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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

    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 >7

    In ongoing life, many problems are occurring in people's life. I shed some light on a situation when I made a decision and I wait for something. When I decided to give IELTS exam and when I decided to apply the IELTS exam. At that time I waited for my family for their agreement on my decision. While I am waiting I am very nervous at that time because I hesitate to tell my family about my decision. I am very nervous at that time because I don't know what reaction my family members will put on my decision. While I am waiting all in all my family members saw eye to eye. I am very happy at that time. I applied for the IELTS exam and I am over the moon at that time. Waiting for something is a good thing in my perspective.

    Band 7

    So, one such event would be definitely my transfer to New Delhi. I was posted in Ljubljana before coming here since 2022. And I was eagerly waiting for my transfer as I have applied for the same since last 3 years. But it wasn't happening and therefore not getting considered. So, finally it happened in April 2025 when I got transferred to New Delhi on grounds of child care. Because I have a 15 month old daughter. In Ljubljana, it was very difficult to handle my office, my home and also take care of my beautiful daughter. But when I came to Delhi, I got support of my in-laws because the baby was taken care of nicely here. My in-laws and my family is there to look after her which is an immense satisfaction. So, it has increased my work-life balance. Obviously, when I was transferred to New Delhi, I was very happy. I would say my husband was happy because he was praying every now and then to get me transferred because of my baby and his family love.

    Band 7

    So this was a scenario that took place in recent times. I'm an undergraduate student so I had to pursue master's to enhance my career prospects but then I was not really sure whether to apply in domestic colleges or international and then I took so many advices from others. I personally thought about so many options and I finally selected that I wanted to study abroad and I thought of starting the process but then again I took some time because it is not just about me it is about the financial aspects it is about convincing all my family members to make me or to allow me travel to such a far location and it's like I have to stay one year away from all my loved ones so it is such a hard step for me. I did that and the reason for my waiting would be to mentally prepare myself to overcome all the psychological aspects of traveling this far and the second thing is the finances. I don't want to cause financial burden to anyone particularly my parents so I thought of sorting out that first so yeah it took me some time and after a month or two I decided on pursuing that path and now I have full support from my family and it was a prominent action that was taken and it really helped me a lot. The time that I took really helped me a lot to think about various things.

    Band 7

    Okay, so around 6 months ago, when I was all set to buy a new phone, it was rumoured that a new iPhone would be launching in about 2 or 3 months and it would be a major improvement over the previous generation and it was said by every tech reviewer that it is worth it to wait for the new iPhone. So, I had to wait before buying the latest iPhone and after it launched, I compared both the models side by side and on paper and physically, it was a huge difference between both the iPhones. The newer one was definitely better, lighter and the cameras were a huge improvement in terms of resolution, HDR and other aspects. The phone's battery life was significantly improved, the display quality was improved, it was switched from an LCD to an OLED panel. So, waiting for the new iPhone was definitely a plus point in my opinion because it allowed me to not regret after buying the old tech. If I would have bought the old iPhone, it would have made me realise that I should have waited for the newer phone and bought the new phone instead and this wait and regret would have killed me and forced me to buy the latest iPhone after selling my previous iPhone and so this just tells, this is a reflex in life that you should wait for better things to come and always do your due diligence while, you know, buying any tech products and same goes to other aspects of life.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to describe about the recent plan which we which I faced during the logistics of one of my biggest equipment transportation as this transportation has been become a challenge due to his huge size and shipment the dimensional of the cargo is around 9 meter by 10 meter in length and it is being transported on the special transportation which is called SPMT single prime over transport where this requires a huge number of preparation like route survey and government authorities approvals and a lot of discussion among the coordination between the government departments on the moment of this cargo because it occupies a huge amount of area while traveling along the road because of its size this is really a huge challenge where we need to always survey the routes to in order to avoid traffic entrances to have a smooth flow of the journey which is around 120 kilometer from the manufacturing facility to the installation location so this location is having lots of challenges like some roads need to be repaired and developed according to the load and moment of the equipment this equipment is covering a wide range of

    Band 6-7

    The decision which made me wait is my choosing for undergraduate study in Agricultural University because after finishing my higher school, higher schooling in my school, the agricultural counselling was started very later because of the COVID times and I waited for this without applying any other colleges. After sometimes I gave up and I applied to another university counselling also where I got a placement in engineering college called Rajalakshmi Engineering College in food technology course. But after sometime, after one to two weeks, the Agricultural College also opened their counselling portal and I didn't give up and I applied to that also. After getting an offer letter from the Rajalakshmi Engineering College, I waited for the Agricultural University results. It was about one and half to two months, the Agricultural University College list was opened and I got a seat in Agribusiness Management and I was very happy to hearing that it is worth the wait for not going and joining in the Rajalakshmi Engineering College. It is also a reputed college among Chennai. But I always dreamed of doing or making a degree in Agriculture and Business Management. So it is worth the wait, I would say.

    Band 6-7

    so I would like to describe a time when I took a decision to wait for something and the thing was a holiday vacation so I waited it for the holiday vacation because my exams were going on and after the exams in the free time I decided to go on a vacation so because my exams were going on so I was not able to join join a vacation group who was going to Ladakh so I waited till my exam get over and then I then I'll go to a vacation in Ladakh so I was too much excited about about the vacation I prepared everything in advance I like the equipments we need for hiking camping as well as which kind of transport I will use for the vacation so yeah it was very interesting to wait for something and as the days come near you get your excitement to a next level and it is a very amazing experience when the last exam got over and the next day my bus was there for the Ladakh and it was an amazing experience after waiting so much for about a month I got the opportunity to make my dream vacation true and I enjoyed it so well and yeah when you wait for something for so long the pleasure it gives increasing so much and it was a great time there in Ladakh I spent about two to three weeks

    Band 6-7

    The time when I was waiting for something was when I purchased my mobile phone. It was a bigger financial decision on my part as I was going to purchase this phone on my own with my own savings. So I took my time to research about it and make comparisons. Not only was I waiting for a good phone to come up so that I can wait and compare but also I was waiting for a good offer so that I can make proper decision based on facts and comparison. Eventually I think that the wait was worth it and I was able to get a good worth of my money. The phone that I took was actually worth the wait and eventually I was really happy about my decision and it gave me as much of satisfaction throughout the waiting even though I waited for about 8-9 months. At the end of it, the outcome was satisfactory which made the waiting time even more like a journey.

    Band 6-7

    The last time I made a decision to wait for something was when I took a decision to wait for the results of my college admissions. College admissions is a very stressful time for me because I am quite an impatient person and I need to see the results immediately. The wait is actually quite long because it has been more than a month that I've been waiting for a decision and I actually am feeling not good while waiting because it is not my forte to be patient and to be calm during these situations.

    Band 6-7

    After the completion of my 12th grade, I put a halt on my bachelor's degree and decided to pursue gap year. This was my choice to do so because I wanted to pursue my higher studies in South Korea. And there was a reason behind this because being a child who always admired a country, I could no longer without this. So I decided and right now I am still on a halt but my wait will be over on 23rd of September as the application will be opened and I will be applying for that. It really feels both happy and intense fear because I felt like either I could pass or I could fail. So I thought that I should give it all of my energy. So I am still preparing and I am still so excited for the results.
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