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Describe an important thing you learned (not at school or college): IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When did you learn it?
  • How did you learn it?
  • Why did you think it was important to learn it?
  • How you felt when you learnt it?
Show all 91 answers

Cue 1:When did you learn it?

  • Mention a specific time frame when you learned this important thing, such as a few months ago or during a particular event.
  • Provide context about what was happening in your life at that time to make it more relatable.

Example

I learned this important lesson about financial management about six months ago when I started my first job. It was a significant transition for me as I was moving from being a student to a working professional.

Cue 2:How did you learn it?

  • Explain the method or source through which you learned this lesson, such as through a book, a workshop, or advice from someone.
  • Share any specific experiences or activities that helped you grasp this knowledge.

Example

I learned about financial management by attending a workshop organized by my company. The workshop was conducted by a financial expert who shared practical tips on budgeting and saving.

Cue 3:Why did you think it was important to learn it?

  • Discuss the reasons that made this lesson significant for you, such as future goals or personal circumstances.
  • Connect the importance of this lesson to your life or career aspirations.

Example

I thought it was crucial to learn about financial management because I wanted to ensure that I could save for my future and manage my expenses wisely. As I was starting my career, I realized that understanding finances would help me achieve my long-term goals.

Cue 4:How you felt when you learnt it?

  • Describe your emotions when you grasped this lesson, whether it was excitement, relief, or empowerment.
  • Reflect on how this knowledge has impacted your confidence or mindset.

Example

When I learned about financial management, I felt empowered and relieved. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because I now had the tools to take control of my finances, which made me feel more confident about my future.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, learning about financial management was a pivotal moment in my life. It not only equipped me with essential skills but also changed my perspective on money and savings, setting a solid foundation for my future.

    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 Responses

    Avoid giving vague or general answers. Specific details make your response more engaging and memorable. Candidates often lose points for not elaborating on their experiences.

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    Tip

    Use specific examples and details to illustrate your learning experience. Mention exact moments or feelings to make your answer more vivid.

    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Not addressing all the cues can lead to an incomplete answer. Candidates may miss important aspects of their learning experience, which can affect their score.

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    Tip

    Make sure to answer all the cues provided. Structure your response to cover when, how, why, and how you felt about your learning.

    Overly Complex Language

    Using overly complex vocabulary or grammar can confuse the listener. It's important to communicate clearly and effectively, especially in a speaking test.

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    Tip

    Use simple and clear language. Focus on expressing your ideas clearly rather than trying to impress with difficult words.

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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 7

    I wish to speak about something that I learnt just immediately after my college days. In fact, during school days, my second language was Tamil, after which it was changed to Hindi. The moment I finished college, I was travelling long distance to go for a job, during which time I found that the understanding and communicating in Hindi was very important. As I reached my destination, I found that the absence of this language was a hurdle for me. So I kept practicing by reading newspapers and talking to people in this particular language, and finally I found that I was able to manage this. So this is something that I learnt after school and college, and that has helped me to be able to work in different parts of North India, and also it helped me abundantly when I went to a foreign country and I was amidst a lot of Hindi-speaking people. So the knowledge of this language is something that I pride myself in, and right now I am happy that I learnt it during my holiday period immediately after college.

    Band 7

    One important thing I learned outside of school is time management. I picked up this skill during the pandemic, when all my classes and daily routines were disrupted. Suddenly, I had a lot of free time, but I wasn't using it effectively. I realized I needed to manage my time better, especially to balance my studies, hobbies, and personal responsibilities. I learned this mostly through trial and error. I started using a simple to-do list each day and later switched to a planner app on my phone. I also watched some videos and read a few blogs about productivity. One tip that really helped me was the Pomodoro Technique, means working for 25 minutes and then taking a short break. It made a big difference in my focus. This skill became very important to me because it helped me reduce stress, gave me a sense of control over my life. Earlier, I used to feel overwhelmed with tasks and often procrastinated, but after learning how to organize my day, I became more productive and even had more free time to relax or pursue hobbies like reading or drawing. Overall, learning time management was a turning point for me. It's not something I was ever formally taught in school, but it's a life skill that I believe everyone should develop. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    The important thing I have learned in my life is traveling. When I was a child, I didn't get much to travel around the world. So in my childhood, I had very little time or little chances to visit the places. So when I was around 18, I started to travel or go to the places I like independently. Because when we go to the other places, it will make us more strong. Like going on an independent trip, it will make us more independent or have more memories in our life. Moreover, it was like a dream come true moment for me because I am an introvert person. So I am very low at communicating with people. And it is very difficult to approach to other person when I want anything. So it was a very learning moment for me also. And very memorable incidents have come in my life also due to traveling.

