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Describe a situation when you were late.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was the event?
  • Why were you late?
  • How did you feel about it?
Show all 48 answers

Cue 1:What was the event?

  • Begin by clearly stating the event you were late for, such as a meeting, a family gathering, or an exam.
  • Provide some context about the significance of the event to you.

Example

I was supposed to attend my friend's wedding, which was a significant event for me as we had been friends since childhood.


Cue 2:Why were you late?

  • Explain the reason for your delay, whether it was due to traffic, personal issues, or something unexpected.
  • Make sure to include any details that highlight the situation, such as the time you left home or any obstacles you faced.

Example

I left my house on time, but there was an unexpected traffic jam due to road construction. I was stuck for almost an hour, which made me late.


Cue 3:How did you feel about it?

  • Share your emotions regarding being late, such as anxiety, embarrassment, or frustration.
  • Reflect on how your feelings might have affected your experience of the event.

Example

I felt really anxious and embarrassed when I arrived. I was worried that I would miss important moments of the wedding, and I hated the thought of letting my friend down.


Conclusion

  • Summarize the overall experience and what you learned from it.
  • Mention how you might handle a similar situation differently in the future.

Example

In the end, I enjoyed the wedding, but I learned the importance of leaving even earlier for important events. Now, I always plan for extra travel time to avoid being late.


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 Responses

Giving vague or unclear answers can make your response less engaging. It may leave the examiner confused about your experience and feelings.

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Tip

Provide specific details about the event, such as the location and people involved, to create a clearer picture.


2: Lack of Emotion

Failing to express your feelings about being late can make your answer sound flat. Emotions help connect with the listener and make your story memorable.

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Tip

Share your feelings honestly, whether it was embarrassment, frustration, or something else, to add depth to your response.


Overly Complicated Language

Using complex vocabulary or grammar can lead to mistakes and misunderstandings. It's important to communicate clearly and effectively.

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Tip

Stick to simple and clear language to ensure your message is understood, focusing on fluency over complexity.


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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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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

There was this one time during my undergraduate degree, I had my practical exam and I was there on time but when I arrived in my college in the morning, the security guy stopped me and he asked me why I am going to college at this time because I was a second shift person which is from 1 to 6, so he asked me why I am going and I told him that I have a practical exam today and I really need to go because it's already that time but he mentioned that he didn't receive any information regarding this that there is no practical and all, so I have to tell him that, I told him that there is one but he didn't believe, so I have to call my professor and confirm with him too, so it was kind of funny that even though I was wearing my college ID card, he still didn't allow me.

Band 6-7

I used to always go late to everywhere. I am not a punctual person. Recently, I was late for my office. That was only yesterday. It was about 30 minutes late. I want to go to some places early, so I need to start early from my home. I have to practice that in my day-to-day life. I am trying to do it, but somehow I always ended up in that situation by being a late person. I am not lazy, but I am a time rusher. So, in that situation, I can always felt what I felt was. I am guilty about it, but I am trying to improve myself in those situations because we can make mistakes, but we should learn something from the mistakes and don't repeat that again. So, in my opinion, I am saying that we should learn from our mistakes.

Band 6-7

One situation that I was very late to was, this is a very funny event, but it was when I was late to my own birthday party. My friends had planned a surprise birthday gathering for me and I did not know about this. I thought it was going to be a normal lunch or a brunch with my friends. And I am usually the friend who shows up to the event in the beginning, who is always first to arrive and who is always stuck waiting for others to come at a much later time. And therefore, this time I decided that I was going to give them a taste of their own medicine and I purposely went to my own party very late. I sat at home, I was getting ready extremely slowly, I was taking all the time in the world and my friends constantly called me, asked me to leave my house immediately, but I was like, I do have enough time, I will make it on time and I ended up being the last person to show up at my own birthday celebration. It was a very humorous situation and we all took, we all had a lot of fun making fun about it and laughing about it and it wasn't a very serious situation itself. So this is one such event where I was late to a gathering and this is how it affected me and the people around it as well.

Band 6-7

Every situation is hectic, it depends on individuals. Here I would like to talk about one event which I remembered in my whole life. The reason was our college organized a farewell function because I completed my bachelor degree in BSc Nursing and they organized a farewell function for each and every student and also me and my parents also invited for this function. I went to a bycar for my college and when I visited a college before 5 km, there are many traffic rules and regulations on followed by peoples and there were lot of traffic jams in the road areas which I knew about it. So after that I decided to go there.

Band 6-7

I'm telling you about the incidents of my childhood. It was the time of my examination. When I started from my home for the school, in the midway, I met an accident. In the accident, I seriously got very injured. I met an accident with an auto rickshaw. He is coming across the way in a very speed. Somehow I managed not to have met an accident with him, but the auto rickshaw driver has already lost the control. I met an accident with an auto rickshaw. But the thing is that I got injured. While getting the injured, after getting the injured, I lost my control. I was unable to walk over there, unable to stand also. The people of the localities nearby, they all ran and came to me. Somehow they managed to pick me up from the place, make me stand. Then I decided not to go to hospital, but I have an exam, so somehow I managed to come to my school. After seeing my conditions and everything, the examiner of my school allowed me to enter to the exam and to give the exam.

Band 6-7

No audio text available

Band 6-7

My sister had just completed her master's in Human Resource Management, so few months back she had a convocation event in her college. She was very much excited about her event and she wanted me to be there with her on that special day, but I am working as a freelancer as makeup artist. I had my commitments to the client that I will come there, so I had to visit the client, but I still promised her to be there on time. Later, I finished my work earlier, but due to the traffic and the construction work going on in my city, I was unable to reach to her location. I really felt very bad that I wasn't available for her on her special day, but later I had to make up, so I decided to throw a surprise party for her. First, she was very much angry on me, but later she understood my situation and my commitment to my work.

Band 6-7

It was a situation of our school and the event was the marriage of our colleague. The marriage was venued at 11 am but we reached at that location at 3 pm. I got ready in the morning and I went to school but on that day there was a huge rain because of that I got late. Then there was almost the time of getting off the catering so we were late at that time but we don't feel embarrassed because they served us very patiently after all in that situation also.

Band 6-7

Yesterday, I had a very important client meeting where we were about to discuss the progress of the report. I left home about 30 minutes before the meeting in order to get the office on time. However, the traffic on the main road was so extensive that I was not able to reach the meeting on time. I got to the office, I was 10 minutes late and there the client was waiting for me, slightly furiated. However, the fact that we had everything prepared about the report and I was ready with my presentation. So, we started off directly explaining to the client what we had done and luckily he was very appreciative of the work so far and he recommended us for the time, what's the type of quality and efficiency and effective the report was. Overall, I think I know 10 minutes, I made the client wait for about 10 minutes but I think it was okay in the end.

Band 6-7

It was my friend's birthday party and it was her 18th birthday party and she was very excited. Even I was extremely excited about her birthday party but eventually I couldn't be on time on her birthday due to some personal reason, I mean it was my sister who have been to Australia for almost 2 years came back and I didn't knew about it. She was actually planning to surprise me and yeah it was very emotional moment for me, my family so I couldn't tell her because I forgot at the moment that I should inform my friend about my sister that she came after long from Australia so I forgot to inform her and my friend was continuously calling me and my phone was on vibration so I couldn't hear the ring and they were like where are you your friend is crying how can you do this to your best friend and I was like shit I forgot and when I went and I told my sister today is my friend's birthday I have to go there and I will be back like soon and I just rushed to her and she was literally crying how can my best friend do this to me we planned together we planned everything every each and small thing together how can she
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