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Describe an important decision made with the help of other people: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What the decision was
  • Who helped you / how they helped
  • Why you needed help
  • And explain the result of the decision
Show all 55 answers

Cue 1:What the decision was

  • Clearly state the important decision you made, ensuring it is specific and relevant.
  • Provide context about why this decision was significant to you.

Example

The important decision I made was to pursue a master's degree in business administration. This was a significant step for me as I wanted to enhance my career prospects and gain deeper knowledge in my field.

Cue 2:Who helped you / how they helped

  • Mention the people who assisted you in making this decision, such as family, friends, or mentors.
  • Explain the specific ways they contributed, whether through advice, encouragement, or sharing their experiences.

Example

My parents played a crucial role in this decision. They encouraged me to pursue higher education and shared their own experiences of how it helped them in their careers. Additionally, my friend, who had already completed his MBA, provided insights into the program and its benefits.

Cue 3:Why you needed help

  • Discuss the reasons you felt you needed assistance in making this decision.
  • Highlight any uncertainties or challenges you faced that prompted you to seek guidance.

Example

I needed help because I was unsure about the right course and institution to choose. With so many options available, I felt overwhelmed and wanted to ensure that I made the best choice for my future.

Cue 4:And explain the result of the decision

  • Describe the outcome of your decision and how it impacted your life.
  • Reflect on any lessons learned or changes that occurred as a result.

Example

As a result of this decision, I successfully enrolled in a reputable MBA program. It has opened up numerous opportunities for me, including internships and job offers. I learned the importance of seeking advice and support from others when making significant life choices.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, making the decision to pursue my MBA with the help of my family and friends was a transformative experience. It taught me the value of collaboration and the importance of seeking guidance when faced with important choices.

    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 too general when describing the decision. Vague answers can make it hard for the examiner to understand the significance of the decision and the role of others.

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    Tip

    Provide specific details about the decision, including what it was and the exact contributions of those who helped you.

    2: Neglecting Personal Impact

    Don't forget to explain how the decision affected you personally. Failing to do so can make your response less engaging and meaningful.

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    Tip

    Include your feelings and thoughts about the decision and how it changed your perspective or situation.

    Ignoring the Result

    Avoid omitting the outcome of the decision. Not discussing the result can leave your answer incomplete and less impactful.

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    Tip

    Clearly explain the result of the decision and how it influenced your life or the lives of others involved.

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    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

    The important decision that I made in my life was regarding the bachelors subject or specialization that I was supposed to do. I had a little bit of confusion regarding the course that I must be choosing. By that time, mechanical engineering as well as computer science was the top subjects. There was a wide, widespread belief that the next few years would be dominated by the computer science and related fields. However, I used to love machines and how they used to function. I was more addicted to the physical and mechanical part of every machinery. So my parents and my friends helped me in deciding what course I must choose. They asked me to find what I would like to be in my entire life rather than copying or following someone who might be successful in their own fields. The support they gave me really helped me to choose mechanical engineering. As of now, I'm a current mechanical engineer.

    Band 6-7

    There is a very important decision of choosing your career. While choosing your career, it's not just about your likings but you have to check the feasibility of what you will be doing in the nearby future. For this important decision, you need to make the help of other people who are expertise in this field. There are many consultants and other experts who focus on the career advancement opportunity for the student. They listen to the students and check out what the student can actually do in their real life because career is a very crucial element of anyone's life. Choosing a career by all the feasibility study can help you to achieve better results. When you take this decision with the help of expert or a consultant, you find out what is best for yourself. This decision will surely make you happy in the future.

    Band 6-7

    Well, one of the important decisions that I took in my life is to go abroad for my studies. So, I have always planned and always wanted to go out for my masters. But because of the financial condition at home, waiting my brother was already outside studying, I was not able to do it. So, but this time I had made a decision that I have to go out. So, my sister-in-law as well as my brother helped me a lot in writing the SOPs and figuring out which particular countries makes more sense for me to go. So, at the time when we decided that I should really step out of India now and it's been quite a long time, we started understanding which particular countries are more visa friendly, which particular countries are better in terms of long term settlement. So, my sister-in-law actually listed down all the good colleges in Europe and then I started the preparation for my GMAT as well as for my SOPs. So, not only my brother and my sister-in-law helped me out, but my professors were very, very supportive. My professors from NMIMS Mumbai. So, they helped me and gave me a very good letter of recommendations to be added over there to the university portal.

    Band 6-7

    Well, I would say the decision was made by me with the help of my brother in the year 2017, because in that year I had to select my degree course or I was stuck in. Well, I would say the decision was made by me with the help of my brother in the year 2017, Well, I remember in the last year, I want to select a course for my UG program and actually I was stuck with my Chartered Accountant course in Trishul. I was regularly going for entrance exam classes there, but I couldn't achieve the good scores to pass this examination. After that, I was really stuck with the options CA and CMA and my decision was to go ahead with CA, but my brother suggested me to opt for UG program, undergraduate program. He suggested like, if you can complete the UG program, you can certainly get a degree. Your highest qualification will be a degree, a three-year degree. So, it is better than not having a better qualification. So, he also suggested me that when I go with Chartered Accountant courses, it's not a great thing that you can get within this year, within this much time. So, there is no time limit for the course because the course is really tough and tiring also. So, we cannot predict the actual completion time of the course. So, that was the reason and my brother suggested me and I completed my UG program. It was a big success. I could score 88%

