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Describe an argument you overheard: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who was involved?
  • When did it happen? What was it about?
  • How was it resolved?
Show all 24 answers

Cue 1:Who was involved?

  • Identify the people involved in the argument clearly.
  • Mention your relationship to them, if any, to provide context.

Example

I overheard an argument between my two colleagues, Riya and Aman, during a team meeting. They have been working together on a project for the past few weeks, and I could sense some tension between them.

Cue 2:When did it happen? What was it about?

  • Describe the time and place where the argument took place.
  • Summarize the main topic of the argument to give a clear picture.

Example

This happened last Friday in our office conference room. The argument was about the direction of our project. Riya believed we should focus on a more innovative approach, while Aman insisted on sticking to the original plan.

Cue 3:How was it resolved?

  • Explain how the argument was addressed or resolved.
  • Mention any actions taken by the individuals or a mediator to settle the dispute.

Example

The argument was eventually resolved by our manager, who stepped in to mediate. She suggested that they both present their ideas in a more structured way, allowing the team to vote on which approach to take. This helped them find common ground and move forward.

Conclusion

  • Summarize the key points of the argument and its resolution.
  • Reflect on what you learned from witnessing the argument.

Example

In conclusion, witnessing this argument taught me the importance of open communication in a team. It also highlighted how different perspectives can lead to better solutions when managed properly.

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: Ignoring Key Details

Candidates often skip important details about the people involved or the context of the argument. This can make the story less engaging and informative.

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Tip

Make sure to include who was involved and the background of the argument to provide a clearer picture.

2: Rushing Through the Resolution

Many candidates quickly mention how the argument was resolved without explaining the process. This can leave listeners confused about the outcome.

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Tip

Take time to describe how the argument was resolved, including any discussions or actions taken to reach a conclusion.

Lack of Personal Reflection

Some candidates fail to share their thoughts or feelings about the argument, making their response less personal and relatable.

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Tip

Include your perspective on the argument and its resolution to make your answer more engaging and reflective.

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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

Earlier this morning, I overheard an argument. The argument was between my both best friends. They were arguing about the problem on the topic in DSA. They have different opinions to resolve the problem. So, I have suggested them to take this problem to a respected professional in our college to solve the problem in the DSA and they have thought through my suggestion and decided to take the problem to the professor and he clarified the argument between both of them and he suggested a new way to solve the problem. So, my both friends have resolved the argument over there and they worked through the problem they were facing in DSA and the argument is solved.

Band 6-7

Once upon a time, I have an argument with my sister and the argument topic was my toy. I have to enjoy to buy a new toy whenever I visited a market or a place. So I used to buy a new toy from there. So once upon a time, I was in Blishad Garden, there was a market was going there and I saw a toy that was a teddy bear and I loved that. So I want to buy that but my sister was, same time my sister said, she wanted the same toy. But so even the argument was going over more than a one hour, so but at the end, we bought the toy but when we reached home, my parents suggested, you have the toy, it's been from both of you and you have to play one by one, turn wise and you can play then.

Band 6-7

The argument that I had happened to overhear was between two of my friends Aditya and Kavya. This argument was held in a common place called as the gazebo which was in our college compound. The argument was mainly about Aditya being the person who was being accused of saying some random comment which was a bit insulting towards Kavya. Kavya was deeply emotional about the topic and was not happy about it and was complaining to Aditya by the way he was speaking about it. Kavya and Aditya had a huge argument which involved shouting at each other and everyone was looking at them. Moreover, Kavya had also started crying due to the way Aditya had responded to her statements. The entire argument was dissolved or controlled by the group of friends that were around them and trying to talk them out of the argument or the fight that they were going on about. Later on, the result was that we had resolved it by making them compromise on the topic and stating who was right and wrong. Aditya had admitted that he might have been wrong and also apologized to Kavya. Kavya had also apologized by the way she had treated Aditya. About all of this, we had all realized that if we all stick together as a friend group, we would be able to solve any problem or any issue between the two, between anyone in the group. Thank you.

Band 6-7

So, when I was in my 8th grade, I overheard an argument between my parents and it was a really, it was a scary thing which I did over here and I would very much like to forget about it. This argument mainly started when me and my brother were fighting with each other and my parents got furious with each other when none of them came up to us and stopped the fight. So, they got into a fight talking about the responsibilities that they were sharing and their workloads and how much they have been exhausted through the week and how they are not being clear about what responsibilities they should be taking. So, they were very much disappointed in us because we were not listening to them and it very much disturbed their whole peace at the home because no parent would like to come to home and see it as a bad environment that they have to stay for the whole night. So, moreover, they also blamed each other for us turning out like this without any discipline or anything and they did resolve it by scheduling their time frame. They sat down and they worked on their schedule and they timed out what kind of work they should do in a week time. So, they did calm down and resolved it like matured adults which they are. Moreover, we did sat down for a nice family dinner that night and this incident never really repeated again which I am glad of.

