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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
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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

    It was literally a week ago that I took a day off from my work that was on a day before the weekend that was Friday. It was a gloomy day in the morning and I didn't have the urge to get up and go for work. So that's when I decided I need to take a day off from my work and spend it on myself. Then I decided to go back to the bed and slept till, slept like a baby till 10 o'clock. Woke up with a really good mood. Then I decided to take a bath and freshen up and go to the temple with my grandma and took all the blessings from the temple. And then I came back and made a small little plan to go out with my friends to have breakfast. We went to a popular dosa joint that is Vidyati Bhavan, had a really crispy dosa with a strong filtered coffee and it just made my day. After that, we decided to take a long walk in the nearby park that is filled with lot of flowers, butterflies, birds, etc. We took a long walk in Lal Bagh and then decided to go for lunch. We went to a really popular joint to have biryani that was Meghana's. It was filled with people. I just loved being in the chaos. I had a great lunch. Then I decided to come back and take a long nap. That is how I spent my day off from the work. It was chaotic. It was free. I just love how I didn't have to rush anywhere. I had the time for myself. I just love spending the time with my family, friends. It just made my day. I love how chaotic, peaceful and fun the day was.

    Band 6-7

    I wouldn't say it is a day exactly, it was an entire week that I had off. The week off was really, really enjoyable. That was after my semester exams from college and I was really enjoying it by catching up with my friends and spending much time with my family. Also, I was diving into the academic stuff that I should be looking forward to. Also, my family planned a quick visit to the temple and so much other things to catch up with relatives. It was quite a busy week but I was still enjoying it with my me-times where I was spending time on watching dramas, movies, reading books, listening to podcasts and so much other entertaining stuff that I love to do in my free time. So, it was a combination of going out with the family and also the me-time that I deserve. Usually, my week sets off a really, really busy day. Every day is super busy so I will never get a me-time or a family time. I just come around, sleep and the cycle goes. It repeats. Right now, since I got the time to do all that, I was having a blast. I didn't rest up. Every day, I was getting ready to meet a new friend or to catch up with my family. Later, I will schedule some time for me where I will be planning ahead of what I should go ahead in my career or just simply watching some entertainment stuff or reading those books. So, yeah, that was my day off.

    Band 6-7

    Recently, a few days ago, as I'm currently a working professional, I got a day off from my work. So, I was very happy about that and what I did was, I started producing music. I have a very powerful laptop and MIDI controllers which are used for making music. So, on that day, I just composed my own songs and wrote down some basic notes and I was just enjoying my time alone and that usually I don't get very frequently. As my interest was more aligned towards music, playing piano, drums and all those stuff, I always try to be more productive and like more deep into music as that is my passion. I always love to make music and upload a few songs on my own label on YouTube and my sister and my dad also used to sing and write songs. Whenever I just start producing music, I just call up my dad and ask him to write a few lyrics for my songs and he just do it instantly for me. And once he has done that, I just make a tune for that and start building into a full song and I just play it to my friends and ask for feedback like whether it will be a hit or flop. If the tune is catchy, then I will develop more and more and ask for feedback as I already said.

    Band 6-7

    So, a recent day that I enjoyed of work was when we got an unexpected holiday by the team from our client side since they were of the opinion that we had been working really hard and providing some excellent results. As a gesture of goodwill, they provided us one day off. The best part about it was that it was unexpected and so it really provided a thrill and an exhilarating feeling to me in the moment that I realized that I did not have to work today. I also loved the fact that I could spend that day with my family since I was lucky enough to be spending that day back at home. So, I spent a couple of hours with my family, talking to them about different things, discussing certain things such as food and common interests. Then I went out with my cousin who also happened to be there at the time and we visited a park that both of us really love to go in our leisure time. I spent a couple of hours over there walking with my cousin and just enjoying the nature, observing the beauty, working out in the park since it has an open-air gym. And then I went back, we had some food and I really loved the overall day. It gave me a sense of calm during the fast-paced life.

    Band 6-7

    So the day when we enjoyed a free day in our school, it was a wonderful day and it was Children's Day that we celebrated in India, that is 14th of November and that day is dedicated to children and in our schools they celebrate Children's Day by giving us food packets and teachers performing music, dance, act for us and acting for us. So this way Children's Day is celebrated in India, in Indian schools. It's a wonderful day, we are also given gifts and it's a day that we all children's we wait for because we get to see our teachers performing beautiful dance form for us, singing beautiful songs for us, dedicated to us and making funny acts for us. So it's a wonderful day that we get to see, it's a free day, we enjoy a lot with our friends, we share a very fun bonding with our teachers apart from a teacher-student bonding, teachers become more friendly, we share jokes, we laugh, we play together and so it's a different day compared to the rest of the days we spend in our school where there is only studies and less fun compared to Children's Day where even teachers take part in the fun we have. So this way we enjoy, I enjoyed a free day off in my school.