    Band 6-7

    An important decision made by the help of other people was changing schools. I wanted to change schools because I didn't like the way the students and the teachers treated me specifically. And what held me back was the infrastructure which I was in love with and the academic style and also other curricular activities compared to other schools. It was really good. And I felt that I would regret if I were to change schools especially since it was during grade 11. So I would miss out on two years. And I really needed some help. So the people that I reached out to was my parents, my siblings, my friends, and one of my cousins. So each of them gave their own reply but ultimately they told me that if you think it's going to help you take better care of yourself and release your mental difficulty then it would be great for you to go through with this decision. The biggest help was from my best friend because he always motivated me to do something even though if I were to be clueless about something or hesitant to proceed with that thing but she would always guide me and help me. So I was very thankful for that. And the reason why I needed help was because the answer might seem obvious now but two years ago the answer was not obvious which is why I needed opinions of others. And yeah, at the end I decided to change schools and it was a wonderful decision because I was able to meet new people where they approached me and encouraged me unlike the hard times.

    Band 6-7

    Well, the decision I would like to talk about is my going abroad for my student education. I was there for my student exchange in Germany. It was a very difficult situation and the real people... We also discussed the disadvantages and advantages of going out and learning about the new culture, meeting new people. It was a wonderful experience and I am glad that I took the decision to go abroad for six months. I talked with so many people and it was just a wonderful six months. Ritesh also helped me with a few of his friends who are staying in Germany. I contacted with them and I spoke about how their life had been travelling across the seas in a different nation and it did help me to think that this would be an honest and wise decision to move abroad and learn about new things.

    Band 6-7

    so the important decision which I made with the help of other people is my 12th standard the decision which I made in my 12th standard was my life-changing decision and I took the decision with the help of my mother's friend so she only persuaded me to pursue biomedical engineering instead of falling into the trap of MBBS or doctor so I was sincerely studying for NEET and I was having a high level of stress due to which I was not able to perform good in my 11th standard of my academics and during my 12th standard also I faced several difficulties so she had helped me to cover my physics syllabus so generally while covering my physics syllabus she told that I have particular interest in physics domain apart from the major biology domain of the NEET syllabus and I had a clear overview of the physics subject and I had an interest to link physics as well as biology so I persuaded my biomedical engineering through her guidance and it was one of my most important decision of my life it is because if I had persuaded MBBS it would have costed me like a huge amount and it would have also costed me a vast amount of time from my life approximately like 5 to 10 years to complete my MBBS along with my master's and PhD and it would also still be difficult to open a clinic with the competition around India so yeah this is the very very most important decision and I completely feel happy for taking this decision of pursuing biomedical engineering over MBBS yes thank you

    Band 6-7

    the important decision that I've been made on my life with the help of other people was to choose a mpz stream after my 10th standard like mpz is the stream which we use and which we opt for in the intermediate like that is 11th or 12th my parents and my relatives helped me choose that and they made the decision for me I couldn't make a decision because I think I was just a kid back then and I wasn't matured enough to know what's right or wrong the decision was taken as only if I choose the mpz stream in intermediate then I could get into engineering so as to complete the computer science and that's the reason behind getting into the mpz and that stuff I think I'm pretty happy with the results I'm getting now as I'm about to complete my bachelor's degree right now and may also pursue master's if I get into the ESA or something actually I was not happy with the decision with what my parents did like getting into the mpz I always wanted to become a lawyer by opting for the CEC or the stream which was related to becoming a lawyer but I couldn't make it I'm happy right now that's all that matters

    Band 6-7

    An important decision which made a huge impact in my life and I took help of other people is when I had to choose between my subjects after 10th grade. It was between science, commerce and arts. I always wanted to become a doctor and I found science very fascinating. But on the other hand, I actually thought that maybe science would be really hard on me because I didn't much like physics and when I have to prepare for an exam called NEET to become a doctor, physics is one of the most important subjects and I was lacking interest in that, but I discussed about this with a lot of my relatives and my parents and my friends. So most of my friends chose commerce because it's an easier subject compared to science and there are a lot of professionals regarding with commerce, but my parents told me to choose science because it has a lot of opportunities and once I do science, I can do anything like I can become a lawyer, I can go to something with the commerce background, I can also pursue something with the science field. So I thought over about it and I came to a realization that if I chose science, it would be better for me and since I've always wanted to pursue medicine in my life, I would get the motivation and it made a huge impact in me and I'm preparing for NEET right now.

    Band 6-7

    So, I used to be an extrovert kind of a person and I had a very big friend circle. We used to hang out almost everyday and I felt good when I was hanging out with them although I was struggling with the ability to be more productive towards my life because I was giving my time towards them only. I was spending my time, my money and my energy towards their happiness and it hindered my success by a lot. So one day, my parents consulted me saying that I need to focus on myself from now on because my grades were declining so much that it will lead to me to not get desired stream which I wanted to take at that time. So I did consider their advice and I started to cut myself off from that friend group and started to work upon myself for my personal development although it took me around 2-3 weeks to completely give myself time because I was going out with them still at that time. Moreover, I conquered myself and it felt nice because I started building more productive habits. I started to read blogs and doing physical exercises to keep myself fit. Additionally, my friends were not too happy about this decision but they got to know a few times that this decision was meant to be taken and it was good for both of us. So now, they are happy and I am happy as well.
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