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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.
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.

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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

    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
    anonymous person icon

    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

    Experience that changed my life in good ways was the time when I had my first board examinations. Not really the board examination but journey throughout the preparation of it. So, for that I had to sacrifice so many things and I learnt that sacrifices are a part of life. That time of my life, I realized a lot of things and it changed my life. So, during my board examinations, during the preparation, the journey throughout, I like disappeared from the world. I sacrificed so so many things like my comfort, my friends, my family time, everything. Just locked up in the room, studying and studying. Then when I got my results, I realized that to get something, to earn something, you have to lose something. Sacrifices are a part of life. Even heaven demands death. So, yes, we have to sacrifice in order to achieve something big. We cannot get everything just like that.

    Band 6-7

    One of the most important time which changed everything in my life is when I met a patient named Mr. Devendra Nath Singh. I met sir when I was at Hamsa Rehabilitation Centre last year. It was during March 2024 where the patient was admitted post spinal cord injury and he was there for his own rehabilitation. I being an occupational therapist had to intervene to rehabilitate him to get back to his daily living skills and to improve his quality of life. Along with that I was working on improving his strength, vigility and also to improve his wheelchair skills. My interaction with him began slowly and I gradually discovered that he is a very close friend of a person. He had a lot of anger issues initially because he is an old man so he had much difficulty with adapting to the Hamsa standards. There were a lot of flexibility issues initially which had posed a lot of difficulty in rehabilitation but I must say he gradually cooperated well and he opened up. I came to know about a wide range of topics like how to deal with persons and what is the nature of a person's personality and how to adapt accordingly. All these things he taught me and all the life lessons he has taught me from his extensive knowledge actually helped me to become a better version of myself and I will be forever grateful for this achievement.

    Band 6-7

    It was a morning of 20th August 2020 when I was struggling to get a job from past six months. But on 20th of August, I got a call from a school I have applied for, I have given interview and they called me up and they said that you are selected and you can join from tomorrow. I was elated over the moon because I wasn't expecting that call and that the feeling at that time was next level. I was in cloud nine when I heard that I am selected, though at first I was really nervous when I signed up for this particular post because I have been told that you do not get through, it's not easy to get through this job, but I still gave it a try because I believe trying is nothing wrong in it, when you try, when you work hard for something you always wanted. So this dream job was something which changed my life. I had waited for this particular time for a very, very long time. The emotion I felt was something I am not able to express in words at that time. So it was a next level that changed my life in a better, better way.

    Band 6-7

    There was a time when I was sitting at my house, just casually rummaging through all the movies that I had prepared to watch, because it was a Sunday and that's what you're supposed to do, right? You're supposed to chill. So I was going through all the movies that I'm supposed to watch, and I found this one specifically significant picture that was standing out of the line. It was called Love in the Big City. Love in the Big City is a story about a guy in a big city who's foraging through all the people in his life. He's going through life experiences, hardships, his mother's cancer, family hardships, friends, and it just showed me a new perspective. It opened a gateway for me. It showed me that there are people out there in the world who will come and hurt you, but you're not supposed to let them affect you in any way. You're supposed to fight them, to face it, not to run away from it, and that is what that show has taught me. This life lesson has been so prevalent in my life that I have been following it since the day I landed my eyes on that show.

    Band 6-7

    Undoubtedly from my childhood to this complex era, I have a lot of things happened in my life that changed my life a lot, but not always in a only good way, as life is never a bed of roses and all, for always. But one period of time in my childhood that I remember was when I got admission in different schools because of some personal issues, I got admission in Punjab or education school and after changing my schools, I have, I will learn about a lot of things, about social skills also, because I am a very introvert person and I do not like to speak a lot with others, but having, facing a lot of problems and doing and having through a lot of environment, different kind of environment, it helps me a lot to change my behavior and now I am not a type of, now I am become an ambivalent person, but if there is a, there is a need to speak of, there is a need, if I have to speak, then I usually speak without any kind of hesitation and after that kind of thing, I become confident and it builds me to speak aloud and do not makes me feeling so much of, feeling my thoughts in my heart and it changed my life in a very good way, as after that I become a good communicator and I am aware of a lot of social skills and it may become easy for me to communicate with each other and I got a lot of knowledge and experience after changing that kind of, after changing my school and

