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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 38 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

    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
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    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

    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.

    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
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