arrow back icon Top Answers

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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    calendar icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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 6-7

    Currently my daily plan was waking up late and get ready to the office but it's impacting my life I am too lazy person now and my metabolism is going down slow That's why I make a change to get up in early at around 5 am and then go to the gym to do some workout and make body to lift heavy weight so it's boost my metabolism and immune And now I feel very good, I am active and I am very flaunt I think everyone have to do that type of changes is required because healthy body provides to a healthy lifestyle

    Band 6-7

    The original plan, one of the original plans that I have changed recently, because I really want to become a science student who prepares for, who's fond of chemistry, but my second thought came out to go to abroad to study with my brother and I took economics courses in order to join in the abroad for study. I literally changed my plan because I'm more comfortable with economics rather than chemistry in the future and I came to know that there are lots of scopes and, yeah, chemistry also have lots of scopes, but for my point of view and for my own academic performance, I have, I came to know that it can help me to be more responsible and to be more aware of what I learned, what I had to do.

    Band 6-7

    The plan, today I would like to talk about the plan that I had recently changed because I have my speaking test and on the same date I booked my license slot so that I can test drive and get the license through the agencies. So I have decided to change it because only in this month only one slot is available so I have to stick on to that plan. That is why I asked my agencies to help me out and I have described like how it is important how the speaking test is important to me because if I do not have data I would tend to waste my money completely and I have to stick on to that process. So I asked them and they are very friendly and they really helped me out so that I can come and attend my speaking test and I hope so in future I should think about in every perspective so that I would not get in trouble and this is the thing I have learned through IELTS speaking and IELTS booking and this is the experience I would like to share to my fellow mates so that they can be aware of this and test driving is also not a easy thing to get but we had to pay an extra amount so that they can book the other slot on the same month. So on 27th of July after completing my other test I am going to attend my test drive so wish me the good luck.

    Band 6-7

    I always wanted to keep my personal development as good as possible. So I tried to follow many plans. The one plan which I used to follow was I woke up early around 6.30 to go to the gym. Then I used to work out there for around one, one and a half hours. Then I came back, ate my dinner, then took a quick shower and went to sleep.

    Band 6-7

    5-4 days ago we decided to go on a trip of Jaipur, so that we can have a family time together and can enjoy our time and even we also haven't went outside of Delhi for the past 2 years, so we were planning and also preparing for that trip. But recently we have to change it as I come up with some other urgent work, where I have to go for my passport renovation and other procedure and I also have to go for the embassy where my appointment was on the day when we were deciding to leave for Jaipur, so we have to drop out that plan, but it is not a big deal as we have shifted that plan for 10 days after. I was quite upset, but now I am, I was quite upset that actually we were all planning and were so happy and were enjoying the shopping time all together, but it's ok, we are actually, we are not cancelling the plan but we are actually going, but it will take little time after I will be done with all my urgent work, so it was some, it was quite disappointment for all of us that we are shifting the plan as we were all so excited.

    Band 6-7

    The plan that I had to change recently would definitely be my morning routine. So usually I used to wake up late as this is my break and I love to have slow start during the morning and like to look upon the things that I need to finish, few tasks and also well finish upon my diet, planning and planning of the diet and as well as few other things. So what I really didn't like about my routine is that waking up too late would be very unhygienic of myself. So I love to change a thing from that like waking up early and trying to sort out things as early as possible when being productive would definitely beneficial for me and as well as in my future case as well. So I have changed a lot of particular things in the particular routine and those would be mostly concentrating on my food habitats and the nutrition that are available in that food and as well as few other work related things for my productivity. Similarly, I would like to do those things which are being accessible for my parents as well like helping out them and reaching out them to assist them and I would like to be productive as much as possible and finish all my tasks as early as possible and also like to spend some time with family which would definitely be peaceful for me and good for the bonding and I really like this routine and I was happy that I had to change a few particular things and then putting them into the work and implementing as well. So I am really happy for this change.

