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Describe A Time You Successfully Did Something Difficult: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was the task or challenge you faced?
  • How did you approach the situation?
  • What were the difficulties you encountered during the process?
  • How did you feel after completing the task?
Show all 20 answers

Cue 1:What was the task or challenge you faced?

  • Clearly describe the difficult task you undertook, making it relatable and specific.
  • Mention why this task was significant to you and what motivated you to take it on.

Example

One of the most challenging tasks I faced was preparing for my final exams in college while also managing a part-time job. Balancing both responsibilities was tough, but I was determined to succeed in my studies to secure a good job after graduation.

Cue 2:How did you approach the situation?

  • Explain the strategies you used to manage your time and resources effectively.
  • Discuss any planning or preparation you undertook to tackle the challenge.

Example

To approach this situation, I created a detailed study schedule that allocated specific hours for studying each subject. I also communicated with my employer about my exam schedule, which allowed me to adjust my work hours accordingly. This planning helped me stay organized and focused.

Cue 3:What were the difficulties you encountered during the process?

  • Identify specific obstacles you faced while trying to complete the task.
  • Share how these difficulties affected your progress and mindset.

Example

During this process, I encountered several difficulties, such as fatigue from juggling work and study. There were days when I felt overwhelmed and struggled to concentrate. Additionally, I faced the pressure of high expectations from my family, which added to my stress.

Cue 4:How did you feel after completing the task?

  • Describe your emotions and thoughts once you completed the task.
  • Reflect on the lessons learned and how this experience impacted you.

Example

After completing my exams, I felt an immense sense of relief and accomplishment. I was proud of myself for managing my time effectively and overcoming the challenges. This experience taught me the importance of perseverance and time management, which I carry with me in my professional life.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, successfully managing my studies alongside a job was a significant achievement for me. It not only helped me excel academically but also built my confidence in handling difficult situations. I believe that facing challenges head-on is essential for personal growth.

    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: Vague Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your answer unclear. It's important to provide specific details about the task or challenge you faced to engage the listener.

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    Tip

    Use clear examples and specific details to describe the challenge. This will help paint a vivid picture for the examiner.

    2: Neglecting Emotions

    Failing to express your feelings can make your response less impactful. Emotions add depth to your story and help the examiner connect with your experience.

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    Tip

    Share your feelings during and after the task. Use phrases like 'I felt proud' or 'I was anxious' to convey your emotional journey.

    Ignoring Difficulties

    Not mentioning the difficulties you faced can make your success seem less credible. Acknowledging challenges shows resilience and problem-solving skills.

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    Tip

    Discuss specific difficulties you encountered and how you overcame them. This demonstrates your ability to handle tough situations effectively.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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 6-7

    As I am working in an MNC, I face many tasks and difficulties in my daily work, but the main task which I got in my recent time was to make a tracker of the high aging claims of all the associates. So I felt very nervous because of the task which I got. Then later on I myself, I calmed myself by telling that yes, I can do this in a very easy way. So I maintained all of the progress in the excel in a correct format. Then I collected and made a proper tracker of each and every employee. While starting, I felt like I can't do that, while the time is passing, I made it correct. And finally, I made a very proper record. Even my manager felt the same. My manager liked my work and I got a good applause from my team. Till then I am the core for that work and I am doing that work in a very good and simple manner without any difficulty. I feel it.

    Band 6-7

    The time when I successfully did something difficult was happened at my work. I am a working person. I work as a relationship manager in a private limited bank. Like in my bank there were lot of sections like loan section, counter section, account openings and cash section. So before the incident I was handling the counter section which has account opening and opening the fixed deposits. So one day the person who handled the cash section has got a leave and there was no person to handle the section because there is a very important place that have to handle on daily basis because it is all about handling the cash like withdrawal handling the cash. So my manager decided to put me in those section on that day. So I went to the section with 0% idea but somehow I got managed on that particular day because handling a cash is not a piece of cake. We need extra focus and we should be very careful on handling the cash section because the whole work process is receiving the cash from the customer when they want to deposit the cash and giving cash to the customers when they want to withdraw the cash. So it's basically like giving and receiving the cash and tally the cash at the end of the day is the main thing. Like I was so shocked when I was first taking care of the cash section. Then later on I feel super happy that I took some challenges on my life and then I did it very good.

    Band 6-7

    Actually, there was this one time when my school held up a science expo and I was so thrilled to actually participate in it. And I chose the topic AI and this stuff. So, I planned on doing an agricultural bot that is meant to do everything straight down to A to Z, all processes that are included in agriculture. So, I thought of doing this a bit more differently, using Arduino and using a lot of electronic stuff, connecting it together, making a robot that will do everything straight down from the process of ploughing to irrigation and harvesting, which is a job done by human and combine and other machines included, which will drastically reduce this agricultural cost. So, I planned on doing this. The problem I faced was the coding process. The coding I had written was, actually, it was not even good. It doesn't even work, the code I wrote, because I had loads no experience in this coding stream. So, I actually spent a lot of money in this coding. I went to a center where a person did code for me. It costed about 3000 rupees. And I was like, I had no other options. And also many parts broke, many short circuits and also some resistors also melt down, broke circuits, short circuits. I faced a lot of problems. Despite of that, I actually made it work and I didn't secure any position because it was just a science expo and I didn't know about that. Even only a certificate was issued and the certificate didn't even mention about my project.

