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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 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.
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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

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    Band 6

    One plan I had changed recently, in previous months, because this plan is a visit to Goa. I changed this plan because I have worked in the industry, but for some few reasons, I am not new to my company, so that's the reason I changed the plan. But I have made new plans to visit next month in Goa. Also, I have some new friends to add in this trip because they cannot get leave from their company. Also, some of my friends are in their final year of engineering, so they cannot get leave. So, that's the reason for the change of the plan. Also, we have to make new plans for our own car. Previous plan was to go by train, but now we are going by our own car.

    Band 6

    In fact, my initial plan to join as a teacher in some school, because teaching profession is noblest profession. In turn, always you get a self-satisfaction after teaching to the students. But recently I changed my plan as I could not get a number of opportunities to join the school as a teaching profession. Therefore, I have joined in some company as an application process engineer, where my key role is to look into the communications, have a better correspondence between the companies and on-time responses to the employees, staff and the management. Of course, this job is also challenging, but I have joined this profession by chance, not by choice, whereas teaching was my choice. Due to lack of opportunities, I am forced to join this as a documentation controller. But I am still trying to join in a teaching profession. Let us see how the things unfold and be favorable in my favor. A man is always a struggling person. He should not give up unless and until he doesn't get his dream job or his dream assignment or his dream task. Hope for the best.

    Band 6

    A plan I recently changed was my daily schedule, past I was in college so my schedule was very busy from 9 to 4 in the college and some 6 to 8 it was a doing my works of the college but these days my college has come to an end so I am getting a free time to fix my schedule so I had a plan of waking at 9 am fresh by 10 am and do some skill personal skill develop works from 10 am to 1 pm and at 1 pm I would like to have my lunch and from 2 to 4 I would like to learn some foreign language like German, Spanish, English etc and from 6 to 9 it was my time for my activities like gym, jogging etc and at 10 o'clock I would like to end my day by taking rest this was the schedule my general schedule was during my college and I felt a very good change in my personal life due to this schedule I am getting time to my personal space as well and also in addition it will be a very useful for my future skill developments furthermore it was a very good experience I should say because I am getting a very lot time for my studies and also for my personal physical training and to meet my friends also yes it was a very good change in my plan

    Band 6

    So, recently I have decided to change my plan like, initially I was just looking for my self-development like I was, I dropped two years from my college after my 12th qualification just because I wanted to do myself, my own and on, like my self-development. Actually I was looking to gain some money or earn some money from any e-commerce website or from any start-ups. But, I changed my plan these days because of some things like the ambience of my surroundings, ambience where I am living right now and the circle, the community, my friends like, I have seen like, right now I am living in a circle like, no people are more aware about their thing, they are not aware about their life, future, they are just behaves like lethargic, they are not really focusing on their career. So, I thought I have to move from this surrounding, from this ambience so that I can do better in my field, in my domain and as well as I changed my plan to drop my college and then, and I decided to continue further studies from abroad so that I can also get the better ambience in abroad, like it has offered a lot of things, like it offers you a great achievement, future and whatever I want to do, I think it will be more beneficial for me.

    Band 6

    My original plan was to crack NEET. Now what is NEET? NEET is an M.A.B.S. entrance exam which after passing 12th one can appear or even after graduating you can go for the exam. Also, NEET is a very competitive exam in India. It is conducted for approx 25 or 24 lakhs of people and you have to go to a centre and it's a pen and paper based exam. I changed my plan because I couldn't achieve it. So I went for another exam that is IMET. IMET is also an entrance exam which is conducted for European universities and I am applying for it for this fall. What I am doing differently is that I am changing my way of studying like I used to. I am planning to do more smart work than hard work. Lots of critical thinking and logical reasoning questions and I am trying to know about general knowledge around the world.

    Band 6

    during the last summer vacation we arranged a Kashmir trip for that we booked the online tickets we booked the online ticket and everything is set and ready and we were four families and we through a travel agent we arranged our tuk tuk and unexpected things happened before two to three days prior to that a trip one of our colleagues admitted in the hospital due to some health problems we have to change our plan because for her for her sake we changed the plan and we reroute our holiday to Munnar anyway it's nice and okay Munnar also a nice place to visit and at first we all we all had disappointed feeling but time passes and after our Munnar trip everybody is everybody was happy and it was it was one of my

    Band 6

    Recently, I have planned a picnic with my family that was a get-together with some family members and the plan was almost ready but due to monsoon and heavy rainfall, we had to stop the plan and we had to make some different plan for the occasion. It was a get-together so it could be managed in anyone's house so I planned it in my house. It was a family party and I have arranged different snacks, a movie night and everyone could able to come there and we enjoyed the party with the view of monsoon and the fresh air and greenery surrounded the picnic.

    Band 6

    I had to focus on basically my time management skills because I used to be really disorganized till 12th grade. I really did not know how to balance out my life and my working lifestyle in the way I wanted to. It was hard for me to actually stick up to schedules from time to time but then I genuinely focused on building up that skill and first off I started discovering YouTube videos regarding how to maintain a study schedule, how to actually stay organized or how to you know have certain study tips. I used YouTube for that and also thanks to my father I was able to purchase a time management course. It was of Dhruv Rathee Academy and through that my experience is that I am finally able to have my life on track now and I

    Band 5-6

    Planning is a crucial part of every decision and without planning we can't even have, we cannot have a decision. And the decision I had made, I had changed recently is being lazy. When, it was a time when I tried to ignore many study materials just to enjoy my life. But now it is more sensitive part of my life where I have to watch for my bright future. And I think I have to change this decision as soon as possible because it will really affect my future which I may not want to have. As I changed it that I wake up early and try to consume my time while studying. And I think studying is the most important part of everyone's life. So yeah, thank you.
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