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Describe a time you enjoyed a free day off work or school: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When the day was?
  • What you did during the day?
  • Who you spent it with?
  • And explain why it was enjoyable.
Show all 116 answers

Cue 1:When the day was?

  • Mention a specific date or time frame to give context to your story.
  • Explain why this day was significant for you, such as a holiday or a personal reason.

Example

The day I enjoyed my free day off was on the 15th of August, which is India's Independence Day. I had planned this day off in advance to celebrate the occasion with my family.


Cue 2:What you did during the day?

  • Describe the activities you engaged in throughout the day.
  • Include a mix of relaxing and engaging activities to show how you made the most of your time.

Example

I started my day with a leisurely breakfast at home, followed by watching the flag hoisting ceremony on television. Later, I took a walk in the nearby park, enjoying the fresh air and the festive atmosphere. In the afternoon, I prepared a special lunch with my family, and we even watched a patriotic movie together.


Cue 3:Who you spent it with?

  • Mention the people you shared this day with, highlighting their importance to you.
  • Explain how their presence contributed to the enjoyment of the day.

Example

I spent this day with my parents and younger sister. Being together as a family made the day even more special, as we shared stories about our country's history and enjoyed each other's company.


Cue 4:And explain why it was enjoyable.

  • Reflect on the feelings and emotions you experienced during the day.
  • Discuss the significance of taking a break from work or school and how it impacted your well-being.

Example

This day was enjoyable because it allowed me to relax and reconnect with my family. After a hectic work schedule, having a day off to celebrate our independence and bond with loved ones was refreshing. I felt grateful and happy, which made the day memorable.


Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my free day off on Independence Day was a perfect blend of relaxation and celebration. It reminded me of the importance of family and taking time for myself, making it a truly enjoyable experience.


    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: Being Too Vague

    Candidates often give very general answers without specific details. This makes the response less engaging and informative.

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    Tip

    Include specific details about the day, such as activities, locations, and feelings to make your answer more vivid and interesting.


    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Some candidates forget to address all the cues provided, leading to incomplete answers that may not fully satisfy the examiner's expectations.

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    Tip

    Make sure to answer all the cues: when the day was, what you did, who you were with, and why it was enjoyable.


    Overly Complicated Language

    Using complex vocabulary or sentence structures can confuse the listener and detract from the clarity of your message.

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    Tip

    Use clear and simple language to express your ideas. Focus on being understandable rather than using difficult words.


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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 >7

    so I had a day off very decently and usually we are getting two offs per week and in my off day first of all I woke up after I completed my beauty sleep then I did my morning routine which I usually follow drinking chia seeds then having a breakfast of my choice which is definitely healthy after that I spend my time cleaning my room and after that I was cleaning my apartment after that I decided to rest a little bit and then organized my wardrobe later in the evening I spend my holiday or a day off with my friends I went out with them to have some food some shopping some little bit shopping here and there and talking to them spending time with them is literally my happy place after that we just explored the new mall which is opened to us nearby a local mall we did a little shopping like buying some household chores and few essentials for our daily livelihood my off day was enjoyable because I could just spend it not working of course I could just spend it with my friends with my closer ones and I have a precise time for everything hence I would just say that a day off in my life is the most important thing because even after working for a week you need to rest your body so it's very important

    Band 7

    One of the most memorable free days I had was last year, during a national day in October. It was a surprise day off from work and luckily it fell on a Monday, so I had a long weekend. I decided to spend the day completely relaxing. I started the morning with a long walk in the park near my apartment, which I usually don't have time to do. The weather was perfect, cool breeze and clear skies, so it felt really refreshing. Later in the day, I treated myself to a homemade brunch with pancakes, fruits and coffee. It felt like such a luxury to eat slowly without rushing. In the afternoon, I watched a movie I had been meaning to see for months. It was a light comedy, which lifted my mood. I also spent some time video calling my family back home, which made the day even more special. Overall, I felt recharged and grateful for the break. It reminded me how important it is to slow down and take time for myself. That free day definitely helped me return to work with more energy and focus.

    Band 7

    So, this was a day during my university time. It was on a Monday, I guess. We were informed that we wouldn't be having classes on that day, so we decided to get together. I decided to call my friends and get together and do something fun and spend the day together. Eventually, we went for grocery shopping, got some food items, came back to the apartment, started cooking, made some really delicious dishes. We watched YouTube videos to make a new dish, which we had never attempted before. Then, we had our lunch and decided to go out in the evening. We decided to go out, so we rested for some time at our apartment and by around 5 or 6 p.m., we got ready and called some more friends and went to the amusement park that was near our university. On that day, there was some special offer going on, so we got a special student discount. We played all the rides and it was a very fun experience, which I think I would cherish lifelong. Moreover, we clicked really nice pictures and there was a stall where we could get professional pictures.

