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Describe a time that something changed your life in good ways: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When and where it happened?
  • What happened?
  • How you felt about it?
  • And explain how it changed your life in good ways.
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14 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 14 answers

Cue 1:When and where it happened?

  • Begin by setting the scene with a specific time and place that is significant to you.
  • Mention any relevant details that make the moment memorable.

Example

It was in the summer of 2019, during my final year of college, when I attended a motivational seminar in my city. The event was held at a local auditorium, filled with students eager to learn about personal development.

Cue 2:What happened?

  • Describe the key event or moment that had a profound impact on you.
  • Include any specific speakers or activities that stood out during the event.

Example

During the seminar, a renowned speaker shared his journey of overcoming failures and achieving success. He emphasized the importance of resilience and self-belief, which really struck a chord with me. His story inspired me to rethink my own approach to challenges.

Cue 3:How you felt about it?

  • Express your emotions during and after the event, highlighting any changes in your mindset.
  • Share how the experience resonated with your personal aspirations.

Example

I felt a surge of motivation and hope as I listened to him. It was as if a light bulb went off in my head, and I realized that I had been too afraid to pursue my dreams. I left the seminar feeling empowered and ready to take action.

Cue 4:And explain how it changed your life in good ways.

  • Discuss the specific changes you made in your life following the event.
  • Highlight any positive outcomes that resulted from these changes.

Example

After the seminar, I decided to start my own small business while completing my studies. This experience taught me valuable lessons in entrepreneurship and time management. It not only boosted my confidence but also opened up new opportunities for me, leading to a successful venture that I continue to manage today.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, that seminar was a turning point in my life. It taught me the importance of resilience and pursuing my passions. The positive changes I made have not only shaped my career but also my outlook on life, making me more determined and optimistic about the future.

    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: Lack of Specific Details

    Avoid being vague or general in your response. Specific details make your story more engaging and relatable, helping the examiner understand your experience better.

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    Tip

    Include specific names, dates, and locations to create a vivid picture of your experience.

    2: Neglecting Emotional Impact

    Do not overlook how the experience made you feel. Emotions are key to connecting with your audience and showing the significance of the change.

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    Tip

    Share your feelings during and after the event to highlight its importance in your life.

    Failing to Connect to Life Changes

    Avoid missing the link between the event and the positive changes in your life. Clearly explaining this connection is crucial for a complete answer.

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    Tip

    Outline specific ways your life improved, such as new opportunities or personal growth, to demonstrate the impact of the change.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

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    Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

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    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 7

    An event that changed my life in good ways is my marriage. I got married two years ago in Kolkata which is my hometown. It was the best day of my life because finally after 12 years of being together my girlfriend and I were finally tying the knot in front of our families and friends. It was a very beautiful and meaningful point in my life where I knew that nothing would be the same and it will all change for the better. It made me feel nervous in a good way. I was a bit foolish at times after that because I was still adjusting to my role as a husband. But now looking back I realized that they were nothing but jitters that got out of my system. I also realized that I could not have found a better companion for me other than my wife. She's absolutely amazing. She makes each and every day worth it.

    Band 6-7

    That would be about two years ago, when I moved schools. I didn't really know anyone in the new school that I moved to, which made it really hard to connect with other people. However, since I moved to that school, it was quite effortless for me to make connections and engage with other people. There weren't really a lot of welcoming students there, but the people that I am currently building a relationship with are very close to me. And they make the whole experience feel more comfortable. I love meeting genuine people.

    Band 6

    The time that changed my life happens in 2018 and it happens in my home. In 2018 I have many ideas in my mind for my future such as going to private sector like bank sector or software industry. On the other hand other thoughts are there as well like getting a government job in various sectors like railways, central government jobs, SSC and state government jobs. At that time I take one serious decision to make my life to be in government sector to prepare for exams and get a job. This decision changed my life as in the span of one year only I got a government job in 2019. I felt very happy about the time in 2018 where I took the decision. It changed my life like to get respect from the society and moreover my punctuality is increased very well.

    Band 6

    A situation which transformed my life is when I decided to come out of my comfort zone to be a volunteer in a local area. I was a volunteer, I am basically a shy and reserved type person but when I came into this position, I engaged in some activities with children and also taught some literacy things to adults. This gave me some insights and also I realized that even small actions can impact in someone's life. This also was a very beautiful experience for me, it taught me different situations in each one's life.

