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Describe A Time When You Used A Map: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When was it?
  • Why you used it?
  • Was it challenging to use?
  • Explain how you felt about it.
Show all 36 answers

Cue 1:When was it?

  • Begin by mentioning the specific time and place you used the map.
  • Provide context about why you needed to navigate at that moment.

Example

It was last summer, during my trip to the hill station of Manali. I had just arrived and wanted to explore the local attractions, but I was unfamiliar with the area.

Cue 2:Why you used it?

  • Explain the reason for using the map, such as finding a specific location or navigating unfamiliar terrain.
  • Mention any particular places you were trying to reach.

Example

I used the map because I wanted to visit the famous Hadimba Temple and the Manu Temple. I had heard so much about them, but I didn’t know how to get there from my hotel.

Cue 3:Was it challenging to use?

  • Discuss any difficulties you faced while using the map, such as understanding directions or finding your way.
  • Share how you overcame these challenges.

Example

At first, it was a bit challenging because the streets were narrow and winding. I found it hard to match the map with the actual roads. However, I took my time and asked a local for help, which made it easier to understand.

Cue 4:Explain how you felt about it.

  • Share your feelings during the experience, whether it was stressful, exciting, or rewarding.
  • Reflect on what you learned from using the map.

Example

I felt a mix of excitement and anxiety. It was thrilling to explore a new place, but I was worried about getting lost. In the end, I felt accomplished when I found the temples, and it made the experience even more memorable.

Conclusion

    Example

    Using a map during my trip to Manali was a valuable experience. It taught me the importance of navigation skills and boosted my confidence in exploring new places. Overall, it was a rewarding adventure that I will always remember.

    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 Responses

    Using vague language can make your answer unclear. It's important to provide specific details about your experience with the map to engage the listener.

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    Tip

    Include specific dates, locations, and reasons for using the map to create a vivid picture of your experience.

    2: Don't Neglect Emotions

    Failing to express your feelings can make your response less engaging. Sharing your emotions adds depth to your story and connects with the examiner.

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    Tip

    Describe how you felt during the experience, whether it was frustration, excitement, or relief, to make your answer more relatable.

    Overlook Challenges Faced

    Ignoring the challenges you faced while using the map can lead to a one-dimensional answer. Discussing difficulties shows problem-solving skills and resilience.

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    Tip

    Mention any specific challenges you encountered and how you overcame them to demonstrate your ability to navigate obstacles.

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    Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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    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.
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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

    Well, it was a time when me and my friends were going to a tourist place which was nearly a 40 minutes drive from Pune. We thought we knew the road, but unfortunately when we were driving, we took a wrong turn and which leads to us to a mysterious place. At that time, we thought that we can ask people for the direction, but there was no one. So at that time, we decided to use map to locate the place and to go there, but unfortunately there was no signal, but with the help of hotspot, we tried to connect with the map and the challenges were like, it was due to the narrow roads, it was difficult to navigate through it, but somehow we tried to manage to go the place and it was a very different experience for us.

    Band 6

    Firstly, I should mention that using a map is really hard, because I used it when I approaching new places. For example, I should say, once I happened to use a map as I was about to heading to a new place. At present days, using a map becomes essential, because each and every route has a new trails, so to phase it out, we have to use a map in our day-to-day life. So, first of all, I used it once I had to go to a new hospital, the route which is entirely fresh to me. Thus, we have to use a map and the distance of these places. Yes, in recent days, the traffic is really high, so to avoid those traffic jams, I used a road map. That makes us to go in a easiest way the destination which we expected to reach in time. So, once I had to use this map when I am heading to a hospital, which is entirely new to me, which is bit far away from our distance as well, so we used this map. It is really bit difficult to use the road map and travelling both hand-in-hand. In recent days, traffic is really high in the roadways, so particularly to avoid it, each and every person have to take map in their hand to reach their expected destination. So, once I had to visit a hospital which is bit far away from our locality, I had to use the map in my hand while I am travelling. It's such a hectic day, because you have to use both the map as well as you have to travel at a similar time, which was become a headache for me. So, the experience which I gained through using this map was really bit hot. Moreover, which makes us to reach the destination in a right time and which takes us to the particular spot in easiest way. Moreover, I can say map is a perfect escape from a traffic.

    Band 6

    Well, I used to use Google Maps regularly because I want to reach the proper destination and I would like to use Google Maps very frequently. So, the recent days I have used a map is to find one of my coffee shop. I have travelled on by bus, so it took around 30 minutes journey from my place. I got down from the bus and I started opening the map, I mean Google Maps and started looking the favourite coffee shop and I got confused, I approached the local person over there to guide me how to reach that coffee shop while using map. So, it was quite challenging that it is showing long distance for me, but when I started from my place it was showing only the few feet distance, so I got confused and I approached the other person over there and he guided me to cross the flyover and take few steps to reach that place from the mall. So, I said thanks to him for guiding me properly and I felt so confused because it was showing two paths and it highlighted in multiple colours, I couldn't identify the difference out of it. I took one person help and finally I have reached the destination by walk. It took around 500 meters for me and finally when I reached the destination I felt so happy and it helped me, the Google Map helped me to find my destination without asking number

