arrow back icon Top Answers

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.
Show all 35 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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    Tip

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

    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 >7

    I would like to recall the time when I got placed in a company called Epsilon right after college. Immediately after moving into the company, I met a wonderful team led by my manager. Everybody including the manager were very welcoming and I learned a lot of things from them. The things that I learned from them, which I would wish to recall are trying to finish your work within your deadline, having a fixed routine and consistency, also taking some time off from work in order to get relaxed, refresh yourself and following passion. All of my teammates were very welcoming and friendly towards me and they supported all of my decisions, even though some of them were quite absurd and very haphazard. So in this regard, I would I would also like to discuss about the fact that they were quite open with my hobbies. For example, I love playing badminton. So my teammates were quite encouraging and supportive to take time off work to enjoy and refresh. I also like to play the keyboard. So my teammates got me enrolled to a music club within the company. So all these factors are very memorable and help me inculcate good practice in me.

    Band 7

    I recollect that during my first reading of Dale Carnegie's masterpiece, How to Make Friends and Influence People, last year, during the month of April, I was completely taken aback and it was a pleasant surprise to know that a novel exists that can give me insights of how a human mind works and how can I be a better leader. It impacted my life in many positive ways. The first one being, I got the internship in the most prestigious incubation center run by Government of Gujarat itself called iHub or Innovation Hub. Furthermore, I got the license for organizing a TEDxLDCE event in my college. It was the first time in the history of my institute that a student was able to secure the license of a TED event. Moreover, I was able to build a community of startup and entrepreneurship enthusiasts across the state of Gujarat with more than 3,000 active members. I managed events like I was able to take proper control over all the people who were working with me. I understood the concept of how to treat a person and make them feel that they are working with me and not for me. This entire experience changed me completely as a human being.

    Band 7

    I know that a lot of times people view depression as something which has a very negative effect on others, but I think my depression shaped me in a very good way. I was 14 when I was first diagnosed with depression. I was going to therapy twice or thrice a week and I had my therapist with me. Going to therapy at such an early age, especially in the Indian context, helped me become a better person. It created a perspective that not a lot of my peers had access to. Basically, the therapist had taught me to separate my feelings and my understanding of the world and my thoughts. That had actually created a pathway to me becoming a better person in the future. I am able to regulate my emotions much better than a lot of people that were around me. It also made me understand that my family is going to be with me and support me for the first time. I had always thought that I am the black sheep of the family, but when I went through these episodes and my mom stayed with me during the entire session, sitting outside the clinical room that the therapy sessions were conducted in, I understood how dedicated my mom was, how supportive she was, and how understanding she was. That changed a lot in my life. Also because of that, I researched into a lot of topics like mental health, feminism, gender equality, etc.

    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

    so I would like to tell about something that changed in my life in good way is my decision to take out my bachelor's degree and my master's degree so as a person it changed my reputation and it gave me a value because it helped me to help and support other people to achieve their social and communication social communication life way better I work as a speech-language pathologist to help people communicate in various ways so initially during my bachelor time I was unaware of how I am going to help people because I was very new to the profession but during my days where I started learning about different areas where I can help people in communicating with different disorders I realized this is one of the best decision I've ever made in my life to help people and to myself because while I did my bachelor's degree it was a four-year course but it gave me a lot of experience and exposure towards human life or someone's social well-being and how it has been affected once your communication once you are not able to communicate so I would say it is one of the best thing that ever happened to me and it happened in 2013 that is when I took the decision so that's a wonderful thing that

    Band 6-7

    The time that changed my life, it happened in my 2023 when I was in second year of my college. So it was because in my first year I literally won no hackathons, but my constant dedication and hard work helped me in securing the technical knowledge of the tech stack of a project. Then in second year I started to participate with my classmates, my juniors and what I think when I started leading the project, we won few of the hackathons in my second year. So it was that point of time where my hard work that I have done in my first year actually paid off. So when you are in a hackathon, there is no such restriction on the age or maybe the years of the students who can participate in a hackathon. So when I am competing with seniors, it's always a pleasure to win a hackathon when you are competing with someone who has more experience than you and then too you are able to solve that problem. So it was a time it actually impacted me in good ways. It actually boosted my morale and it helped me to secure more wins and participate in two hackathons and open source project. So it was a momentum boost for me and I think dedication and time management is one good skill that I have actually learned in my first year. So whoever pays off hard work and efficiency would be able to change their lives in a good way. So just being dedicated helped me in good ways in 2022 to 2023.

    Band 6-7

    One thing that really changed my life in a good way was when I decided to start preparing to study abroad. It happened about a year ago when I begin researching master's program in geology. Before that I didn't have a clear direction. I was just going with the flow but once I made that decision everything became more focused. I started improving my English, preparing for IELTS and learning more about different universities. It gave me a strong sense of purpose and motivation to work harder. This changed me grow. This change helped me grow not just academically but also personally. I became more confident, independent and open-minded. I also started managing my time better because I had a clear goal. Overall it was really positive turning point for me because it helped me realize that I truly want to do in my career and made me more determined to achieve it.

    Band 6-7

    Changes play an important part in our life, it has become a part of everyone's life. Today I would like to express my experience that changed my life. Few years ago, when I was final year of high school, I was continuing applying to several universities. This process was very competitive, but I remained hopeful. Finally, one day I received an email for my dream university that I had been awarded a fully funded university that fund covered my all tuition fees and accommodation. I felt great and realized that I completed my dream, moreover, I was very excited and relieved. This news gave me much happiness. Me and my family who always supported me in my academic journey, I removed my huge burden on my parents' shoulders, furthermore, I also feel very better for that day. So I was able to start my education without any worries. Secondly, I focused on my study and it made my confidence, it is a turning point of my life of my dream university and it changed my life and I had set my path to achieve my dreams. So that time changed my life as well as my passion.

    Band 6-7

    I think the best thing that has changed my life would be the decision of getting my dog. One of my sister's friends offered us their dog and he was up for adoption and at that time we already had another dog and we didn't want to get another one. But, you know, it inspired all the reasons to not get one. We still decided to get one. He was black and I think about three months old when we caught him and I think it was in the year 2018, around the very end. And it was right before my exam, so my father was a little hesitant that it might be a distraction for me. But I think getting him has changed my life so much because he has been the sole reason of my joy for the past seven years. I train him every day. I see to that he eats all of the food. I gained so much knowledge and also empathy to dogs because I was closely able to monitor him. Because I was old enough to understand the needs of a dog and to take care of it by myself. And now that he lays on my bed, I feel very safe and nice. And I would say that an experience like this cannot be articulated properly into words because a dog really is a man's best friend. They are there for you when things get really hard and they feel like a ray of hope. And to me, my dog Thor is a silver lining in a dark storm. And he will always be the most, best, dissertation.

    Band 6-7

    A time that changed my life in a good way was when I started planning my days with a to-do list. This method really helped me a lot and saved me a lot of time. In the early morning, I list out two or three important tasks in the paper or phone and make the one important task as my top priority. Whenever I complete a task, I tick it off, so by using to-do list, I feel more organized and encouraged to continue the task. Whenever I feel distracted or confused, I just check my to-do list and do the task accordingly. By doing this, I constantly save my time by making decisions. Moreover, I feel more focused and confident and help me to focus on other stuff like indoor or outdoor games. By doing to-do list, it saved me a lot of time and I had best moments with my family. Whenever I feel forgotten, I just check my to-do list.
    1 2 3 4
    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