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Describe a time when you told your friend an important truth: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who your friend is
  • What the truth was
  • What was your friend’s reaction
  • And explain why it was important to tell the truth
Show all 38 answers

Cue 1:Who your friend is

  • Introduce your friend by sharing their name and a bit about your relationship.
  • Mention how long you have known each other and the context of your friendship.

Example

My friend's name is Rahul, and we have been best friends since high school. We have shared countless experiences together, from studying for exams to enjoying weekend outings.

Cue 2:What the truth was

  • Clearly state the important truth you had to tell your friend.
  • Explain the circumstances that led you to feel it was necessary to share this truth.

Example

The important truth I had to tell Rahul was that I had overheard some classmates gossiping about him behind his back. They were making fun of his presentation skills, and I felt he deserved to know what was being said.

Cue 3:What was your friend’s reaction

  • Describe your friend's initial reaction to the truth you shared.
  • Share how he processed this information and any actions he took afterward.

Example

At first, Rahul was shocked and hurt. He appreciated my honesty but was upset that people would talk about him like that. After a moment, he decided to confront the classmates and clear the air.

Cue 4:And explain why it was important to tell the truth

  • Discuss the significance of honesty in friendships.
  • Explain how sharing the truth can strengthen trust and support in a relationship.

Example

It was important to tell the truth because I value our friendship and wanted Rahul to be aware of what was happening. Honesty builds trust, and I believed that by sharing this information, I was supporting him and helping him address the situation.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, telling Rahul the truth was a pivotal moment in our friendship. It reinforced our bond and showed that I would always look out for him, no matter the circumstances. This experience taught me the value of honesty and the importance of being a supportive friend.

    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: Avoid Vague Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your answer unclear. It's important to provide specific details about your friend and the truth you shared to engage the listener.

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    Tip

    Use clear examples and specific details to describe your friend and the situation. This will make your answer more relatable and interesting.

    2: Don't Overlook Emotions

    Neglecting to discuss your friend's reaction can weaken your response. Emotions are key to understanding the impact of the truth you shared.

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    Tip

    Include your friend's emotional response to the truth. Describe how they felt and why their reaction was significant to the situation.

    Skip the Importance of Truth

    Failing to explain why telling the truth was important can leave your answer incomplete. It’s crucial to convey the significance of honesty in relationships.

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    Tip

    Clearly articulate why the truth mattered in that moment. Discuss the potential consequences of not sharing it and how it affected your friendship.

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    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
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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

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    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

    So, I had a friend in first year of my college, her name was Sharmila Apni and she was from Karnataka and the truth was that she had lice in her hair and I came to know about it because during summer time we had a two bedroom room which was converted into three so it was summer time and I volunteered to share the beds with her because my bed was right below the fan. So while we used to sleep side by side, I discovered that I had lice in my hair and when I sort of tried to find out the cause of the lice, I realized that she had been having those in her hair for quite a considerable amount of time. So what I did, I kind of knew how sensitive the topic was so I confessed to her in private and I told her, hey you have lice, you should definitely. And what I did was, I actually got the shampoo, the lice shampoo. So she was of course, she was aware of it but she felt bad that I got it from her so she used the shampoo and she got herself rid of lice and now we are good. We are in talking terms and she took it very sportingly I would say. Yeah.

    Band 6-7

    Hi my friend, my friend name is Sakina and I have a very good old relation with her. A childhood friend is always a friend indeed. The truth is that the truth is about the clothes that I had borrowed from her, wrongly got destroyed because of some colour combination in the washing, during washing it got destroyed. So earlier I thought I would have corrected, I would correct it without telling her but later I had a guilt with me and I thought of clarifying it with her and she was quite happy that I told her and it was brought to her notice that it was wrongly happened everything and finally the things were in place and it was good. I replaced her clothes with a new cloth of the same design colour combination and she was very happy with it and later I too had no guilt and I was also happy that she was happy and she was very understanding and cooperative with whatever unknowingly incident happened and I too got a lesson that never borrow the things which we cannot really take care of it or which are very delicate to handle.

