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Describe a time when missed or were late for an important meeting/event: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When it happened?
  • What happened?
  • Why you missed/were late for it?
  • And explain how you felt about this experience.
Show all 37 answers

Cue 1:When it happened?

  • Start by specifying the date and time of the event to provide context.
  • Mention the location of the meeting or event to give a clear picture.

Example

It was on a rainy Monday morning last month when I was supposed to attend an important team meeting at the office at 10 AM.

Cue 2:What happened?

  • Describe the events leading up to the meeting to create a narrative.
  • Include any specific incidents that contributed to the situation.

Example

I had planned everything the night before, but as I was getting ready, I realized I had misplaced my car keys. I spent nearly 30 minutes searching for them, which made me late.

Cue 3:Why you missed/were late for it?

  • Explain the reasons for your delay in a straightforward manner.
  • Reflect on any external factors that may have contributed to the situation.

Example

I was late because of my own oversight in keeping my keys in a designated spot. The rain also made the roads congested, which added to my delay.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt about this experience.

  • Share your emotions regarding the experience to make it relatable.
  • Discuss any lessons learned or changes you made afterward.

Example

I felt embarrassed and anxious when I finally arrived, as I hate being late. This experience taught me to be more organized and to prepare for such situations in advance.

Conclusion

  • Summarize the key points of your experience succinctly.
  • Reflect on how this incident has impacted your approach to time management.

Example

In conclusion, being late for that meeting was a wake-up call for me. I now prioritize being punctual and have set reminders to avoid similar situations in 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: Vague Responses

Providing vague or unclear answers can make your response less engaging and informative. It may leave the examiner confused about your experience.

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Tip

Be specific about the details of the event, including exact times and circumstances to create a clearer picture.

2: Lack of Emotion

Failing to express how you felt about the experience can make your answer seem flat. Emotions help to connect with the listener.

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Tip

Share your feelings honestly, whether it was frustration, embarrassment, or regret, to add depth to your response.

Ignoring the Cues

Neglecting to address all the cues can lead to an incomplete answer. This may affect your fluency and coherence scores.

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Tip

Make sure to cover each cue systematically, ensuring you explain when it happened, what occurred, and why you were late.

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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

A memorable time when I was late for an important event happened about a year ago, during one of my major university presentations, it was an important assessment, and my group had been preparing for weeks. I was responsible for delivering the introduction, which meant I had to be there on time. On the morning of the presentation, things went wrong one after another. Just as I was about to leave home, the electricity suddenly went off. Because of that, I couldn't book a cab. The Wi-Fi stopped working, and our mobile data was barely functioning. After struggling for almost 15 minutes, I finally managed to find an auto rickshaw. Unfortunately, halfway to the university, we got stuck in usually heavy traffic caused by a minor accident. I kept changing the time, and I kept checking the time anxiously, but there was nothing I could do. By the time I reached the campus, I was already around 10 minutes late. I rushed into the classroom, completely breathless, and saw that my teammates had already started presenting without me. Even though they handled the situation well, I could clearly sense the stress on their faces. My professor allowed me to join midway, but missing the opening part was quite embarrassing. To conclude, this event happened about a year ago, and I ended up missing the beginning of my group presentation. I felt extremely embarrassed, guilty, and anxious at the same time.

Band 6

It was a Sunday morning when I had a meeting scheduled at 11 o'clock at the local society meet for an upcoming event that was to be held in the month of December. So all the members were requested to come by 11 or atleast by 11.30 and as you can see I was not exactly late, I don't know what I was saying. It was a Sunday morning and I had a meeting scheduled at 11 o'clock in the morning. As my usual Sunday routine, I woke up late. I was late by atleast half an hour, I was running late in my schedule by half an hour and I had to rush the entire routine, getting ready, running to the meeting spot. I was, fortunately the meeting had not been begun, so I got the time to be seated and not get scolded for being late or anything but it made me realize that I should start working more on how I managed my time, especially on non-productive days like Sundays because usually Sundays are my reset day and I do not quite make any plans other than recreational plans with my friends or my family like going for an outing or going to eat out at a restaurant, something like, something that makes me feel relaxed. So usually there are no meetings scheduled on Sundays but as it is an event to be held in the next month, I had to be present for the meeting as I was a part of the organizing committee.

