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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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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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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

    I would like to talk about a recent plan related to our honeymoon period which we changed recently say around the in the month of February. Our exact original plan was to visit Bali but since I'm not a trained swimmer and so the water related activities were a complete no for me. Moreover, there were a lot of activities such as surfing, visiting a surfing, deep-sea diving, then floating etc. So we changed our plan as we went to the mountains because the breathtaking views at the top, the connection with nature and though I do suffer from a fear of heights, still visiting the mountains was a refreshing experience away from the chaos of city life and I think it was a very good decision because the fresh air did quite a good job for us. There was a lot of time to bond as it was a very slow paced life. So yes, this decision was a life-changing one and I'm happy that my husband supported me in it.

    Band 6-7

    Good evening, this is Afawur Rehman. Today I am going to discuss on how I will make a plan that I will change recently. Recently I have changed a plan, actually I and my wife made a plan to visit Jamshedpur on Sunday. But suddenly my mother-in-law was working in the kitchen and when she is after doing work and she is coming out of the kitchen suddenly there is some water split in the floor due to that water splitting on the floor. She slipped on the floor which hurts her, she got hurt in her leg. After that my brother-in-law came there and took her to the hospital and doctor told her to rest for 2 or 3 days. For that reason we have dropped the Jamshedpur plan. The main reason we are planning to move to Jamshedpur is because of her only. Her sister has given us a treat in Jamshedpur due to her injury. We dropped that plan. After that dropping the plan we made a new plan to

    Band 6-7

    Last year, I had a vacation planned to Bali, but due to my health, I couldn't go to Bali. Instead, I went to my cousin's house. I had no intention of starting an online business, but we did it. Priya is a very great, is a great painter. So I told her that if she can paint it, she can even sell it. But she lacked confidence to sell her work. During the visit, I saw her most beautiful painting. It was called as the City of Dreams. It has vibrant colors with a shade of blue, lavender, and a tint of mauve. I was instantly driven by it. I told her that if you can make it, you can even sell your art to the world. But she didn't have any online presence. So I helped her with photography and being a social media content creator. It was easy for me to write product description and to collaborate with brands. There was no progress for 15 days, but we never gave up. The painting kept us motivated throughout. It is not just a painting, but it also symbolized creativity, courage, and a shared journey. The journey that I'll always treasure. The painting is what I'll always treasure. After three months, there...

    Band 6-7

    The plans I made is moving to abroad, especially European country, that was my plan for the past 2-3 years, for that I have tried to move to Canada and I encountered with an agency which is particularly looking after Canadian migrations. Recently I came to know that there are lots of problems in Canada for the migrants, it is very difficult to get PR there. Furthermore, I have enquired with a friend in Canada, she also told me the same reason that there are so many problems like discrimination of Canadians to Indians, they are facing a lot of problems out there and I really wanted to drop my plan and change it. Furthermore, I encountered with another agency, I have attended their seminar session from which I got an information that there is Australia which we can lead a peaceful life, which will be a good decision because Australia is such a nice country, everyone loves to live. Then I encountered with another agency and moved forward.

    Band 6-7

    Okay, the one plan that I had to change recently was my sleeping schedule. Usually I sleep at 9 o'clock and try to wake up before 4.30, but nowadays it is really messed up. The reason for that is my girlfriend. She doesn't sleep at night at all. For her, the day is night and night is day. For me, day is day and night is night. For her, it's completely different. So since she moved in with me last week, now I can't really get to the bed as early as I can. Usually I go to bed at 9, now it's 12, 1, 1.30, I don't know.

    Band 6

    In previous months, I had made my decision to take an OET exam as a part of the requirement of my job application in the UK. But nowadays, during my practice test or mock test for this OET, I find... My initial plan was to take an OET exam as a part of the requirement for my UK job application. During the days of my online review for OET, I found it so difficult for me to adjust for the different criteria of the plan test. Like for speaking, I find it so difficult to engage myself in certain scenarios that were given. So, right now, I decided to shift to IELTS review and I would say that I am more comfortable doing the IELTS mock test. And what I have to do, what I did...

    Band 6

    Planning is the essential step to achieve our goals, but sometimes there is a need to change a plan to reach the required aim of the life. So personally talking about my experience when I had to change a plan is none other than after choosing my career options after completing my higher schools. Yes, to elaborate this, I was confused that whether I should go abroad for studies or just join the university in my locality. Earlier I had chosen to stay in my nearby city where I can find a good college for my further studies, but later on my plan was changed and I decided to go foreign for doing my higher studies. The reasons for this are numerous. Firstly, I felt like that quality of education was not good in the local universities as compared to those in the universities which are at the rank of first place in the international levels. So, in addition to that, I would get a chance to explore the world and get to know about different kinds of cultures and can interact with new peoples. So this helped me to gain more experience for my further life and pursuing in my career. I felt a lot more better because that was one of the best decisions I had made and for achieving my this goal, now I am preparing for the IELTS exam. By clearing that, I can apply for studying abroad and can fulfil the dreams of my life.

    Band 6

    So, I would like to tell you that in starting of this year, I had plans of doing a job so that I can support my family and I can pay my university fee, my tuition fee. Also, I have interest in extra curriculum like dance, music and fitness. So, I wanted to join a dance class, music studio and gym as well so that I can focus on my fitness too. But, when I discussed with my family the situation, so they denied. They told me that I think you should focus on your studies for now. After sometime, you can go for these things. So, because of my family, I had to change my plans. Then one day, I was just having a normal conversation with one of my close friend and she was talking about studies and jobs and other stuff. Then she suggested me that you should prepare for IELTS so that you can go abroad for your higher education and you will have many opportunities. You will have opportunity to earn and to do whatever you want to do. Whatever extra curriculum you want to join, you can do. However, I started preparing for IELTS and now I have full focus on studies and my family is also happy with this decision. So, I think it was great suggestion from my family that I didn't join a job and got a very good path.

    Band 6

    I think for the research you have to accept the changes because the research work needs to more challenges and there are so many changes you have to do throughout your research journey. There are so many plans you have hypothesized in the starting of your research journey but as you start your practical work you may find difficulties in each and every task and you have to change it. The recent change I have made in my plan was the synthesis matter when I was trying to synthesize some novel molecule to mitigate cancer against the lung cancer and I found it the synthesis step 3 was not appropriate and there were some errors in that so I have to change that because if I don't change that I couldn't get the result appropriately so I tried to change it. We tried some different methods and we implied some literature reviews and on top of that we also take some help from the mentor of mine and this all take me near to the result so I think it is important to change your plan accordingly whenever it's needed but I know this changing in the plan is so difficult for me because when I started doing my plan 1 or plan A I think it would be easier and I will get the result within 2 or 3 days but whenever I started I found it difficult and I got my result after 12 to 30 days and which is not appropriate for my research that's why I have to change my plan and I need to make myself into that to change in the plan B but this is not

    Band 6

    I would like to speak about a plan that I had changed recently. The plan is when I started to study on my IELTS preparation. I am very struggled to practice properly. So I have changed the way of preparing with the materials by arranging. I have prioritized my plan according to my marks and I had changed it with a good timetable. I did recently and after that I get a better score while doing my IELTS preparation. I think it is the better way to learn English lessons and I felt very happy while learning through this way and I continue for a change
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