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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.
Show all 75 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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    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band 6-7

    I am a supply chain data analyst so I work on very large data a lot of a large number of data sets and the data points are a lot so I work on Excel and I have to make daily dashboards which I make on Excel so as it is easier to understand for the management so I have to apply formulas every day to do pivot tables every day is a very tedious target task and it takes a lot of my time which I cannot give in to this particular task itself as there's a lot of work after that so I prepared I structured the data in such a way that I just have to copy paste the data and the formulas are already put in there so it just updates daily when I just copy and paste the data and the dashboard is ready where I just pick up the dashboard send it on email and it just gives me a lot of time and it has made my work easy and fast so this change was a very important change that I made to save a lot of time and I could take on more responsibilities at work because of this and since everybody loved the way I structured the data now I got more responsibilities which is somewhat bad and good but I mostly take it in a positive way as more work means at a very young age it means that I get to learn more so it's just a win-win for me

    Band 6-7

    A way that helps me save a lot of time is waking up early and sleeping early. I used to sleep in a lot and I used to stay up till late night and get up very, waking up very tired. But I realized that I need to change this habit so that I can save a lot of time. I can make good habits in my life and I've realized that it just makes my day a bit better. I've realized when I sleep early and wake up early, I feel that I have a much longer day. I get things done at a much faster pace and I feel much more energetic. I started doing this two months back. At first, it was very difficult for me to incorporate this change in my life. But I built in the discipline to do that. It feels very good waking up early and sleeping early. I feel like I have much more energy now. I used to feel very tired even after getting eight hours of sleep before because I was not waking up early. My entire day used to feel very tired. I used to feel irritated very easily. But now it's been good. I try to get up early, start my day with doing some yoga, pranayama, which just gives me a great start of the day. After that, I try to have healthy food and get up, get ready for work and it just makes my day a bit more productive. I've tried doing yoga for almost two months now. It was very difficult to incorporate this in my life because I was a lazy person and getting myself to follow this was a very big challenge. It was a great thing I've incorporated in my life, but yeah, I feel like I can do better now that I have much more time in my day. I can get things done faster and I just have a bit more time to myself and I feel like my sleep gets done very quickly.

    Band 6-7

    A way which helps me to save a lot of time is by practicing a method known as the 3 test method. In this process, it's nothing, it's just you wake up in the morning and you pick up the 3 most important things that you need to do and you stick to your plan. Initially, what would happen with me was I used to make a to-do list containing 15-20 items and by the end of the day, I would end up completing only a few which would really cause frustration and anxiety. But now, I feel like prioritizing the most important tasks and not trying to cover everything is more important. This method of doing the first 3 most important things really helps me to stay motivated and focus the entire day. As soon as I wake up in the morning, I pick the 3 tasks which I need to do, be it related to work or study or my personal goals and it also helps me to stay determined and not waste my time in random scrolling over the internet or checking my social media quite often. This is a habit which I picked up during the covid time from a productivity video and it has been a part of me since then. It helps me to stay motivated, dedicated, organized and also helps me in my personal development.

    Band 6-7

    The change I would like to talk about is a change I have recently implemented in my life which helps me in saving a lot of time of my day. The change is to wake up early in the morning. Previously, since so many years, I was a night owl person but recently I tried to make myself as an early bird because it's very important nowadays to make ourselves productive in order to attain our goals in this fast-paced world. So, I have to change my routine. That's why I implemented this change in my life. I remember, firstly, I have to face so many difficulties as I was failing to get sleep at night early and then feeling very lazy in the daytime but gradually I started following it. It makes me better and now I can see that I adapted this change of going to bed early simultaneously, waking up early. This change makes me a very good person and overall I would say I feel much more productive than I felt previously.

