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Describe a story someone told you.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was it about?
  • Who told you this story?
  • Why do you remember it?
  • How do you feel about it?
Show all 31 answers

Cue 1:What was it about?

  • Begin by summarizing the main theme or message of the story.
  • Include any interesting details that make the story engaging.

Example

The story was about my grandfather's journey during the partition of India. He shared how he had to leave everything behind and travel to a new land, facing numerous challenges along the way.

Cue 2:Who told you this story?

  • Mention the person who shared the story and your relationship with them.
  • Highlight any relevant background about the storyteller that adds depth to the story.

Example

My grandfather told me this story during one of our evening chats. He is a wise man with a lot of life experiences, and I always find his stories captivating.

Cue 3:Why do you remember it?

  • Explain the emotional impact the story had on you.
  • Discuss any lessons or insights you gained from the story.

Example

I remember it vividly because it opened my eyes to the struggles faced by many during that time. It taught me the importance of resilience and the value of family.

Cue 4:How do you feel about it?

  • Share your feelings regarding the story and its significance to you.
  • Reflect on how it has influenced your perspective on life.

Example

I feel a deep sense of respect for my grandfather after hearing his story. It makes me appreciate my own life more and reminds me of the sacrifices made by previous generations.

Conclusion

  • Summarize the key points of the story and its impact on you.
  • End with a personal reflection or a thought that ties back to the story.

Example

In conclusion, my grandfather's story is a powerful reminder of resilience and the importance of family bonds. It has left a lasting impression on me, inspiring me to cherish my own experiences and those of my loved ones.

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: Being Too Vague

Avoid giving unclear or general answers. Vague responses do not provide enough detail and can make your story less engaging.

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Tip

Include specific details about the story, such as key events or emotions, to make your answer more vivid and interesting.

2: Ignoring the Cues

Neglecting the cue prompts can lead to incomplete answers. Each cue is designed to help structure your response effectively.

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Tip

Make sure to address each cue in your answer, ensuring a well-rounded and comprehensive response.

Overly Long Responses

Long-winded answers can lose the listener's attention. It's important to be concise while still providing enough information.

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Tip

Practice summarizing your story in a few key points, focusing on the most important aspects to keep your answer engaging.

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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

So recently when I was part of a sleepover at one of my friend's house, so we were all gathered together and we were telling each other horror stories and one of the spookiest horror stories was told by one of my friends. It was about how she had visited one of her friend's farmhouses and there it was an abandoned house and they'd entered the house and she saw a shadow of a lady moving somewhere and she heard the sound of anklets you know somewhere and she narrated the story and all of us collectively were very spooked out and I remember the story because we could not sleep that night and we were really feeling very scared and to this day it gives me a lot of goosebumps whenever I think about that story because my friend when she narrated this story she told us that she was all alone in that abandoned house and it made her feel it gave her chills and it made her feel very scared and frightened and that is the reason why I remember it ever so vividly

Band 6-7

Once upon a time, there was a king. The king has seven children. And these seven children have their own talents. Like one guy has an artist, another guy has a scientific application provided. And another guy likes to swim, and another guy is a ruler. These all kids have their own talents, but one kid has no talent. All the kingdom people have told that this guy has no talent and blamed him. But he is not afraid of those things. He does his work and he does what he likes. One day, these seven kids go to the forest. At that time, a lion will come in front of them. All are afraid and these six kids have no idea how to escape from this situation. But this one guy has a plan to escape from this lion. So he implemented his plan. In that situation, the plan was successful. These seven guys are saved. At that time, they realized that he has a great talent greater than that. So then, every people has their own talent. Don't compare your talent to others. There is one situation where everyone's talent can be presented. In that situation, we must present that talent. Don't think I have no talent. I am not that intelligent, knowledgeable person. Every guy has his own talent. Do that like that.

Band 6-7

The story is about my vice-principal ma'am who's also a coordinator, a well-established chemistry teacher. She's also a great multitasker. The story was recited to me by our respected principal ma'am. She told me that how she maintained discipline each and every time, how perfectly she worked for us, this and that. Also our juniors who showed respect to us and they were just so good at decorating the farewell for us. Also they showed a lot of respect and courtesy to us, they were like, they are our seniors, while preparing for the farewell, they had that worried face, but after it was completed, they were all shining.

Band 6-7

The story which I hold dear to me and have listened to it through millions of times when I was a child. The story is about my pet dog who lived with my grandmother named Jimmy. He was a pet dog who encountered a monkey one day and he was badly beaten by him. My grandmother told me the story that when he encountered the monkey he started barking at him but the monkey instead of being scared he came to the dog and slapped him twice on his face. After that my dog who was a dramatic actor ran away from the house and came back two days later. I remember that story because the way my grandmother told me that was very funny and very engaging to me.