    Band 6

    Something that happened recently that changed my life for good is I got a job in Bangalore for like two years. And I had to live in Bangalore, I had to make a life out in Bangalore and I had to do it all by myself, alone. And this is something that was extremely new to me because I've always been brought up in a very pampered environment. My parents gave me everything at my feet and hence it was difficult. This thought of living by myself and making a living out of it by myself was a very foreign thought for me. It kind of scared me but when I lived there, when I started doing it all by myself, I made new friends. I saw obstacles in life that I was supposed to be handling it by myself and try to get out of it. Of course I had my parents' help but everything, doing it on your own was something that I learned and I'm very proud about it. My dad always, he usually kept me in a place where I learn a lot. He never stopped me from doing anything but he also tended to protect me from bigger situations. But this time he let me go, he let me stay, live in a different place and that kind of gave me a lot of push. In Kannada there is a saying that says, Desha, Suthu, Kosha, Odu. It means that roam the place, roam countries and learn their living and their lifestyle. So it kind of helped me to improve myself, my mindset and my decision making skills. I think it was one of the life changing decisions that I took and it turned out to be a great decision and got touched with. I'm glad.

    Band 6

    It was happening back in 2019, the year I joined in my bachelor's degree. After the COVID hit, both my parents lost their jobs. After that, it was a crucial time for financial and emotional burden for my family. Then I got a part-time job in a restaurant. That changed my entire life because I used to roam like an idiot with no tension of future. At that time, we had a financial thing that I had to work and I had to bring bread. I had to be a breadwinner and take some money to home and feed our family. That changed my life entirely and my way of thinking, perspective. There are more of the things that changed, especially about my future. I started thinking about my future and correcting my studies. I have a lot of time that I could not describe.

    Band 6

    There is good and bad times in every human life, because I believe that it's part of life. However, I would like to discuss a good thing happened to my life, which changed my life so much. It happened when I completed my post-graduate studies from St Louis to Punjab, where I was simply sitting like looking for a job, attending interviews and anything, any interview I didn't pass to the third round, which is an interview round, I just stuck between first stage and second stage, which HR interviews. So I applied to an institute called ICSSR for internship program, I attended the interview in the month of September, so I believe that, I thought that I didn't pass the interview, so that's why I didn't get the following up, following up sections, then I waited for two months, then I got the mail that you are, you got the internship, so you have to join in 15 days. So that day, it changed my life upside down, and I discussed with the parents, like I got the internship, can I go, usually they just deny, like to go far from home, but that day, they agreed to the decision that I'm going to internship, which is there on the top, that's it.

    Band 6

    So today I will talk about the time that I think that has changed my life. So after completing my 12th standard, I prepared for a medical entrance exam in my country. But due to some reasons, I performed not so well in that exam. So I failed in that exam. I got very less marks. I was not able to get any medical college in my budget. So I was very sad at that time. And I have taken a year of drop for the preparation of exam. So one year of my life was wasted. But fortunately, I have applied for some other exam which is related to agricultural field. So I appeared for that exam, although I was not sure whether I will be performing good or not. But as my family also said that I should give a try. So I gave that exam and luckily I got selected. So that was the time which I think I was very sad and negative at that time. But still I gave that exam and got selected and get a very high ranked agricultural university in which I have done my graduation. So I think that in everybody's life, there is a time which decides the future of a person, whether it will be good or bad. So this was the time when my future was changed.

    Band 6

    So growing up I wasn't a very bright student and I wasn't academically well as well so I used to fail in few of my subjects so I'd like to talk about one of the events which has changed my life completely in a good way is that when I started going to this one tuition center so I was taught maths and English by this nice lady named Shruti ma'am. So Shruti ma'am helped me gain my self-confidence and gave me tricks and tips to study well so I think that's something I cherish a lot about her and I feel like that helped me change as a person made me very confident when I was seeking for academic validation as well it made me very secure about myself when I was getting good grades because that's something I was really good at and it made me feel very nice and I think it changed me in a very good way because it changed the way I look at life because there is something I am good at so

    Band 6

    Well, I'm a person who don't get easily influenced by the things around me, but there was a time when I definitely got something that changed my mind and made me a more controlled person by myself, not others. And it was an event a few months back in November. It was my college fate. I was given a chance to be a part of a debate competition. I'm a person who always get in a hurry for things, even for food, for going anywhere, and I just mess up everything. I used to mess up everything, now not. Then my teacher practiced me to be a controlled person, and it was really very hard to listen to someone for a long period of time, but I listened. Initially, it was very hard for me to be the part of that preparation, but I took near about one month to prepare that. Eventually, on the day of the competition, I was really very scared, scared because of people. I even have done that thing before, handling the stage and talking to people and giving speeches, but it was something that I was prepared, and I was really scared. I had a number of thoughts in my mind, but when I began, I forgot everything on the stage, but I could cover everything by my mental strength. Unfortunately, I was the winner of that competition. After winning that competition, everything changed in my life in a positive way. Even teachers, review lecturers, review parents, my students, my friends, everyone just looked at me with proud eyes, so it was an event that changed my life in a happy way.
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