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Describe an aquatic animal.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Which animal was it?
  • What does it look like? When did you see it?
  • Why is it interesting?
Show all 27 answers

Cue 1:Which animal was it?

  • Begin by naming the aquatic animal clearly.
  • Share a brief personal connection or experience related to the animal.

Example

The aquatic animal I want to describe is the dolphin. I have always been fascinated by dolphins since I watched a documentary about them as a child.

Cue 2:What does it look like? When did you see it?

  • Provide a detailed description of the animal's physical features, such as size, color, and unique characteristics.
  • Mention the specific occasion when you saw the animal, whether in the wild or in an aquarium.

Example

Dolphins are sleek and streamlined, usually gray with lighter underbellies. They have a distinct dorsal fin and a playful smile. I first saw a dolphin during a family trip to Goa last summer when we went on a boat ride.

Cue 3:Why is it interesting?

  • Discuss the unique behaviors or traits of the animal that capture your interest.
  • Explain any personal experiences or facts that make the animal special to you.

Example

Dolphins are incredibly intelligent and social creatures. I find it interesting how they communicate with each other using clicks and whistles. During our boat ride, we were lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins leaping out of the water, which was a breathtaking experience.

Conclusion

  • Summarize your thoughts about the animal and its significance to you.
  • End with a personal reflection or a statement about the importance of aquatic life.

Example

In conclusion, dolphins are not only beautiful creatures but also symbolize the intelligence and playfulness of marine life. They remind me of the importance of protecting our oceans and the wonderful beings that inhabit them.

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. Candidates often fail to provide specific details about the aquatic animal, which can lead to a lack of engagement from the examiner.

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Tip

Use descriptive adjectives and specific details about the animal's appearance, behavior, and habitat to create a vivid picture.

2: Rushing Through Answers

Many candidates rush their responses, which can lead to incomplete answers. This may cause them to miss important cues and fail to fully explain their thoughts.

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Tip

Take your time to think before speaking. Structure your answer by addressing each cue clearly and thoroughly.

Ignoring Personal Connection

Failing to share personal experiences or connections can make your answer less engaging. Candidates often miss the opportunity to explain why the animal is interesting to them.

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Tip

Include a personal story or reason that highlights your interest in the animal, making your answer more relatable and memorable.

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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
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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 6-7

During one of my visits to the local aquarium, I came across a creature that is fabled in the tales Hare and Tortoise, known for its patience and winning the race through its key quality. It is a most marvellous creature in my perspective since its exoskeleton is made of a shell that is also its home. And this exoskeleton is said to be the hardest which even can withstand the test of time. This creature, especially living in the warm regions, feeds on the plankton. But on the saddened note, they are plagued by parasites that latch on to them and provide suffering. It needs to be cleaned by hand, which by far doesn't take place, which requires special supervisions and thus making the life of these creatures quite difficult. Also known for its long life, it can outlive a human and tells, in some cases, the stories of past.

Band 6-7

Aquantic animal which I saw was a dolphin. Dolphins are very friendly mammals. I saw it when I had gone to the Goa. We saw it in the Cocoa beach in Goa. Dolphins may appear sweet but in real life they can be very poisonous. I don't like this. It was very nice to see a dolphin. It was a very sweet mammal. I actually saw a baby dolphin which was a big fish which could jump over. Whenever we whistled, the dolphin used to come out.

Band 6-7

The aquatic animal I would like to discuss is great white shark. Great white shark is a type of fish which is quite large and which is quite large and it's like apex predator of the sea. It has a huge fin which helps it to swim with great speeds and a large set of teeth which makes it a predator and it helps it eat most of the prey. The interesting thing about it is that it has great vision and sense of smell. It can sense the blood from huge distance, from large distances. I saw it once in an aquarium show in a city called, in a Vizag city. I was amazed to look at it, its terrifying presence and its look. It hunts alone and it attacks on humans as well.

Band 6-7

I like an aquatic animal, it is named as jellyfish. It looks very different comparatively to other fishes. It has a very prominent body structure that attracts people whenever we see it. There are variety of aquatic animals living in the ocean, but jellyfish has its own charm. Even the fishermen who go into the sea to catch fishes, they are very lucky if they catch a school of jellyfishes. Jellyfish has a high appealing look and it is more likely by the children category. Jellyfish are sold in various markets, it has many medicinal values in it. When we consume jellyfish, it is a good medicine to variety of diseases that mankind has. Jellyfish is one of the interesting aquatic animal to visit when we visit an aquarium. Jellyfish will also have some beautiful texture on it. People say that catching some fishes like this are a good sign of luck. Even the fishermen who have their journey towards the ocean, who stays there in the ocean for 3 to 4 days, are happy when they see the jellyfish being catched in their nets. Some people also consider jellyfish as a sign of luck and also as a point of wealth in their life. It is happy when we buy a jellyfish and we come and grow it as a pet in the home also. So jellyfish is very good to eat as well as grow in our home.

