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?

27 unique answers with expert feedback

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.

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.

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.

Tip

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

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

An aquatic animal that I would like to talk about is a fish. To be more precise, it is a clownfish. The first time that I've seen a clownfish was the animated version of it. I've watched a movie called as Finding Nemo, where the main character would be a clownfish. I've always been attracted to this fish since I was young. The fish was very much interesting with the identity it had. It had orange and white stripes around its body, around its tail, and around its fins. It had huge, big, black eyes. It had a cute appeal to it. The movie also portrayed it so. The movie had portrayed the clownfishes to be very much cute. It showed them as gentle and soft creatures. This is also another contributing factor which made me love clownfishes even more. So, this is an aquatic animal that I did want to do further research about. I never really did see it in real life, but I did see some pictures of it on the internet.

Band 6

A starfish. I find a starfish very interesting because it is in a shape of star. An aquatic animal or in general an animal that is in the shape of star is never seen except for this starfish. So I find that its shape is very interesting and also starfishes are available or present in a wide range of colours. Though I thought orange is the only colour but they are present in different colours like a pink starfish, a blue starfish. They are also seen in colours like white and grey. And starfishes are not something people usually grow at their homes. So it makes their presence visible.

Band 5-6

Aquatic animals are those animals which lives in under the water and I know few of the aquatic animals like dolphin, whale and jello fish. Jello fish if I talk about it looks like a jelly and has those strands coming out of their body and two eyes really diminutive eyes really minute and smaller small size those jello fish are really if we if you touch any jello fish it feels like jelly and it's really delicate because of its delicacy most of the people scared of touching it. It found under like deep under the water we really get a chance to see a jello fish because we have to deep dive into the water. I'm more curious to know how much food like in what quantity the jello fish is going to eat the food I'm more interested in knowing that and I feel this aquatic animal is the most or the rear I feel this aquatic animal is the rear species and we should protect it from other wild aquatic animal

Band 5-6

Aquatic animals are basically the animals which lives under the water and explore the underwater world. They are basically fish, jellyfish, dolphins and other are sharks and many other varieties and species are there in aquatic life which are basically lives under the water and they are probably scaly animals. Scales helps them to live under the water to prevent shrinking of skin and other elements. For exploring aquatic life we are basically non-watery living beings. For the exploring aquatic life we have to do scuba diving while scuba diving or swimming. We can spot them and 70% of area is covered with water of our earth. There are multiple and numerous types of animals which lives under the water and very interesting life they have and aquatic animals are, for example, if we consider penguin, they possibly live on ice and more cold area and dolphins are very friendly, they came out of the water for breathing and again start swimming under the water.

Band 5-6

The an aquatic animal which is very very interesting for me it was turtoise I have heard about that it is living in both land and in sea and it has a wonderful structure because of it has a shell outside which help them to protect them from their enemies they can hide inside that shell and very carefully they can't their enemies can't recognize whether it is a stone or that aquatic animal so it is a fantastic thing that about turtoise and another additional with that I have seen in usually seen in aquatic museum only I haven't seen in sea or land still yet but I think once I went to Kuala Lumpur sea I have seen this turtoise but it firstly because of the crowd it firstly went back to the sea itself and it is very wonderful to see it then I have heard about in my school days about turtoise and no one catches these fish this aquatic animal as a prey only animals inside the what inside only eagles used to take this aquatic animal

Band 5-6

source of food for human beings, they are mostly caught through the process of fishing where people go out on boats and catch them using nets so that we can consume them. Aquatic animals come in various shapes and colours depending on the family that they are from, the most obvious example that I can think of is the Neanderthal.

Band 5

It's a crab. Crabs look like weird but some people like to eat crab. It's very tasty. I like to eat crabs. It's a crab. Crabs look like weird but some people like to eat crab. It's a crab. Crabs look like weird but some people like to eat crab. It's a crab. Crabs look like weird but some people like to eat crab. It's a crab. Crabs look like weird but some people like to eat crab. It's a crab. Crabs look like weird but some people like to eat crab.

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