arrow back icon Top Answers

Describe A Story Or Novel That Was Interesting To You: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What story or novel was it?
  • Where did you come to know about it?
  • When did you read it?
  • How did you feel about it?
Show all 66 answers

Cue 1:What story or novel was it?

  • Begin by mentioning the title of the story or novel clearly.
  • Briefly describe the main theme or genre of the book.

Example

The novel I found particularly interesting is 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho. It is a philosophical story about a young shepherd named Santiago who dreams of finding treasure in Egypt.

Cue 2:Where did you come to know about it?

  • Share how you first heard about the book, whether through a friend, school, or online.
  • Mention any specific recommendations or reviews that influenced your decision to read it.

Example

I first came to know about 'The Alchemist' from a friend who recommended it during our college days. She spoke highly of its inspirational messages, which piqued my interest.

Cue 3:When did you read it?

  • State the time period when you read the book, such as during a specific year or season.
  • You can also mention any particular circumstances that made you choose to read it at that time.

Example

I read this novel about two years ago during my summer vacation. I had some free time, and I wanted to read something that could motivate me.

Cue 4:How did you feel about it?

  • Express your emotions and thoughts after reading the book.
  • Discuss any lessons learned or how it impacted your perspective on life.

Example

After finishing 'The Alchemist', I felt inspired and hopeful. The story taught me about following my dreams and listening to my heart, which has influenced my decisions since then.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, 'The Alchemist' is not just a novel; it’s a journey of self-discovery that resonates with many readers. Its timeless message encourages us to pursue our dreams, making it a memorable read for me.

    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: Avoid Vague Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your answer less engaging and informative. It’s important to provide specific details about the story or novel to capture the examiner's interest.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Include key plot points, character names, and specific themes to make your description vivid and memorable.

    2: Don't Rush Your Response

    Rushing through your answer can lead to unclear explanations and missed details. Take your time to think about each cue and structure your response logically.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Pause briefly to organize your thoughts before answering each cue, ensuring clarity and coherence in your response.

    Neglecting Personal Feelings

    Failing to express your personal feelings about the story can make your answer less relatable. The examiner wants to hear your unique perspective and emotional connection.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Share how the story impacted you personally, discussing your feelings and thoughts to create a more engaging narrative.

    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

    So, the story today I am going to tell, the novel that I have read is a book named Half Girlfriend. So, this is kind of a love story between two people, like very interesting people. One comes from a village boy and the girl is super rich. So, I got to know this book from my friend. So, he suggested me to read this book so that I will get a new look around how relationship is in different kind of scenarios. So, in this what it happens is like the boy and the girl meet, they start loving each other at first sight, then they just go deep and deep and after some point the girl doesn't feel okay with this relationship and the boy also doesn't feel okay. But somehow they try to convince each other and they kind of adjust and they just make out through their lives. So, it was a very interesting story to me, like lot of good things I learnt from the story. And coming to the conclusion, like what I felt in the story, like nowadays people get very busy and they don't know what to do with the relationship. So, they can consider this as an example and move on in life.

    Band 6-7

    Back in COVID days, when I just graduated from my pre-university college, we had been under lockdown in my house and I had a novel gifted by my principal for being a good student in my PU college. So, it was about Sudha Murthy and her childhood. So, its name goes by how I taught my grandmother to read and I really felt good reading that novel as she described how her childhood went from village and back then they did not have any good technologies. So, she had nothing much exposure to any of the things we have right now like internet or online schooling. So, she had to teach her grandmother by herself and it was a beautiful experience she described through that novel which I really loved about and there were small stories of her childhood, very sweet stories which really makes anyone happy when they read it. So, yeah that was a good novel. Moreover, she described how she went from a small village girl to a big corporate entrepreneur. So, that was really motivating me to get out of my small town and go out and explore new things. So, yeah as she described I did so and finally I am here going abroad.

    Band 6-7

    I was 12 years old when I fell in love with a book called Chahal Pahar. I was in my 8th standard and the book was part of the Bengali curriculum. At first it was quite difficult for me to read because it contained a lot of difficult Bengali words. But as I read, I found the character very courageous. But since it was part of the curriculum and I had to read it for all the exams, I was not much interested. However, later on, my father was the one who helped me finish the book. Basically, when I was about to go to sleep, my father would recite the whole story to me. It was about a young man who was dreaming about an adventure in Africa in hopes of finding a buried treasure. The story was explained in such detail with such vibrancy that it felt like I was literally standing there beside Ashok, the main protagonist of the story. And that story gave me a sense of independence because the main guy who had nothing, who was poor, went through all the hurdles of the life, went through all the uncertainties to find himself in a position that very few people can even imagine. That is why I think what I have learnt from the book is courage.

    Band 6-7

    The favorite novel that was interesting to me is A Thousand Splendid Sons by Halid Hussaini. He is an Afghan author and he talks about the freedom fighting journey of the Afghanistan through this book. It actually says about the miserable life of Afghan women clearly and the chauvinism shown by the men in Afghanistan and also the revolution, the battles and the wars happened in Afghanistan before the freedom happened is clearly depicted in this book and it literally made me cry to the end. The characters named Mariam and Leila, the pathetic life they have faced in Afghan they are deprived of their basic fundamental rights is shown in this book clearly and we just feel like living their life with us and the author has done a great job writing this book. This is such a must read book for a book lover.