    Band 6-7

    Yes, I do remember that due to some certain reasons, everybody changes their plan according to their needs and availability of the time. Basically, I do remember that one of my plans I have recently scheduled is that, I used to plan for the trip to Bali due to some miscommunication with my friends and friends circle, we disclosed the plan and changed the plan towards visiting the UK as United Kingdom, it is one of the best place to have the food style, living style, enjoying the scenery over there. As the Bali was visited many more times and had time over there, definitely I need to convince them a lot and they got, they were like, why you are suddenly changing the plan, what's wrong with the Bali, I told that, we already visited over there and why to visit the place again and again, rather than we can go for the UK. Moreover, we had a discussion a lot of time and at the end, they got convinced and they started telling me that, okay, it was a better plan you made that, rather visiting the Bali, we visited UK, the plan was too good and we had fun over there and we were feeling very good that we made a good decision that felt us very happiness and we had enjoyed our time very well in United Kingdom, that's what.

    Band 6-7

    I had recently made a change in my plan when I had to go to my sister's wedding. Since my exams rescheduled to prior the two days when we had him, I had no time left for going to her wedding. I had planned to attend my cousin's wedding last month. I was really looking forward to it. The wedding was in Jaipur and I had been helping my cousin's land things virtually for weeks. I had even bought a new outfit and booked my train tickets. However, just a few days before I was supposed to leave, my school announced a last minute change in the exam schedule. My exams that were earlier postponed were now suddenly rescheduled during the same week as the wedding. It was extremely frustrating because I had been excited about the celebration and seeing all my relatives after such a long time. But I couldn't risk missing an important academic requirement, especially in my class 12 year. So I had to cancel my travel plans and inform my family. Instead of attending in person, I joined the wedding ceremony via video call. I had even dressed up and sent her my blessings virtually. My cousin was understanding, but I still felt disappointed. I had promised her I will visit after my exams. However, this experience taught me that sometimes responsibilities must take priority even over special moments.

    Band 6-7

    One plan that I would like to talk about that I changed recently and I am glad that I did because it turned out to be one of the best things that I have ever done. Two months back I planned to visit Himachal Pradesh somewhere near Darjeeling but we had to cancel the plan because we were not getting train tickets. Nevertheless, my friend wanted to accompany my car with me so that we would be able to go by car. However, I didn't want to go by my own car because it would be so costly for me. Secondly, my father never usually allows me to go by car alone with my friends. So I decided that I will cut off that plan and I will cancel that plan and move to some other place or plan a trip to some other place that had the train tickets. So I planned instead of that Darjeeling, I planned to go to Manali and we booked tickets and I convinced my friends to go to Manali. However, they took a lot of time and after all those hesitations and arguments they got ready. We booked train tickets, packed our bags and went to Manali. And to our surprise, it was so beautiful that we thanked ourselves that we cancelled the Darjeeling trip. We never thought that things would fall so perfectly into place. It felt like a story reaching its final chapter, perfect final chapter. Also, we could never be more grateful for the views that we witnessed there and for the activities we did there. Furthermore, we did many adventurous sports as well such as paragliding and river rafting. Overall, my experience was full of happiness and I'm in love with Darjeeling.

    Band 6-7

    Well, I'm a UPSC aspirant so obviously I had a plan. So in my first attempt I had a plan. I planned things very well but still it didn't work out the way I wanted. But then during my second attempt I made slight changes in my plan. Obviously the time management, the subjectivity, the weightage to the different subjects, I changed it in a very different way. I did get results but still I didn't qualify the problems. But what I realized is that obviously when you work on something you get the result. When I worked on my first plan obviously there is no such a plan which is perfect. I worked on my first plan. I got a better insight that here these are the areas where I am lagging and I have to work on this. So that is there. Second, I made some slight changes which reflected in my results. So I think I improved my score. That is there. And I think change is the need of time.
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
    ielts logo

    Get the IELTS Prep App

    Star rating icon

    4.2

    1M+ Installs

     app download banner image

    Get the app link on your phone

    +91

    Or download app from

    google play storeapp store
    master ielts speaking ad