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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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    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.
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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

    At the time I waited was in the year 2023 for my dance performance in the biggest event of the college. The event was Sargam. At that time, we didn't have any dance club from our college and I was, I badly wanted to participate in Sargam. But since we didn't have any team or club from the college, so I had to wait. I proposed the idea for my college to create the dance team and it was in 2023 December and the procedure took for almost an year and that 10 months time phase where I waited for the event to occur again, event to take place, where I waited the New Horizons College to organize the Sargam event again. I formed the team, the dance team, I took auditions of all the juniors, seniors and all of the people who gave auditions. I auditioned them, I prepared the dance team and finally when it was time for me to perform on the stage, it was all I wanted, it was totally worth it. The wait was 100% worth it and I felt like patience is the key and if I worry too much, nothing's gonna work out and if I keep working on the thing that I want and patiently wait for that thing, I think it's definitely gonna work out.

    Band 6-7

    It was a time when I was in a relationship with my partner and there was a situation that I've occurred in my life about relationships with my partner. My partner decided to broke up with me. After that, I met a person named Julien. After I met Julien, there were a lot of situations that I had to wait for a certain period of time. And it was really painful also because during that period, there was no communication, there was nothing. So, it was really a hard time for me. But after the date had passed, she came back and loved me so much that I can't ever explain to anyone that much care she gave me. And we understand that she is very loyal and caring about me a lot. Loyalty allows you to be loyal and this situation showed me that loyalty is the most important thing that a relationship should have. And I'm really grateful for that moment in my life. And that's the greatest decision I've ever taken in these past years of my life.

    Band 6-7

    A time when I made a decision to wait for something was when I took a break from my second attempt of a paper. That time was a very difficult time for me. This is because ever since I have been into college, I have always achieved things that I wanted to and I have never let my parents down academically. And when I could not pass my paper in the first attempt, it broke my heart. It shattered me into pieces and it is something that really had a negative impact on my body. I have had anxiety issues ever since I failed in my first attempt of a paper and that's something that has a toll on my mind even now. And when I went on to second attempt, I waited for a long time. I practiced again. I studied again. I studied for 9-8 hours a day, giving my best, trying to absorb more and more new knowledge and trying to face the time management problems that I had faced earlier in my first attempt. And when I waited for such a long time to give my second attempt, it was all worth it in the end because I was able to achieve my goals. I was able to make myself and my parents proud and this showed me the importance of not hurrying.

    Band 6-7

    Last year November was the time when I decided that I want to wait for my engineering degree to get over to make a decision about my master's. It was a very chaotic time when all my peers were engaged in filling out their application form to apply for master's abroad. I made the conscious decision to wait until my degree is over to get a better understanding about the topics that I would be interested in. I didn't want to make a hasty decision and regret it later. Therefore, I agreed with myself that I'm gonna withheld it until the right time comes. I surely felt very agitated, very unsure about the decision that I made but nonetheless I was sure that it would be fruitful in the end because my horizon would have increased which would eventually help me in making better decision. Seeing all my peers do a certain thing definitely made me feel very scared at that time that questioning myself if I made the right choice but I had my supportive parents and friends to back me up on my decision

    Band 6-7

    So it happened a few weeks ago, when my sister wanted a personal laptop for herself. I thought of buying it for her. However, her birthday falls on next month. So I decided to surprise her with a laptop. I feel restless because every time she asks for a laptop, I say I'll get it for her. But at the same time, I don't want to ruin the surprise for her. I want to see it in person, how she reacts when she gets a brand new laptop.

    Band 6-7

    So, when I completed my degree, I waited for making a decision because I was confused whether I have to go for further studies or for working. So I waited for that because I need to make a clarity and research that what will be better for my future like adding on the experience or getting more knowledge about the course. And I finalized that I will do one year of experience or work in a professional place and later after getting some sort of experience I will go for studies which will be more relevant to my subjects after one year of experience I can more determine that which one will be absolutely fine for me.

    Band 6-7

    It was a time when I was an intern in a hospital and I started deciding to go for a study abroad and I chose a country which was good according to my academics and in June I gave the interview for visa but unfortunately I got rejected and during that time I decided that I'll work on myself and prepare much better on my experience and I'll try hard to prove them that I'm a better and a good candidate for your country to get my studies continued and the reason that I hold on to this part is because I didn't choose to switch the countries I waited this time duration and try to prepare myself better and better during this time so I can achieve the goal that I have targeted it's not about giving up it's about improving improving yourself for the target that you have set it's not exactly the target but in life also you have to decide something and then stick to it and I think I have made the right choice and it's going well till now and I hope it goes well.

    Band 6-7

    That's an interesting question. I am extremely grateful in expressing my views on the time where I have made a decision to wait for something. Well, as far as I am concerned, I believe that patience is the best medicine a person could ever have. Solely because of this rationale that I decided to wait even though the same is not or was not applicable. To be more clear, I will be mentioning that it was when I had ordered something from one of the renowned Amazon platform. Those items I think were cosmetics. Even though 2-3 months have passed by, that is almost 60-70 days, I still remember the day as it happened yesterday. Even though I have ordered the same, like I said before, 2-3 months ago, that is between April to June, I guess it took a great deal in giving the same to me.

    Band 6-7

    so I usually buy clothes from an online stores so I always opt option to deliver in within two to three days so there's a dress which I wanted for some special occasion it's bluish color and it's my favorite color also for that I place order and when I see the delivery date it's about one week after the after when I order placed so I have to wait till throughout the week and for that I wait a lot and I'm quite curious and excited about this dress because the occasion is quite important for me it's a college function and which I want to perform and when this arrived I was on the 7th 9th cloud and I feel amazing after wearing the dress the fit the color the length everything is so perfect so I usually after that I thought that building give a good result

    Band 6-7

    I would like to talk about an incident that took place just two months back. At that time, I just came back home after finishing my exams. And then I came to know that one of my friends just came from abroad. And then she just asked and requested me to visit the famous cultural and traditional fair that was just inaugurated at the same day. Firstly, I told her that I was a little bit exhausted and felt lethargic because the exams were five hours long, which made me feel so much down into the dumps. But then after thinking about the same situation, I thought that as she just came from abroad and at the first she was just asking me for the same thing, I could not deny her directly. So I just went for the fair and there I saw that there was a very huge queue and people were standing for more than one and a half hour for the tickets to get. At that time, I was literally not in the mood to wait for a long time. But however, the situation was literally so much forcing for me that I could not even deny my friend. And at the same time, I would have to take the tickets by just waiting for the situation to overcome. Then it just took two hours for us to get the tickets and to reach the counter section. And the whole situation was really very lethargic as well as it was disappointing for me at that time. However, after having the tickets, we started our day with a very happy and joyous mood and attitude towards the fair. And we also did a lot of shopping as well as we took various sort of rides.
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