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Describe a time you made a decision to wait for something: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When did it happen?
  • What are you waiting for?
  • Why did you make the decision?
  • Explain how you felt while waiting.
Show all 105 answers

Cue 1:When did it happen?

  • Begin by mentioning the specific time and context when you made the decision to wait.
  • Provide details about the situation that led to your decision.

Example

This happened last year during the festive season in India. I had been eagerly waiting for the launch of a new smartphone that was set to be released just before Diwali. I decided to wait instead of buying an older model.

Cue 2:What are you waiting for?

  • Clearly state what you were waiting for and why it was significant to you.
  • Mention any specific features or reasons that made you want to wait for this particular item.

Example

I was waiting for the latest smartphone model because it promised advanced features like a better camera and longer battery life. As a tech enthusiast, I wanted to ensure I had the best device for photography during the festive celebrations.

Cue 3:Why did you make the decision?

  • Explain your reasoning behind the decision to wait rather than settle for something available immediately.
  • Discuss any influences, such as friends or reviews, that contributed to your decision.

Example

I made the decision to wait because I had read positive reviews about the new model, and my friends who had similar interests encouraged me to hold off. I believed that the wait would be worth it for the enhanced features.

Cue 4:Explain how you felt while waiting.

  • Share your emotions during the waiting period, whether it was excitement, anxiety, or impatience.
  • Reflect on how the anticipation affected your daily life.

Example

While waiting, I felt a mix of excitement and impatience. Every day, I would check for updates and countdown the days until the launch. It was thrilling to think about how much I would enjoy using the new phone, especially during the festive season.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, waiting for the new smartphone was a significant decision for me. It taught me the value of patience and the joy of anticipation. When I finally got the phone, it felt even more rewarding, and I was glad I chose to wait.

    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, missing important details. This can lead to a lack of clarity and depth in their answers, making it hard for the examiner to follow.

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    Tip

    Take a moment to think before speaking. Structure your answer by addressing each cue clearly and providing relevant details.

    2: Being Vague or General

    Using vague language or general statements can weaken your response. It makes it difficult for the examiner to understand your experience and feelings.

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    Tip

    Use specific examples and descriptive language to illustrate your experience. This will make your answer more engaging and memorable.

    Neglecting Emotional Aspects

    Failing to express your feelings during the waiting period can make your answer less relatable. Emotions add depth and connection to your story.

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    Tip

    Reflect on your emotions during the waiting period. Share how you felt and why those feelings were significant to your experience.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

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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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    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.
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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    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.
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    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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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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

    PCK 7338 for a short period of time. It was the time when I completed my graduation and I was waiting for my job offer. There were two possibilities that I could get easily. I have received one offer letter, however, the remuneration was less. I waited for the other to come so that I can negotiate for a salary hike. It was a very important step in my career because my first salary reflects a lot of things such as how I am going to afford living in a different city. And when I got the mail, I was so excited I jumped out of joy.

    Band 7

    Two years ago I started my ECCA journey and it did not go very well for me. It became quite a task and difficult understanding, studying and applying it as well. I sat for probably four exams and I did not clear even one of them. Looking at how I was doing mentally that time, I knew that this wasn't the right decision to take, so I decided to wait. I took a fair amount of time. I gave myself six months. I worked on myself. I started with basics. I made improvements. I figured out where I was lacking and then I sat for my exam last month and I cleared it. I think what really helped me was the self-realization that I had, figuring out where I went wrong and what were the mistakes I was doing and how I needed to change a lot of things in my routine to get back into it.

    Band 7

    Right after my bachelors, I wanted to pursue for my master's degree in Germany. So I told my dad about this and he replied that I should stay in India for at least a year, gain some on-site experience and after that I can go to Germany or Italy or anywhere in this world. I found this a bit too unacceptable but now that I have waited for one and a half years, I finally understand the meaning of his suggestion. After these one and a half years, I have gained a lot of experience which I might have not received if I had pursued my master's right after my graduation. So in the end, it makes me believe that I have something extra than the freshers who are going to pursue master's in Germany. Not only experience, I have also gained a lot of mental maturity. For instance, I

    Band 7

    On top of my mind, I remember waiting for buying a toy house when I was 10 years old. I wanted a toy house very badly because all of my friends did. This made me want it more. I asked my parents to get me one, but they refused, stating the fact that I would play with it for a while and then throw it away, or I would damage it, which would be a waste of money. But I insisted on buying one, and I forced them to buy one, actually. My mom promised me to buy me a toy house if I scored well in my exams, and I read my subjects every day and went to bed early. To get the toy house, I had to do all of these things. Once I came home from school, I used to study all my subjects, finish my homework on time, have my dinner, and go to bed early. I did this for about 3-4 months, and then I had my quarterly exams. I did well, and my marks were also pretty good. So I again started pressurizing my parents to buy me a toy house as I did whatever they asked for, and finally they did get me one. This really made me happy, and I still treasure it.

