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Describe A Time You Had To Finish Something Quickly: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What it was?
  • When it happened?
  • How you finished it?
  • Why you had to finish it quickly?
  • Explain how you felt about it.
Show all 26 answers

Cue 1:What it was?

  • Clearly state what task or project you had to finish quickly.
  • Provide some context about the importance of this task.

Example

The task I had to finish quickly was my final project for college. It was a group assignment that required extensive research and presentation, and it was crucial for my overall grade.

Cue 2:When it happened?

  • Mention the specific time frame when this occurred.
  • Include any relevant details about deadlines or time constraints.

Example

This happened just a week before the submission deadline, which was on a Friday. We had started the project late, and I realized that we were running out of time.

Cue 3:How you finished it?

  • Describe the steps you took to complete the task quickly.
  • Mention any strategies or tools you used to manage your time effectively.

Example

To finish it quickly, I organized a meeting with my group members. We divided the work based on each person's strengths and set specific deadlines for each section. I also used online tools to collaborate efficiently.

Cue 4:Why you had to finish it quickly?

  • Explain the reasons that made it necessary to complete the task in a hurry.
  • Discuss any consequences of not finishing on time.

Example

We had to finish it quickly because it was worth 40% of our final grade. If we missed the deadline, we would not only lose marks but also risk failing the course.

Cue 5:Explain how you felt about it.

  • Share your emotions during the process of completing the task.
  • Reflect on what you learned from the experience.

Example

I felt a mix of anxiety and determination. It was stressful to work under pressure, but I also felt proud of our teamwork and the final product we submitted. This experience taught me the importance of time management.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, finishing that project quickly was a challenging yet rewarding experience. It helped me develop better organizational skills and reinforced the value of teamwork in achieving our goals.

    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: Rushing Through Your Answer

    Candidates often rush their responses, leading to unclear or incomplete answers. This can make it difficult for the examiner to follow your story.

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    Tip

    Take a moment to organize your thoughts before speaking. Use a clear structure to ensure you cover all the cues effectively.

    2: Lack of Detail

    Providing vague or minimal details can make your answer less engaging. Examiners look for specific examples to assess your language skills.

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    Tip

    Include specific details about the situation, such as what you were finishing, when it happened, and how you felt during the process.

    Ignoring Emotional Impact

    Failing to express your feelings about the experience can make your answer sound flat. Emotions add depth and interest to your response.

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    Tip

    Reflect on your feelings during the experience and share them. Explain why finishing quickly was important to you and how it affected you.

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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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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    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

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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.
    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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    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 7

    There was a time during my college days when I had to submit a group project, but due to some last-minute issues, one of my team members couldn't complete their part. The deadline was just a few hours away, and if we missed it, we would lose important marks. I quickly stepped in, divided their portions into manageable sections, and prioritized the most critical content. I worked fast but carefully, using whatever notes and resources I had. In the end, I managed to complete and compile, proofread, and submit the project just in time. It was stressful, but it taught me how to work efficiently under pressure, and still deliver quality content.

    Band 7

    During my summer internship at Gale India Limited in June 2024, I was asked to prepare a financial summary report for a high-level client meeting. The twist is, I got the request late in the afternoon, and the meeting was scheduled for the next morning. The task involved analyzing key financial ratios, preparing valuation insights, and putting everything into a concise PowerPoint. I usually had 2-3 days for such work, but this time I had barely a few hours. I quickly prioritized the key metrics, worked late into the evening, and submitted the report on time. It was intense but rewarding. My manager appreciated the accuracy and clarity despite the time crunch. That moment really taught me the value of staying calm, working smart, and managing pressure effectively. So I was once given a task to prepare a financial summary for a client meeting that was scheduled unexpectedly.

    Band 6-7

    Here I would like to talk about that a time I had to complete my research as a part of nursing very quickly. It happened one year ago. We were 4th year students at that time. Once a day my course principal came to my classroom. She told me to complete my survey program too fast. Because the nursing audit from the university was conducted in the very next week. So I have to complete this survey within this one week. Actually it was a very difficult task because my project is dependent on school students and prevention of accidents in school students. So I have to identify different category of schools and I have to conduct some survey and analysis regarding about road accidents. So it is not an easy task. But I have no option and I got a number of students with me. And we went to different schools and we got appointments with these school principals. And they allowed a particular period for our class. And we conducted the survey. After the survey the analysis was conducted by a... We gave this analysis program to another company. So they did it very fastly. That reduces our workload too heavily. After that I gave this survey report to the principal. One day before that the...

    Band 6-7

    Well, a time when I had to finish something very quickly is a week ago when there was a small event in my family and a lot of relatives and close friends were coming to home to attending a small party for my cousin. Today it's her birthday party and in the short period of time I have to prepare a lot of different cuisines and some beverages and along with that I have to decorate the house also. I have only two hours for all these things. Then I called some of my close friends and I asked them to offer a hand to me and they came on time and they helped me a lot and they helped me with every single thing that I need. They helped me in some running in small errands and of course that later when we completed the work, when we were done with the work, we were so relaxed and it's like we have finished our duos task and later we all were over the moon because of the fulfillment of the work and we need to finish the work before the entering, before the coming of the members because after that we have to take some pictures of them and we are also planning to prepare to give them a surprise and for that we also need some time. So yeah, it was very grateful experience for me and I really enjoy because this helps me to realize my dreams.

