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Describe a time you used your cellphone/smartphone to do something important: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What happened?
  • When it happened?
  • How important the cellphone/smartphone was?
  • And explain how you felt about the experience.
Show all 38 answers

Cue 1:What happened?

  • Begin by describing the situation where you needed to use your cellphone or smartphone.
  • Mention the specific task or action you took that was important.

Example

I remember a time when I had to book a last-minute train ticket to attend my cousin's wedding. My family was already on their way, and I realized I had forgotten to book my ticket.

Cue 2:When it happened?

  • Provide a clear timeframe for when this event took place.
  • Include any relevant details about the day or occasion.

Example

This happened just two days before the wedding, on a Friday evening. I was at home, feeling anxious because I didn’t want to miss the celebrations.

Cue 3:How important the cellphone/smartphone was?

  • Explain the role of your cellphone in this situation.
  • Discuss how it made the process easier or more efficient.

Example

My smartphone was crucial in this situation. I quickly opened the railway app, which allowed me to compare train schedules and book my ticket in just a few minutes. Without it, I would have had to go to the station, which would have taken much longer.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt about the experience.

  • Share your emotions during and after the experience.
  • Reflect on the importance of technology in your life.

Example

I felt a wave of relief wash over me once I successfully booked the ticket. It was a reminder of how technology can save us in critical moments. I was grateful for my smartphone, as it allowed me to be part of my family’s special day.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, using my smartphone to book that train ticket was a significant experience for me. It highlighted the importance of technology in our daily lives and how it can help us stay connected with our loved ones, especially during important events.

    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

    Avoid being too general when describing your experience. Vague answers can make it hard for the examiner to understand the significance of your story.

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    Tip

    Provide specific details about what happened, including the context and the actions you took with your cellphone.

    2: Ignoring Emotional Impact

    Neglecting to explain how you felt can make your answer less engaging. Emotions add depth to your story and connect with the listener.

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    Tip

    Share your feelings during the experience, such as excitement, stress, or relief, to make your response more relatable.

    Lack of Structure

    A disorganized response can confuse the examiner. It’s important to present your thoughts in a clear and logical order.

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    Tip

    Follow the cue card prompts in order, ensuring you address each point systematically to create a coherent narrative.

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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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    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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    Anonymous student Band 7

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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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    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

    Well, the one time I used my smartphone to do something very important would be preparing for this IELTS exam, especially the speaking part. I was scrolling Insta approximately two weeks before the exam and I saw an ad for an IELTS preparing app. The app offered several features like AI evaluation, speaking test, listening test and reading writing test. I did not pay much attention to it, but soon I realized that I was not very well prepared for the exam. So, I downloaded it instantly and purchased the course. I practiced for one week continuously and the app proved to be amazing. The AI feedback seemed quite appropriate and the test base was all test questions were also very good. It also gave me a prediction score, which helped me know that I was actually progressing in my journey. I felt quite great after using the app. It also increased my confidence and especially it helped me increase my fluency in speaking.

    Band 7

    Yep, I'd like to describe a time when I had delivered my smartphone to avert a potential crisis during a trip. My trusty pocket-sized device proved to be absolutely indispensable in that moment. I utilized a navigation app to plot an alternative route and then employed a mobile banking application to swiftly transfer funds. And then, this experience made me fully appreciate the sheer convenience and versatility of modern wireless-handled devices and how they have become an integral part of our lives. And I'm very thankful to all the modern handheld devices, electrical gadgets, like my trusty mobile phone. So I had a very good experience when I was in that kind of tough situation. And I'm very thankful to all these modern technologies and everything.

    Band 7

    So, I used my mobile phone to prepare for IELTS. I had various apps which uses AI to analyze your speech and give you feedback. And the beautiful thing about this is the flexibility of how I can use it, when I can use it. So, whenever I get breaks during my work, I can just grab my phone and just give a quick test. And I think it was very important for me as I was working full time and I had no time to prepare for IELTS. This made my life easier. I think having a cell phone is beyond the entertainment purpose. It has various crucial features that can help people. However, people are addicted to the worst apps. It is often ignored. In fact, I also had another language learning app which significantly helped me improve my language skills. So, I think it is necessary that everyone make good use of their cell phones, especially children. I know nowadays, young children who are not even in their teenage, even below that, not all the sense. They also have access to mobile phones. So, it is important how we structure the usage of mobile phone. You should monitor the amount of time you are spending on the apps. So, when I used the IELTS Prep app, I think I spent the maximum amount of my time on the IELTS Prep app rather than on Instagram or other social media apps. So, this helped me, you know, do better with the following consecutive practices. And so, I think everyone can really

    Band 7

    In today's day and age, I believe that technology has taken the front seat and cell phones have become an integral part of all our lives. Right from our childhood, we are embedded with technology and have been using cell phones day in and day out. I recall using my cell phone for almost all of the activities I do, whether it's using social media for connecting with people or using the call services to connect with people otherwise. Right from managing your documents on your cell phone to actually consuming content, your modern-age cell phone has it all. Just a touch away, you can very well utilize all of the amenities that were otherwise not possible to be tapped into earlier. I recall using my cell phone for a presentation of late. I was not carrying my laptop and I had little time to arrange some. And of course, my cell phone came to my rescue. I was able to present the PPT over my cell phone, saving me the embarrassment and also you know, made me stand out in the crowd with the diligent move that I did.