    Band 6-7

    I learned and improved my communication skills when I was in my first year and how I improved it so basically at my home I practiced a lot I revised the formulae of all tenses and revised it again and now I am confident about it for example in 2025 I am in the third year and I am able to communicate with others and also my confidence level boost up since 2022

    Band 6-7

    One most important thing I learnt not at college or school is knowing about my culture. I have learnt it from my grandmother who used to tell them in a sort of stories and made it very interesting to listen. I think it is very important to know our culture and heritage because they are our roots. We have to get to know more about our roots so that we can pass it down to our future. I really enjoyed listening to those stories because my grandmother used to tell them in a way that I wouldn't even blink my eye and I really enjoyed listening to them. I have even learnt a lot more interesting aspects and interesting things about my culture and heritage. No one should forget their culture and heritage wherever we are, wherever we go. We should always remember our culture and heritage. My grandmother is the best person to get to know more about our culture and heritage. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    I experienced this while I was working in an IT firm, so personal development is a crucial part in every stage of a person's life, be it school, college or working. So it creates a personality that gives you the confidence to do anything. So it is very crucial that you keep on developing yourself and keep learning new things, keep your extracurricular activities in your life so that you have academic and your personal life separated. I believe that it's a very crucial part and it's very important to have both of these in your life so that you have a superior personality growth. Even I believe that having extracurricular activities gives you an upper hand in a lot of things. It helps you concentrate more on work, it gives you a break from your monotonous life which helps you further boosting your abilities in different aspects of your life. So while I was working, I have been practicing extracurricular activities a lot which has kept me sane in the work pressure environment that I face in my company. So yeah.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to talk about a spot called Taekwondo. It is a physical sport. I learned it when I was around the age of 8 or 9. I used to go with my sister to a nearby Red Cross Society. It was actually around 3 to 4 kilometers away from our home. So, me and my sister used to go there by bicycles. I think it is a very important skill nowadays because it teaches you self-defense along with other things like focusing and aiming and being responsive to a particular situation. Our coach there was Mr. Ramesh Masta. He always encouraged us to be very focused and he encouraged us to learn more about the art. We also used to go to different locations for fight and we really enjoyed playing the game. Also, furthermore, I would like to say that nowadays, not just girls, even boys are very prone to get something bad can happen to anybody. I think self-defense is a thing that can save you from any hazard. So, I would suggest everybody to learn a basic self-defense technique be it Taekwondo, be it Karate or be it any other sport like boxing which gives you physical strength to protect yourself from any difficult situation. Thank you so much for your time.

    Band 6-7

    One of the most important aspect which a human must possess is the ability to be disciplined and punctual. Initially I was a person like who is not even having a bit of it concerns. And I never used to be disciplined and I never was on time to anything. So it made me feel realize that I always lay back and fall behind in every aspect and every activities. And it was at a particular moment it made me feel like okay how to work on this, how to enhance your skills and personality so that you can be a productive person. And a situation which helped me to realize this thing was when I was in a situation to donate blood actually. And I got a half an hour delayed. I was caught in between the traffic which I could have avoided actually. But the situation made me to be there and unfortunately the person was anemic and didn't have enough of blood. It was a shocking and an awful experience for me as the person died and the whole burden fall on my shoulders. It was that moment I felt that I should be more responsible and punctual all the things.

    Band 6-7

    In college I learn about different kinds of things. One of the most important thing that I learned in my college life was time management and money management. Before that I was so confused about how to utilize my time. I just wandered around here and there just wasting my time. And also the money I don't even know how to spend an effective amount of money and I should save for the future. Whenever I get money I just spend it on different kinds of things that are not that much important to me. So in college when I left my home for the first time and I have to live by myself without the help of my parents. So I have to take care of my studies as well as my food. They pay me every month like pocket money. But at that time first three months it was really hard for me to manage the money. Whenever they send me the money in first week I spend it all on different kinds of things. And after three months I sharply remember that I buy a lot of things that are not important to me. Like I buy four pairs of shoes and in my college we have to wear uniforms. So I don't find it very pleasant to buy four different kinds of shoes and at that time I think that was just waste of money. So after that I try to understand the importance of money and how to spend it and I start saving for the future as well. And after learning that I feel very proud of myself like I learn a very useful thing in my life that I gonna use in my future. It helps me a lot like time management and money management is the essential thing for a person.

    Band 6-7

    An important thing that I learnt is emotions, emotions are very quite sensitive, I learnt this at home while playing with my sister, my sister is quite emotional and also she is kind of sensitive to other people thinking, when we tell her that we like her, she feels very happy and also if someone scolds her, she goes into type of depression and that is why I think we should encourage more of that. Also some other things that I learnt which are important are teamwork, this I learnt while playing cricket with my friends, while playing cricket we think that we are just playing but later we come to know that we learn how to operate as a team and also we get to know how other people think and such things which are later useful in our life.
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