    Band 6-7

    Novel always helps us to broaden our perspective. Hence, last year I came across a novel written by Agatha Christie. It is named as Mousetrap. It describes how six people live at a house which is on rent purposes and there happens to be a murder. It is based on a genre of thriller and murder mystery. I like how every person portrayed different characteristic features. It is based on social issues. Also, it is engaging, interesting and a lot of descriptive features can be seen in the book. Last year when I was reading a lot of murder mysteries, I came across the Mousetrap. I loved how anonymously the murder took place and till end we didn't even realize, I didn't even realize that how and who committed the murder. The plot twist was fascinating. I was astonished. I really really loved the book. It was fabulous and an absolutely great work by Agatha Christie. I felt amazing and she will always be my role model.

    Band 6-7

    Because what they did at the end, the later Mughals, they actually used all the kingdom's reserves, the kingdom's funds, and they actually misused the power. They misused the people's money, they misused the funds, they misused the taxes which people paid. And at the end of the century when Britishers were there, by 1857, they actually crumbled in the hands of Britishers. Eventually they gave up, though there were revolts in other parts of the country, however the Mughal Empire or the Mughal Emperor could not withstand the British power. Though he had a lot of allies from other states, from Uttar Pradesh, from Bengal, from other parts of India, but still the Mughal Emperor was captured and was sent to Burma on an exile and that was about the last Mughal Emperor. And the journey described or the dynasties, chapters described by William D'Arumple was, in the beginning, how great the Mughals were, how the India's culture and the Mughal culture mixed up and made a new Mughal culture, Hindu Mughal culture. Akbar was a great king who always was benevolent and liked the Hindu culture. He married a lot of Hindu princes and he had a lot of respect for the Hindu religion. So he was much more benevolent compared to his previous

    Band 6-7

    A novel that I find interesting is Rich Dad Poor Dad which is authored by Robert T. Kiyosaki. It is a self-help novel which explores relevant themes of financial literacy that are not taught in schools. Financial literacy is an important topic in these days or modern times. It needs to be explored in deep detail so that a person can be equipped with the apt skills when he or she becomes an adult. It was interesting because I want to pursue a career in financial analytics data, analytics data science and investment banking. I knew about it from an inspiring school teacher who was my mathematics teacher who taught me how to manage wealth and how to compound your wealth. So, I read the novel Rich Dad Poor Dad in 9th grade. I felt a lot more educated about finance than I was ever by my school. This novel also indicated me financial literacy which I am sure will help me in my future endeavours while managing my financial resources once I become an adult. Hence, this was an interesting novel.

    Band 6-7

    So, a novel that I found extremely interesting was The Wedding List by Lucy Foley. I came across this book actually on ChatGPT. My friend recently allowed me to borrow her Kindle and I wanted to get into the habit of reading again, especially before I sleep because I prefer reading over being on my phone. So, I used ChatGPT to get a list of interesting crime and murder mystery books and this was number one. The book is based in Ireland. It follows the story of a young couple who is about to get married but there are a lot of secrets, a lot of dark twists. There's a lot happening right before the wedding and finally on the wedding day, somebody is murdered and we don't find out who is murdered and who is the murderer by the end of the book. So, for me, I found it extremely interesting because instead of actually helping me sleep, it kept me awake all night thinking about who the killer might be. I also found it interesting because by the end, I think I had some kind of idea about the character that was accused.

    Band 6-7

    I have always been a person who likes to read the stories and enjoy the comics as well. Recently I have read a novel called Aswinner which is a Telugu novel where the story is totally about the person who evolved from a low situation to a high standard. When coming to the novel or the story, it is in this a child who started his schooling and he wants to become an athletic athlete. Also he used to run every day for 4 to 5 kilometers. So whenever there is a district competition, he always used to come second. So he always been thinking of that and he motivated himself. But one day he lost the race with a very slight margin. Then he thought he would study rather than be an athlete. But his father motivated him that failures are the stepping stone to success. And he followed that and he encouraged himself and he used to run for 4 to 5 kilometers. Then he became a successful person and he became an athletic and he was one of the role models for the future generations. So the moral of the story is...

    Band 6-7

    When I was in my final year, I discovered a book named The Something I've Never Told You. It is written by Shravya Binder and this book was a love story of Rohanak and Ayesha. Ayesha was crush of Rohan since his childhood and this is a very beautiful story portraying the two characters and their lives revolving around career, love and their path. They both have separate paths but somehow their life connected them many times. But after achieving Kaavya, Rohan never valued Ayesha. At the end, Ayesha went in coma after meeting an accident because Rohan never paid attention on Ayesha. That's a pretty heartbreaking story but it concludes the second part, The Something I Wish I'd Tell You. It is also written by Shravya Binder. I hope it would be a great story again but I didn't read this book. So it was my first novel on a love story which I liked most.
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7
    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