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Describe a time when you had a problem with using the computer: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When did it happen?
  • Where did it happen?
  • What was the problem?
  • How did you solve the problem in the end?
Show all 118 answers

Cue 1:When did it happen?

  • Mention a specific time frame, such as a particular day or month, to give context to your experience.
  • Explain any relevant circumstances that led to the problem occurring at that time.

Example

It happened about three months ago, during the peak of my final exams. I was preparing for my computer science paper, and I had planned to complete my project that evening.

Cue 2:Where did it happen?

  • Describe the location where you were using the computer, such as your home, a library, or a friend's place.
  • Include details about the environment that might have contributed to the situation.

Example

I was at home, sitting at my study desk in my room. It was a quiet evening, and I had all my study materials spread out around me, creating a focused atmosphere.

Cue 3:What was the problem?

  • Clearly state the issue you faced with the computer, such as a software crash or hardware failure.
  • Explain how this problem affected your ability to complete your tasks.

Example

Suddenly, my computer froze while I was running a crucial software program for my project. I panicked because I hadn’t saved my work in a while, and I was worried about losing everything.

Cue 4:How did you solve the problem in the end?

  • Discuss the steps you took to resolve the issue, including any troubleshooting methods or help you sought.
  • Mention the outcome and what you learned from the experience.

Example

I took a deep breath and decided to restart my computer. Thankfully, when it rebooted, I found that the auto-recovery feature had saved my work. I also learned the importance of saving my work frequently and started using cloud storage for future projects.

Conclusion

    Example

    This experience taught me valuable lessons about technology and the importance of being prepared for unexpected issues. Now, I always make sure to back up my work regularly, which has made my study sessions much less stressful.

    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 Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your response unclear. Avoid general statements that do not provide specific details about the problem or the situation.

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    Tip

    Be specific about the time, place, and nature of the problem. Use clear examples to illustrate your experience.

    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Not addressing all the cues can lead to an incomplete answer. Each cue is designed to help structure your response effectively.

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    Tip

    Make sure to answer all the cues in order. This will help you stay organized and cover all important aspects of your experience.

    Lack of Problem-Solving Detail

    Failing to explain how you solved the problem can make your response less engaging. It's important to show your thought process and actions.

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    Tip

    Describe the steps you took to resolve the issue. Highlight any challenges you faced and how you overcame them to add depth to your answer.

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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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    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

    Okay, the issue happened last year, so I was a civil engineer and I was working for a construction company called Blue Box Architects, but eventually I just dropped from that field and got into a customer service associate field which was in Sutherland and it was a great experience for me. I really loved to serve customer service associate job roles and I was just working for the first six months and after that I have got an opportunity to work from home and was provided a computer, UPS and other necessary things which is needed to need for to work at home and I was working for two three months without no issues as also I was provided UPS and also I have inverter in my hand. There was no issues with the power outage and as well, but one day when I was getting to work, I was not able to just connect to the VPN, it was a major issue because without connecting to the VPN, I was not able to start my work and I just have contacted my office and they told me to get connected and attached with the VPN team and just I just follow up with my VPN team and they told me to do some power wash and something, but still the issue persists and after that they had come up with an option of helping with some necessary details and I just followed what they said and eventually the issue was being successfully resolved, but it took almost two hours to complete it. So that was the experience I had. I was little bit scared because I was just given the work at home within just two three months and having an issue, it might affect me and the company of Sutherland would be calling me back to office because if the issue is always having with the computer, then it will affect my staffing time.

    Band 6-7

    So, describing a time when I had a problem while using the computer was in my childhood. Since I was a child, I was not able to figure out how this computer works, how to use it how to use a keyboard, how to use a mouse. Gradually, growing up, school taught us how to use a computer via a computer lectures. I got used to how to use the computers and got introduced to the new technology and softwares Then I got to know about what is the use of the computer. Using a computer makes your workload so easy and so efficient that you can do any work in just a click of a keyboard. How did I figure out the problem was all thanks to my school teachers who taught me how to use a computer. That's all I want to say. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    When I was in college second year there was a bug in my computer which led to crash in my PC. At first I never understood what the cause was but then I realized that there had been a virus also known as malware in my system. So in order to fix that I just uninstalled the operating system and then again installed it and it fixed the bug. It was pretty simple but still it risked my data. I wouldn't have been able to recover my computer if my teacher wouldn't have helped. So I'm thankful to him.

