Describe an ambition that you haven't achieved.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

What is it?
Why haven't you achieved it?
How did you feel about it?

28 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 28 answers

Cue 1:What is it?

Clearly state the ambition you have in mind, making it specific and relatable.
Provide some context about why this ambition is important to you.

Example

One of my biggest ambitions is to become a successful author. Ever since I was a child, I have loved storytelling and dreamed of publishing my own novel.

Cue 2:Why haven't you achieved it?

Discuss the obstacles or challenges that have prevented you from achieving this ambition.
Mention any personal circumstances or external factors that have played a role.

Example

Unfortunately, I haven't achieved this ambition yet due to a lack of time and resources. Balancing my job and family responsibilities has made it difficult to dedicate time to writing. Additionally, I often feel overwhelmed by self-doubt, which holds me back from pursuing this dream.

Cue 3:How did you feel about it?

Share your emotions regarding the unachieved ambition, highlighting both disappointment and hope.
Reflect on how this ambition has influenced your life and aspirations.

Example

I often feel a mix of disappointment and frustration about not having achieved my ambition. It can be disheartening to see others succeed in their writing careers. However, I also feel hopeful because I believe that with persistence and effort, I can still make my dream a reality someday.

Conclusion

Summarize your ambition and the key reasons for not achieving it.
End on a positive note, expressing your determination to pursue it in the future.

Example

In conclusion, while I have not yet achieved my ambition of becoming an author due to time constraints and self-doubt, I remain determined to work towards it. I believe that with dedication, I can eventually fulfill this dream.

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 unclear about your ambition. Vague answers can confuse the examiner and fail to engage them. Specificity helps convey your passion and commitment.

Tip

Clearly define your ambition with specific details. Explain what it is and why it matters to you.

2: Neglecting Emotional Impact

Failing to express how you feel about your unachieved ambition can make your answer less relatable. Emotions add depth to your response.

Tip

Share your feelings about not achieving your ambition. Use phrases like 'I felt disappointed' or 'I was motivated to try harder.'

Overly Negative Focus

Focusing too much on the negative aspects of not achieving your ambition can leave a poor impression. Balance is key.

Tip

While discussing challenges, also mention what you learned or how you plan to pursue your ambition in the future.

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

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 6-7

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Band 6

Oh an ambition for my life is to buy a dream car that haven't done yet so I actually I'm actually fond of cars and very much intrigued in knowing the details about different cars so one one of the car that I want to buy in my future is that BMW M4 competition and since I am a student I am not having any job and I don't and I'm not earning yet so it's difficult for me to buy BMW now but in the future I'll definitely buy that car and before that I'll earn sufficiently to get that car in my hands and oh in a casual day or in a day whenever I open Insta the Insta is completely filled with different cars reels so my feed especially so whenever I see this M5 or M4 competition car I actually on cloud 9 and I feel like I just wanted to buy that cars so it is like a feeling of a zeal for me

Band 6

My ambition is to become a CEO of a reputed company such as Google and Microsoft and the CEO of Google Sundar Pichai is my inspiration. I am unable to achieve this dream because I haven't completed my education. Recently I completed my masters. After pursuing my masters and MBA then I will try for it and I will work hard to achieve this goal. I was very excited towards it and I was very excited to achieve this dream so I can help a lot of people and empower ladies and I can create a new technology and innovations which will be helpful for the people. I am working on it and I hope I will achieve this thing. I am working on it and I hope I will achieve this thing.

Band 6

My recent ambition has been to score more than 550 in my GMAT exam. So I have made a solid plan for almost four to five months back in July and I thought yes I'll stick to this plan and I will get my desired score but suddenly out of the blue after a month into my preparation I was pulled into an engagement which was a new kind of role and responsibility for me and almost more than eight hours a day I had to contribute to that engagement while learning at the same time working on the product so it has taken almost all of my concentration focus and energy into that work aspect of my life and when I used to come back home to sit down and study I was drained out of energy I was very tired physically drained so I but I still studied for at least three hours a day and I tried to give my best but I wasn't able to score my desired score and achieved around 435 in my GMAT which was not a good score but under the circumstances I understand that not all the situations were in favor of me so I was fine with it and I'm now preparing for IELTS to apply for my master's in management program hoping that at least there I go I'll score a good score and get my dream school.

Band 6

During my childhood, I had an ambition to become a doctor, even my mom had same dream like I should be a doctor in a future. But later years and years go on, I started to think of that it could be a very difficult course to complete and also I believe that when I start this course, I just need to have a more hands-on practice on the real human body, so it make me a shiver and less confident on me. So I switched my career into a computer technology and literally it went to different path. Now I believe that I should take any initiation to become a doctor and later I believe in maybe in a future, if I am not able to become a doctor, I try to do a doctorate in my professional and which will support me in later years and years to be in a more confident person and have more knowledge on what I am doing and what I can do.

Band 6

My ambition is to become a mariner, but unfortunately I can't achieve it. It's because of my parents. Because my parents won't like to allow me to study nanotechnology. Then, yeah, absolutely I have regrets on that. But I can't blame them because without them I am nothing. Maybe perhaps in my next lifespan I'll try to be a mariner.

Band 6

I am very ambitious to become a psychotherapist in my near future. This is an ambition that has been churning in my mind since I think I was in my teenage. I had experienced clinical depression and also had generalized anxiety that like dismantled several years of my life and I quitted science and got into psychology. I learned about mental health and with more education I started getting more involved into the field of psychology and mental health. I did work as a mental health friend but that was limited as I did not have a master's degree to support the eligibility requirements to be a psychotherapist. Currently I am in Canada. I have done addictions and mental health and I work as a peer support worker. From my work, my lived experience, I feel that I can be a ray of hope for people who are experiencing and struggling with mental health like I do. I think that it's extremely essential to make sure that these individuals know that they are not the problem and this world and the structure of the world is kind of a problem and also that they can get out of it. I feel when you are you have lived something you have the power and ability to explain or be there for people more than anyone else who have not had that lived experience. I haven't been able to achieve it because of a lot of limitations that immigration agencies and government organizations enforce upon immigrants. How I feel about it is not in a negative light. On the contrary I feel very hopeful. I feel there's a fuel and passion

Band 6

My ambition is to get a fashion designer or modelling, but I won't be getting that because I am in the field of architecture. I am not in the field of architecture where I can be only an architect. I love designing dresses. I love creating new variety of dresses. I love modelling which I can style and wear myself, where I can keep creative. But even though I am happy with my architecture field which has some similar things which I have in architecture, like creating and exploring new things, I am happy for it. But there is one sad thing that I became a fashion designer due to lack of knowledge at that time. After entering into architecture, I realised that I love fashion designing and modelling. I tried to change my course when I was in the year of second year, but after that I realised that I can do the architecture results well.

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