    Band 6-7

    One time I had to finish something quickly was during my final year of college. We had a surprise internal assessment and the professor suddenly announced that the submission deadline was moved up by two days. I had barely started working on my research paper, so I had to rush. I stayed up late, cut down on distractions and focused completely on getting it done. I managed to finish it just in time. Honestly, it was stressful but also gave me a sense of achievement. It taught me how efficient I could be under pressure. From then on, I just tried to focus and be more productive. It was a really stressful time, but I barely managed to complete my assignment, so I was proud of myself. I even told my friend that I finished my assignment just a minute before the deadline and she was also proud of me. She also helped me in completing the assignment, so she was happy that I completed my assignment before the deadline.

    Band 6-7

    I recently had to finish something very quickly before it's expected time to be delivered which was my thesis. I recently graduated from Masters in Microbiology and during the last semester my professor told me to bring a thesis which is a detailed research on a particular topic. My topic was based on tuberculosis, how and in what ways tuberculosis is detected in India and whether the gold standard and the other techniques can be combined and be provided in India. It was converted into a much affordable and less time consuming technique. The total time span provided for the thesis to be completed was around 6 months. Eventually it was turned to be 4 months. I had to turn in all my thesis combined and well prepared in 4 months which became a headache as to paraphrase my thesis, edit and read a lot of articles. It took a lot of time and a lot of hours on computer.

    Band 6-7

    During my engineering life, I think in fourth semester, there was a subject mini-project and we have to complete it before the deadline and there was a review meeting schedule. However, our project had some issues because we were struck with our microcontroller which wasn't working and we had a meeting tomorrow by next day and we were so tense like what to do everything and we went and we informed our guide and she suggested go ahead with that and later we will see what happens. So when we went on presenting the mini-project which wasn't a complete one, later the reviewers gave us time next day. So we changed our microcontroller by that time and when we went back to the reviewer and showcased our mini-project, that was a grand success and ours was the best project. So we really felt happy about it and at the same time, we didn't meet the deadline which was given at the first but still they extended our deadline. When we met that deadline, we really felt satisfied and happy.

    Band 6

    One time I had to finish something quickly was during my final semester of MCA. I had to submit a major project report which was over significant portion of my grade. It happened last year just week before the final semester deadline. I had been working on the coding part for week but I don't focus much on writing the report until the last moment. I realized I had only 2 days to left complete format and print entire report. I had finished it quickly because submission deadline was strict and submission was not accepted also. It was crucial for my grade. I feel extremely stressed and anxious during those days. But after submitting it on time I feel sense of relief and achievement. It also taught me importance of managing time well and not leaving things until the last minute.

    Band 6

    More tools. So in our industry, by delivering websites, we have raised a bug. What was it? So, there was a bug, as I belong from a software industry, there was a bug, as I mentioned, I was working as a full-stack developer. So currently I am working as a full-stack developer in a tech product company, we encountered a bug in our website, we encountered a bug in our website. This is the bug we had. So currently I am working as a full-stack developer in a tech company. We had to deliver our website to our client on 15th of April, we had just signed a new deal with the company regarding website and digital marketing as well as our software product. This bug arised whenever the contract form was submitted, the bug mainly referred to lack of submission of form and the data that has to be delivered to the CRM was not getting delivered. So, we solved it by analyzing each part of the code base, after spending about half an hour to 45 minutes, we found that the link given by the client was not correct as well as the code written by my PO was also not correct, so we recommended them to give the perfect link as well as we updated the code to solve the bug within the span of half an hour. I felt very much like an achievement because it was the first time that I encountered such a big issue at such a crucial time.

    Band 6

    So, a time when I have to finish something quickly was when I have to prepare for my mathematics Monday test happening in my school in class 11 as the day of preparation was not really utilized by me due to several reasons and I was not able to like cover all the topics which were needed. So, in order to cover that I pulled up an all-nighter and successfully I gave the exam the next day and I was really proud of myself as I scored a very decent marks in it. The feeling that I had after giving the exams was a sense of relief. I was overwhelmed by the thought that I have successfully given the exam and I was very confident that I would not fail this exam. Instead, I was pretty confident that I would be able to get an average score and even more than average score because I was very determined, very persistent and very confident due to my preparation. I think the best way to prepare for something when you have to finish something quickly is by devoting the time and by having a confidence in yourself which I did in this case and this is one of the best experiences of my life. I think due to this incidence in many parts of my life, I am actually able to outstand the situation. Furthermore, I would definitely give the credits to my hard work because I actually worked really hard that night. Moreover, I would have slept that night and gave the exam and I would have satisfied myself.
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