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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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    Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
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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.
    Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

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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.
    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

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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 6-7

    I believe that people have to make up their mind every single day from as simple as what to eat for dinner to as tough as choosing a majority to follow. There was one decision which I took me a long way to get the outcome was deserving. It was when I applied for an internship at my university English department. Back in my senior year students were asked to sign up for internship at an organization or company relating to our major which is English language. I always wished to be a part of the English department as I knew that it was the best place for me to pick a valuable knowledge and practice in an academic environment. Once the intern requirement announcement had been out I immediately registered. After only three days of application many students who got approval received congratulation emails. Meanwhile my email showed no sign of response. This was really getting me down at some point. However I did not give up and decided to continue waiting because the announcement stated that the requirement results will be answered within one week and finally my waiting paid off. On day seven of waiting the response came to me which officially congratulated me on receiving an intern position. It was over the moon at that moment. That experience brought me through a lot of emotions from eagerness at first to disappoint my anxiety by waiting and ecstasy at the end.

    Band 6-7

    It was such a adverse time for me while working as a teacher at school. At that time, I was in a condition to wait to become an assistant professor. The prerequisite to become an assistant professor was clearing net exam in English literature. This made me wait for a year, but I felt somewhat bad. Some days, I am filled with hope, but I am not ready to give up my hope. I was resilient and perseverant. And this made me face that situation boldly and wisely. And I prepared every day. I didn't give up my hope. Even if I got a small less time, I tend to study something. I leveled up myself every day in order to attain my dream. My dream was to become an assistant professor. Only then I can teach my students. That was the reason. Even that decision was viable to me. This viable decision along with God's faith that made me propel every day. At last, I tasted the victory and now I am an assistant professor of English.

    Band 6-7

    No audio text available

    Band 6-7

    This happened recently only, around two months back, where I had to choose one of the colleges to pursue master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction. I had an offer from University of Nottingham in United Kingdom, that is situated in United Kingdom, and I also applied to the top university, that was UCL, University College London. I always had a dream of pursuing HCI from UCL, but what happened was, at that time I got an offer from Nottingham, a month back, before the results of UCL came out, so I had to take a decision whether to pay the deposit, and to accept the offer of that college, or rather take a risk and wait for UCL, because there was only a 15 days window that I got from Nottingham to reply to that offer. So I'll tell you the timelines, I got my offer on 15th April, and I had to respond with a decision and the deposit by 30th April, while the University College London had to respond before the month of May end. So I had to take a risk, and what I did was, I just researched the profiles that UCL take, I had some talks with the people who got the offer from there in the past, and what kind of profiles they had, how much, how closer is my profile to their profile, so I kind of did my own research, and then took a decision to not give the deposit, and not to reply to the Nottingham, and 15 days after replying them, I got an offer from UCL. So this way it was worth, and I got a better offer.

    Band 6-7

    so ever since I was a young girl I was really fascinated by the idea of getting a tattoo and now that I'm 17 almost 18 I had seen my one of my classmates post her first tattoo on Instagram it was a tattoo of two fishes circling around and I was it was honestly really beautiful and I asked her that how did she get it because she was under 18 she told me that she got it via her parental permission like a confirmation that her parents have agreed for this and I really wanted one but so ever since I was a young girl I was really fascinated by the idea of getting a tattoo like getting something that's very meaningful permanently done on your skin it really fascinated me and I was really intrigued by it so recently my friend from my class she posted her first tattoo on Instagram it was a tattoo of two fishes circling around and it was honestly really beautiful furthermore I asked her how did she get it if she was only 17 she told me she got it via parental permission her parents had signed an agreement or something a paper agreeing to her getting a tattoo under the age of 18 as a minor I was honestly really inspired and I also wanted one I asked my mom she agreed to it but she told me that I should think it through before getting it because it's it won't leave my skin I wanted to get a tattoo of the word rare I got inspired from the rare tattoo of Selena Gomez she had it tattooed on her neck right behind her ear I really love it because I I struggled with my mental health all my life and I struggled to feel beautiful and I felt like I wasn't good enough and all and the tattoo really meant a lot to me because it showed me that I'm a rare individual and one in a million and I should love myself for that so I really wanted that tattoo but I feel like I should wait until I am at least 18 or 21 so I still resonate with the meaning of it and then I can get it because after all at 17 I'm I'm still a teenager and a child and I'm probably very immature so I think the best idea was to wait for it and I don't regret it I think I should wait