    Band 6-7

    I would like to tell about getting admission in NFSU, National Forensic Science University. It changed my life in a good way. I was able to go to North India for the first time. I was from South Kerala, so I got an opportunity to go to North India. I also got an opportunity to study with students from different regions in India and also from abroad. I was able to see teachers who were working in higher positions in Indian legal system. Also, our guest lecturers were very professional people who have a higher position in their working field. Especially, our university was a forensic science university, so people who worked in forensic science background used to come to our department and also conducted workshops on various topics such as EEG, BIOS, and polygraphy. I was able to get to know more things, get information, and was able to interact with people from different parts of the world and people who work in different fields. It was a great experience and it helped me, changed me.

    Band 6-7

    Thank you for asking me such an interesting question. Today I would like to talk about an experience that has changed my life. That experience is, I would say, being born again. That was one experience that changed my life. This happened back in the year 2000, when I was in my 10th standard. At that time, I was searching for the one true God, and I was searching for answers. Then I started reading the Bible, and then I found Jesus Christ. I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior back in the year 2000. I said the sinner's prayer, and He came into my heart. And since then, life has been awesome. I've had several struggles in my life, I admit. But He has taken me safely through this journey. So that was something that has awesome happened in my life. My name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And in Christ, I have conquered, I have the victory. So that being saved and your name written in heaven, I think that is the greatest moment of, you know, that was a wonderful moment in my life. And it has really changed my life. I began to walk with Christ. I began to live in a way that pleases God. And thanks to the fact that I got to know Jesus from a young age, I didn't make many of the mistakes that youngsters at my age make. So I'm really proud that I've come to know Jesus Christ. And it has changed my life. And I've come through, I have faced many obstacles in my life. And because of my faith, because of my faith in Christ, I was able to overcome every obstacle, big and small. So that gives me, that gives me

    Band 6-7

    Well, there are a lot of incidents in my life which changed my life in numerous ways, but the one which I recall currently is the failure which I got after my 12th class. Actually, it was related to my J joint entrance examination. I have failed to secure a good rank in that particular exam due to which I have left my studies as I was feeling a lot of depressed and in result of this, I started playing cricket as I felt that I am no longer good in studies. Moreover, I was not able to achieve any good in that particular examination whereas most of my friends did good in that exam. In addition to this, each and every day, I start questioning myself. I felt totally depressed and to be honest, I started feeling that I am not capable to live in this world, but after sometime, I started playing cricket, but one day I came to realize that one of my friend was playing cricket, but he was saying that I can improve in certain areas so that I can become a good cricketer and from there, I realized that I was also good in some areas in my life, but I can do something better and not to be depressed, but I can do something better so that I can achieve more. So, again I have started my studies and I cleared the examination with a very good rank.

    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 change in my life in good ways is that my higher studies, when I was in my schooling I did my schooling in 12th elementary class and for my higher studies I have moved to another school that is Lambert school there, that was a new school and new experience for me, I don't have friends there. My class teacher, he was taking commerce and accounts, he was very encouraging, he was very encouraged me to learn new things and he supported me and guided me in a proper way. So, in that case I can, I am average student but by his coaching I have become more knowledgeable person and I have been supported, I have been learning new things and he encouraged me a lot. So, after that I will get good marks in my school, in my exams, after that I got a school 4th in my public exam, so that was the good changes in my life. After that I got the placement in college and completed my BBA, after that I did my BG in University of Madras, overall that was good experience, with the basement of this studies with the help of my sir I have become more knowledgeable. After that I got a good job in auditor office, for the past 17, 2017 to 2024 I have worked as an accountant.
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