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Describe a way/change that helps you save a lot of time: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • How is it?
  • How do you implement it?
  • How difficult is it?
  • And explain how you feel about the way/change.
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33 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 33 answers

Cue 1:How is it?

  • Begin by describing the specific way or change that helps you save time.
  • Mention the context in which you use this method or change.

Example

One significant change that has helped me save a lot of time is using a digital planner instead of a traditional paper diary. I started using it about a year ago, and it has transformed how I manage my daily tasks and appointments.

Cue 2:How do you implement it?

  • Explain the steps you take to use this method effectively.
  • Share any tools or apps you use to make this process easier.

Example

I implement this by setting aside a few minutes each morning to plan my day. I use an app called Todoist, where I list all my tasks and set reminders. This way, I can prioritize my work and ensure I don’t forget important deadlines.

Cue 3:How difficult is it?

  • Discuss any challenges you faced when adopting this change.
  • Explain how you overcame those challenges.

Example

Initially, I found it a bit challenging to switch from paper to digital. I was worried about losing my data or not being able to access it when needed. However, I overcame this by regularly backing up my planner and learning more about the app's features through online tutorials.

Cue 4:And explain how you feel about the way/change.

  • Share your feelings about the effectiveness of this change.
  • Mention any positive impacts it has had on your life.

Example

I feel incredibly positive about this change. It has not only saved me time but also reduced my stress levels. I can now focus more on my work and personal life without the constant worry of forgetting tasks. Overall, it has made me more organized and productive.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, switching to a digital planner has been a game-changer for me. It has streamlined my daily routine and allowed me to manage my time more effectively, which is essential in today’s fast-paced world.

    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 way or change you are describing to engage the listener.

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    Tip

    Use clear examples and specific details to illustrate your points. For instance, mention a particular app or method you use to save time.

    2: Ignoring Implementation Steps

    Failing to explain how you implement the change can leave your answer incomplete. It's crucial to show the process behind your time-saving method.

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    Tip

    Break down the steps you take to implement the change. Describe your routine or the tools you use to make it effective.

    Neglecting Personal Feelings

    Not sharing your feelings about the change can make your response less engaging. Personal reflections add depth and interest to your answer.

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    Tip

    Include your emotions or thoughts about the change. Explain how it has positively impacted your life or made you feel more productive.

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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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    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
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

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    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

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    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 7

    A change that has helped me save a significant amount of time is meal prepping. Essentially it involves planning and cooking meals in bulk so that I don't have to cook from scratch every single day. I usually set aside a few hours on Sunday to do my grocery shopping and prepare my meals for the week. First I decide on a simple menu, often dishes that are easy to cook in large batches like pasta, stir fries or soup. Then I chop all the vegetables, cook the protein and portion everything into containers. I store them in the fridge or freezer, ready to be reheated when I am pressed for time during the weekdays. Initially it was a bit challenging because I had to get used to cooking multiple meals at once and figuring out the right quantities. However, after a few attempts, I developed a system that works for me. Now it's much easier, in fact it's become a weekly routine that I look forward to since it saves me a lot of hassle later on. I feel incredibly relieved because it frees up my weekday evening, instead of worrying about what to cook after a long day, I just heat up a pre-made meal. This has helped me manage my time better, reduce my stress level and even eat healthier. Overall I am very satisfied with this change and highly recommend it to anyone looking to streamline their daily routine.

    Band 6-7

    So the way, one way where people can change or add an extra item in the curriculum is by waking up early, waking up, just waking up early would not help it. It's like micromanaging your schedule one day prior, which helps you smoothly transition into the whole day, which not only helps you to complete your chores one at a time, but keeps chaos at bay and does not allow confusion to settle in. So micromanaging and time management would be something where you have to practice it each and every day. It would not be a thing or an activity to do for an hour and you would be best at it. You would have to practice it for 21 or more than 21 days because it takes 21 days to learn a habit and that is how you would be able to add this into your regular schedule. So by making a timetable for a corresponding upcoming day would help you to deal with the important items first, like example, filling up a form for an entrance exam or given an interview and shopping for the vegetables, house items which are required. So accordingly to the schedule's importance, you would be able to complete it one by one.

    Band 6-7

    I have recently started to follow a routine in my life. Every day I wake up early, go to my gym and start my day. And every night before sleeping I always write down what all things I want to do the next day. And the next day I make sure I complete all of the tasks that I have to complete or I at least try to complete half of it. Through that time management has become very easy for me. I have assigned specific time for each task, each important task that I need to do on that day. So I feel that is a great way to get a lot of time in your life because before I did not have much time in my life to do things when there was no specific routine. So I would suggest everybody to note down what you want to do the next day, the day before and just follow that and make sure you complete all of them.

    Band 6-7

    Generally, what I have noticed is that it is rightly said dictum that we should use our time in a positive way or wisely, otherwise we can only regret in the future. In regards to this, I would like to talk about a change that really helps me to save a lot of my time. For instance, at first, I just spent most of my time while watching TV or spending on time while watching Reels, Instagram, such things. But after that, when I realized that it is impacting my life in a negative way, so I decided to change some things in my life, such as I changed my timetable so that I can be more peaceful in my life and do things in a right way. So I decided that I will be on time and I will wake up on time, such as now I started to wake up at 7 o'clock and after that I planned my schedule so that I can be more time management. And when I started to change some things in my life, I really observed a positive impact. For example, when I wake up late at that time, I really felt leisure on the entire day. But when I changed that thing, it really helped me to feel refreshed and it also acts as a stress buster for me because I can do all my things at a time. So that change, that thing really changed my life as I believe that time management is really necessary for each and every person's life because it has positive impact on our life and it also gives us many positive opportunities regarding our career. So that was the time when I changed many things in my life.