Band 6-7

When I was younger, my grandmother used to tell stories about her experiences to show her struggles and how she has matured to help build a foundation in my life of good morals. So she told me a story of her younger sister and there was a time when they used to run in the fields and play after school and go to this tiny shop, tiny sweet shop in the village where she lived and they used to buy two ice creams, popsicles or ice creams, and they used to share those two and she always used to specify the amount that she would pay and how it has changed now. Back then things were a lot less, costed a lot less. For example, she used to say that groceries back then were just 3 to 4 rupees worth of groceries, costed 3 to 4 rupees and would last for a month and now the groceries can cost up to 4,000 to 10,000 rupees for a month depending on the number of people you have in the family and she had her parents, she had two siblings, her and her younger sister and she always smiled at the end of the story because that is what

Band 6-7

My mother used to tell me lots of stories in my childhood. It not only enhanced my way of portraying it in my daily life, but it also made me the person who I am I was today. And the story is about seven fishes which are not dried under the sun or of one which was not dried under the sun. It contains interlinked explanation of the story which portrays that everything is interlinked in the nature. I remember it so much as my mother told me during my childhood because it's a most infrequent story many people had told me. And also it's a story which should be portrayed to the further generation. The main reason for choosing this story is that the moral nature of the story provides.

Band 6-7

As a kid, I used to read a lot of story books. These stories were mostly Panchatantra and Jataka tales. These stories are about animals narrating stories. It happens between animals. So the most amazing part of it is, the stories act like animals narrating or animals talking to each other, which is very fascinating. Because we only see humans talking, so we don't... As a child, I was curious about animals having a conversation, and that was something that kept on my toes. And I wanted to know more about it, and I kept reading a lot of Jataka tales and Panchatantra tales. These animal stories helped me learn morals and many other values. So I remember it fondly even today because I am a teacher. So when I teach these tales to my children, it resonates really well with me because it's been my childhood, and I've enjoyed reading all these kind of books during my childhood time. I fondly remember how I used to become one of the characters from those stories, and I used to even talk to dogs and cats, and it used to be one of my favorite memories. So still today, since it's become a part of my teaching career, I happily remember those sweet memories of mine.

Band 6-7

The story was about an old lady who had poisoned a young woman. This is actually said by my friend to me during an excursion trip. She have witnessed the incident also and the lady used to live far away from the village and no one used to take care of the lady. None of the villagers know where she actually came from and it's very difficult for them to trace her also. However, she used to slowly interact with the people and she started slowly socializing into the village and became the dearest of all children. Despite that, her envious cunning thoughts were still running in her mind. She thought of killing a child just to extract the serum and make her look younger. The most notorious or else the most disheartening statement she had ever told. The lady with the culprit plan inside had started collecting information about the child more and she also informed the child to come visit her frequently. The child, being innocent creature, believed the old lady and went back one day to see whether her beloved friend or beloved grandma is doing good or not. When she was about to enter the home, the old lady had surprised her with a small teddy bear. After all receiving gifts, the old lady fed her a meal in which she had chosen to mix the poison and the girl child died on the spot.

Band 6-7

Oh fuck! What is going on? What it was about? Today I am going to tell you about a story which was told by my grandmother. It was about the thirsty crow and it has many features and many moral values in it. It was about a thirsty crow. We all have read this story but as the topic is today that somebody told me, I will tell you this. So she told me that there was a thirsty crow who was very thirsty and he was finding water to drink. Somehow he saw a pot which was filled with water but it was halfly filled. When he came near to it, he tried to drink but his face was not up to the water level. He tried to drink it but he failed many times. After that he tried to put the stones in the water and somehow the water gets up and he drank the water. I got the value from it that we should never feel ourselves fail in something. We should try until we get success in something. So the story was very good that my grandmother told me and I always learn the moral things from that story in my life. If I am doing some work, I fail, I try again and again until I got success. So this is the story that my grandmother told me and I use the moral of it in my whole life.

Band 6-7

I always used to think of seven kings in a kingdom, which my grandmother used to tell me a story about all the seven kings and how they were like. I often used to read a lot of story books when I was a kid, mostly. My grandmom used to say these stories when I was going for bed and it used to be my daily routine. This story tells us a lot about how we should live in our lives and how we should pursue our studies and how we should be practising in what we are doing. I like the story mainly as it shows us how important it is for us to be a good human being. The experience which we get from these stories are very reliable and we use them to our daily routine and which can make our life better.
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