

    Band 6-7

    In past month, I recently gave my board's exam. To talk more precisely about the schedule I followed to get good marks in my exams is that, firstly I started going to coaching center in my nearby town where I almost spent 2 hours of my day after my school which was a typically very exhausting day for me which was the main reason that I changed that idea and I persuaded or the online resources about studies were more appealing to me then I started studying by my own which helped me a lot such as watching content about related to my studies on YouTube and taking notes alongside. Because of that, I witnessed really significant result in my mock tests of board examinations which I personally found really suiting after all the schedule I managed to get.
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