Describe a time when you used your imagination.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

When was it?
What did you do?
How did you feel about it?

24 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 24 answers

Cue 1:When was it?

Start by mentioning a specific time or event when you used your imagination.
Provide context about your surroundings or situation to help the listener visualize the moment.

Example

It was about two years ago during the summer holidays when I was at home, feeling a bit bored and looking for something creative to do.

Cue 2:What did you do?

Describe the imaginative activity you engaged in, detailing the process and your thought process.
Make it relatable by connecting it to common experiences, such as storytelling, drawing, or creating something new.

Example

I decided to write a short story about a young girl who discovers a magical world in her backyard. I spent hours crafting the plot, creating characters, and even sketching some scenes to visualize my ideas better.

Cue 3:How did you feel about it?

Share your emotions during and after the imaginative activity, highlighting any joy or satisfaction you experienced.
Reflect on how this experience impacted you personally or creatively.

Example

I felt incredibly excited and fulfilled while writing. It was a great escape from reality, and I was proud of what I created. This experience reignited my passion for storytelling, and I realized how important imagination is for personal growth.

Conclusion

Summarize the key points of your experience, reinforcing the value of imagination.
Mention any lasting effects this experience had on your life or creativity.

Example

In conclusion, using my imagination during that summer not only provided me with joy but also helped me develop my writing skills. It reminded me of the importance of creativity in our lives.

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 answer unclear and unengaging. It’s important to provide specific details to paint a vivid picture of your experience.

Tip

Focus on specific moments and feelings. Use descriptive language to explain what you imagined and how it impacted your experience.

2: Ignoring the Cues

Failing to address the cue prompts can lead to an incomplete answer. Each cue is designed to guide your response and ensure you cover all aspects.

Tip

Structure your answer by directly addressing each cue. Start with when it happened, then explain what you did, and finish with how you felt.

Overly Complex Language

Using overly complex vocabulary or sentence structures can confuse the listener. Clarity is key in effective communication, especially in speaking tests.

Tip

Use simple and clear language. Focus on conveying your ideas effectively rather than impressing with difficult words.

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

The imagination that I had when I was in class 5 that the teacher won't allow me to the class if I don't do the homework or the project work and I have a fear that the teacher will even complain it to my parents and insult me in front of my friends. So I have told a lie to her that I have done the homework but I didn't get it to the school because I forgot it at my home. I still regret about it because I didn't really do the homework or the project work but the teacher had given me the work so that I can improve in the subject or do well in my academics. So from that time I was thinking that I should never tell a lie to anyone because it is just like you are lying to yourself.

Band 6

so I would like to talk about an incident when I used my imagination I presented a poster during one of the competitions at college it was about how can you present on a chart paper that over health is the overall health that means whatever we eat does reflect on our health so what I did I took five minutes if we have we were given only with you were given only I think 30 minutes or 45 minutes to present that poster so what I did I took five minutes and planned everything so as I have attended some of the art classes back in my schools I came up with an idea that I would do I would do an sprinkle sprinkling I would use sprinkling technique and sprinkle the colors all around the chart paper with a cutting of tooth paper in the between so the central part will be only white and the colors will be all around that and I will write a slogan in between that non colored part so I wrote over health is the overall health and we need to preserve it and it stood me at second position at the event which made me feel really proud of myself and it was really funny and I could come up with an idea like that in a very short period of time which made me think that yes I should participate in such competitions even more and it would boost my confidence and

Band 6

Well, it was during my college days where I really used my creativity and imagination to do something good to people. We used to have hackathons in our colleges and I really wanted to participate in one but I didn't know what to, what idea to put myself in. So I then decided, it was in time where COVID was really on the high and numerous people were being affected all over the world. So I was thinking what if we make a drone which contactless, sanitizes the entire room and also make sure no one, no manpower is needed. So me along with my team started coming up with an idea to make a sanitization drone which only needs a remote to be controlled with. So it will, and we had a time of one week. So my team, we dedicated our days to invest in terms of money, in terms of time, in terms of creativity to build this drone and attach a bottle to it, add a few chemicals and connect it through antennas to a remote where we really, in which what was my imagination came to reality thanks to my team and the dedication that they put in. And we demonstrated it in front of the judges on the final day of hackathon and I'm very proud of it when my team got selected and got prized with second of the team of 90 teams and I'm really happy that my imagination got into reality.

Band 5-6

I used to imagine while writing the stories, it gives an interesting plot to my stories. and boost our thinking capacities and I'll try to stay positive. I'll hardly speak for like 3-5 seconds.

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