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Describe a time when someone apologized to you: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When it was
  • Who this person is
  • Why he/she apologized to you
  • And how you felt about it
Show all 43 answers

Cue 1:When it was

  • Mention the specific time or occasion when the apology took place.
  • Provide context about what was happening in your life at that moment.

Example

It was about six months ago, during the festive season of Diwali. I was busy preparing for the celebrations and was quite stressed with all the arrangements.

Cue 2:Who this person is

  • Introduce the person who apologized and explain your relationship with them.
  • Share a little background about this person to give context.

Example

The person who apologized was my younger brother, Rohan. We have a close relationship, and he often looks up to me for guidance, especially during important family events.

Cue 3:Why he/she apologized to you

  • Clearly state the reason for the apology and what led to it.
  • Explain how the situation affected you and why the apology was necessary.

Example

Rohan apologized because he had forgotten to buy the sweets I had asked him to get for our Diwali celebration. This was important to me as it was a tradition in our family, and I felt disappointed when I realized he hadn’t done it.

Cue 4:And how you felt about it

  • Describe your feelings when he apologized and how it impacted your relationship.
  • Reflect on whether you accepted the apology and how it made you feel afterward.

Example

When Rohan apologized, I felt a mix of frustration and understanding. I knew he didn’t mean to let me down, and his sincere apology made me feel appreciated. I accepted his apology, and it actually brought us closer as we laughed about it later while preparing for the festivities together.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, receiving an apology from my brother not only resolved the tension but also strengthened our bond. It reminded me of the importance of communication and understanding in relationships, especially during busy times like festivals.

    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: Avoid Vague Responses

    Giving vague or unclear answers can make it difficult for the examiner to understand your experience. Specific details help create a clearer picture of the situation.

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    Tip

    Include specific details about the time, the person, and the reason for the apology to make your response more engaging.

    2: Neglecting Emotions

    Failing to express your feelings about the apology can make your answer less impactful. Emotions add depth to your story and show your personal connection to the experience.

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    Tip

    Describe how you felt at the moment of the apology and how it affected your relationship with the person.

    Overly Long Responses

    Providing overly long or complicated answers can confuse the listener and dilute your main points. Clarity and conciseness are key in speaking tests.

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    Tip

    Practice summarizing your story in a clear structure: when it happened, who was involved, why they apologized, and your feelings.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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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    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

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    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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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

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    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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    Anonymous student Band 7

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    Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

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    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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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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

    This apology happened around six months ago. An acquaintance of mine whom I would not like to name apologized to me. This happened when we were taking part together in a hackathon arranged by our college. She is a classmate of mine. She apologized to me because our opinions were conflicting and she ended up arguing with me. I simply did not want to argue with her because after all collaboration is important for any team to succeed. But then she was upset about other things and she ended up lashing out on this occasion. Her apology was sincere and when I listened to it I was willing to put the past behind us and move forward towards the success that we wanted from this hackathon. Again I am not a very grudgeful person so naturally I accept apologies and I try to put it behind and establish friendships that will sustain in the long run.

    Band 6-7

    Well, a month ago, my younger sister and I, we both had a disagreement on a particular topic and we were arguing on that. At some point she yelled at me and I got very angry because I was older one and I helped her in many situations, but when she yelled at me, I was shocked. I was shocked and I was very upset. So I tried to make a distance from her and I also blocked her in my mobile, blocked her message, blocked her call. However, after some time, when we met in person, she apologized to me and I melted down and forgot what happened and I gave an apology to her and we again bonded each other like before.

    Band 6-7

    Back in 9th grade, I had this one friend, Umama. We already passed our 7 years of being together and being a supporter and each other's companion. Although she did have one kind of issue with me as in my personality, it was that she always thought that I never apologized to her. And usually when we ever get into any kind of altercation or fights, it would be her ending up coming back to me and asking for me to let's patch up and bury the past in the past. But however the time goes by, she wasn't okay with how she always had to stand up. And then eventually this fight came in our path where we stopped communicating for long. It went weeks and that's when I realized, oh yeah, I'm missing this person. In the sense that her presence and the hollowness that came after she left, it literally were like pins and needles to me. I didn't know how to figure out everything so I instantly went back to her and apologized and started crying and sobbing. Although it took an emotional toll on me, I knew that I needed her as my friend for long. I know that I had some personality issues and it stemmed from my trauma, but I was grateful that I had a friend like her who still tried to understand me.