    Band 6-7

    This is the time when I passed my university exam and waiting for my career to be started. I had a job offer in my hand but I was thinking that another job offer which was pending for the decision that was a better decision and that would be a better decision because that was more aligned with my long term career goals. So I know it was a little risky but I decided to wait for the result because I felt that if I accept this first job offer too quickly I may miss the better chance. I wanted to be patient and make right choice in my future. While I was waiting I felt quite nervous and uncertain. It was a difficult period because I didn't know if the second company would actually offer me the job or not. At the same time I was hopeful and excited because I believed in my qualification and really wanted that role. Fortunately after about 2 weeks I received the offer from the second company and it was worth the wait.

    Band 6-7

    when I was in grade 12 my father promised me to buy a bicycle if I score very nice grades so I waited I targeted to get 85 percentage and I made it so after holidays my father had taken me to bicycle shop and he had asked me to you know decide a design or specifications when I told him everything the bicycle owner he said that it will take time and the model must come from the United States of America so it had again had taken six months in that six months I was like imagining my cycle how it would be and how can I take it to my friend show them like I had brought this from the United States and what they will say after sitting on that and how many new friends I will make because materialistic elements plays a lot of positive impact in making a new friendship with other gangs or other neighbors in one particular locality so I and my father had at least waited for six months and my mother had also given me an alternative solutions or go and get a normal cycle which a normal child uses but I was more into the ladybird model number f6 which was very branded and it was very famous in a locality where I was residing

    Band 6-7

    The time that I've waited mostly is to study abroad. This was one of the dreams that I've been having since I was 20 years or 21 years old. Right after my graduation I wanted to do my masters from abroad like Canada or UK or US. But then my parents didn't agree to it saying that I was very young to our age. Especially in the Indian culture they would really not allow a girl to go out. But my case was different. My parents would allow me, give me the freedom to go out and explore the things out but within the limits. So that was one case where I've been waiting for a very long time in my life. Where I would experience that my alone time, having spent time with myself and exploring things about myself was one thing I wanted to do for a very long time. But I really didn't get the chance. But coming now after 30 years today I could stand for myself and saying that I will be doing what I wanted to do. Going to abroad, complete my masters and get a better future and career where I could stand forth and make my father proud. Saying that, hey father even I can make things possible and this is what and where I'm standing today. In UK making my dreams come true is one thing I wanted to stand straight for and tell the whole world that even I can make it. If I can make it then everyone around can do it. This is as simple as that.

    Band 6-7

    There have been a lot of times where I had to wait for a decision, like I had to make a decision to wait for something, but one of the incidents that I vividly remember is the incident that happened recently. So I had put an application to multiple universities and with the good score that I had in my graduation, I was expecting to get an admission in a reputed university. So I had put an application to a number of, like numerous universities. So one of the reputed universities where I put in my application, I was awaiting my conditional offer letter for a really long time, but even though I had an offer from other universities which are reputed too, but I chose to wait for some more time and the main reason behind this wait was the reputation and the recognition that this university holds and it is also famous for business. The business school that they have is quite good comparatively, if I compare that to other universities which are there. So I decided to just wait and not just quickly take the decision of going and accepting offer from other universities. This wait was, I will say, quite hectic for me. It was quite puzzling as well because I did not know how long I will have to wait and until what date the decision will be given from the university. Even though when I got the decision, when I got the offer letter, the wait was worth it.

    Band 6-7

    Well that's a tricky question. Perhaps I suppose the time I made a decision to wait for something was recently when I was deciding whether to do this fellowship or not. I recently graduated and I had a lot of options to choose from. I was interested in a wide area of medical specialities. So I was confused what to choose, what not to choose as everything about medicine fascinates me and interests me. But alas, I chose emergency medicine because I felt like it was a jack of all trades. So I would be able to help maximum number of people and would be able to handle all kind of emergencies and provide acute patient management and critical care in high pressured environment. But I was not sure whether to pursue it as I was very confused with a wide variety of options as I mentioned. So I waited. I did my research. I talked to some seniors. I spoke with them and after maybe two to three months I decided on pursuing it. It was a very tiring phase for me because I was confused of what to do, what not to do. But then I spoke to some of my mentors and my professors and they thought emergency medicine would be a good fit for me as I was always captivated by it. So I went ahead and made the decision.
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