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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

    A time I really enjoyed was last week. Last week I hang out with 6 of my close friends and we decided to go toward the mountains. It was a short tour that we completed within a day. It took us 3-4 hours to reach to the homestay and 3 more hours to reach the top of the hill. Me and the 6 of my friends were walking, we were trekking. It was quite short time compared to because we decided to walk, sharing our stories, our childhood memories, our different kind of love. We decided to take picture while we were trekking and it was really memorable because a lot of us have already started working on our job and it's really... We are not able to meet up like we used to hang out when we were in school. So after a long time we decided to hang out together and it was really memorable. My friends started to talk about their duty, how their manager and staff treat each other and some of my friends are unemployed so we told each other how we are spending our free time staying at home.

    Band 6-7

    On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, my office usually closed. I went to my home sister to celebrate it and to spend my the whole day. After conducting the rituals of Raksha Bandhan, my sister, Jija and me visited Lal Qila in Delhi. We spent the whole day in the Lal Qila and enjoyed a lot. We along with my nephew explored the other parts of Delhi too. It was a nice day in my life as of today from my office work.

    Band 6-7

    The holiday I cherished the most till today was when I took a day off from school when there were a lot of desks lined up and went to amusement park with my sister. We had a lot of good food and amusing rides as well. Since it was a day, it was a random day actually. I didn't know that we can actually go there and do all this when I had nothing prepared for the test and since we went there we ate a lot of food and we also spent our day doing shopping of cute stuffs. We bought some clothes, some shoes, some accessories as well. However the point that was the star of the day was the firework that we saw at the night and with my sister because we also had some deep conversation about our family and discussed various issues that we are facing right now and since that day we both became much closer to each other and tried to understand each other's thought process, also the challenges we face individually as in life and we try to move forward with it.

    Band 6-7

    A time when I enjoyed my free day off from school. I clearly remember it was last July after my master's second semester exam was completed. I was really stressed throughout the week during my exams as I had to prepare a lot for the exams. So the day my exam was over, I decided to enjoy my time with my family. So we sat together and we watched web series and gossiped about the entertainment industry and shared about our daily lives. It was a really precious experience for me as we were spending quality time together. It also helped me to unwind as I had a hectic week due to my exams. Moreover, spending time with our loved ones also helps us to understand the importance of life and what really matters to us. We also ate the Indian food that is chai and pakora. It is very tasty.

    Band 6-7

    Well, it happens very rarely that sometimes I take off from my work, but this happened lately, recently with me on last weekend, which was on Saturday. I took off from my work and I was feeling a lot stressed, so I took off and I had a thing to relax, but in the morning I took a power nap till afternoon, but after having a power nap, I went to a short trip with my family in which I enjoyed a lot and it was a very memorizing trip as we did a lot of activities and after enjoying all the activities, me and my family and I went to a dinner and we enjoyed a lot there. I was very much elated after taking a day off as all my stress was released and I was full of power after taking a holiday and moreover I would be taking holidays from next weekends because it's very good for our health and we get a good time to spend with our family and after doing the dinner with my family, we went to have an ice cream and we went to Zalato to eat ice creams and I was very much elated that I spent a very much good time with my family and a quality time and moreover I think that it's a piece of cake and it's not a difficult task to do, spend time with the families and moreover I feel stress free after taking a holiday from my work.

    Band 6-7

    On 15 August 2024, with all my friends, I flew kites and we have a talk about all my friends who can touch in with me. Some of them are busy because they have to, they are busy in their life and they have lot of work so they don't have time to talk with all the friends and we talked and gossip about all my friends and the life going on but still I miss my 2-3 friends that are very close to me but they are busy now and on that day, I enjoy the day with my remaining friends. They talk about their life and on that day, we play football and cricket and basketball too but in the football, we all friends are enjoyed and we are having a lunch and then dinner on that day. We make chickens and fries on that day. In the morning, we took sandwiches with us in the park and we all come together in the car and...

    Band 6-7

    Last Ramzan is the free day from my work place because I went to my home town. I spent with my family, friends, everybody. We gathered together, we ate non-veg food. And then after we go to the beach, we do a lot of things like climbing, jumping, kayaking, everything. We have a great time together. And then after we go to the night trip, straight to Kanyakumari, there will be a lot of free food. I love free food. We have to reach over there. And so many things we have seen with my family. And again, our bond is still close to each other.

    Band 6-7

    It was actually during my summer break and I actually did like to spend the time with my friends outside in the hill station and it was a very enjoyable experience. I had my best friends from my childhood whom I did spend my time with and the experience with them was very memorable because we enjoyed it to the last breath. And we had a lot of things planned out and we went on trucking, we explored the food there, we explored the culture there, we went to see the rose garden, we went boating in the lake, we went to the tiger reserve, we went on jeep safari and it was a memorable experience. I enjoyed the experience with my friends and I absolutely loved it to the core.

    Band 6-7

    Well, a free day that I got off my college was about 3 months ago when due to heavy rains the government cancelled all the educational institutes and declared a holiday. So I stayed at home and initially I thought I would just rest the entire day but then I decided that I should probably make the most out of a day off. So I started my day by making breakfast and I made Egg Bhurji, it's an Indian snack which I enjoyed and then after that I decided to watch a show on Disney which is called The White Lotus and after enjoying the show it was about afternoon and the rain had stopped for a while so I took a walk outside to feel the weather. It was less crowded than usual in the streets and the air was very fresh and breezy and then I returned to my home and I ordered lunch from my favourite restaurant which I hadn't in a while because since I'm off to work and then I decided to watch a movie with my family in the evening. So I enjoyed.

    Band 6-7

    I got a free day off school due to extremely heavy rains in Mumbai. It was raining cats and dogs and our school was cancelled for the day. And I really took the opportunity to just relax, laze around a bit. I did a lot of activities like play the guitar and watch a whole lot of movies. I am an enthusiast when it comes to listening to music or playing the guitar. It was my first love and it's something I'm very passionate about. It's not just a hobby for me, it's something that has taught me how to live life and how to become a better person. In terms of my personality, it has taught me patience and dedication and determination. The other thing as I mentioned was watching movies which is on the totally other side of the spectrum in terms of productivity. But as I said I wanted to just relax and lay off. I can be a bit of a couch potato but well that is something I really enjoy as well. And I just have some sort of a special connection when it comes to watching movies because my dad has always loved it. And I think it's just a generational thing that has been passed on to me. Furthermore, I also like to play sports and of course that is one of the things that I did do that day. I went down, met with my friends and we took this opportunity to play football in the rain which is just cherry on the cake. Honestly, it was the most engaging and amazing moment of my life.
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