Band 6-7

There are many aquatic animals that I would like to discuss about, but I would like to talk specifically about fish. Fish specifically lives in water and it cannot live outside the water or pond, it breathes through gills. There are different types of fish like, fishes like saltwater fish, which specifically lives in ocean and freshwater fish, which specifically lives in rivers, ponds etc., which are mainly eaten and the tropical fish, which lives in warm water. These fishes are main source of income for India, not only India, for the world's ecosystem I feel fishes provide lot of nutritious food due to its fatty acids and it contains a lot of protein in it and they also help for ecosystem balance by balancing the aquatic ecosystem and they are also important economy for the government all over the world, they play a crucial role in gaining a revenue income more than 30% of world's revenue every year, so I feel fish plays a significant role in everybody's life.

Band 6-7

A shark is a type of an aquatic animal. It is a fish species and it looks like a big fish with sharp teeth. I have never seen a shark in real life but I have seen it in movies, in Hollywood movies like Jaws. So a shark is not a mammal, it is a type of fish but it is a carnivorous animal and they prey on other animals including human beings. They can be dangerous to other animals when they are around them as they are carnivorous and they prey on other animals. It is interesting how they survive in the aquatic ecosystem because even though they are a threat to human beings and other animals, they contribute to the ecosystem in a certain way and is an important part of the aquatic ecosystem. In some parts of the world they are preyed upon and killed and their meat is used for human consumption. There are different classes of sharks and all of them have distinct features.

Band 6-7

Firstly, I would like to say that I don't know much about an aquatic animal. If I make any irrelevant topic or bring any irrelevant speech here, kindly pardon me. Going forward, I would like to speak about sharks. I have seen a lot of movies made with the topic of sharks and they seem to be a bit violent. And contrastingly, I have also seen people playing with them. Like some who are professionals, who are mostly divers or somebody like that. They go deep in the ocean, they play with the shark and they post those videos. And I will be like, they show so much in movies that they hunt, they kill the humans. And here, these will be playing like children with the divers and they also play cool with them. So yeah, that subject fascinates me a lot about sharks. I also have one wish to travel in a ship or somewhere and to have a chance to see sharks and play with them. I really want to know what's their real nature. So yeah, after this maybe I will go home and have a small research through the Wikipedia or something to know more about sharks. So that I can have more clarity about them.

Band 6-7

There are different, different types of aquatic animals present in our earth. But according to me, I find watching an octopus very much interesting. I like watching an octopus because of its features and the color, different, different type of colors of the octopus. I think octopus look attractive because of the various hand and legs they are having, the features, what they eat, how they roam. I like everything about an octopus. If given a chance, I would really like to admire an octopus in front of me and I enjoy watching all the aquatic animals which are present on our earth. I think aquatic animals are majorly present in the ocean and in the museum these days. In the museums, we can find out different, different aquatic animals and by looking at I think that we find ourselves very much, we find ourselves very much in fun and we just love watching the different types of aquatic animals.

Band 6-7

The aquatic animal which I want to talk about today is Octopus. Octopus is actually an aquatic animal where it lives deep in the ocean. It does have different colours. I particularly have seen an Octopus which is a red brownish colour and it does have 8 or more hands and it is like a tomb as its head and has 8 or more hands like that. It does have a succulent like holes through those hands where it actually helps him to catch his prey. I have seen him many times. I have eaten him. I believe it is an aquatic animal but still I have eaten it many times in restaurants. It is very tasty, very chewy. So an aquatic animal which I always adored is Octopus as I find it very interesting the way how it catches its prey. Actually it does initially, it does have a prey, it does have an ability to run out from its prey by putting out ink which may be dark blue or dark black. I have particularly seen it in black colour which black ink is being produced out of it. I believe his back and it is being put out to the water when a prey comes which make the prey a vision blur. So

Band 6-7

On one morning while I was sailing in the Pacific Ocean, I saw a blue whale. It was quite amusing to see it at first and it sprinkled the water and when it came to surface, it caught my eye. It was a very big gigantic fish, black color and it was a very beautiful sight. I find this animal interesting as it swims through the ocean engulfing everything in its mouth and it really makes me wonder what kind of ocean animals are and how many different varieties of species we can find in an ocean.
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