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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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    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band 6-7

    Well, today I will tell you about a plan that I had to change recently. The plan was that I need to go to watch a movie with my group of friends. The movie was one of my favourite movie. It was the newly released movie in 2005, Sayara. It was highly recommended to me by many of my other friends who have already watched it. So, I decided to watch it and as you know that I can't go alone to watch a movie because it feels kind of boring. So, I did invite 4 of my friends to watch it with me. We booked the tickets but after that, I get to know that another movie have been released in the theatres which is mainly from Avengers franchise. Avengers is one of my favourite franchise that I have loved to watch every time. It doesn't matter that how much time I watch it. I just love to watch. I want to watch it repetitively like I have watched one movie 10 times. So, after listening the release of Avengers Endgame, I suddenly planned the change because all my friends and me, we all were great fans of Avengers so we don't want to miss the first show. So, we decided to cancel all the bookings and book the tickets for Avengers Endgame. I do feel disappointed because film was not too good compared to Sayara. I haven't watched Sayara but the way my friend described it, it too feels like that it was much better than Avengers Endgame that I have changed my phone for.

    Band 6-7

    Hi, recently I have a plan to study in European country Cyprus. So, for this I am trying to prepare IELTS exam within two months. So, I am started studying IELTS in many online coaching classes and also I am started preparing how to speak fluently in English and also I am try to now try to read many English novels and English papers to improve my vocabulary and also sometimes I speak in English with my colleagues to improve my fluency. I also prepare some model exams in these days and also I have started to increase the writing speed in my laptop because now I am trying to increase my the writing level and also practicing computer level also because in order to complete my score in 7th band I am trying both types.

    Band 6-7

    I graduate on civil engineering from Andhra University, which is a well-known university in India. After the completion, my career plan was to go to the campus selection and I got selected in it and selected in a MNC company, which is basically do like structure designing jobs and the name of the company is RP Structures. I got appointed, I got an offer letter from the package like 6 lakh per annum and my role in that company is like a junior structure designing engineer and it was located in Coimbatore. After my college finished, there was a certain chance faced to come to me, I discussed my career plan with my cousins and she gave me some insights about the future and she said that rather than going through the jobs, you might go for higher studies, which is focused on civil engineering, higher chemistry and construction management, which would help for your future career goals like after the completion, you can start up a new company, you can also open a website or app, which mainly focuses on drawing sketches and freelance works like architecture, design etc and that might be done and now for that, I am currently doing, planning to go to Germany for my higher studies.

    Band 6-7

    There are a lot of changes which I do make in my life, but here I would like to describe a period in which I have changed my plan. So my plan was to study in India because in India I was thinking that I will do the LLP here and so I will pursue a good degree in the law, but later I thought that by doing LLP here, by completing LLP degree I will be going for the Masters and after completing Masters I will go to the courts and then I will start practising in the courts. That will be very late for me. So then I thought that I should do the IELTS and I should go abroad and I should study law there and I should practise there and I will be becoming a good judge in abroad. So this was the plan which I have changed recently. The main thing was that time period because in India to become a good judge it becomes a lot of period, so that's why I thought that I should go abroad and do law there.

    Band 6-7

    It's always said, man proposes and God disposes. Yes, for me also, I had a plan of doing my masters in sustainable design and built environment in a university abroad, but I couldn't take that course because it was not available. It was a course that was really dear to me because I'm a person of a vision who would like to change the future of the country in the construction field, where it focuses on sustainable design policies and goals. Yes, it did affect me in the start on why I couldn't take it and, you know, it becoming very difficult for me to accept the fact that I have to choose some other subject. But yes, it did open other doors for me. I did check into the other available courses online, which did have a pathway in the same field that I wanted to take up the course. So I took a course of urban designing and urban planning masters, such that I can incorporate the design ideations and strategies of sustainability into such practices where I can, you know, deal with the way I want to see architecture of a country to be changed as. Yes, this plan initially did give me disappointment as I said earlier, but it eventually made me identify that sometimes certain changes

