Describe a time when you broke something: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

What it was
When/where that happened
How you broke it
And explain what you did after that

8 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 8 answers

Cue 1:What it was

Begin by clearly stating what item you broke, providing specific details about it.
Mention why this item was significant to you or its usual importance in your daily life.

Example

The item I broke was my favorite ceramic mug, which I had received as a gift from my grandmother. It was special to me because it reminded me of her every time I used it, especially during my morning tea.

Cue 2:When/where that happened

Describe the time and place where the incident occurred, making it relatable.
Include any relevant details about the atmosphere or context of the situation.

Example

This happened last summer while I was at home during the rainy season. I was sitting at my dining table, enjoying a cup of tea while watching the rain outside. The cozy atmosphere made it a perfect moment.

Cue 3:How you broke it

Explain the circumstances that led to the item being broken, focusing on your actions.
Use descriptive language to convey the moment of the accident.

Example

As I reached for my phone to check a message, I accidentally knocked the mug off the table. It fell to the floor and shattered into several pieces. I felt a rush of panic as I realized what had happened.

Cue 4:And explain what you did after that

Discuss your immediate reaction and feelings after breaking the item.
Explain how you dealt with the situation, including any steps you took to clean up or replace the item.

Example

After the initial shock, I quickly picked up the broken pieces, feeling a mix of sadness and regret. I cleaned the area carefully to avoid any injuries. Later, I decided to visit a local store to find a similar mug, hoping to find one that would remind me of my grandmother.

Conclusion

Example

Breaking my favorite mug was a disappointing experience, but it taught me to be more careful with my belongings. It also reminded me of the importance of cherishing memories associated with items, even if they are lost.

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 Detail

Providing vague answers can make your response uninteresting. It's important to include specific details about the item you broke and the situation surrounding it.

Tip

Use descriptive language to explain what the item was and the context of the incident. This will engage the listener and provide a clearer picture.

2: Ignoring Emotions

Failing to express your feelings about breaking something can make your answer less relatable. Emotions help convey the impact of the event.

Tip

Share how you felt when you broke the item and how it affected you. This adds depth to your response and connects with the examiner.

Skipping Consequences

Not explaining what you did after breaking the item can leave your story incomplete. It's important to show how you handled the situation.

Tip

Discuss the steps you took after the incident, whether it was fixing it, apologizing, or learning a lesson. This shows responsibility and reflection.

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

so the thing that I broke was in fact I broke it recently and it was a showpiece that my mother had bought from abroad and that was really very pricey now the thing is I was playing with my brother with a ball and I threw a ball towards my brother but he shifted and the ball hit the showpiece and the showpiece just fell down and it just broke into hundreds of pieces which made it very difficult for me to join it again so what I did was I collected all the piece with a broom and a shovel and I just collected it and I just dumped it now I was so scared of my mother because she did not know that it happened because she wasn't at home at that time so by the time she came home she was like where is that showpiece that she loved and the thing is that showpiece was very sparkly so like it was very easy to notice that it wasn't there by the time she arrived home so I had nothing to say because I was so scared so I just blamed it on my brother that because of him I had to play with him and the showpiece got broken and I was not at fault by any chance so that was my experience with how I broke something that somebody else liked very much and how conveniently I

Band 6

I recently broke a really exquisite, inexpensive vase, which was in my family since decades. It belonged to my grandma, then passed on to my mother, and it ran in the family. Almost all of my cousins and their aunts, mothers have that particular vase. What actually happened was really filmy and really dramatic. I was actually dancing in my room, alone, and did not see my environment and my surroundings. While dancing on Chaiya Chaiya, I was totally in swing with that song. I did one stance where I jumped from my bed because I was overexcited and broke the vase. But I knew if I told my mother about it, it would be taken up badly, even as a 20-year-old. So, I tried to hide it by blaming it on my pet cat. Yes, I did that.

Band 6

When I was 5 years old, I came back from my school, I was studying in primary school and at that time I loved to drink milk with chocos. So my mom was giving me the cup of chocos and milk, at the time of holding that, the cup was broken suddenly and that was the time my mom was scolding me and I cried a lot. Then after I cleaned the surface properly and I went to the tuition classes. That experience taught me how can I handle the situation properly. If I hadn't cleaned that surface and my mom was get again angry, so that will be more panic situation for me. So somehow I cleared that and I went to school because at 7pm my tuition classes was going to start.