    Band 6-7

    Okay, so it was about a trip to Delhi. I was 16 years old and we, me and my friend Kanishk, had a plan to go to Delhi. It was a poetry show there. We were going by the train and on the railway station, I found a woman. Her name was Daraksha and she was not able to, you know, get the tickets. She was not able to find the platform basically. So I went to her and I said her that, may I help you and can I help you with the tickets and the platform? So she misunderstood about my intentions and was running away from me, but then I helped her forcefully.

    Band 6

    Well here I would like to describe an incident just a few days ago when I was about to leave the house for attending a wedding of my relative and when I crossed the road there is someone driving a bike just hit to me and I stopped that time I felt scared scary when I moved towards him he was very well known to me and he said sorry aunty I didn't mean to hurt you but coincidentally it occurs I he I forgave him and asked him to please take care of your driving style and don't try to over cross anybody please take care.

    Band 6

    It was my hometown. My hometown, we have one fellowship, women fellowship group. Two years ago, they organized one party, they organized one function, so they, the women fellowship community leader, she gave me one topic to give message. That time, I accepted her invite and I started to prepare some materials to give message. That time, another woman, Reena, her name is Reena, she is a second manager, second manager of that fellowship group and also she is an accountant. She rejected my invite because she thought I didn't give message properly. So, she said that to reject my option. But my fellowship leader, women fellowship leader, she believed me, I gave proper and effective message. That day, when my time come, I started to give message and firstly, I give her topic message and additionally, I add some personal experience because that time I felt very sick and I believe God and I do prayer, I did my prayer to cure my health issues. I need to, I wanted to, I wanted to connect with that because it was also a worship message. It was perfectly, it was perfectly connect with my personal experience. So, additionally, I add my personal experience. It was too effective with others.

    Band 6

    I'm not able to think the time at the moment if someone had to apologize to me but if this situation will occur then I'll help to them and I'll give apologies to him sure because apology it should be a nature of a human being because if we will not make mistake how we will realize that which is wrong and right so I think it should be your nature to know I mean to apologies to other because the same thing will happen with us I mean can happen with us but what will I do I mean if we will not apology we will not give apologies to him how we will expect that we will also get apologies to other I mean so that's it

    Band 6

    In the beginning of my third year, during my degree, I had a fight with my friend. I remember it like it was yesterday. She lashed out on me due to a small issue with a simple solution. We had campus interviews going on during that time, and I had her resume and I had to bring it the next day. But I couldn't bring it to the campus as I was injured. The day of the interview is when my eyes started bleeding out. I was shocked and scared. My parents immediately took me to the urgent care unit in one of the nearby hospitals. The bleeding was due to one of my allergies that had taken place overnight. When I came the next day, she lashed out at me and she said that it was just a small bruise and I should have taken it lightly and sent her her resume either way, which hurt me deeply. After that argument, I hadn't spoken to her for a while, and she realized her mistake, which is when she approached me and apologized for doing so. She regretted talking to me that way and not understanding my side of the story, and when she did, I was glad that she came and apologized to me. Because it shows that she finally understood what it means to be a friend.

    Band 6

    In recent times, I am tall, like I am 6 foot. In recent times, one of my friend, whom I meet online, he don't know that I am 6 foot tall. When I told him that I am 6 foot tall, he make fun of me. When I am back and time flies, we met one day and he suddenly realized that I was not joking to him and I am actually 6 foot 4 inch tall. He immediately apologized me and I also felt like not happy but I don't know at that time what the emotion was. I told him that don't worry, I forgive you that if you are my friend, you can make fun of me but you should not cross the limit. You have to be in your own place and never body shame others or me and he felt that and I was happy with him.

    Band 6

    Yeah, there was a memory which is still fresh, when one of my most dearest friend said me sorry, but the reason is not that odd or awkward I can say, because it is absolutely fresh as of the moment, today we are good friends, but that moment actually when that incident happens, when he actually met an accident and then said me sorry, for no reason it would be, if you closely watch the story, then he actually made a fault by throwing me off and when I actually fell off and equally I injured, but he also met an accident. So that was in short, that time we were in grade 8 and there was a small brawl fight between us, yeah, and there was, I distantly remember there was some exchange of arguments in our home and finally today we are grown up and we are studying in the same institute, one of the most reputed institute in Mumbai and that is ICT, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and there we both are graduating and we are now very good friends to each other and then having drawn that past memory in our mind, that is always keeping us very tight, so the relationship has been very good.
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