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.

135 unique answers with expert feedback

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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.

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.

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.

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.

IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

Answer

I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.

Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

Answer

The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.

Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

Answer

As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.

Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

Answer

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

Answer

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 5-6

Recently, I started my fitness journey. I used to work out in the evenings after my office hours. But now I started working in the morning because I felt already exhausted during the office hours. I felt like there is no energy in my body. Moreover, it was not suitable to my body. I was getting no results. So, I had to change it to the body.

Band 5

When I was kid, I have bullied from becoming fat. I have had a lot of bullying from my friends, my family, my co-workers etc. So I decided to change that. I did what was, I go for a good diet, I choose a better personal training and I hit the gym and go for swimming and all. But still it doesn't change in my body fat because my heating, my healthy, when I was kid, when I try to eat food, I can't stop. I just, when I, I'm really sorry guys, I can't do this, I try so hard for it, I can't do anything. My English is so bad that when I get something for passage or reading or something else, I just, my mind just goes blank. My mind just goes blank and total shit. I know everything, I just know how to do it, how to explain it, how to create it, but still my mind will go blank, just blank like this, my language will suck like a shit, everything will go like a shit. I don't know.

Band 5

I never changed a plan, but today I would like to consider here a plan that I changed recently is, last month me and my family wanted to visit one of our family wedding, but it's going good till the date come, and when the on 13th when we trying to went, while sitting the bus, and the suddenly we saw that there is a no gas, no petrol in the car and the tyre is puncture, and at the time I was surprised because in the night and we kept all things proper like we filled full petrol and we did service also and we cleaned, and we also checked the air in the tyre, but we surprised and that we after call a car mechanic and he told me that there is some leakage in the car oil tank, and that's why your car all dropped out, and there is a one when you are moving I think a screw is entered in the car, at the time we surprised, at the time we need to visit there, so we just change the plan and we hire a cab, and we reach there, but we didn't enjoyed a lot that we want to enjoy in the car, because in the car we usually play music, but the cab driver was strict, so he didn't allow us to do any other stuffs, he just want us to sit and the bus just travel with me, at the time I didn't enjoyed a lot, but this is the one experience that in which I, we changed our plan and it's not gives a good, and that affected us in a good way.

Band 5

Yeah, so, I was thinking about doing a self-development, hello, so I was, hello, so recently I was planning to do a self-development plan and in that I was gonna plan my everyday schedule and gonna do that as per what I have written. So, in the morning, the original plan was to wake up early in the morning around 8, around 8 o'clock but I initially did that but after a

Band 5

here i want to describe about my that plan whatever i had changed recently that was that is the that is for my foreign trip in qatar i in qatar because i i remember i want to go into country of my traveling time but suddenly i realized that country is not providing me extra benefits for my better travel history so i did change so i have changed my plan recently because i do not spend lot of money for that trips as well as i can't extra benefits by the traveling of the qatar on the other hand india are facing india is surviving our country surviving in the fighting with our opposite country so like muslim country so i have changed i have changed my plan recently so it is the

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