Band 5-6

A time when I encouraged someone to do something that he or she didn't want to do was, felt like I was slightly manipulative or persuasive in a more positive backdrop. This instance was with Meenakshi, a friend that I know through the Young Entrepreneurs Search community, where young entrepreneurs between the age of 18 and 28 meet, connect and launch careers in entrepreneurship together. So I spoke to her in order to persuade her to enrol as a student at Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, my university. I did this by having several long conversations over the telephone and in reality, giving her an in-depth idea into what a day-to-day life in VIT looks like, what she can expect and what are the advantages of this university, such as their excellent placement opportunities, vibrant college life, events, festivals and the diversity in the college are all major advantages that I talked to her about. However, I was also honest and sincere, told her about some of the difficulties that I have faced, since every coin has two sides.

Band 5-6

On the table and she was very much conscious about it. Like no one should near to the table and Means she was very conscious about that frame because she was very close to it so what happened one day like I entered her room and I was just speaking to her we were just giggling and talking about something funny and Accidentally my my hand touches her frame And it just touched in a way that it just fell down on the floor and It was a very you know, you know, very I Got so I felt so bad that I I was just at that moment. I just lost Consciousness like oh my god what I have done and she was also very got some annoyed from me But later on she just said it's okay mistakes happen, and I'm very happy that she just Accepted It in in a positive way and because I got I started crying I mean it means because I knew it that it is very close to her, but still I broke it and She has been you know taking care of this frame since a long time and still I I Just did a wrong thing with her I just hurt her feelings and I shouldn't have done that So she just encourages me and she motivates me and just said let's see It's not a means it's it's not your mistake. You were just doing your own thing and Accidentally things happen and we should not carry kind of You know this Guilt for a long time it's not good for health or your internal mental peace and

Band 5-6

To be honest, it was a very bad experience for me, then I broke my mother's favorite voice. Actually, when I was young, actually when I was 8 years old girl, I played it at home in the afternoon. I just tried to wash, I just tried to clean the wash with new flowers, I take some flowers to decorate on the wash and I just want to be make my mother's happy, but when I was clean that was, I, it was slip my hand and it broke it, I just want starting pride and I have failed my mother's one, I just feel, felt that my mother's one scold me, not at all, not at all, but when, when I fed up of mine, I just realized that I tried to handle the broken items, so my mother was, my mother was sleep, sleep, my mother was sleeping, but however, I push up my strength and try to fix that, but it didn't, then after that I fix my mind to clean that piece of the wash and throw out, outside of the house, then it was a very,

Band 5-6

I think which I broke was my favorite coffee mug which was so close to my heart. I think when it happened was last week I accidentally dropped that coffee mug and it broke. The all fault goes to myself only. And after that I feel so bad like that was my favorite. Back in the days when I was in college my friends gifted me that cup which was so cute and very attractive. But now I miss it so much. I don't know why it's happened but it's all my fault. I buy a new cup but that doesn't give a feeling to me. Whenever I try to drink coffee I demand that reminds me of my favorite coffee cup which I broke. I even try to fabricate it but it doesn't help at all. And I will be very careful in future with my favorite things. I know sometimes it's happened but favorite things always leave. I get a lesson. No matter how much you love them, a thing or a person. And I really miss my old coffee mug.

Band 5-6

Well, I am living in the middle class family, so I value money over the things. Today, I would talk about a thing that I broke in my school time. That is the mobile phone, my mother's mobile phone, and that was very expensive. During my senior examinations, I took my mother's phone and do some research and watch some educational content that was very important for my exams. I used to spend most of my time on my mobile phone that was provided by my mother. And I also used to watch some online lectures as well as lessons. But I broke by my mistake that I quarreled with my brother. So that was a very big mistake I made. My mother was very sad at that time. She scolded us that there was a huge amount of money that she spent on that mobile phone. I was extremely depressed and drained and guilty towards my mistake and my brother was also very guilty. Next time I feel that next time I will not broke anything over my aggressiveness. So that's very beneficial that money makes a man happy and also valuable things make a man unhappy. So definitely I would never ever do that again.

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