Band 6

Hi, actually I missed a very important meeting when I was in university, that is when I was in college and it was an important meeting conducted during the RAVE that is Rural Agriculture Work Experience and it was at 10 am on the morning and I was late because I didn't get a bus and I woke up late on that day. It was a very horrible experience and I felt very bad when I reached late because it was a very important meeting where many famous professors and everything was attended there and yeah, that's it. I know that I should not miss any meeting anymore. I will be right on time. I need punctuality. Punctuality is very important in life. Without punctuality, you will not be able to do anything or focus in your life. So, punctuality is very important and

Band 6

So in the month of January 2025, I had an international leaver. It was, I think, Jeddah. So I missed that flight because I couldn't reach on time because there was a lot of traffic and the cab driver, he came late and I couldn't be there for that flight. But I really wanted to go on that leaver as my, like one of my friends, she was in that flight with me and we were so happy.

Band 6

Well, I'm very punctual person. I always like to organize things on time. And I also like to be very organized person. Here I would like to talk about one such about a time when I missed an important meeting. It was two years ago when I was applying for my new passport. And I get appointment for that event online. I booked appointment online. It was scheduled that Monday at 10am. But I noted down it on paper, but I did not set a proper reminder for it. It was two years ago when I booked online appointment. Due to my hectic schedule, I did not have much time to rely on my memory to keep things in mind. There are two reasons why I missed it. First one is I am really working hard on my class presentation for my final year at college. And apart from it, I also prepared for myself a two-part family trip. So this was a juggling. So I had it out of my mind. I completely forget about it.

Band 6

Firstly, when I recently joined a company called Quadrant Technologies, in the first few days only I got into this situation. So I felt very bad. It is like, on the Sunday, I went to my friend's sister's wedding, and in the early morning I came late to the office, and in meanwhile, while traveling in the bus, my manager called me what happened to me, and asked what happened to me, and why the late, since it is the starting days of my company, I felt very nervous, very nervous, thinking about what happened to my job, and will they terminate me, will they terminate me, or will they cut my salary, and these are the things going into my mind, but after going into the company, I felt some days, I felt 2-3 days like this only, then after that, nobody asked about this incident, and manager also didn't care about this, so I felt that don't think much, and I felt okay, and I made this incident on like past, about past one year, thank you for giving this figure, for describing my past event.

Band 6

It all happened when I was in class 3rd. I was late for my school as I was participating in a cross-country run. I was just late because I had to go to school but my class was late and I just entered the class half an hour late. The teacher scolded me but at that day I realized that being late is a sign of impunctuality and disturbance and unserious mindset which is not good. So I just thought to improve myself and till date I am never late for any meeting or not even a friends gathering or a get-together because I know the value of time. That incident still lasts with me and that is a really bad thing to be late because you have to value time and if you value time, time will value you and that is the most important thing in the world because time is equal to money. If you will not have time, you will not have money and if you will not have money, you will not have time. So yeah, that incident has still stayed in my heart and I guess that was a learning for me or maybe a lesson that had to come at that age so that my teenage years and adulthood years are really good. Thank you.

Band 6

I would like to talk about a time when I was late for an important event which was my graduation ceremony that occurred a few months back and it was raining heavily that day and we were already late for the event and during the travel our car got broke and due to heavy rain all the electricity line was on the road and all the trees fell down blocking the roads so we couldn't take our car and move further it took a lot of time in conducting all the fire stations and electricity board purpose to move out the trees and electricity lines and cables it was very dangerous and I was very nervous and very sad thinking that I will miss that event and it was an important occasion in my life as I was graduating from my college as a B.Pharm graduate I also had an award ceremony for being topper in my class and I thought that I would not be able to collect my award but luckily we were on time and I was very happy that I could collect my graduation certificate from my professor and everyone seemed very happy and I was very happy that I could meet all my friends after the ceremony.

Band 6

So, one of the most important meeting I missed was the orientation meeting. It actually happened 2 years ago when I am new to the city. I actually travelled from my hometown to this city for job purpose. I actually missed the orientation session on the first day of my job because I woke up late. I really missed the orientation where I can meet the new peers and colleagues. I don't even know the experience. I missed the part where people get to introduce themselves and the tour of the campus. So, I really felt very bad when I missed that experience. I shouldn't have been late in the first place. That is how I felt.

Band 6

I would like to talk about an occasion that I feel I felt really terrible last month I was last month I I went for an interview in a bus in a public service and on the way the bus broken down the passengers panicked passengers panicked I felt really anxious because there was only one hour left for my interview in addition there are many things to do when I reach the interview destination and finally I couldn't attend the meeting it was not my mistake I think I believe moreover it's the mistake of the authorities in in my country it's their responsibility to take care of the road the roads are roads are really bad in our hometown so it's very difficult to travel through that and on on that day it was a heavy rain and traffic heavy rain and traffic so I can't get on time authority should take care of the situations and they should not allow such vehicles to vehicles to pass through that road
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