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Describe an impressive talk/conversation you had that you remember well: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who you talked to
  • When and where you had the talk
  • What you talked about
  • And explain why it was impressive
Show all 78 answers

Cue 1:Who you talked to

  • Introduce the person you had the conversation with, mentioning their relationship to you.
  • Share a brief background about them to give context to the conversation.

Example

I had an impressive conversation with my uncle, who is a successful entrepreneur. He has been running his own business for over a decade and has a wealth of experience in the industry.

Cue 2:When and where you had the talk

  • Describe the time and place of the conversation to set the scene.
  • Mention any relevant details about the environment that made the conversation special.

Example

This talk took place last summer during a family gathering at my grandparents' house. The atmosphere was relaxed, with everyone enjoying good food and laughter, which made it the perfect setting for a meaningful discussion.

Cue 3:What you talked about

  • Outline the main topics discussed during the conversation.
  • Highlight any specific stories or advice shared that stood out to you.

Example

We talked about the challenges of starting a business and the importance of resilience. He shared a personal story about a time he faced failure but learned valuable lessons that ultimately led to his success.

Cue 4:And explain why it was impressive

  • Reflect on what made the conversation impactful for you personally.
  • Discuss how it influenced your thoughts or actions moving forward.

Example

This conversation was impressive because it opened my eyes to the realities of entrepreneurship. His passion and determination inspired me to consider my own career path more seriously, and I left feeling motivated to pursue my dreams.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, that conversation with my uncle was not just a casual chat; it was a pivotal moment that encouraged me to think differently about my future. I realized the value of learning from others' experiences and how impactful a single conversation can be in shaping our aspirations.

    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 Detail

    Providing vague answers without specific details can make your response less engaging and memorable. It may fail to demonstrate your language proficiency and storytelling ability.

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    Tip

    Include specific details about the person you talked to, the setting, and the topics discussed to create a vivid picture for the examiner.

    2: Ignoring the Impressive Aspect

    Failing to explain why the conversation was impressive can leave your answer incomplete. It’s essential to highlight the significance of the talk to showcase your reflective thinking.

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    Tip

    Clearly articulate what made the conversation impactful for you, whether it was the insights gained or the emotional connection established.

    Poor Structure

    A disorganized response can confuse the listener and detract from the overall quality of your answer. It’s important to present your ideas in a logical sequence.

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    Tip

    Follow the cue prompts in order: introduce the person, describe the setting, discuss the conversation, and conclude with its significance to ensure clarity.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    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

    location icon

    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

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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

    This was a conversation that I had with my uncle. We had visited a resort as a family where we wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. What I loved about this conversation was how easily it flowed. Not many conversations have a certain flow to it, have the beginning and the end properly defined. But this conversation had it. I personally really enjoy talking about abstract stuff, abstract things that would include a lot of philosophy, the meaning of life, and where exactly are we going, what is this rat race we are in, things like that. So what I got out of this conversation, because my uncle is obviously older than me and he has better experience in this game called life, I could learn a lot from him, starting with how he learned to trust people, how he began inculcating certain values in him that was not taught to him, that was not drilled into him, but something that he had taken along the way. So me as a wide-eyed young adult was personally impressed by this conversation. It left me enlightened in certain things and left me questioning certain parts of life, which I think is a fitting end.

    Band 6-7

    I have a really memorable conversation that I still have fresh in my memory was my first internship with Rajasthan Royals team in 2019. We were at a after work party and I had this talk with my head of operations at the time called Kirk who was from West Indies and he was a really warm guy and really experienced guy who I really wanted to learn from so I was asking him questions about his experience in this field and the work he has been doing and it was a really eye opening experience for me because we talked about everything from our childhood to how his college experience was how he got into this sports field and how he worked with all the different people in the world and all the different leagues in the world. So he really tried to give me all his experience from all the different kind of work. He really tried to teach me about how to be good at teamwork and how to help everyone as much as they can and ask questions anytime you can and learn try to be open minded with every experience and learn as much as you can on the job and try to keep improving every single day and try to learn something new.

    Band 6-7

    So I don't know if this counts as an impressive conversation, I have not experienced as many as I would like to have, but I have been living with my mother for quite some time, actually my whole life if I must add. I think my mom plays a very important role in how I have grown up to become. I think staying with your mother just improves your soft spoken qualities and other emotional side of the personality. Whenever I am confused my mother just guides me or calms me down and sort of just helps me to remain on track to calm down my emotions and she just guides me on how to understand the situation whether I am feeling confused or I am sad. I think looking up to my mother I understand how, I understand that she has been doing what, she has been doing the task of taking care of her family for more than half of her life if I am correct. So I think having an impressive talk with my mother, like even recently I was confused whether I am doing the right thing of planning to study abroad. So she would just calm me down, help me understand my situation and tell me just it's okay if you don't feel right, what you are doing right now is correct or not and I think she just adds some clarity to me, to my thinking, so yeah.

