arrow back icon Top Answers

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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    Tip

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

    calendar icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    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

    It was a few days back. It was around midnight time. I still remember it so properly. My mother started to feel anxious all of a sudden at midnight. Because she has anxiety and depression disorder, it happens often, almost every day. So she was having this panic attack. I had to make a call to one of my neighbors. They are very helpful and they always come up for help. They never deny. They are also very good people. So I had to make a call to them and they just came rushing. It was around midnight time and they helped. My mother also likes them and likes their presence. Because their presence makes her feel at ease. If I have to describe the experience, I would say it was a very terrible experience. Whenever I see my mother facing that kind of situation, it really makes me feel very sad. Because I don't want her to feel that way. But she can't help it. It is very unfortunate having this anxiety and depression disorder. It just sucks the life out of a person and it is very difficult to get out of the situation unless someone is coming up to help.

    Band 6-7

    The time I used my smartphone to do something important is my booking IELTS exam slot because on the day I have not access to my computer because the laptop was taken by my brother due to some work so I have to upload a scanned copy of my ID and I carefully submitted my details by double checking it and I felt happy and sad because I have to pay 18000 as a Indian student it is more expensive to me and it was my third attempt because I need a score which is accepted to a university which I want which is KAIST in South Korea but it was not achievable in my two attempts so I have booked my slot on the date so that was very first big test and step for my for achieving my dream to get into KAIST which is Korea Advanced Institute of Science and

    Band 6-7

    Cell phone has become an important part in everyone's life. So I had an incident that one day we were lost in a forest, in the middle of the forest. And there was, for God's sake, there was ample network available. It was not a reserve forest, it was just an entrance to the main part. And me and my friend was there, we were riding the bike and we got lost in the woods. However, we just came to know about the nearest area where the peoples used to walk here and there. But unfortunately, there were no such people because it was an evening time. And later, I would say, it was around 5 p.m. in the evening and we were just stuck in the forest. There was no signage where to go, where not to go and it was getting darker. And then I remembered my cell phone and turned on maps and I put the navigation on. However, we couldn't find exact location where we were standing and we just trusted our cell phone at that time. And fortunately, we found our way and that was the time when I used the cell phone. And that was so important at that time, we were lost. Otherwise, we could have eaten by a tiger, maybe. There was a lot of elephants, there was a lonely tusker.

    Band 6-7

    So I recently used cell phone to book an exam of CAT. It is an MBA entrance exam for which I was registering through my cell phone and I can definitely say that the experience was very good because it was a government website and it was running very smoothly. It has no lags and bugs and it was a I would say cakewalk for me. The UI was very easy to understand and I had no difficulty also in payment for the registration of my exam and also the team were very supportive. They have called me after the booking that everything is okay, you got your registration number and all that. I uploaded various documents and my registration ID, also the photograph of me to say that everything is confirmed. They have told me everything is confirmed and they provided me a receipt of also my payment. So it was a good experience. The phone was very important because without phone you can't register for the exam and you can't also do payment without the phone. So it is very important to carry a cell phone or smartphone nowadays as it is the main source of working anything.

    Band 6-7

    I remember during summer holidays I went to a remote place where there was no internet connection so at that time a notification suddenly popped which was an SMS so in the SMS it was written that if I don't contact my teacher I'll be thrown out of the class and my name will be deducted from the list so I had no choice to travel all the way from that remote place to a nearby city and over there the tower was great the internet connection was there then I contacted the authorities so that they won't remove me so that was one important incident of my life which I remember and apart from this I think it's always gonna stay with me the lesson which I learned is that never ever do something bad that you're gonna regret in the future

    Band 6-7

    Actually, there was an incident when I was in my college, when a girl had a stroke during a class. So, in this emergency, I had to use my phone and call the emergency contact to get some help. But I wasn't able to, and we had to then call an Uber using our smartphone and get her into it and take her to the hospital. I think if I didn't have my smartphone, then just the ease of calling an Uber with a simple It would have been very difficult for us to get an ambulance or some other service at that point of time. So, I think it was of a very huge importance that I had my phone with me.

    Band 6-7

    In the recent years, in the recent few decades, I used my phone when I was driving through the streets of Riyadh and suddenly a car crashed into another car and there is a guy who fell from the car and he was injured so badly. I was lucky enough to have my phone and record him, furthermore, I was lucky enough to have my phone and record him and saw the injuries on the guy's leg. Then I called the emergency, I called 911 to inspect what happened and they told me leave the guy on the ground. So I have been in connection with the hospital and meanwhile the emergency come to help the poor man and they instructed me how to do CPR before he dies and moreover on that I kept doing what they told me to do and they eventually came in and through my phone I told them where is my location and after that they took the poor man and eventually helped him and he is alive now. It feels really amazing how the use of technology these days really could help save lives.

    Band 6-7

    I used my cell phone when I want to talk to my brother because when I get depressed, I usually speak to my brother. Cell phone itself acts as a communicator between two people. So talking with my brother gives a relief and I am stress relieved. So it happened when I was in twelfth grade, I think, when I got upset with my results in the intermediate examinations, when I felt depressed, I called my brother that it was important to call according to my perspective because it felt very bad on my part because I tried very hard in getting good marks but rather I got very less marks. In addition to that, my teachers have also kept hope on me but I was not up to the mark of their expectations and finally I called my brother and told everything about this and he consoled me. Here cell phone itself acts as a device which express my feelings to my brother and he consoled me and I get refreshed with the talk from my brother and I am relieved from the stress.

    Band 6-7

    Smartphones became a very important aspect of every human's life. Now we are using smartphones for everything. Some people make living out of smartphones. Like content creators and people do deliveries and they order food, they communicate using smartphones, they listen to music. One of the time where I appreciated a smartphone was a few months ago when we were supposed to submit our thesis to a college. I am in an internship right now so we are supposed to go to college every three months and submit our thesis there. The first time we were asked to describe the thesis topic to our mentors. When we presented our topic, they rejected it and they asked us to make a new thesis topic on that day. So we searched everywhere and everything related to our thesis. We did everything to make it look okay and then we submitted it to our mentors and they accepted it. So I really appreciated smartphones that time. I didn't know what I would have done if there was no smartphone in my hand and I would have failed my thesis that time.

    Band 6-7

    Well, since I am a camera science graduate, I am very habituated to using my laptop more than my cell phone. This is in my final semester when we had to do a major project. We had a team of four people and we were taking guidance of our professor. But since our professor used to live nearby, we would visit him during the evenings and learn more about our project. So when we went there, there was a time when I forgot my laptop and so did my friends because the project was in my laptop initially. I remember my mom was at home and how my smartphone helped me in this situation is, I connected to my mom over call and I asked her, I instructed her how to open my laptop and how to browse through my project. She helped me do that and that's how I was able to present my project to the professor. In addition to that, I think smartphone really helped me in multiple ways in this situation. First things first, it helped me call my mom. Second of all, it helped me with the video call option that smartphones and the different applications that I have these days that could display my project on the screen, although my laptop was not with me. And it just saved a lot of time, instead of me going to my house and building my laptop.
    1 2 3 4
    ielts logo

    Get the IELTS Prep App

    Star rating icon

    4.2

    1M+ Installs

     app download banner image

    Get the app link on your phone

    +91

    Or download app from

    google play storeapp store
    master ielts speaking ad