    Band 6-7

    So, a way or a change that would help me would really be waking up early in the morning because this would mean it will give me a lot more of time to gather my thoughts, plan my day as well as my activities for the day. So it'll give me time to make a checklist of all the items or all the tasks that I need to do for the day. Now I can plan and do this by keeping alarm and also by being determined to wake up because a lot of the times just because of keeping an alarm, it will not be accomplished. So being determined and having the aim of actually waking up early will really help me throughout the day as it will keep me energized as well as I will be able to get a lot more of activities done throughout my day, which would also mean higher productivity as well as a better result. So if I want to accomplish something or if I have a set target, I will be able to do that just by waking up in the morning.

    Band 6-7

    Hello, this is Yashvi and I have been born with a condition of getting late all the time. All my life I have usually been late to parties, social gatherings and every place that I was wanted at and it really was pushing me to think that this is not how I want to pursue my life and it really needed change. So there were a few ways which helped me shape myself as a person to not get late and value other people's time as well. So first of all I start, the first thing that I did was I changed the timings of all my clocks and watches to 15 minutes earlier so that I always have that extra buffer amount of time whenever I need it. The other thing that I usually do is decluttering and delegating. So I think decluttering my stuff has helped me a lot because whenever I am in rush, my mind automatically freezes and I am in a pit stop where I cannot do anything. So decluttering has helped me and delegating work if I am running late, asking people for help is not a bad thing if you are doing it right. So I really think that decluttering and delegating things also helps you save a lot of time. Thank you so much.

    Band 6-7

    To help me save time and make use of a total of four years, I rely on simple yet powerful techniques written on a daily to-do list, setting aside a few minutes in the morning to outline my tasks, allowing me to approach my study sessions with clear direction and focus. I have integrated this practice into my daily routine, especially when faced with demanding academic requirements like reading research papers and essays, or preparing for exams like IELTS. As I progressed through my list, picking up completed items gave me a sense of achievement and motivated me to take on it back. The structure of the order to this is not only sharpens my concentration, but also instills a sense of discipline and organization in my study habits. Avoiding wasted time wondering what I should do next, this method has to be seen straightforward, as execution goes beyond merely jotting down what you should do. It involves meticulous planning and organization, for example, I need to break down my workload into smaller manageable tasks and practice them.

    Band 6-7

    The way that helps me in saving a lot of time is my mobile phone in which I have an application which is called scheduling calendar. This application is made so that I can schedule my day to day tasks on a priority basis and I can also record it how much time I need to perform these tasks which is a very good way. Every morning I make schedules according to my timetable and record it and make sure to check everything if I am doing it or not. If I am not doing it then I will reschedule it for the next day and it helps me saving a lot of time because I do not have to remember everything, I just have to open my application and see what all activities are done, what work is left and needs to be done in the next couple of hours. Earlier in my previous years when I was not having this app, I ended up forgetting a lot of things and I was not able to do proper time management but since I have downloaded it and started using this application, it has been a great experience. This app was introduced to me by my sister who has already been using it from quite some time. Initially, I had a little bit difficulty as I am very new to the technology but as I started using it, things started becoming easier and I was able to make use of it. I have also recommended it to my other friends who are also using this and getting benefit. Additionally, I do record most of my tasks on this time and it helps me also manage stress.

    Band 6-7

    In today's era, where the information technology has boomed quite a lot, it is quite imperative to understand the nuances of using the internet properly. So I have made a conscious effort to understand the tricks that are involved in operating the internet. The various resources are available online, as well as there are short-term professional courses which enable us to fulfill this intention of ours. This using internet can save us a lot of time, energy, as well as hard-earned money, so that it is quite beneficial. Various ways in which internet can be useful are booking a train ticket or a travel or airline ticket if you have to go somewhere, booking a movie ticket, etc. For example, if we have to earlier book a train ticket, we need to go to the train station, fill out the form, stand in queue, also pay for the conveyance expenses, which can now be avoided. We can just buy a few clicks, we can book the train ticket, which saves us an enormous amount of time and also gives us lots of comfort and conveniences. Similarly, it is with the other services that internet provides. For example, if we need to book a movie ticket, we can do it online rather than visiting there and booking it offline, which helps us to obtain the confirmed seat as well as the necessity to stand in queues. So, I guess the ability to operate internet.

    Band 6-7

    A way that helps me save a lot of time is to wake up early in the morning. After my graduation, my routine completely turned upside down. I started to sleep around midnight and then wake up in the afternoon. So my routine was really messed up. And one day I started to think to myself that, what am I doing? Because I started with the thing, I began... I think a way that helped me save a lot of time is to wake up early in the morning. I recently graduated in the month of May, 2024. And since then I have been home for about 8 months now. Although I have been focusing on upscaling myself by taking various courses, my routine has completely changed. It has turned upside down. So how my body works is, it is very organized when I know I have to step out of the house to work something. But if it knows that I am going to be home the entire day, then I usually tend to sleep late. Even if I feel sleepy, I just waste my time watching Netflix. And sleep around 2-3 am and wake up around 10 or 11 am. And this really made me very lazy. I would procrastinate my work. I would not study on time. I would procrastinate my course timings as well. And this really took a back in my life. I started skipping my breakfast. And it really affected my health. So I started to think that what am I doing. So I brought a change in my life. It did take a lot of time for me to change this routine of mine. Because I got into a very comfortable zone of sleeping late and waking up late. It took me about 20 days to actually start waking up at 7 am in the morning. Although I wake up at 5 am for my prayers, I rest for a while and then wake up at 7 am and have my breakfast and workout. So waking up early has really helped me save a lot of time and do my other activities on time.
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