    Band 6-7

    So, my friend's name is Revan Reddy. He is my childhood friend. I have been studying with him since my 4th grade. And he is one of my closest friends in my life and he is one of the most important persons in my life. Truth is, I always didn't like his behavior and even his character, he always blames me for everything he does. So, that's a very important truth I wanted to tell him that stop blaming me for everything till now and don't put me into everything which is not important, which is important. So, that's the truth and he is always very messy and I wanted to say him that you are always very messy and you should keep yourself clean. And I think this is a very important truth because it not only helps him when he is with me but also it might affect the people in his future like someone who might come into his life in the future. So, I think this truth is very important for him to make changes in his life which could make his life better. And I think the truth which I told him or which I confessed him is very important for him because knowing his character and his way of behavior may not be seen by himself but the others who feel or who spends time with him feels the truth about him. So, that's the truth I wanted to say him that he is very messy and he is untidy which is not very going to help him in the future and also his character of blaming others for everything he does is very bad. And I wanted to tell this and confess this truth on his face but this is the time I got to do this. So, that's it.

    Band 6-7

    So, I met my best friend during high school and we have been inseparable since then. As a person, I'm a very secretive human being. I do not like to share my personal life situations with friends or any strangers, however I trust my friend a lot and I opened up to her about the personal family feud that happened few years back during my childhood. It was the day when my uncle came to hit my aunt and it has left a very deep mark on my life. I still have a vivid memory of that incident and it has made me understand the importance of having a good sibling bond in your life. My brother and I have never fought since childhood, although we have our own fun arguments and feuds every now and then, we never physically hit each other, so I think that was one of the most disturbing truth of my life and I decided to share it with my friend because she is a very reliable person and I trust her with all my secrets. So, this incident has deepened our friendship even more and it has helped us share every single detail of our lives since then with each other. So, yes, this was one of the most disturbing incidents from my childhood and now that I have shared it with her, I feel much better and at relief.

    Band 6-7

    So, I want to talk about my friend whose name is called Akshay. He is my college mate and the important truth that I told him that while our final year project time, we just discussed about our project and we want to make some slides according to that. So, we decided to make it individual and then after he completed his slides, he just shot me and asked me about the suggestions and firstly, I think that it was not that much clear and very crowded with so many words and unusual sentences without any images, without no attractions in that slides. I feel so sad while seeing that because I am so afraid to say him that it is not good or it is not a perfect one. I feel that he will hurt it but and initially I said it okay to him but after I thinking over that thing, I feel so sad and I just go to him and tell him that the PPT is not good, not good, that much good and not that much clear. Firstly, he feels very sad but later I helped him to make a perfect one with adding some images and cutting some unwanted sentences and making the sentences so simple and more convenient and later he came to me and thanked me that he did a perfect job while reading the presentation he can and the teachers can appreciate him for preparing this kind of a beautiful slide and that makes me so happy and I realized that telling truth is a very good opportunity.

    Band 6-7

    One occasion I would like to talk about is that when I was studying my bachelors during my degree, I had one friend whose name was Eldos. We were quite close because we were in the same class and we often talked about many things. He had a girlfriend and her name was Krista and one day we were just chatting. One of my friends, another than Eldos, told me that Krista has another boyfriend. While hearing that I felt so sad because of the way he treated her was really good. Later on I told him that Krista was cheating on him and I am sorry to say that. He told me that he also had a doubt about it. He felt so sad and I feel like I don't need to talk about that to him because eventually he would find it out. That was the saddest thing he heard in his life and he felt into depression. He told me what should I do or how can I treat her better than this. I told him that it's not your problem brother. This is the way many people are. I told him to move on and don't need to think about her. That's one of the occasions that I tell the truth about someone to someone who is close to me. By telling that I feel that I helped him in some way that he should make more.

