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Describe a time when someone asked for your opinion: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who asked for your opinion?
  • Why he/she wanted to know your opinion?
  • What opinion you gave?
  • And explain how you felt when he/she asked for your opinion.
Show all 39 answers

Cue 1:Who asked for your opinion?

  • Introduce the person who asked for your opinion, mentioning your relationship with them.
  • Provide some context about the situation that led them to seek your advice.

Example

My younger sister, Priya, asked for my opinion. She was considering which college to apply to after finishing her high school. Since I had gone through the same process a few years ago, she thought I could help her make a decision.


Cue 2:Why he/she wanted to know your opinion?

  • Explain the reason behind their request for your opinion.
  • Mention any specific concerns or questions they had that prompted them to ask you.

Example

Priya wanted to know my opinion because she was feeling overwhelmed by the choices available. She was particularly unsure about whether to pursue engineering or a degree in arts, and she wanted to hear my thoughts on the pros and cons of each path.


Cue 3:What opinion you gave?

  • Clearly state the advice or opinion you provided.
  • Include any personal experiences or insights that supported your opinion.

Example

I advised her to follow her passion rather than just choosing a popular field. I shared my own experience of studying engineering, explaining how it was a good fit for me but might not be the same for her. I encouraged her to consider what subjects she enjoyed the most and to think about her long-term career goals.


Cue 4:And explain how you felt when he/she asked for your opinion.

  • Describe your feelings about being asked for your opinion.
  • Reflect on the importance of your relationship and how it made you feel valued.

Example

When Priya asked for my opinion, I felt honored and appreciated. It made me realize that she valued my experience and trusted my judgment. I was happy to help her navigate such an important decision in her life.


Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, being asked for my opinion by my sister was a meaningful experience. It not only strengthened our bond but also allowed me to share my insights and support her in making an important life choice. I believe that sharing opinions can help others feel more confident in their decisions.


    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: Giving Vague Responses

    Avoid being too general or vague in your answers. This can make your response less engaging and informative, which may lead to a lower score.

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    Tip

    Provide specific details about the situation, including names, places, and emotions to make your answer more vivid and relatable.


    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Neglecting to address all the cues can result in an incomplete answer. This may leave the examiner with unanswered questions about your experience.

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    Tip

    Make sure to systematically address each cue in your response to create a well-rounded and comprehensive answer.


    Overly Long Responses

    Giving excessively long answers can lead to losing the examiner's interest and may cause you to stray off-topic.

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    Tip

    Aim for concise yet detailed responses. Practice summarizing your thoughts to stay focused and engaging.


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    Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 7

    One time when someone asked my opinion was during my final year of law college, one of my close friends, she was confused about whether she should apply for a judicial service or apply for a master's degree abroad. Since I was also exploring higher education options, she felt like that I could give her an honest perspective about it. The situation was quite stressful for her because both options require a lot of commitment, time and money and she asked me what I thought would be better for her in long run. I listened carefully to her goals, strengths and interests before sharing my honest opinion. I suggested that she should choose an option that aligned more with her personality and long term vision rather than following trends or pressure from others. I also advised her to consider factors like work-life balance, financial stability and the kind of impact she wanted to create in her career. I made it clear that it was only my opinion and that the final decision should be hers only. I felt really valued and trusted because she genuinely considered my advice. At the time, I felt responsible because giving someone advice about their future is not a small thing. Overall, it was a meaningful experience and it strengthened our friendship.

    Band 7

    So I'm currently interning with an architecture firm in Bangalore, and as an intern, usually you're not asked about what you think about a particular design. Your opinion holds no weight in the decision making process. However, recently for a really big project, I was, my boss had asked me for my opinion on a certain design, and she gave me complete liberty to sketch out what I thought and design the space as how I see fit. Once I gave her my design iteration, she actually seemed to really like it, and when we ended up presenting that design to our client, I think that made me feel very validated as an architect, and it made me feel very, it made me feel talented, and I was extremely happy with the outcome of this, of the entire process and the entire experience.

    Band 7

    I would like to talk about the time when my friend asked for my opinion and it came as a huge surprise to me because this friend of mine, she is a really independent person, I would say, and she rarely, rarely asks for anyone's opinion because she knows what she wants and she'll work towards it and not get swayed by other people's opinions as such. So, I know this friend of mine because she's my childhood friend and she lives in my society. So, we have been friends since ages, right? And she was always the smart one and she was pursuing or she wanted to pursue Bachelors in Economics but she was confused between whether to choose Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts. So, on this dilemma, she sought out my opinion and I advised her that, you know, you should go for Bachelor of Science rather than Bachelor of Arts but she was leaning more towards Bachelor of Arts. She took my opinion into consideration. I told her to do a little more research about it and gave her my inputs and the next day she told me, hey, you know, I took your opinion into consideration and I decided to go for Bachelor of Science. So, I was really happy because I got to help her out and it turned out to be a good decision because she needed mathematics and Bachelor of Science had mathematics. So, all in all, I am really happy that I gave her the right opinion and I am happy that she came to me and I mean, we would go to our parents, right? Because this is such an important decision but no, she came to me first and it made me feel really glad and really satisfied and I feel like maybe I should start giving her advices more often.