    Band 6

    The challenge that I faced was my final year project work, I have a person who came from a long distance in my group as a team. As a lead of the team I have done all my things, because I am the person who lead the team. The main difficulty I faced was making a project into a real time project, there are lot of difficulties making into a real time project. Some difficulties which I faced, it is making an object which runs through a battery, it is quite difficult to me. And in coding part I have faced so much difficulty, because I know one of the team, know how the code works. But on the guidance of my guide lecturer professor, I have got some idea through coding, how the mission works.

    Band 6

    I felt really good this one time when I was in my graduation of bachelors in cybersecurity. I had participated in information technology quiz competition that was organized by various colleges in our university and I was one of the participants. Initially I thought the quiz will be quite difficult for me as more than 600 participants had applied for the quiz but after some times I realized that when I gave my test further and when I went for the quiz further I thought I'm able to

    Band 6

    One of the biggest tasks for me to achieve in is my MSci exam. Well, it's an entrance exam, it's a common entrance exam for people, for students who are getting into engineering side, you know, bachelor's of technology. It's one of the most important exam for people who are wanting to study in their hometowns. Like, if you're, I'm a person who's living in Visakhapatnam and I want to study in Visakhapatnam, so I've got to write an MSci exam. And yes, I could choose colleges that are out of town, but most of them prefer to live in their own homes. So, it's one of the biggest and toughest tasks for me to start preparing for the MSci exam. Because I'm afraid, because if I couldn't secure a seat with the help of that rank, we need to pay a lot of condolation fees and also for, I've got to buy the seat, you know, I need to buy the seat, they wouldn't give me the seat. So, it's very hard and very nerve-wracking task for me. The first difficulty for me is, I don't know where to start. You know, my college is a kind of place where they only taught us about, you know, getting marks, marks, marks, marks. So, there was never even a single minute for me to start preparing for the coming exam and I've only got a month or so to start the preparation and I'm still standing in the starting place. Like, I'm still in the box one. There are like hundred boxes for me to check. So, I don't know where to start. It was overwhelming, but I asked my dad to, asked my dad to join me in an tuition center. It mainly focuses on teaching for the MCET exam and after I've completed the exam, the exam date came up and I've completed the exam.

    Band 6

    The most difficult situation in my entire life I have encountered till yet is, was two years ago when I started my business and that was in very initial time, initial time for my business because my earning was not really great and I have to invest money, I have to invest ideas and I have to invest my 24 hours on that. But after two years currently, yes currently we are running a successful small business of decoration and gifting that is very fascinating and I am very proud on myself that I am doing that business right now. Like my business is more towards a gifting and that experience for me is, I can't even say, I don't even have words for that because whenever I think about that situation past two years, that was quite difficult because I used to give my 24 hours to the business, I have to work as a operation manager or I have to work as a vendor manager or I have to manage inventory also. So I used to work as a one person, I have to work, I have done many jobs at a single time but you know what, efforts never go waste.

    Band 6

    During my exams, there were certain exams I forgot to study and the next day, it was very next day, I had an exam and presentation both. So I needed to study just within a few hours and give my presentation and exam next day. With the help of my friend, we studied for 2 hours to break, then studied for 2 hours. There were several challenges and there was a huge syllabus and very little time to complete. But we just shuffled everything, took out important topics from each session on each topic and then we started studying and the topics which were left at the end, we just let it go and we also solved some important questions from those topics, that's how we completed that whole studying part in next day. Surprisingly, our exam went well which we didn't really expect it.

    Band 6

    Well, that's an interesting topic to discuss about. The challenge, I would like to talk about the incident that took place two years back. When I was searching for a job, that was the time, even when I remember right now, it is indescribable actually. During that time, I struggled a lot. The reason behind it was I wasn't able to connect to any interviewer first. At that time, I applied to my current working company and that job was for design engineer. So, they gave me a task called invented tool test. I wasn't having any idea about the design software that were used over there. But I continuously worked hard to gain maximum knowledge, which I can get from anywhere. However, I don't know how, but however, I completed the task and given it on time. Well, when I look back, I cherish that moment a lot. So, that gave me a satisfaction about from where I came to what I have achieved till now. Now, I'm working as a project designer on the same company where I lacked.

    Band 5-6

    Cathay Bay Welcome to Ctrl V The time when I successful to get the best score in my 10th class It is a very difficult to score more marks in a board exams But I work very hard I do struggle with my hard work Like I do very hard work for scoring my board exams I prepare my different subjects I learn more and more and I give much time to my study I get up early in the morning And then I will start practicing my math problems I learn many subjects in the day time also I don't enjoy and entertain in this time I only study and focus on my studies in the board exams I faced many difficulties to score But it was not difficult to score more scores in 10th class If you should do hard work for anything you can get that thing Because universe try to give that thing which you need And if you don't struggle with the work Then you don't get much marks and much numbers If you struggle with this you practicing more and more Then you can get everything which you need to score Which you want to do That's all
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