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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 41 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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    Reported by

    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
    anonymous person icon

    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

    Ashan and I were friends since kindergarten. We grew up in the same town. We went to the same school. We liked the same things. Even our parents were friends. We liked the color blue so much that we always wore blue colored clothes. We used to sit on the same bench since kindergarten till high school. She and I were so close that if one of us was absent, the teacher would automatically ask the other where Sneha went or Ashna went. We were that close. Then we stepped into teenagehood where things got a little bit dramatic. As you can imagine, we also fell for the same guy which none of us didn't expect or realize until it was too late. But it was important to tell the truth to her. I've never wanted anything bad for her. She's been my best friend since day one. The one person I care more about in the whole wide world. And of course, I told her the truth. She was upset at first. But we got through it as friends do.

    Band 6-7

    So I had a friend and I don't really feel comfortable sharing her name so let's just call her Annie. So I told Annie that I felt left out because she was always hanging out with this other girl and she did hang out a lot with me as well but I felt that she was more connected with the other girl compared to me like I felt they both were closer and I didn't really feel like her actual best friend and I just felt like she was just using me as a second option instead of her actual friend and when I told her that she did try to improve that and she did try to change it about herself and she moreover she told the others like we were in a group at that time so whenever they were talking the others of the group were talking she would say that hey let's include her as well referring to me and it didn't really work but she would still hang out with the other girl and it didn't really work out so in the end I just broke the friendship with her. Now we did, now I do talk to her a lot but we aren't really friends. She does consider me a friend but I don't consider her my friend and I felt that it was important to tell her that because I was really feeling left out and lonely and I had even gotten depressed for quite some time so in the end it didn't really work out. I appreciate her.

    Band 6-7

    I am a person who always tried my best to be real with everyone. I remember last time I have to say truth in front of my friend just because it was a scam in our school or in our class. I remember there was a scam going on in our class like our teacher distributed the exam paper saying that it is a scam. I am a person who always tried my best to be real with everyone. I remember last time my friend was under the weather and due to that she was not able to attend school for a long time. But after her recovery she finally come to school and there was a SPY test announced by our teacher. We were a little shocked but we still tried our best to score great in our exams. Even my friend is a topper she used to give her best. She worked down to dust to score higher in every exams. At that time the paper was leaked by our teacher to another student who was weak in that subject. But we was not even aware of that. Moreover we feel like it's a big scam with us because we also burn our midnight oil just to be great at our classes. So it is a partiality with us. So I tell her the truth that it is the teacher's mistake that we are not able to achieve the real marks. We should get it. And after that we went to principal office to discuss this matter and even the teacher got the right punishment he deserves and we get the right marks we deserve.

    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.
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