Band 6-7

Just like any other child, I have heard my parents argue about many things at many instances. Most of the time their argument is about me and my career path. However, since they both have my best interest at heart, they come to a conclusion. Most of the time they play good cop, bad cop and have different opinions, although they put their personal interests and opinions aside to see what is best for me. Arguments between two people whom I love the most tend to dishearten me. These belligerent conversations are really tough to tackle. Additionally, arguments are something that any family would tend to avoid. But I believe that it is necessary to put forward your point of view because it helps lead to a better conclusion since very different aspects of a particular situation can be seen.

Band 6-7

I overheard an argument between two friends this morning at a coffee shop. It is because they agreed, they negotiated to go out to hang out but one of them was not able to come and she haven't communicated it properly that she can't come by the time. So the other one got upset about this because the other one was saying that it was happening often that she felt disrespected about it. So the other one who did this accepted that she could have communicated properly but yeah she hadn't done that intent on purpose to hurt her. So she could have, she agreed that she could have communicated it properly, communicated it better. So finally they agreed, finally they seem to have good care about one, about each other. So they agreed to improve the communication between them.

Band 6-7

Well, talking about this particular question, the argument which I overheard earlier, it was argument between my two elder brothers. So they were just discussing about the event which is going to happen related to marriage. And that time my elder brother was not convinced with my one of the elder brothers, so there was argument between them. And moreover this argument continued last two hours. So that time I intervened the argument and tried to resolve it by saying that we will definitely going to look whatever that other person is saying. So if it not get, what I mean trying to say is, if the solution is not appropriate, we will definitely find that other alternatives and we should give a chance to consider their ideas. So through this way I tried to solve the argument. Apart from that I would say that whenever such argument in my family, I used to stay apart from it. What usually happens once we intervene in such argument, this become very difficult to handle it. And sometimes it happens that argument comes to us that we just trap into this argument and lose our temperament. So that's the one reason I usually stay away from such incident. Another thing I would like to say that we should all avoid doing argument.

Band 6-7

Recently I heard an argument between my neighbors. One of the neighbors had a problem because he leaves around 8 a.m. in the morning and his car couldn't get out because there was another two-wheeler blocking the gate. So neighbor one went to neighbor two and started yelling and cussing to remove his two-wheeler. Even though the arrangement were already made specific by the land owner, it seems a lot more resolvable. They could have easily understood each other and not yell and cuss in the morning. However, the land owner resolved it by making sure that the two-wheeler is parked at the back of the parking and the car is parked at the front. They basically exchange the space of parking so it will be more convenient for both of them and everyone around the neighborhood. I do think in case of an argument one shouldn't disturb the neighborhood's peace especially in the morning. Half of the arguments are easily solvable. Rather than going up front and blaming somebody should be discussed in a more adult manner.

Band 6-7

An argument which I overheard recently was in my own workplace, where a senior teacher, also my colleague, got involved with a very nasty and gruesome argument with the management of the Nivedita Institute of Nursing Sciences. So basically the argument was about the wrong things that they had been doing to the senior teacher. According to the senior teacher, the management was not listening. Moreover, the management had...

Band 6-7

An argument I overheard was between a local boy and one uncle. This happened a couple of days ago. This incident was related to this local boy creating a big issue with this local uncle. So I saw them both riding two different vehicles, a two wheeler, where the uncle was going very normally, peacefully in one side and then the local boy is going on his way very rashly. He was riding very rashly and he himself hit the uncle's bike and immediately stopped his bike and the uncle's bike and got down so harshly, yelled at uncle, snatched uncle's key and started shouting at him, scolding at him, without even respecting the uncle's age and without even thinking about what he did was wrong and it was his mistake and it was his fault, nothing. He was just behaving so rudely that everybody noticed but since he was a local boy, nobody could speak against him and this issue was tried to be resolved by so many other members who were watching the fight which happened. It was not exactly a fight but it was his fault. Everybody was trying to convince him, he wasn't listening to anyone, he was shouting at everyone. There was a policeman nearby, so some other public called the policeman and the policeman helped them calm down and then the local boy is not ready to listen to the policeman as well. Then the policeman softly convinced him and took them both to the hospital.
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