    Band 6

    I usually use maps in my daily life like whenever I have to go to a particular location and I'm unaware of its exact route then I use the maps in such cases and last time I used it when I have to when I have to go to a place called I mean I have to go a cafe as as informed as mentioned by my friend and so I was not aware of that exact location where it is so I used a map to go to that location while using this map one thing I observed is it was difficult to understand whether it is saying to go around the circle and take right or is just a turn over and over and one more thing what I observed is that there is there were some pits and pots and that was not mentioned I think that was not updated in the Google Maps regarding the closure of that particular area so I have to take another I have to go back and take another route and then link that to that location and go besides this I have also observed that there are sometimes it gives us the shortest route saying that this shortest route will save you time that has actually helped me because I was able to go to that place within 15 to 20 minutes where I would actually showed like it would take around 30 to 40 minutes so that was a time-saving I that was really one positive thing about it just like any other apps it does has its own pros and cons one is time-saving if the pros and cons is that if there is no proper

    Band 6

    Usually we don't use the paper map that we have so while we are hiking on mountains so one of my friend who know how to read physical map so she take it with her although we have more internet access until some point so we used as much as we can do it like we tried very hard to reload it but after some point we don't have any more internet access so it was not working very well at that time she was walking in the way firstly so we are following her because she knows how reading map so she started reading map and eventually there is some information available so we can tend to like we can take some rest at some point and eventually if we want to rest for a while so we can also set there are tents and take rest however it was not very tough as she knows how to read we are following her one by one and the very best part about knowing map reading was we reach at the point that we want to reach and I think that we should know how to read physical map so whenever we don't have internet access so we just don't act like handicapped we know how to get there.

    Band 6

    I have never used a physical map however I have used Google Maps that is in my phone. The last time I used it was when I went on a trip with my friends to Kerala Kundu. It is located in Kerala and I am living in Tamil Nadu so I have no idea where this place is or how to reach there and I feel that I'm pretty good in navigation through maps.

    Band 6

    Maps. I used maps for the first time when I was travelling to Thiruvanmalai along with my family. It was my first visit to Tamil Nadu. We didn't have any idea about the route, so we used maps to guide us to the temple. We faced a lot of challenges because the map showed different routes to reach the temple. We opted for the shortest path to reach the temple, but when we followed the map, the shortest path has narrow roads, which is very inconvenient for the car to travel on that road. We felt so much embarrassed and felt very difficult to pass through such narrow roads. It is better not to follow blindly the maps.

    Band 5-6

    I visited very recently with my cousins which we forgot which we forgot the way in our cousins hometown it was very horrible to say this and we are not getting any thoughts on roots on our roots and at the time we got an idea and we used maps and we opened it after opening it it was confusing our ways the ways are very short and it was one way though it was showing two ways another said so we were very confusing on the ways which are which were going through the distance to our home the distance was showing very short and we went to up to 20 kilometers huh it was a terrible distance towards also we went to some scary place which the road was ended and the full it was surrounded full of it at the ways and hubs that was too frequently disturbing our senses or disturbing us

    Band 5-6

    and there and it will be the when we have to go and travels on that time we are using the map because we have to plan to go anywhere in the world or any cities on that time we don't know about the particular area or particular locality area and we always plan to travels or use in our life and that's why we always make a benefit of our google map and we always use a map we have to find out the way we have a good shopping mall good food court and where we have to find the best locality, best cafe, best club as an example we have to plan to next week going to trip in Goa and for before that in this week we have to make a huge plan and we always give 2 to 3 hours for planning to make our trip the moment the best and that's why we all are using the everyday huge map to know about Goa and know about the famous thing in Goa and how we all are making of joyful and environments to best for us and that's why we always use the most map in the new city to find out the new locality, to find out the everything because in the new city we don't know about anything that's why our google map is helping a lot of things lot of time and that's why we always we always have a good opportunity we have always find out the good locality with the help of google map and google map is the so so beneficial for us and it's a providing to lot of details to how to travels, how to maximize your time, how to maximize your money and how to make a perfect plan in your life on that time we always find out the google map we have to just

    Band 5-6

    I was used many times google maps and iphone maps because it gives a lot of information to travel from one place to another place. I experienced many times. One day when we are going to go we used the google maps showing complete information in that. The next day we are travelling from Tenegana to Goa so we are stuck in the Karnataka forest and the google maps are not showing perfectly routes to Goa. So we are completely confused and there is no idea about that new place. In google maps also they are not locating the forest locations and the forest transport and with the roads. So we worried a lot and we confused. So suddenly one jeep came there and they put with another map is iphone maps. It completely showed each and everything with each facilities and it provided some useful information like 5500 meters far away from petrol bunk and emergency calls and that map has been shown everything and we felt very happy and we continued our journey and we reached the Goa. When we are coming back to the Hyderabad we used the same maps and we came back. In olden days people have to choose the maps which is in on papers but now a days technology has been changed. The maps are provided in the phones and in the internet. So it is very convenient to travel from one place to another place.
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