    Band 6-7

    One free day, I woke up late without any alarm and had a relaxed breakfast with my family. I spent the morning watching my favorite series and chatting with friends online. In the afternoon, I went out for lunch with a close friend and we laughed a lot while sharing stories. In the evening, we took a peaceful walk in the park and enjoyed ice cream and watched a sunset. It was a simple but refreshing day that made me feel relaxed, happy and ready for the next day. Thank you. It was a simple but refreshing my day and made me feel happy and recharged.

    Band 6-7

    Well, the day that I spent a lot, that was Saturday, like April 27th, Saturday, 2025. So I just got off from my school and I did a lot of memorable things that I really enjoy. Like I took so many pictures with my friends and families, which are really enjoyable for me to cherish those memories in the future. So what I did in the beginning, like I went with my friends and family to nearby temple and we just took the blessings from God and family. And we took the pictures with the priest and the families as well as like including all the friends. And also so many videos that we uploaded on our social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp status as well. So these things, then we just came back to home and we cooked a lot of delicious foods like the Nepali items, which is rice, dal, green vegetables, including mustard and a lot of pickles, like spices, pickles. So these are the certain things that we did. And then like in the evening, we watched movies just by sitting all together and then like we read a book as well. So these are the really very enjoyable moments for me. And it was very unique for me because after a long time, I spent time with my friends and family. So really like it make me feel peace. And I was there was a very positive changes in myself when I spent that day with my family. So I'm not going to forget all those memorable days in my future.

    Band 6-7

    I had recently taken a day off of my work. A month ago, it was a Friday, and I had gone to Lonavala just for seeing the rainfall and how the environment is looking in the current season. I visited this place along with my friends and we did trek around nearby areas as well. In addition to this, I was very elated and relaxed by this experience because it helped me in unwinding myself and getting a break from work was a crucial thing which was required by me. And as we say that if a person keeps on working, then there needs to be at least one day which they give to themselves or they spend that day in focusing on things which they like. In my case, I love travelling and that's why I decided to visit a nearby area just for the sake of travelling. It helped me in becoming very much relaxed and calm and I just enjoyed my day in spending my time with all my friends. After coming back home, I also spent a huge amount of time with my family which made me relax which was a much needed break.

    Band 6-7

    In the free day of work or school, I joined NGO named Exnora International Green Plantation NGO. So, I worked under that NGO and I experienced many things like I was keeping the nature clean and planting the trees. In the beach side, we went on some programs to take the wastage foods and garbages to collect into the one place so we can make that place clean and neat. And we went to some parks and we planted some trees like 1000 plus trees and our program name was we have to plant the 1000 plus trees. After completion of the 1000 plus trees planted, we started celebrating that celebration with our friends and we enjoyed that experience with our higher volunteers and they guided us in a nice and genuine way to how to work in the nature like this. Because we have been sitting in the home and going to school and returning to home, in that thing there is not much that of enjoyment so I have joined that NGO so I can get more experience and good experience from my higher volunteers. This was my good experience in my free day.

    Band 6-7

    Alright, so I would like to talk about Independence Day. As I work at a UK based band, so I have had a working day on Independence Day since they don't celebrate the festival. So I have took the holiday on 15th August and then since my friend is in another company and she already had holiday on that day, so I made a plan to go out with her and we have had a lot of fun. First we went to a career fair because I have always wanted to study abroad and seeking for counselling from so long. So I asked her to come along with me and then we have took counselling for few hours and then we went to have lunch. We have had my favourite pasta and she really likes spaghetti. So we have had both the things in our lunch and then we wanted to take a walk since the weather was really nice and we really enjoy nature. So we went out to the nearby nursery park and we have had so much fun there. The weather was amazing. Also we have had some tea and snacks there which even increases the vibe of the place and we have had so much fun there. We enjoyed so many things and then we went for a drive later in the day and we were listening our favourite songs and it was just and the sunset made it even better. It was really fun day and I am sure I would like to do it again with the same person only.
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