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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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    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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    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

    I had to finish till tomorrow. So, hello. It is the time when I was in school and I had to submit a project. And the deadline was tomorrow, so I had to finish it before tomorrow. So, I stayed up late at night and finished it. The project is about endangered animals. I made it with the help of internet. I searched it on Google and searched for the information on Google. Collected information, summarized it and written it in my project book. Also, it took me quite a long time to do all this and in one night I had finished this project. This project was of subject AVS. That's it. I had nothing else to say.

    Band 6

    My office management allotted a project in other location, that was in 2022. They had given time about one year to complete the project. The moment I went there, two days I got familiar with the procedures of that site. After that I came to my main course of the research. In that research, I had to develop a new product, pharmaceutical product. I am doing two, three trials. Third trial, it came a fluke, one product which came. After that, that product I shown to my management. Unfortunately, luckily product came to hand. It was an accidental thing. But office management thought that it will take more than one year, two years. But accidentally it happened within third day itself, product came to my hand. Then that product was shown to my higher hierarchy of the office management. After that my office management appreciated me. It was a big breakthrough in my career. That is what happened in my career. I felt very proud in that moment. My office colleagues, everybody appreciated me. You closed within a short time. We thought that it will take more than two, three years to develop the product. That is the main course of that achievement. Apart from that I got good appreciation from my CEO also.

    Band 6

    Well, being a teacher, I have lots of things and responsibilities which I have to do quickly, but if anybody asks me about a time when I have to finish something quickly, the thing that pops up in my mind is my presentation that I have to submit in my undergraduate period. In B.Com second year, a teacher has given me a presentation on business environment and the presentation I have to submit on a particular date, that is 26th of September. And he has given me one week four to prepare this presentation, that is a power point presentation. And firstly, in the initial days, I have not took it seriously, but after that, I have to take a conscious effort to complete it just one day before, because earlier I was not taking it very seriously or as well as I was not having time to complete this, because there were also other tests for which I have to prepare. So, I have accomplished with the presentation with the help of my friends. So, there is a particular deadline, so I have to submit that presentation to my teacher. So, my friends help me, I have assigned a particular task to particular friends, that who is having proficient in a particular activity, he or she will do that. So, with the motivation and the encouragement of my friends, I have completed this presentation and give in front of all the class scholars. And it was a very good presentation and I felt overwhelmed while giving this, because I felt the need of the friends indeed. So, this is the time I realized that it was the right time.

    Band 6

    It is something that happened very recently. I was given a work to write a thesis for a project that was completed by a student at my office. So since I am the research assistant at my office, writing thesis is also a part of my job role and I was expected to finish it before the submission time of the student who worked on it. So it was a very challenging task for me because it was the first time that I was writing a thesis on my own completely without anybody's help and it was not me who worked on the project. So it was very challenging and difficult for me to complete it without the knowledge of the protocol that was conducted or that was followed. So I wanted time of my own to finish it in my own pace but the student's deadline pushed me to work hours and hours even during late nights. So it also affected my health. It was very stressful for me, also for my family because they were seeing me work so hard throughout the day for someone who I had not even seen in my life. So it was very emotionally as well as physically tiresome for me to deal with it.

    Band 6

    The time I had to finish Something Nuclear was a project. It is about international classification of functional disability and health. It is a beautiful project that I have to finish within a month. The deadline of this project is April but I have planned this project with my friends. There are three stages in this project but I have some doubts regarding this project. Therefore I seek advice from my teacher. Her name is Gigi Varghese. She is a lovely teacher in my college. I seek advice from her how to make a beautiful title for this project. I felt proud after presenting this project in my college. I have received appreciation from others after I have presented it in the projector. It is one of the most beautiful experience in my college time. I did not expect such a beautiful project I have presented in front of my students. It is one of the most beautiful memories in my college time.