    Band 7

    When I was in my high school, my teacher organized a brainstorming session where we were asked to come up with ideas. Initially I didn't have much to talk about, but after listening to my peers and finally I came up with my opinion and shared it with my teammates. My opinion made a huge impact of that brainstorming session that day and later I was praised by my mentor for coming up with that opinion on the problem statement.

    Band 6-7

    Actually, first of all, I have changed my school and now I am working in Abu Dhabi as an art teacher. So as I am new to Abu Dhabi and I have changed my job, one of my co-workers in my previous school, she asked me that, sir, how I can go to British school for work as an educator. So as I am working with British school now, I have given her the advice how she can teach in British school, like how her ADEC approval will go hand in hand with IELTS exam and many other things. All the process, I told her very clearly and she was very happy about that, like how she can highlight her profile for British schools.

    Band 6-7

    Yesterday, one of my closest friends, her name is Twinkle, she asked me for my opinion for going on a picnic or a cafe. I suggested her to visit social cafe because I found that cafe to be very peaceful and the interiors are amazing to click pictures. On the other hand, food is also very tasty and delicious. After that, she asked me whether she should post pictures on Instagram or not. So she shared me few pictures, out of which I selected 3 pictures which she later posted on her social media account. Overall, it was a good experience. I learnt from this opinion that sometimes your experiences can also help others to improve their experiences.

    Band 6-7

    A couple of weeks back, my best friend Mahi, she contacted me to get an opinion on certain stuff that was related to the university shortlistment. So she was planning to move to Germany for her studies, and she was in a dilemma like which university to choose and which not to. So I told her that yes, if you're currently planning to move to Germany, first of all list out the universities which are suiting your profile, which are suiting your interests. Then after, shortlist the universities which are affordable to you, which you can easily afford. Because in Germany, there are certain universities which are offering no tuition fees like the public universities, but they have certain prerequisites of theirs. So read out, so I suggested her to read out all the prerequisites which the universities are requiring, and then you should apply for the universities. Because there are certain universities that are private also, which are privately owned, but they are having higher amounts of fees. So based on all these criterions, I recommended her to first of all shortlist the universities which are suiting her profile, and then she should be selecting a university for herself. After recommending her and after giving my opinion to her, she acknowledged it, and ultimately she chose a university which suited her interests the best. I felt quite content after giving my opinion to her, and seeing that yes, my opinion brought value to her, and it also helped her choose and shortlist a university for herself. So yes, I felt quite happy by this opinion giving of mine.

    Band 6-7

    I remember when my friend asked me the places to visit in Rajasthan because I have traveled Rajasthan various times so he wanted my opinion on the places to be visited. The opinion, I told him that you should visit cities like Udaipur, Jaipur because they are very pretty. I felt very happy when my friend asked for my opinion on the places to be visited because it's my domain of suggesting people the places to be visited as additionally I have a very good taste in places so I felt happy when he asked me.

    Band 6-7

    My friends always ask for my personal opinion as it holds value and carries a responsibility. I always give my personal opinion. Because giving a personal opinion can contribute to their unfulfilling because they struggle to choose what to watch and giving your personal individual opinion can help them to make their thought process clear and confident. I personally give my advices and suggestions to my friends and family especially in choosing a career and selecting the course and department where they want to do their bachelors degree and it really helps them a lot.

    Band 6-7

    After getting into the medical school, especially in the abroad, there are a lot of people came to me and especially from the surrounding area and other cities. And some people came from the other county, even from the other states, call me and meet me face to face for their concerns about the studies, about the things we have to face in our life, lifestyle in Russia and other things. While on that time, I'm a little bit concerned because I don't know what is going on in my future, but in the present, I have a good decision. I made a good decision for my medical career and education and everything. And the teachers and the materials they provide me, everything is excellent. So, I have to give a lot of opinion regarding this education and things. At the time, I'm a little bit worried because after completing, I have to come back to my country and I have to face an exam that was very tough and the pass percentage is also very low. Therefore, there are a lot of people have a lot of concerns and many of them are refused and leave to not come for the higher studies. But after completing my education, I complete my exam in my home country. After that, another group of people also consult me regarding these things and I give a good opinion. So everyone try to go for their studies abroad and get good qualification. So I give a lot of opinion.

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