    Band 7

    The decision I made was to move to my husband in Calgary. My husband has been working there for almost 12 years. I was in Toronto with my daughter and the reason I was waiting was for my daughter's medical school admission. She applied to many universities in Canada and eagerly waiting for the results. The results were supposed to be released within three months and I had to make a decision within this time. However, this waiting time helped me make another second plan. If my daughter gets admission to some universities in Toronto, I will stay in Toronto. Otherwise, I would have to move to Calgary with my husband. Finally, the decision was made. My daughter got selected in Toronto University as a medical student. She applied for an accommodation and she got it. At the same time, I had made all the plans to move to Calgary where my husband was working. Fortunately, I got a job there which made my moving easier than expected. Furthermore, this is one of the best decisions I had made in my life by staying with my husband who has some health issues. Moreover, my daughter who is planning to stay in Toronto has decided to visit us whenever she can.

    Band 7

    When I was applying for internship opportunities during the mid-December of the year 2025, that time I made a decision to wait for some time for better opportunities. So I got an offer from NIT Rahul Kela to work in a lab that worked with zebrafish and genetics and molecular biology, which was of great interest to me. But despite of getting the offer, I decided to wait for some time and keep on mailing to other universities to get some better opportunities there. So after waiting for a long period of time, I believe I waited for around 3 months, meanwhile I was applying constantly to professors and mailing the universities for an opening or for a job offer. I got a confirmation mail from Indian Institute of Science, which is IISC. It is a great institute. It is one of the best institute in India for research and education. And currently I am working in neuroelectronics lab in that institution that I waited. So I believe it was my best decision to wait for some time and I politely declined the offer that I got from NIT Rahul Kela and I think I am proud of my decision of waiting. Sometimes waiting pays off. It might be depressing, it might be stressful at that time, but you should always have the courage to wait.

    Band 7

    This year, I went to Japan from the month January to June as a part of my research internship in the University of Miyazaki, Japan. When I visited that place, it left an indelible mark on my heart and due to that impression, I decided to further pursue PhD in my respective field which is biotechnology. I gave interviews to numerous professors over there and got selected by two of them. After some time, I had to apply for a scholarship to study in that prestigious country which is MEXT scholarship and to apply for that scholarship, I needed research proposal to get selected by the prominent universities. For that research proposal, firstly I decided to take a spin in my current lab which was under Dr. Radha Madiasta but at that time, she was in India and I was caught up in a real pickle at that moment but I decided that I would take a gap of one month and wait for her to return back to the native place and take the final decision and I waited for one month then and when she talked to me regarding the scholarship, she gave me more deeper insights and after that I had a profound sense of satisfaction which made me more, which helped me take decision in a more.

    Band 7

    So, I am going to talk about a time when I decided to wait for something which happened during the year 2015 after I completed my Bachelors in Engineering and I had joined my new software company as a Programmer Analyst. During this time, I made a decision that I would stop working and would start doing Masters which means I had to resign my job that I was doing at that time, prepare for an Entrance Test, write the Entrance Test and wait for the results. This waiting time for the results was a bit hard on me because I was anxious about my future. I really didn't know the exact results of my Entrance Exam. At the same time, the future was not very clear. It was uncertain whether it was a good decision to leave a job that I already had in my hand to pursue a career wherein I will be reading. But, I really thought reading more i.e. completing my Masters would help me shape my future better so that I would also have a better job with more learning and stuff. I definitely do not regret the decision to wait for my results after resigning my job but I can't say it was an easy time. It was quite challenging for me to expect results and not know for sure that it was the best decision that I made. But, I have no regrets looking back which has helped me shape who I am today. Thank You

    Band 7

    So, it happened when I was applying for my college after I passed my 12th standard. The college which I wanted to go in, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, it released the list of the students which were selected. My name was there in the list and I was very happy, but suddenly they removed the list from the website and it was showing that due to some technical issues, they are not able to release the list and they have a few changes and additionally they said that it will take some time to release the new list of candidates. So, I was very upset. I had another option of some other university which I had to apply and I have to confirm them that I am joining. On the one hand, I was very scared if I will get my desired college. On the other side, I was also hopeful that maybe I will get, I should not take admission in the university I have not dreamt of. So, I waited. That time was very anxious. I was super anxious. I was not able to think properly. Every time I was checking my mail that have I got selected, have I got selected, but there was no answer. I even tried to contact the institute, but they were saying that it will take some time. At that crucial time, what I needed was my family's support. They fully supported me. Overall, it was a very learning experience for me, I hope and I am very happy that I waited because eventually I got in my dream college and it was a very good college life. I still feel very good about it.

    Band 7

    When I was 30 years old, I really wanted to buy a new phone for myself. The old one had severe problems and it was just not working. However, something told me that it was not the right time to buy a new phone. New developments were on the horizon and if I would just wait for 3-4 months, I could buy a better phone at a cheaper price. So I decided at that point to hold my horses, to not buy my phone and to use an old second hand phone that was lying around the house. It really helped me at that time to not buy a new phone. I was able to save some extra money and when time came, I was able to purchase a very good phone that would help me use it for a longer period of time with better functionality.
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