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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 34 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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    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

    I am personally someone in my friend circle, who everybody loves to approach for an advice or opinion, because of my friendly nature and a very understanding approach towards their point of view. If we talk about recently, anybody who asked my opinion, there was I have a friend, she is also around of the same age and both of us are into the arranged marriage scenario, which is a little tricky, especially nowadays with this generation coming up in India. So I recently got engaged to a guy and she is also looking for the guy in the similar process and was talking to someone and asked me for my opinion regarding a situation she was going through. I do not think my opinion is going to matter much in what decision she makes, but it really helps her out to at least decide how she should move ahead with it or what kind of a reaction she should give to that situation, because especially in such scenario where you do not know the person from a lot of months or years, it gets tricky to judge them just basis of a few days. I really felt good to help her out through the entire process, because I have been at that place and it was really tough for me. I wish somebody was there for me during my those days. And overall I love helping a friend out or even if that person is not a friend and somebody asks me about some opinion towards a certain situation. If it is not controversial, I will definitely like to give them my opinion as well as let them know that it is just an advice and not something they should follow through. They should always go with what they think about that situation. In this case also I just helped her or guided her through how she should navigate through her emotions a little better, but at the end it should be her decision and that is something I make very clear while giving opinions as well. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    So, the opinion I gave is to my best friend who is struggling with some of the two options like should I, should she leave him or stay with him. So, I said like if you long, like I said a verse, it's a quote, like you, when, you know when going through a wrong train, if you don't get down so fast, you will end up in some wrong station. So, this is the advice I gave her because as long as you are in a very wrong place with a wrong person, you will have the negative impacts in your life as much as you can and it's going to have a very awful and I told her make sure that you choose people as their behavior and the person who he is, ultimately who he is and who she is in every way and yeah, mainly I tell her to stay away from toxic people, toxic things and this is the advice I gave her ultimately. Toxicity exactly ruins our life.

    Band 6-7

    Well, recently my brother took my advice when he was really sceptical about the courses and the colleges he wanted to go in after completing his secondary education. My brother was really confused between BBA and B.Com and few colleges of the Delhi University. I advised him to research and talk to people who are there in those universities and are pursuing those courses rather than just telling him to do what I would want him to do. I advised him to go on social media apps, connect with people who are pursuing the course he wants to do and also research and learn about the colleges that he had shortlisted for himself. When he took my advice, I felt like I have become an older sister for him and he would look up to me someday. I felt really important and respected for my experiences and it was a really nice feeling to see my little brother research and grow up and take up his undergrad courses.

    Band 6-7

    I believe that I am a good friend to everyone and that's why people come to me to take some opinions about certain things. So I have a friend and her name is Bernika and once she took an opinion from me about what she should do with her career. Whether she should pursue PhD or go for civil service exam or X, Y, Z. So I asked her to follow her heart but then she was like, you know, I really don't think that I should use my heart while pursuing my career. And that's why I am taking a humanistic opinion from you and you need to give me an opinion from your side. Like what should I do? Like what things am I capable of? And I suggested her that it was she who can understand what she is capable of. So I think it's her who should decide her career rather than taking an opinion from me. And she went on to pursue PhD and I believe she is having a good time of her life and very soon she is going to get her doctorate degree.

    Band 6-7

    So recently I was asked for my opinion by my sister regarding a couple of courses where she had to pick either arts or medicine for her college and it is a very crucial decision for a young adult to make so she was looking for a guidance from me specifically because I was someone who completed college very recently and I am currently working. Specifically to come from a family where there are no graduates and nobody to look upon it is very important for young adults to look up to someone who they considered trustworthy and for them to come up and discuss openly in terms of their career and stuff like that. So she had an option of going for arts or medicine where her dreams was ultimately there. So I kind of encouraged her to follow her dream because at the end of the day it does matter where she would be able to follow her passion at the same time she could make a career out of it and she did the right thing, I hope so. I felt pretty special because these are not some decisions that I get to be involved, rather than going out and asking to someone else I felt that it was better that she approached me and I'm glad I got to get a chance.

