Describe an activity that usually wastes your time.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

What is it?
When & why do you do it?
How does it waste your time?

32 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 32 answers

Cue 1:What is it?

Clearly identify the activity that you find time-wasting.
Provide a brief context or background about this activity.

Example

The activity that usually wastes my time is scrolling through social media. I often find myself getting lost in endless feeds of posts and videos.

Cue 2:When & why do you do it?

Mention specific times when you engage in this activity.
Explain the reasons behind your choice to do this activity despite knowing it wastes time.

Example

I usually scroll through social media in the evenings after work, as a way to relax. I do it because it feels entertaining and helps me unwind, even though I know I could be doing something more productive.

Cue 3:How does it waste your time?

Discuss the impact of this activity on your daily schedule.
Mention any specific instances where it has caused you to lose track of time or miss out on other important tasks.

Example

It wastes my time significantly because I can easily spend hours on it without realizing. For instance, there have been nights when I planned to read a book, but instead, I ended up scrolling through social media until midnight.

Conclusion

Summarize your thoughts on the activity and its impact on your life.
Consider mentioning any steps you are taking to reduce this time-wasting activity.

Example

In conclusion, while social media can be entertaining, it often leads to wasted time that could be better spent on hobbies or self-improvement. I am trying to limit my usage by setting specific time limits for myself.

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 activity to engage the listener and demonstrate your language skills.

Tip

Use clear examples and specific details to describe the activity, such as what it involves and why you do it.

2: Lack of Structure

Failing to organize your response can confuse the listener. A well-structured answer helps convey your thoughts more effectively and keeps the listener engaged.

Tip

Follow the cue prompts in order: start with what the activity is, then explain when and why you do it, and finally discuss how it wastes your time.

Overly Negative Tone

Focusing too much on negativity can make your answer less engaging. While it's important to discuss time-wasting, balance it with a neutral or slightly positive perspective.

Tip

Acknowledge the downsides of the activity but also mention any benefits or reasons why you still engage in it.

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Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

Scrolling through social media apps like Instagram and Facebook generally waste my time, but it gives me instant happiness, but later on I will regret it. Generally scrolling through apps like Instagram. Generally scrolling through apps like Instagram and Facebook waste my time. I generally get instance of happiness and become elated by using these apps for a very short period of time. But in the verge of scrolling these apps, I even won't concentrate on the important things on my exams and the work need to be done. But still I feel like it's a kind of relaxation. However, I have other things which waste my time without giving me any sort of happiness like overthinking. I personally believe overthinking is the art of creating problems which won't exist. Sometimes I draw 4-5 situations in my mind which are actually not true, but waste my time. Also both Instagram activities and overthinking has made my life miserable and continuously wasting my time. These days what I want to do is, I want to indulge in any sort of physical activity. I make my mind more concentrated and curtail the usage of Instagram and Facebook so that I can reduce my overthinking capacity too.

Band 5-6

The activity that wastes most of your time according to me is probably the scrolling of reels in your Instagram. So it takes most of your productive time like whenever I want to do something productive and when I'm doing the work I get some notification through my phone and I go through Instagram and I start scrolling Instagram then most of the time would go through scrolling the reels and that would be such a waste of time. When and where would I do it? It would probably be most of the time whenever I'm using the phone not on any particular time so whenever I'm having a phone the first thing for the first app which I open would be the Instagram app. So if I open the Instagram app most or most like 5 to 15 minutes of my time would be gone scrolling through the reels so that would waste most of my productive time even I wouldn't know how much time I've spent it would be like I'm in a continuous loop of reels and it's never-ending

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