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Describe a time when you made a plan to do an activity with a lot of people: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What activity it was?
  • Why you took part in it?
  • How it was organised?
Show all 116 answers

Cue 1:What activity it was?

  • Begin by clearly stating the activity you planned with a large group of people.
  • Provide some context about the significance of the activity, such as a festival, event, or gathering.

Example

The activity I planned was a community picnic for my neighborhood. We wanted to bring everyone together to enjoy a day of fun, food, and games, especially since we hadn’t had a gathering in a long time.

Cue 2:Why you took part in it?

  • Explain your motivation for organizing or participating in the activity.
  • Mention any personal connections or experiences that influenced your decision.

Example

I took part in organizing the picnic because I believe in fostering community spirit. I wanted to create an opportunity for neighbors to connect, especially after the pandemic when everyone felt isolated. I also have fond memories of similar picnics from my childhood, which inspired me to recreate that joy.

Cue 3:How it was organised?

  • Describe the steps you took to organize the activity, including planning and coordination.
  • Mention any challenges faced and how you overcame them.

Example

To organize the picnic, I first created a WhatsApp group to gather interested participants. We discussed the location, which was a local park, and decided on a potluck format where everyone would bring a dish. I also arranged for games and activities for children. One challenge was coordinating the food, but we managed by assigning specific dishes to families, ensuring a good variety.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, the picnic turned out to be a great success. It brought together over fifty families, and everyone had a wonderful time. It reminded me of the importance of community and how simple gatherings can strengthen bonds among people.

    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 in Description

    Failing to provide enough details about the activity can make your answer sound vague. Specific examples help to engage the listener and demonstrate your language skills.

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    Tip

    Include specific details such as the location, the number of people involved, and any memorable moments to make your answer more vivid.

    2: Ignoring the Organizing Process

    Not explaining how the activity was organized can leave your answer incomplete. This part shows your ability to describe processes and teamwork.

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    Tip

    Outline the steps taken to organize the activity, such as planning meetings, assigning roles, and coordinating with others.

    Neglecting Personal Motivation

    Overlooking why you participated can make your response less personal and relatable. Sharing your motivation adds depth to your answer.

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    Tip

    Explain your reasons for joining the activity, such as personal interest, socializing, or contributing to a cause, to connect with the examiner.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

    Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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

    Yeah, so the activity that I'm going to talk about is an event that took place a while ago to be precise one month ago. So this event was organized by our core team in our office. I'm also part of the core team and this event is about escaping from our day to day work routine and to chill out a little bit. So the event was called Escape Operate, escape the usual operate business that's what it meant. Operate is something our sub-division is called. So we went to a beachside resort, since I was part of the organizing team, I was involved in the end-to-end organizational stuff, how we booked it, we got quotation from different kind of resorts and then we finally finalized one resort which was hosted by ITC Hotels, it's called Welcome Hotel by ITC Hotels. We had to book the ballroom, we had to check all the basic requirements that Telloid, our company had to have, whether the hotel is satisfying all that, we had to check all those things and then we had to organize and connect with the team which was involved in designing all the venue and then hiring a professional to host the event. It was a very fun-filled event, we had a lot of fun-filled activities, everyone enjoyed, leaders from across our organization came from across location and they all also enjoyed it and we got a very positive feedback.

    Band 6-7

    I'm glad that you asked me about that. In January 2025, me with my 60 other classmates decided to organize a sports meet. And it was the first time in the college that someone was organizing such an event. So we decided the event should be organized successfully. So for that, we took the advice from our teachers and the dean of the college. After that, we decided what will be the games in this event. Eventually, we made the event a big success as every student of the college helped us and participated in this event. There were around 10 games, which included volleyball, basketball, cricket, kabaddi, carrom board, badminton, and so many others. The winning prize for every game was around 1000 rupees and the fun was generated through sponsorships. My classmates had been a great help in collecting the scholarships and making this event successful. I am glad to have such experience and it is going to be one of my favorite memory from my college. And moreover, it's like an addition to

    Band 6-7

    It was my seventh grade when I decided to go on a school trip. It was the first ever time for me to ever go on a trip without my parents. So I was really excited as well as scared at the same time. So when I went on the trip, it was not really far, but it was a place where I have never been to, neither have my parents. So it was a first time experience for me to have, to visit that place. The place was called Kurd. It is a small hill station up in the Karnataka region. It was an experience for me to have with a lot of the other students from my school who I have never interacted with, but I had a great time hanging out with them during the trip. We went on a hike while we were there. We saw some amazing views while we were there. We had a great opportunity to visit the monastery and meet a lot of the local monks over there who really helped us get the authentic experience of how Buddhism actually works in India and also gave us a little tour around the monasteries. On the last day, we also visited this small little farm where they grow coffee plants. We learned how there are several types of coffee beans that are grown in India and how coffee was introduced in India, how it was brought in by the Portuguese, the Brazilians and how now coffee is a huge market here in India and how it has grown over here, how it is packaged for consumption and everything. We had an amazing time. It was a first.

