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Describe an experience you had as a member of a team: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What it was?
  • Who were the members of the team?
  • Who were the members of the team?
  • Explain how you felt.
Show all 81 answers

Cue 1:What it was?

  • Begin by clearly stating the team activity you were involved in, such as a project, sports event, or community service.
  • Provide some context about the purpose of the team and what you aimed to achieve together.

Example

I participated in a community service project where our team aimed to clean up a local park. This initiative was organized by my college to promote environmental awareness and community involvement.

Cue 2:Who were the members of the team?

  • Introduce the team members, mentioning their roles and how you knew them, whether they were classmates, friends, or colleagues.
  • Highlight any unique skills or contributions that each member brought to the team.

Example

The team consisted of five members, including my close friends from college and a couple of seniors. My friend Aditi was great at organizing events, while Rohan had experience in community service, which helped us plan effectively.

Cue 3:What did you do together?

  • Describe the specific tasks you worked on as a team and how you collaborated to achieve your goals.
  • Mention any challenges you faced and how you overcame them together.

Example

We divided the tasks among ourselves; some of us collected litter while others set up awareness banners. Initially, we struggled with coordination, but after a quick discussion, we established a clear plan that made our efforts more efficient.

Cue 4:Explain how you felt.

  • Share your emotions during the experience, focusing on feelings of teamwork, accomplishment, or any challenges faced.
  • Reflect on what you learned from this experience and how it impacted you personally.

Example

I felt a strong sense of camaraderie and fulfillment as we worked together. Seeing the park transform made me proud, and I learned the importance of teamwork and community spirit. It was rewarding to know that our efforts made a difference.

Conclusion

    Example

    Overall, this experience taught me valuable lessons about collaboration and the impact of collective efforts. It reinforced my belief in the power of teamwork and motivated me to engage more in community activities.

    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: Lack of Specific Details

    Avoid vague descriptions of the experience. Specific details help the examiner understand your role and contributions within the team, making your answer more engaging.

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    Tip

    Include specific examples of tasks you performed and how they contributed to the team's success.

    2: Ignoring Team Dynamics

    Neglecting to mention the roles of other team members can make your response seem incomplete. It's important to acknowledge how teamwork functions.

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    Tip

    Briefly describe each member's role and how they interacted with you to achieve the team's goals.

    Overlooking Personal Feelings

    Failing to express your feelings about the experience can make your answer less relatable. Personal emotions add depth to your story.

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    Tip

    Share your feelings during the experience, such as excitement or challenges, to connect with the examiner on a personal level.

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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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    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 7

    When I was studying in my college, I had a great experience in the project team. The project team is about the final year project, so it was a memorable moment for me. Also, I experienced different kinds of things in my life. Actually, the team comprises of four members. The name of the members is Sibi, Hari, Manoj Babu and myself. We four were doing a project under the guidance of a faculty. His name is Ilay Raja. He is a professor of geotechnical engineering. I felt very proud because this team's performance was very high compared to other teams in my college. Also, we were co-coordinated in every work and were kinder to each other. Also, the way we treated each other was very good. We did the project heartfully. As a result, the project outcome became very significant. It was a great moment for me to be a part of that team. It was a heartwarming moment for me.

    Band 7

    To begin with, I was working as a research assistant in Tata Cancer Hospital Center where I was a part of the minimal residual disease team. We had six members in our team and I was the second member who joined in the team. So after my manager, it was my responsibility to look after the responsibilities of the team. So when a new project came from Salamanca, Spain, our manager allocated the work amongst all the group members and had given me the opportunity to lead the whole team. We worked relentlessly all the time which we devoted in the office, but one of the members promptly resigned without any notice, therefore we got shorthanded and that is when we re-analyzed each of the members' skills and work hours as well and we redistributed the work. After that, we solved the project, but this was a lesson that problems would arise in a team, but a group work or rather a better team bonding would help us in reaching a solution for that. So yes, this is a good experience for me in terms of learning, but bad experience in terms of being a team member of me I had in my past working life.

    Band 7

    I was working as a team lead, I was a tester who was doing manual testing, with all the team members collaboration, we were delivering our deliverables on time. And we were delivering a minimum marketable product every 2 weeks. My team size was 6. All the team members were so hardworking and so skilled, they applied their knowledge on delivering the product which we have committed on time. Indeed, we have received appreciations from all the stakeholders. Business people have appreciated us, we were recognized in our organization. Then we have received gifts from the stakeholders as well as organization and our team was named as a team who delivers on time. These commitment and collaboration between our team members effectively helped us to get a name and fame in the organization. We were very happy as a team, we have a strong bonding, indeed we collaboratively have worked on multiple projects and we were able to complete all the milestones on time.

    Band 7

    The experience I had, one of the unforgettable experiences I had in my life was when I worked as a research assistant with Dr. J.J Vittal's team. The team members were Dr. T.V.C Devraj and Niu Cheng. So we were working on a difficult project which handles lots of technical difficulties. One of the troubles we have faced was the compounds we were handling or the products we were handling were air sensitive and light sensitive. So preparing such products away from light and heat or air was almost impossible. But we had designed a new technique in which we could do all the experiments under the air bag which takes lots of effort and patience. So we had to design this called glow bag under which we conduct all the experiments and we eventually succeeded in synthesizing one of the very rare products which was first to be reported in sulfur containing phthalate family of compounds. We were so excited and we shared the same team spirit among the group members. So eventually the result was published in one of the top journals and we were rewarded in such a way.