    Band 6-7

    Talking about the personal development, I must say that each and every person is unique in their personal development. We have a lot of things to develop in our life, especially when it comes to self-discipline or even about the career. So we need some motivation for ourselves to develop in a way what we think. So personal development is the area where we have to keep on updating ourselves because if we lag in that, we won't be able to make a good fit in the society, the growing society. So my original plan for the personal development is learning a new language, especially Hindi. So I tried a lot, I have kept a lot of plan on it and I scheduled online lessons and everything but still I have to change it because of my tightly scheduled commitments. So I have an idea to start it again once I get a free time.

    Band 6-7

    So, recently I wanted to watch a particular film which had released this last, I guess, a couple of weekends back and so for that, me and my friends, we made a plan to go and watch that film. It was a really interesting film. I was very, very excited to see that film as I am a film enthusiast, I love watching films and movies. So, I was very excited for that movie. But what happened was, we made a plan for the weekend, for the following weekend, for the following weekend. Now, I was all excited, the tickets were booked by Thursday, I guess and I was very excited. But what happened was, one of my friends had to go somewhere and the other one's relatives came into town. So, he was not available on Saturday. We chose to go on Saturday because we don't have a college on the weekend. So, we chose a Saturday but they had certain plans that had come up. Now, I could not go alone because none of my friends were there and I really like watching movies with people so that I can discuss it with them. But that could not happen. I was really disappointed by that. I wanted to go and watch that movie but I did not waste my time, I did not waste that weekend at all. What I did was, I worked upon, I read a book, I cleaned around the house, I cleaned my table which was very chaotic and unorganized. So, I made use of that weekend. I didn't like that we missed out on the movie but we eventually went the following weekend. But I was really anticipating a good film to watch on that particular weekend but couldn't go so that was that.

    Band 6-7

    One of the plans that I had to recently change was in fact the subject that I would opt for while going for my masters abroad. Initially, I was planning to study something in the field of information systems or data analytics but I had had a talk with one of my relatives who is very accomplished in the field of technology and he suggested me to opt for something that would be artificial intelligence related because that is a very emerging field right now and almost every sector and every domain today has incorporated AI in one way or another. AI has lots of subfields, for example, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, cloud computing or data science for that matter to go and study from. So now my plan would be to do further research on which other fields that I could opt for in AI and what would be the further process of application and shortlisting of universities etc.

    Band 6-7

    One plan I have recently, the plan is about going on a small trip with my friends and we have planned to go to a hill station, Ooty. And we were almost planned everything like booking hotels and arranging the transportation and our plan actually, moreover our plan was to visit the station by Friday evening and coming back on Sunday night. And it was just a two day trip and all of a sudden we got a message from our professor that there is a lab exam on Saturday morning and all of a sudden we have to change the plan because moreover academics is the most important thing and we have to prioritize as it will affect our final grade. And we have to postpone our trip to the end of the semester and in a summer break so we can enjoy in a good weather and have no stress out of our surroundings. And in conclusion what I feel is sometimes we have to change our original plan because the things come out of box and we have to prioritize and be flexible to change the plan accordingly. It will help us to get flexible and change our mindset so that we can face many problems or issues accordingly.

    Band 6-7

    A plan that I had to change recently was to switch my Masters from Management to Business Analytics. So, initially what happened is that I decided to pursue a degree in Management, specifically Masters of Management owing to the fact that I was interested in a job related to that field. However, as time passed I started researching a bit on the demand of the specific country and the various sectors and how they progress and I realized that management does not have a future. There is something called as the short term skilled occupation list which only allows you to work for a specific amount of time, a specific period of time after which you cannot stay in the country and you have to return back. So, keeping in mind that I wanted to obtain PR for Australia specifically, I decided to switch to Business Analytics because it is the next closest thing to go.
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