    Band 6-7

    I had a group of university friends and one of my friends suggested joining a jazz concert. I was initially hesitant to go but he refused to take no for an answer. We went around evening and it was a pleasant experience. I didn't want to go in the beginning but my friend insisted and therefore we went to the jazz concert. I would say that it was a relatively pleasant experience. One of my friends actually slept off and we had a good time together. The time spent together was interesting. I would say that the jazz concert wasn't particularly my genre.

    Band 6-7

    So the trip, me and my colleagues planned was for air cut. Me and other around 6 members we planned to go on a trip. We had booked stays in the best spot that was available and since we were a team of 6, 4 of us went in the car and another 2 people came in the bike because they were comfortable riding the bike for such a long time. It was a very great trip. We enjoyed 2 days there. Mostly we stayed in the room. We did go out for looking at the sceneries as well. The climate was very cold. Why I took part in it is because it was a much needed office break for me. A time to get away from all the office chores, pressure, workload etc. The main reason this was organized was to escape from the office.

    Band 6-7

    Back in my job days, there was this time when routine became monotonous, and one fine day I decided to keep a recommendation of going to trek in front of our then manager, Dr. Dr. Mansali is a happy person and she usually prefers going to the activities that involve recreational things, recreational activities. Moreover, she is a fitness-enthusiastic person and she loves outdoor activities as well. So, me along with few of our colleagues, we made a plan of a trek which starts at 5 am in the morning. As planned, we all gathered over there. We were total of 20 colleagues including 10 boys and 10 girls. The trek started with a light exercise like jumping and stretching. As we started with the trek, the management provided us with some refreshment. Although we were not that hungry, but still we preferred to take the refreshment because it was needed because of the journey we were about to continue.

    Band 6-7

    Today I'm going to describe about the kitty party that I had organized for my friends and neighbors last December. So since it was winters, I had welcomed everybody with the hot chocolate and some cheese cherry pineapple and veg momos. After that I arranged for a few games that we could enjoy together. One of the games I would like to describe, it was so hilarious and everybody enjoyed it thoroughly. It was about balancing a balloon in the air for one minute while trying to arrange the paper cups in such a way to form a huge pyramid. And the number of cups that a person was able to place within one minute would be the winner. I'd also arranged for a freeze dance game and a lot of fun and talking and gossiping and main course obviously, which included veg noodles, veg fried rice and Manchurian gravy. We all had a blast, it was fantastic time to communicate, to connect with each other and to enjoy each other's company. We rarely, as working women and housewives, even if we are staying in the same locality, we rarely get time to connect with each other like this. And when you invite somebody to your house, you want them to have fun. So I'd organized it in such a way that everybody had something to do. And games I think is the best thing to do, although someone suggested that we could also play in Thakshari, like this is our childhood memory, to play in Thakshari whenever the electricity is gone. But nonetheless, everybody had a good time and we all enjoyed it thoroughly.

    Band 6-7

    During my university days, I'm a very active participant in every single event. As I became a part and a member of the prestigious IEEE chapter, I had an opportunity to host an event that was a very life-changing moment for me because I get to learn a lot of things, had a hands-on experience on hosting with a lot of people. The overall skill development is immensely helpful till today. So that event was Technical Connections where we display images, people have to connect it and find the technical term. I did this along with my friend. So it was nice to come up with different questions, plan it, make arrangements, invite guests, make people comfortable and make them happy and fulfilled, enjoying and at the same time learning something. Always a takeaway from something is very important. So I made sure every single participant takes away something with them, be it their experience, their learning or memories. It was a whole fun package. I'm privileged and honored to be a part of that IEEE chapter and having to execute a very successful event with more than 50 participants from my university. Many new people were met, many new friends, experiences. It was so much something every single university student have to experience. So I'm thankful for that.

    Band 6-7

    So, on my mom's 58th birthday, we planned a surprise party. The plan was made by me and my father. And the surprise party... Try again. Try again. Whatever it was, he took part in it. Didn't you get anything for scanning? Or did you forget? On my mom's 58th birthday, we planned a surprise party. The planning was majorly done by me and my father. We selected a restaurant and get the bookings done. On the day of my mother's birthday, we invited all the people. We prepared a dance for them. We all cousins prepared a dance for them. We booked a nice cake for them. Arranged everything very nicely. Everyone loved the party. We booked singers because they love listening to songs. Everything went very well. We enjoyed the party nicely. My mom got very much happy with the party. Because she didn't want to celebrate her birthday. So, she celebrated her birthday. She got very happy. The smile on her face looks amazing.

    Band 6-7

    After the academic year or in the festival holidays, particularly when the numerous number of holidays are come, me and my friends will plan a night out or a trip every time. We used to go to my friend's village which is nearby my town. We used to have toddy, a local made wine. The villagers usually say that it is very organic and healthy for our body if we drink regularly or the usual times. Maybe drinking toddy makes our body healthy in many ways, I believe that. But once, last year we planned a mini bike trip which is around hardly 100 kilometers. But that made me very frustrated. I was tensed also. At times my friends told me we will be coming at correct time, at a point of time. But coming to the point, they all made fake promises. I am the only guy left. So it was a failed plan and I am the one who organized it. I think it made me a fool out of myself. When no one cared.
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