    Band 7

    I believe the day was a Saturday and it was extremely rainy, so I did not wish to go to my internship. This in turn led to me staying at home and enjoying the comfort of my loving room and spending time by watching TV, journaling and cooking and many other activities I've found a lot of bliss in. Moreover, I spent it alone without anyone else, which gave me time to self-introspect and understand myself better and what I liked and what I disliked. The quality time I spent with myself helped me understand myself to a depth I hadn't gone to before and that combined with some really tasty cooking and a spiritual movie helped lift my spirits and that is how I ended my day. It was a good day.

    Band 6-7

    If I am not wrong, I was in 7th standard when I got unexpected holiday. I mean I never liked going to school and attending the lectures. I always used to think that I wish that I will get holiday today. And one day it happened so because of heavy rain forecast, our school declared holiday. I was damn happy. I came back home and my parents were surprised to see me coming in between the school. And then I was so stubborn to my father to take me and my younger brother to garden. So we went to garden in the first half and we returned home. And I asked mama to prepare something special for me. Luckily it was raining outside. So me and my family had quality time together while having coffee and some special snacks. Other than that, my brother and I played various games and also watched movie at night. And this added special spices in my the whole day. And this is how my day was very enjoyable.

    Band 6-7

    The day was August 28th of 2025, the day was filled with so much of relaxedness and then calmness. I was alone in my home and I am with my laptop writing a research article and then playing with my pet. I cooked some really favorite dish of mine and then my dog. I took her for a walk and then I slept for a while, played frisbee with my dog. So it is just so relaxing and then calming. I felt the calmness in my mind and also after a while I was just simply sitting without any rush. So I just enjoyed a free day and then I saw a movie that is my favorite which is nothing but Final Destination, that's all.

    Band 6-7

    The time I enjoyed every day after college was last Sunday because I went out with my friends whom I met about an year. We went out, we chilled, we drank some drinks and we ate food and we did some photo shoots. We went to some places, we enjoyed the nature, the scenery. We went on a long drive. Those moments were very best. We gossiped about some others. We also discussed about each and everybody's problems and moments. The main enjoyable thing was we crashed in a marriage. We crashed and we ate some food and we escaped from there. It was a memory which I remember, which I will not forget in my whole lifetime. It was the best time in my life. It was my first time for crashing and wedding on my own. I will never forget that moment in my life.

    Band 6-7

    Recently, while there was a festival going on Navratri, I visited my cousin who stays in Gujarat. I visited him on a weekend and we had a plan to go for a Garba night, but eventually we didn't went for a Garba night and we both stayed at home and we enjoyed with each other by speaking many things that unwind both of our mind and one of my cousin also joins in. His name is Ayush. Me and Ankita were already having fun, later Ayush also joined us. Ayush also shared his experience and view over the free day in a weekend as we all get exhausted by working continuously for a five days and we also need a free day once in a week. So, this was a day where we didn't do anything, we were just talking and after finishing talking, we watched a movie and then we ordered a good food from a good restaurant and enjoyed the food while seeing the good movie series. The series which we watched was the Wednesday on the Netflix. It was a bit of horror and Ankita and Ayush both were just feeling scared of the Wednesday, but I really enjoyed with them and this was the free day I was ever dreaming of to spend with my cousins one day.

    Band 6-7

    The free day I got off of my tuition, not my school, was like an year ago where I got Saturday off. Usually in my tuition there's classes from Monday to Saturday with an occasional test on Sunday. But this weekend was special as I had a holiday on Saturday due to Serb being not possible to come. So not me. So not me. So not me. The day I truly enjoyed a day was the day I got a holiday from my tuition, not my school. Usually what goes in my tuition is from Monday to Saturday we have classes at least 4 hours and on Sunday there's occasionally tests. But this weekend was special as I got a holiday on Saturday because Serb wasn't available and on Sunday there wasn't a test plan at all. So I wanted to relieve myself, take all the stress off as the competitive exam had a toll on me. So the first thing I did is had lunch at home and then I went to see a movie. The movie which I saw was How to Train Your Dragon which was remade into the original version as in the real life version. I went there with friends, had a fun time, we ordered some popcorn, we played some games in the game zone. While in the game zone it was too crowded so we decided to go to a nearby game zone which is called Explore where there's a trampoline park, a bowling alley and every sorts of game. We stayed there for 2 hours or more and then we went back home but we planned to go back home. One of my friends started saying why don't we go to a gaming cafe. The others weren't available but I wanted to enjoy the day to the fullest. So I went to the gaming cafe with him and oh my god it was so fun. And finally we came back home and I had dinner. Additionally I went outside to eat some ice cream with my father and on Sunday I just revised what happened on Friday so I just don't forget what happened and then become prepared for Monday.

    Band 6-7

    I I usually enjoy all my holidays particularly in the Christmas season Christmas holidays it's very favorite for me because that weather I like it so much and also it's a very big festival for us I used to enjoy with my daughter we go out and explore something new we had new foods explored some foods delicious foods something like that and also one more thing is very special for me my husband is staying out out out of out of country so he he came and spent some time with us on that period so we enjoyed a lot so I like it so much
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