    Band 7

    Okay, so in our Sunday School class, we were divided into four groups during our vacation Bible school, which took place during our summer break. And I was the leader. So, as a team, we had to go through group challenges, do some activities. So, I had to lead the group, and the thing is, I am a natural leader, so yeah, I succeeded in mobilizing my group. We did some physical exercises, then we did some intellectual exercises. We were asked questions, asked to express our opinions, asked questions, which tested our memory, I suppose. And we did fairly well. I had another team member who was like my next in line. How should I put it? Okay, I was the leader, he was my assistant, and I also was able to delegate tasks to him, so that he could, you know, what do you call it? Supplement. He could supplement my leadership. And I think we did great. Our team came in second place. The only difference being two points away from the team who were placed in the first place, and that was because they had a head start. I did not know that we were supposed to, but then I was supposed to, you know, mobilize all team members, even if a team member was one second late, you were, like, points were being deducted, so I got on quick, and from then on, I was strict, but efficient.

    Band 7

    So, I was part of a team called Technocats Robotics for going to robotics competitions for international and international. It was an incredible experience which we spent over the first two years. I met some of the most talented and hard-working people in the world. It was really an abounding experience to participate in so many competitions with them and seeing their competitive side as well as their more vulnerable side of working so hard day in and day out and facing failures periodically as well as many many challenges. The members of the team were actually from different branches of my engineering college. Some were from electronics, some from computer science. Overall it was a really educating experience. I learnt a lot about different parts of being an engineer when it comes to having so many teammates from such different branches. Of course from mechanical people I learnt how actuators and influencers work while from the electrical department I gained experience about how electrical signals can make a difference in the functioning of a robot. In my area of expertise, programming, I applied so many of the concepts that I learnt theoretically. It was really a hands-on experience rather than the rote learning that is well-perpetuated in education nowadays.

    Band 7

    So, I am going to share my experience on a particular team member in my team. I am going to talk about Shakti Veil, who has been... ... When we started working in the same team, I got to share my knowledge as a tester... ...because of which I had a lot of insights into the product and a zoomed out view of the product. I could share my knowledge with him and he shared technical aspects about the working of the product... ...how to write clean code without any security issues and all that. So, we made a good team which helped boost our productivity by working together... ...and I am grateful to have had him in my team which helped me learn things I could never learn from the traditional learning methods... ...such as maybe googling or just reading books. He gave practical insights on how to develop and I gave him a practical hands-on experience on how to test effectively... ...how to write good automation tests that last. Overall, we made a very good team.

    Band 7

    First of all, thank you so much for the question. There was a memorable experience I had as a member of a team during an educational craft trip organized by my college. We were divided into small groups and each group had to explore a particular craft and culture of India. My team consisted of five classmates and one faculty member who guided us throughout the trip. We visited Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, which is known for its Tibetan culture and handicrafts. Our task was to interact with the local artisans, observe their work and prepare a small presentation about their craft. At first, it was a bit challenging because none of us had much knowledge about handicrafts. However, we divided the responsibilities. Some of us interviewed the artisans, others took notes and I was responsible for photography and organizing the information. What made the experience special was the way we supported each other. Whenever one person felt nervous talking to the locals, someone else stepped in to help. By the end of the trip, we had only gathered a lot of valuable information but also built a strong sense of teamwork. Personally, I felt very motivated and happy because I realized how much we can achieve when everyone contributes equally. It also improved my confidence in working with a group. Overall, it was a wonderful experience that taught me cooperation, communication and leadership skills. Thank you so much.

    Band 7

    In my first school, where I joined as a teacher, I was appointed as an in-charge of Yellow House. So, when I joined the group of my Yellow House students, I got to know that many of the students lack creativity, or I must say they didn't lack creativity, they were not having that much support or emotional cooperation by which they could enhance their skills. So, yes, with my students, I worked hard, I motivated them emotionally, physically, in every way, and finally the day came when we actually won. Yellow House was the winner of the house. So, in my first school when I

    Band 7

    Hi! Yes, I have been a part of a team for my dissertation recently. I had to leave initially because no one was taking any initiative. However, I urged them to take up tasks. We held a meeting and we discussed what tasks are lined up. And eventually, all of us got a hold of the tasks that we are supposed to do. We worked together and we divided the tasks such as data collection, literature reviewing, analysis amongst each other and eventually got a good result for our thesis which was titled Mental Health Challenges and Health Seeking Behavior Amongst Indian Male College Students, a Mixed Method Approach. Furthermore, I was also the secretary of the literature club and my organizing team was, my organizing team consisted of around 10 students and we organized many events together. One of our main events last year was a stand-up comedy competition called Punchline where we had 8 participants who were judged by a famous stand-up comedian and they performed for an audience of around 800 students and around 100 faculties. Apart from that, I have also been a student body head for my school days which also helped me improve my team management skills and analytical skills. So, yeah, being in a team has been very great.
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