    Band 6-7

    At that time, when I speak the truth with others, they are converting my truth as a lie and they are transferring this matter to the higher authorities in my office. So higher authorities always think that I am speaking negative lie and they get bad impression on me. It's happening from last 6 months onwards. Suddenly one day I met my general manager and he started expressing about me you are doing like this, you are doing like this, your attitude, glare, so like that you are saying. I said, Sir, when I speak with anyone, I just keep recordings in my phone. So what you are saying about now, about what you are saying about me right now, there is a proof for everything. Then I start showing the proof. Then I start showing the proof, he get realized, oh you speak like this, oh you speak like this, you are fantastic. So by showing a proof like this, by showing a proof like this, so my manager has decided, oh nice Ashish, you speak very true. So they are converting your truth as a lie. So I come to know what is your truth for today. So from today onwards, I just believe what I see, what I listen with myself. Without doing the both, I don't believe anything, I don't want anyone. So that day I am very happy. This incident I was explaining to my friend. And my friend said, really that's a great lesson to me also. Because mostly I did like this, mistakes, many times. So many people are hurt with my words. So from today onwards, I don't speak without seeing, with my eyes, without listening, with my ears, without having any proof, I don't talk to anyone negative. Thank you so much my friend.

    Band 6-7

    I remember when I was in class 10th, there was a girl whom I met in class 9th, but at that time we were not talking much, but in class 10th we were in the same section. Her name was Nancy, and further the time has spent, we have become really a good friend, like a best friend. There was one person to whom she didn't like him very much, but he was my best friend that she didn't know that he is. I wanted to share with her that he is my best friend, but she always used to tag bad about him, which I was not very fan of. So a day I decided to tell her the truth that he is my best friend and I don't like to listen a bad thing about him. Please don't talk about him like that. So when I told him that, you know that he is my best friend, we have been together since three years, and I don't think you should talk about him like that with me. And she was really shocked that you didn't tell me that he is your best friend and now you are saying something like this. I didn't want to tell you because you didn't like him. And it was important for me to tell because I think she trusted me with all those talks she was doing with me. So I don't want to give her something like hate me. I wanted her to trust on me, have faith on me forever so that she can talk in future about anyone. If she has known from somewhere else, it would have been bad for me.

    Band 6-7

    Hello, so I am Rithika. Once I have told a secret or a truth to my friend Neelam. She is my best friend. The truth was that I went to Goa with my friend who was just a stranger few months back. We met online, we started talking and suddenly we made a plan to go to Goa, meet Goa. Like first time we were about to meet at Goa. So this was the truth I told my friend Neelam. Neelam got shocked when she got to know that I am going to Goa to meet a friend. That too he is a stranger for me and first time I am meeting him, that too in a different place, Goa. So she was shocked. I told her because I know that she is my really good friend and I haven't told this thing to anyone else. So I thought I should tell someone this thing because though I have trust that guy but still if anything happens to me there is someone who knows that where am I or who can keep a track on me so that the guy also get to know that Neelam is her friend and she is telling everything to Neelam. So I told her everything and the basic thing behind telling her all the things is that she can keep an eye on me or just can make a track on me. So she is a very good friend of mine, kinda best friend.

    Band 6-7

    from my perspective saying the truth is a nice thing to do and for me it is one of the most important things in friendship so when I was in plus 2 I had a friend and she's my best friend right now and she was in a relationship with this guy named Gurvinder and he was in different school than ours and when we were studying in plus one I got to know first that he was cheating on her not actually but there was a rumor that it was started by our classmates that he was cheating on my best friend but she didn't know that and I went to her and told her that this is the thing and you need to know this and she was like so frightened like how the could this happen and I asked the boy that you should be the first one to tell her that what happened and what is the rumor all about and the boy got to her and he explained whatever happened between him and that another girl that came between them and my best friend when she got to know that I was the one who told her first she was so relieved that I helped her in resolving this matter although she was scared but she was thankful that I told her and I'm happy that she knew it from me first and then from her boyfriend because I'm there for her forever and ever and I want her to feel safe with me and she can tell me everything and I think that maybe in near future she will help me the same but I don't know
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