    Band 6

    So, in the between of July, I went for a family vacation with my parents to the Goa and I took a leave from my school and I took a leave and then I get back from the vacation and I attended my regular daily classes and then my madam told me to complete this science assignment I haven't completed because I went to the vacation for long period of time and the date was tomorrow and she told me very strictly that you have to do it tomorrow otherwise I will, I have to give you zero and I have to fail you, so I took some of my friends and I called them to my home and they helped me to complete my task and they over, they stayed at my place, they completed my task at 2 a.m. so I gave them snacks, some tea, some coffee, I sponsored them food and dinner and though I got a new, though I got a good friend for God's sake actually they helped me in so many things and and then the day after tomorrow I submitted to the madam and madam said to me that it was impossible task though you have to complete it and 50 pages of notes and you completed in the overnight

    Band 6

    This happened in my college years. I had to submit an assignment of 14 pages. It was an HTML project. I had to submit that within 2 days but I was not able to do that because I was alone. I was not having a team member. This was about a project in my college which was only given to me. But somehow I was not able to sleep during those days. I was not able to talk to anybody. I was feeling very much mentally ill. But after that, I somehow with the help of myself, I googled on the chat GPT and got the information. I tried to collect the details and somehow I tried to solve the problem. I found a way to do the project. I remember that those days were the difficult days in my life and I was alone. But those days made me strong. Now I am more strong because I believe that I can do things which I was not able to do at that time. Now as an individual, I am a better person. I am having better knowledge in computer skills, HTML and Java and I believe that I can be better in the coming days.

    Band 5-6

    In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the city was a large city with a population of about 1,000,000. The project is transferred from the Team 1 to the Team 5. The project is of a hospital and the Sir told me that I have to electrify that complete plan. I told them, yes, but what is the deadline. I asked about the deadline and they told me that I have to complete it within two hours. I was shocked because the total area of that one floor is about 3,00,000 square feet. It is not possible to electrify that total floor in two hours. I asked about them why it is needed on such an urgent basis. They told me that the client has to put this slab today only. Before that, they need a plan. I want to take a picture. Then I will. Mom, I want to take a picture. No, have your dinner. Otherwise, you will have to play with that ball at night. I want to play with that ball. No. I want to play with that ball. No, the baby who is not eating, he is throwing the ball like this. And he is letting his baby play. I want to show you the song. You wanted to see it, right? I want to show you the song. I want to show you the song. I was shocked. I asked the manager. He told me that I have to come to the manager's chair. The manager told me that I have to complete this within two hours. I have to do electrification. Currently, I am working in a design consultancy company. I work as an electrical design consultant. There were five teams in the company. Before one month, one project is transferred from team 1 to team 5. The manager told me that I have to do electrification of this complete one. I told him, okay. But I asked about them. I asked them about Dale Niner. I asked about Dale Niner. They told me that I have to complete this within two hours. I was shocked. I was shocked. I was shocked because it is not there. I told them that I have to complete this within two hours. Currently I am working in a design consultancy company, where I work as a design consultant engineer, electrical design engineer. There were five teams and recently, before one month, one project is transferred from team 1 to my team, that is team 5. The manager told me, you have to do electrification of this complete floor. I said yes, but I asked about the deadline and manager told me, you have to complete this work within two hours. I was shocked, because it is not possible to do the electrification of that entire floor, because the area of that entire floor is about 4 lakhs per feet. I asked them, why it is made on such an urgent basis. Manager told me, the client of this project has to put the slab today only and for that this slab is required. At that time, I took four engineers with me and I divided the complete plan such that each engineer has 20% of the total area. We started the work on that 20% area and after the completion of the work of each engineer, we superimposed that plan. In such a way, that plan was completed in two hours. During this type of job, I felt sometimes it is necessary in our life, because it gives to take immediate decision. Thank you for watching it.

    Band 5-6

    Being a mechanical engineer, I am working as a design engineer. In my office, there was one project which customer demanding on the urgent basis, so we have to finish it very quickly. So I and our team do the all, divided by all the work one by one and decided who will do the work and which will work, do they will. So we decided to do what work will do fast, so whichever the one is expert, so they can get the work, they can get the work.

    Band 5-6

    At that time, I had to complete something quickly. It's my college project which was to be submitted the day before. I almost forgot about that and I wanted to submit immediately on the next day. So, I just wanted to do it with my laptop in a hurry. I have completed it in around one to two hours with the support of my friends. I submitted it to my lecturer who was asking for that. It was a tough situation but I overcame it with the support of my friends. There was no problem because my friends supported me in time. So, with my friends' help, I completed my project.
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