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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 41 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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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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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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    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

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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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    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

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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.
    Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
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    Anonymous student Band 7

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    Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

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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.
    Describe a book you recently read
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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 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.

    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.
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