    Band 6-7

    When I was in the class of 7th standard, I faced the problem to play the games in the computer. I want to play the game in the computer, but I don't know how to play it, how to use the keyboard for a game. So, I asked my teacher of my school, who is my computer teacher. She solved my problem and I get the knowledge about the issue that I face in playing the games. So, she can solve my problem very well. The main problem is only that, but I also have many more problems that I face in my life nowadays also, like some application that I don't know how to use that, how to log in on that application. So, I take help from the YouTube or chatGPT etc. or my teachers that are going to study me. This is a very well application and the computer is very helpful to me because I am using it from far year ago, around from my 4th standard. First time, when I want to use the computer, I also faced problem then also. I don't know how to on that computer and how to use that, how to shut down, but my school teacher very helped me. She will help me on the computer and how to shut down and it is make it very easy to solve the problem and no much more problem nowadays I am facing to use the computer. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    so this problem happened in the last year at my college and the problem was that when I was using the computer it suddenly went off so I don't know what happened and I was suddenly panicked so when I checked it was the CPU it suddenly cut off the supply and caused the monitor to turn off so this is the first time I have ever experienced something like a technical from my college and the problem got solved in a one or two minutes but what I was seeing that

    Band 6-7

    I use my laptop on a daily basis and must I say, I have had my fair share of problems with it. So, I was trying to prepare a project for my college and I was required to open my word file and my laptop refused to cooperate with me and my word file did not open at all. I was frustrated beyond measure. I did not know what to do. I was confused. I was also overwhelmed as my project's deadline was coming very near. After a lot of YouTube tutorial videos calling my friends, my family to ask for help, I realized all I had to do was just restart my laptop. Once I did that, my laptop worked perfectly fine.

    Band 6-7

    I remember having difficulty in using my computer for a certain application of Origin Pro, which is a scientific software which we as biotechnologists as well as scientists use for plotting the graphs, analyzing different pie charts and graphs. This happened during my internship at CLRI where I was doing my research for my major project for my 8th semester course in B.Tech Biotechnology. I had done a few experiments and assays and I have taken all the data in my notebook and I had to plot this data into the computer. I decided not to do the plotting the graph at first and instead focused on preparing my KPTs and later decided to do the graphs. But due to my procrastination and delaying making the PPT, I was left with only 3 hours of time before I had to submit my PowerPoint to the Google Classroom because I had my review the next day. So, I was very much frantic about how I would plot my graphs and I became so nervous in what I will do and what can I do. So at that moment of difficulty, my friends who were in the lab came forward with my help as well as my guide who really helped me plot, helped me help.

    Band 6-7

    So it happened with me recently, not recently, about a year and a half ago. So at that time I was pursuing my Masters from Punjab University Chandigarh. So I was preparing my presentation, preparing for my class presentation. So I was working in the Word document, I was making slides for myself. But what happened was I didn't save, I didn't press the automatic save button on the window panel. So when I finished working I thought of taking a walk outside my classroom, going for a walk with my friends. But when I came back my computer was switched off and the slides that I have created were all gone. So that's what happened but at that time one of my friends helped me in retrieving it back. I don't know what he did but he actually saved me at that time because I didn't have much time left for my presentation. My presentation was about 10-15 minutes, so yes that's what happened.

    Band 6-7

    As a child, I had been fascinated by a video game known as Minecraft. This game was and still is incredibly popular and is one of the top grossing games of all times. During a Christmas in my childhood, my parents had bought me the game and I was elated. After playing the game for a couple of weeks, I had become interested in trying to install mods for the game. Mods are additional attachments, so to speak, for the game and allowed the user to play in a different way and enjoy a different experience. I had struggled to install and download these mods and I found it incredibly difficult to get them to work on my computer. Additionally, I was youthful and my inexperience had led to a lack of tech savviness. In order to try and solve this problem, I had asked my parents to try and help me install the mods and my father had helped me do so. He was quite understanding in my problem and he did his best in order to try and remedy the situation. After getting the mods on my computer, I was able to play Minecraft and I was very happy.

    Band 6-7

    Talking about the problems I faced while using computer is very less but two years back while I was preparing my presentation on computer, I found some glitch in the computer which was really interfering my presentation work. I had to submit the presentation the very next day but the computer was incorporating which really destroyed my presentation. So it was in my house, the computer is in my house in my bedroom and I was kind of tensed and worried because if the computer gets damaged, it's hard to buy a new one and I had to prepare the presentation by the very next day and I solved the problem by taking the computer to a technician and he told it was some glitch to the computer and he corrected the problem with the computer but I couldn't complete my presentation because it was half way in that computer. So I think that's a very, that's a major problem I faced, there are some glitches with my computer. Maybe it's an old computer that's why it has glitches but still it did destroy my presentation that I was working hard on, that I was hoping a good result. So I think yeah, computers do really have some glitches, I feel like which needs to be fixed. So yeah, that's my experience with it.
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