    Band 6-7

    Well, in my life, many people have asked for my opinion and I give them good advice. But today, I would like to express my thoughts on a topic when I gave a really good idea to my niece. I still remember the time when I was in 12th standard. There was my niece and she was in 10th standard. So she asked for my opinion for making a portrait of something which can help her to get first position in painting competition. So I remember that there was a painting competition in her school and she had to make a portrait or a landscape on Visakhi festival. And then I told her that she could make a landscape on glass as sometimes as in other words we call glass painting. So when I gave her this advice, I felt really happy because it was the very first time when someone asked for my opinion on painting or on making or on drawing something. Because I am really good at painting and I love to give advice to people so that they can just get good position in their school. So that was the time when I gave my opinion to my niece. And fortunately she got the first position in school and she was feeling over the moon at that time.

    Band 6-7

    Many people have asked me for opinions since I was a child. I think because I know a lot of things and giving opinions and sharing ideas would eventually help everyone. I remember once my friend Harsh asked me about how living is in Canada. He was thinking of studying abroad and grow his career in the field of science. I am living in Canada since last one and half year and I know how things work here. Hence, I explained him about the daily struggle which we have. For example, we have to balance our studies and work all the time and there are times when we are not even able to sleep and eat properly. So, I gave him advice that he should really be prepared if he wants to go abroad because things are very different from, looks very different than they look from nearby. I felt a light, I was delighted that I would, I was, sorry, I felt proud to help him. I think my advice would have been a great help.

    Band 6-7

    There was a discussion with my friends on finalizing which place we have to go visit for the vacation. So the rest of places includes Arunachal Pradesh and Andaman Nicobar Islands. Everyone want to visit Arunachal Pradesh and few of my friends wanted to visit Andaman Nicobar Islands. So there was a lot of confusion with this. So the organizer reached out to me and asked my opinion and I suggested him that we could visit Andaman Nicobar Islands as it's the only Indian archipelago, consists of numerous islands and it was a summer time to visit beaches. It has lot of blue pristine beaches and lot of multiple islands which could be really enjoyable. So we have a really unforgettable experience in Andaman Nicobar Islands like we took ferry rides and hopping multiple highlands and we went to see the limestone cove and as well as the mud volcano which is kind of unique to the particular area which couldn't be seen anywhere in the world. We had a long route in the hills so the climate is more of an evergreen, tropical climate we witnessed and the food was like amazing.

    Band 6-7

    so the opinion was asked by my junior who is my friend actually and she is four years younger to me and she asked me about her career guidance and she asked me in her 11th and 12th what stream should she take. She asked me whether she should take commerce or science or humanities. This is what she asked and I gave her an opinion about taking commerce since I took commerce and I didn't you know like suggest her to take only commerce I should told her to take whatever she finds interesting and I told her to go through the books of science commerce as well as humanities which whatever feels she finds interesting she can I told suggested her to take it and I felt happier while giving this opinion and it made me feel that I am kind of a grown-up and it has been a very happiest moment for me because my junior was asking an opinion about her career and advancement to be frank and this is the most quiet happiest moment for me

    Band 6-7

    One of my colleague Mr. Avneesh Singh had asked me for the opinion regarding the recruitment of one of the candidates, one of the workmen who was working with us since last five years and she had come for rejoining in the ring trim section. He was a little sceptical as he has rejoined the organization recently and since the background was not clear about the workmen, Mr. Avneesh had asked for the opinion from me whether he should go for rehiring the workmen or not. While speaking to Avneesh, I had suggested him that we have to check the attendance of the person for the last five years. Also if any complaints are there regarding the work ethics and any complaints regarding the behavior at the workplace from the seniors who are already working since last five years. Also he has to speak to colleagues and previous HR people who are there whether they are having a good opinion about the persons or not. So, after discussing and after finding out all the details about the workmen, it was found out that although she had a good attendance record, she was not having compatible relationships or compatible behavior at the workplace and she also recently had some issues at her previous companies and thus it was found out that she is not to be recruited. After the decision taken by Avneesh, he called and he told that it was very helpful for him.
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