    Band 6-7

    One kind of a change I am expecting in my life is I should get up early. I have been getting up very late which is affecting all my daily course. If I implement the way of getting up and the time of getting up definitely it is going to help me in fulfilling all my work because I put all the work on pending. So I am just feeling very tired also if I get up late and again go late to the bed. I think implementing this kind of a change in my personal habit will definitely help me to achieve whatever I want to achieve in my life. Furthermore this will also give the appreciation of others and I will be a role model for my children as they grow up. Hence I want to change, incorporate this kind of a habit in my life. As soon as I get up early I can finish off all my yoga and meditation and whatever I planned for the exercise. All those things can be finished. Nowadays I don't get up early so I go to the work without having my breakfast or having done the exercise. But if I incorporate the time of getting up early definitely I will improve my personal health as well as my personal achievement. As long as I start going to bed late I don't think that I will be able to get up early. So I should first change that habit of going late.

    Band 6-7

    The main thing I changed in my life was, previously I was not having any kind of plan for a day. The day will go as if what should be done, it will go according to itself. One thing I admired from my wife, she used to do a particular, correct, disciplined form of a day, what the task should be done in a day. So I started to develop the thing in my life. All nights I used to sit and do the points that will be done in the next day. All the things I just note down and when I got up in the morning I used to see the things and I will go according to it. Starting several days it was very difficult to me because it was a drastic change in me from unordered life to ordered life. It was very tough for me in several days, starting days. Then I adopted it and I go on going according to it. Now I think it's a major turn in my life. Because of that my life started in a very disciplined way. I save lots of time and I can invest my time in other things which are beneficiary for my future.

    Band 6-7

    A change that helped me save a lot of time would be the moment that I stopped using social media. So basically what I did was, I uninstalled all the apps from my phone, all the social media apps from my phone. Once when I did that, it was then when I realized that how much time I had been spending on these apps, which I could have productively used on a lot of other things. So I had nearly been using 4-5 hours of social media a day, the time that I could have spent on a lot of things such as studying for sports or going to gym and taking care of myself. So once when I stopped using social media, the main changes that I could see in myself was, I started becoming more productive. I started spending the time on learning for exams which could be useful for my higher studies. Initially it was difficult because when a thing that takes up nearly 4-5 hours of your life a day, and you suddenly stop it, it's really difficult. But slowly I got hold of myself and had some self-control. So eventually I was able to overcome it and now I'm happily living without using them.

    Band 6-7

    These days everyone leads extremely hectic lives and that's why it has become more important than ever to create habits and routines that help us save some time in our daily routines. So I started keeping my phone away when doing important work so that I could turn off the distractions and focus on the task at hand. Keeping my phone away helped me to not care about the continuous mails, the messages, the popping notifications on my phone and forget everything but only the work that I have to do. This made me more productive and encouraged me to have lesser screen time. It was slightly difficult in the beginning because you know we are so habituated to the phone and having a screen in front of us all the time but I slowly grasped the habit and I was able to concentrate for long hours in a few days. I believe that anyone who is trying to be more productive or increase their concentration power, keeping your devices away is a very important and useful hack. Hence whenever you feel you have a lot of things on your plate, just stay away from your device and half of the problem will be sorted.

    Band 6-7

    The change that helps me a lot of time would be my multitasking skills which I use regularly to avoid more time-consuming works, for example while I was cooking I also turn on the washing machine to clean the clothes, simultaneously the work will be done and it saves me a lot of time, moreover I always think that multitasking helps me very much but it is quite difficult for people to multitask, moreover when multitasking we need to focus on two major things at the same time, people think that it is very much exhausting to do that simultaneously and appropriately and it lacks more of our personal development and confidence on that and we need to focus on both the things at the same time that can consume less time but it is difficult to process that in cooking only I use this type of multitasking because it saves me a lot of time and also in many other during my graduation.

    Band 6-7

    As time plays a virtual role in every individual's life, it's very precocious for every human, being it's the responsibility of every person to be punctual with their time. If I talk about myself a change that helped me save time was after my senior secondary education, before my senior secondary education. I did not use any phone for my studies, but after that when I started using a phone for my studies, it saved a lot of time before using the smartphone I hear old chapters. But I started using my mobile, I watched brief summary videos on YouTube related to my studies. This was not only crucial for watching videos, but it also helped me with the assignment and daily studies.
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