    Band 6-7

    Well, smartphone is very much important while working or it become a part of the life for everybody. So, when I was working for the company, when I was working in a company, so I used to work on laptop very often. So when I was struck or when I got the power problem in the laptop, so then I switched to mobile and I worked in a mobile because in a mobile also we had the Microsoft office like WPS office like that, the app is there. So I transferred my files from the, I transferred and downloaded the file from the emails and then I worked on the, then I worked on my project report, then I prepared well and sent to the officials and I got the benefit. Also it was very important thing when I was working and also it is a great thing and it became a part of my life because it is not only for work and it is also used for entertainment and clicking the photos to save my memories and whenever I want, I can watch them and I can recollect my memories through them. So it was amazing, it was amazing for having a mobile phone in my life. So it is very good.

    Band 6-7

    Then I was on a trip with my friends. My friend who has an asthma got a panic attack due to which he has fallen during our trekking and being first time in a medical situation which is an emergency, I was very tensed and very anxious about what's going to happen though I tried to give him some water and try to wake him up, it is of no use, hence I used my mobile phone to call and get ambulance and explained our situation, they have given us some tips like turning him over and patting him on the back, since it's in summer we were unable to find any other sources of water, we used water we brought in bottles but it's of no use, until the ambulance arrived we tried to cope up with the situation by taking help from the ambulance driver and the worker, though they have provided us many tricks and tips but they are of no use, then I sent them my location and asked them to visit us, in the meanwhile I tried to explain the situation to Shahjibdi, it has given us some results like rubbing his ears and making sure that he don't get his BP low, we tried them and we obtained a good outcome and in the meanwhile I also informed his parents without mobile phone, the situation has been much worse as we have no idea what to do and we are having no medical knowledge also.

    Band 6-7

    I always wanted to be a singer and this one time I had an opportunity to audition for a song however I did not find time to sit in front of a laptop and comfortably attend it so I used my smartphone. It was very important for me because in my mind I was more concerned about the quality of the sound which was being heard by the higher officials. On the other hand I was concerned about how my cell phone voice sounded like. I have recorded and listened my songs however I have not listened to it when I was doing the audition. I was very anxious about the result but in the end it turns out to be a very good one. I got the part. In addition the main reason that it might have worked out for me is that using a cell phone is a more natural way of communicating than a laptop. So fortunately everything turned out to be the best for me so I would always be remembered by the time.

    Band 6-7

    Okay, so there was a time when my close friend named Himanshu was visiting a place near Pune which is known as Tamini Ghat which is a hilly and ghat section of Pune which is very beautiful and scenic road with many hairpin turns. So what happened was it was a Sunday evening and he met with an accident. The accident was so severe that his left leg's thumb was cut half and it was bleeding like hell. So he didn't had his cell phone with him at that time. It was, I think it was discharged at that time. So he tried to connect with me through someone else's cell phone and I tried to connect with other friends who are his common, his and mine common friends and I tried to connect with them and send help as soon as possible. So when I connected with few of my friends, five of them were available who can go and help him out from that situation. So we all gathered at one place, started discussing and planning how to go and because it was very difficult as it is near about 50 kilometers away from the main city area, we took an extra vehicle to bring him back in the city. So we went there at 6 p.m. around and met him. We had given him the basic first aid and bandages and that we were asked to visit an orthopedic surgeon as his thumb was cut open. So we took him and bring him to the city and visited an orthopedic surgeon. When visiting an orthopedic surgeon, we got to know that we will be needing to go.

    Band 6-7

    Okay, this was a time I will never forget in my lifetime because that is when I understood how important for us to have a cell phone in hand during emergency time. This was a time where I was traveling back to my hometown from my workplace, which is about two hours from, which is about two hours I have to travel down the road to reach my hometown. So that time my head of the department called me and asked about a report which I have already worked on and I have stored it on my laptop. But then at that time my laptop was in my school where I'm working in, but I was not in the school and I was traveling on a bus at that time to my home, back home. So I had to send the report. I don't, I didn't have any other option rather than typing it on my phone. I still remember I had only about 20% of charge on my phone, yes. And then I had to type all this content, revising it and only with the help of the mobile phone, because just because I had this mobile phone, I was able to type it on, on time and was able to send it to my head of the department on time. And even I got appreciation for that because in a short time I was able to complete the task. I still remember what if I, if I hadn't had a phone in my hand.

    Band 6-7

    The first time that I ever used my cell phone for something important was when I was paying my college fees. So, we were at my college for the orientation and I had to pay my fees and my parents transferred the entire amount on my bank account. So, I had to pay through my phone. While paying, I discovered that when you add beneficiary to your bank account, you can pay after 24 hours but the college payment window was open only for that day and I was quite nervous and worried about how will I pay and what all I can do. I misread the document on the dates and I got confused that I have only 12 hours left to pay but instead it was around 24 hours or 25 hours more to pay. I was worried and I started crying and I went to my dad and asked him about what should I do. He again cross checked the documents and then corrected me that you have around 25 hours to pay your fees. It relieved me a lot and I was finally able to pay fees properly on the time and I felt proud of doing first adult thing properly. It was intense because that was my first time doing anything or making such a big payment through my phone and one misclick or any misinterpretation could lead to a loss of a good amount of money and that would be very bad.
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