    Band 6-7

    I am a third year BBA planning and advertising student and because I am a marketing student I had a marketing class and in the marketing class we were taught about the AIDA theory A-I-D-A AIDA theory and it was truly fun and inspiring on how AIDA theory could be applied to literally anything in my life not just that even if I think about the theory substantially it makes a vast impact and I believe that that theory should not just be for marketing classes but also should be popular among young people to learn and grow. I had this conversation in my class however I came back home and recalled about the same. I started writing it in my journal and when I did write it down I also remembered another aspect of the theory which is everything has to start somewhere and that is what this theory taught me

    Band 6-7

    Recently, I had a discussion with my sister regarding the current work-life balance as she is working in a reputed firm and at the same time she is also looking after her husband and in-laws. So, she was telling me about how it is perceived that women are supposed to handle everything but at the same time the men are only supposed to work and serve the family and they can totally sideline the household chores. Well, it was saddening for me to listen to this from my sister's perspective but that is the actual reality of today's society. People do not care much about how much a woman is willing to do for her family but all they care is the men of the family to be safe and sound so that they can get their share of a salary which they use for the household expenses. So, it wasn't like an impressive talk I would say but it was a very deep conversation and it actually threw light on many perspectives which I had briefly held about patriarchy and it helped me to see the world from a different lens and to actually get to know the reality of how women are seen in today's world despite of the women being so hardworking at her workplace.

    Band 6-7

    The impressive talk that I had in my whole life and will be cherishing it until my last breath was talking to my idol, the Indian team captain MS Dhoni. I was gaining some knowledge about him. On that day, I was very nervous. He made me calm and composed. He bought me some fruits to have and he trained me for more than two hours in M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. So the impressive talk, this was so impressive that I literally had goosebumps and started to cry after seeing him. He made me calm down and he gave me some fruits and his training jersey for me and he gave me autograph. This was so kind, allowed to show to some random fan like me. So that's the reason we call him the GOAT. He is the greatest of all time, even in kindness and calmness. This is one of the most cherishing moment of my life and he later gave me a selfie and a hug by telling, don't worry, you work hard and you will see the success. So these words are always with me and I will be cherishing it until my last breath and I thank my celebrity MS Dhoni for giving such an opportunity to speak to him and to take selfie, autograph and training kit, which he was using. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    An impressive talk or conversation that I had and I remember well is one that I recently had with a friend and a colleague. She is both to me. So we started out as colleagues but then over time we really developed our rapport and we became good friends. So she had recently gotten a job offer. She stays abroad. She is settled in Germany. So she had called me to say that she had accepted an offer in India and that was the context of our conversation. So we had it. It was a telephonic conversation and it lasted for around 10-15 minutes. It was a very short conversation but it left a lasting impact on me. So the conversation went as such. She who has been living in Germany for quite a few years has recently got a job in India and she is planning to move back to India. She also, just a few months back she also got married. So when I asked her what does her husband think about the plan, she said that he is very supportive. So coming from an Indian culture, I know coming across something like this is very rare where the husband is quite supportive of the wife's career decisions and career choices and this was really amazing to know that people with such mentality actually exist and it's a reality that we live in. Even her in-laws were really supportive.

    Band 6-7

    I had impressive talk with my mother last night. I had talked about my studies that I go to abroad for my higher studies and she said that she don't want me to go to the foreign for higher studies but I usually want to go abroad from the past 2-3 years. I told her about the abroad frequency that it may be good for all of us that I move abroad for my higher studies because it usually a good thing to think of because if I go to abroad I would say I will be like acknowledging many things about myself and about many things and explore new things in abroad. It is good for me and good for my parents too because I can totally register and totally registered there for many years if I want to because I want to go abroad for my higher studies like for education like practical nursing which is good for me and I also heard about that Canada gave many opportunities to the students who have medical background. I talked to my mother that it could be like a good decision for me and for all of us too for going abroad so this is the answer from my side.

    Band 6-7

    So, to start with, I must say that I am interested in poetry and my last impressive talk I had about poetry was with a Delhi professor, Delhi University professor who teaches poetry in his classes and he found it very difficult to connect with the students on the topic of poetry because nowadays literature has become more social justice oriented. So people don't find poetry intriguing in terms of how it can reveal the social factors and political realities of our time. For example, they prefer novels or films to talk about how, for example, Dalit representation is in India or, for example, how feminism can better our gender ratio in the country. So in that regard, he talked about how poetry has become almost irrelevant to include these points in a classroom situation. But I actually contradicted him and said that poetry can also become a very good window to discuss all these socio-political issues. For example, I said that how poetry can be read to understand the urban ideas of our society. For example, there are a lot of poetries which revolve around not only romanticizing the cities but also how people thought about belonging to a particular place. He was really intrigued by my opinion but he also said there is always a limit to which we can actually use poetry for such reasons in academia as well as in popular historical imaginings. So I think that was an impressive conversation that I had with him.

    Band 6-7

    So, recently my friend and I visited a cafe where we were sitting and sipping our cold brews and having a quiet time to ourselves, exchanging gossips and what not. While we were talking about a major topic about our state's current political state, we felt that the current generation or mostly referred to as Generation Z have been much more reliable and much more statistical when it comes to Millennials and Gen X. So, when we started talking about how their political views and perspectives change to a Millennial or a Gen X, we as Gen Z feel that our thinking is much more reliable, statistic and much more broader in the sense of viewing a person's presence, opinions and emotions to the current state that they are living. For example, we were talking about a particular person who is planning to stand for the upcoming elections and we felt that the particular person is not fit to promote himself as an elective member in the parliament such as a chief minister since he has no prior experience in being an elected member of the parliament nor has any political exposure. So, we felt that we as Generation Z who are the upcoming future of the current state or nation or the world in fact, we believe that the nation wants and would thrive better when it comes to a person who is much more knowledgeable, intellect and who feels that the current generation could bring a bigger difference.
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