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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 69 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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    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 6-7

    During these summers, there was one conference which held at my college. The conference was named as ICEE conference on antenna and wireless communication. It was one of the prestigious conference that happens in India. There were a number of scientists, professors all around the world who all gathered. Now there was a discussion about the gap between the academics and the industry. Now all the professors from India had an argument that there is a lot of gap that exists between the academic and the industry which needs to be eradicated and bridged. Even the industrialists who were working in the industry from our country, from India, they said that some measures need to be taken to bridge this gap so that students are well able to adjust to the industry when they come after graduation and when they come after completing their studies. In contrast, there was one scientist from NASA. He suggested that there is supposed to be a gap between academia and industry. This is the way how a person grows, how a person learns. It's not that if there is a gap, people are not learning. People are learning along the progress, they are learning along the course, along their life and they are improving. I got goosebumps receiving, attending that discussion.

    Band 6-7

    An impressive talk or conversation that I remember well is that I think it was with my friend Trisha regarding our life challenges, how life can be so certain and how we should always be positive about everything. We should always keep a positive attitude, a positive mindset even if we are surrounded by hundreds of negative thoughts. We should never give up and we should always try to focus on how to improve ourselves, on how to better ourselves so that we can move forward in a way without looking back because looking back will always give you a negative impact of yourself and will never be able to move forward. In order to move forward, you have to let go of things. Without letting go, you can't go where you want to go or reach where you want to reach. So even if you want to be successful, just have patience and everything will fall under the roof in the right time. So just wait and have patience, work on your goals, better yourself, work on yourself and don't think about the results ever. If you think about the results then it won't work, just work on yourself and how to get past this thing.

    Band 6-7

    An impressive conversation I had frequently, recently was with my mother. I was having a very bad phase in my life where I felt very low and I was so distracted with all the things going, especially in my career-wise. I was distant from my family during that phase where I used to spend very little time with my parents. So the reflection was easily visible from my behavior. My mother noted this and she came to me and talked to me about the situation. She understood that I am not doing well. She added that it is just a phase in my life and with my strong independent character I can easily go through this and it is never going to last forever. So just take this as your growing phase. From this talk, I understood the true meaning of a conversation. I thought my mother is never going to understand what I was going through, but with my slight behavior change, she was able to understand that and talk with me. This changed the whole perspective of my thinking. The conversation made me realize how important it is to have conversations with the people we love. Her advice actually, her advice made me more uh stronger and uh I understood it is just going to get

    Band 6-7

    One of the impressive conversation that me and my college friend had was regarding the existence of God. The conversation was so intense that I had taken the side of an atheist and my friend stood firmly saying that God exists. And one of the reason why which I can recall the very day crystal clear is because as an atheist I know many things that is happening in the world is scientifically backed but whereas the belief in God that he is explaining cannot be scientifically proven. Let's say or let's take for instance if representative of three different religions comes and say the God can flip a coin and if you have to display this in front of a wider audience I am 100% sure that this won't be capable by the leaders or the representatives of any religion. Whereas if a scientist comes to a podium and says he can flip a coin and this is humans action interacting with real life and this can happen. So the basic understanding that I have is like if the desires or the wish or the vision of the man can be put into action then that itself is the work of God and there isn't any God other than human itself.

    Band 6-7

    Well, that is a nice question. I would like to talk about an interesting topic that I already discussed with my friends. That was happened when I was in college. One day, one of my friend, his name was Arjun. He started to talk some curious topics like the universe and the planets, like all of these things. Because she had been studying astronomy four years ago. Then he talked some interesting topics. After that, he discussed some ideas to me. I was also curious about what he talked. After that, we reached some critical discussion about the mid part of the conversation. She told me that the Mars does not occupy water content. But I denied that. I argued with him because I already know our future planet is a moon.

    Band 6-7

    An instance of an impressive conversation that I had was with my manager. This was back in 2024 August. During the conversation we discussed about my development as a professional. In this conversation he talked about how much I have improved as a professional by being more proactive and being more experienced with the tasks that I usually perform. However, he also mentioned about various constructive elements. An instance of an impressive conversation that I had was with my manager. We had this conversation in the office. During this session he told me about how I have progressed as a tax professional. He pointed out my developmental areas along with the problems that I have overcome and the technical errors that I have resolved over this course of time as a tax professional. While the conversation only lasted for a period of 10 minutes, it was indeed quite memorable because it was at that point of time when I understood how much I have come. A very memorable conversation that I had in the recent times was with my manager. I had a one-on-one session with my manager on the 28th of August 2025 in the office. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. He pointed out not just my flaws but he also pointed out my shortcomings. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I had a one-on-one session with him back on the 25th of August 2025 and we had it in a meeting. During the session he told me about how much I have developed as a professional and how much I have overcome my faults During the session he told me about how much I have developed as a professional and how much I have overcome my faults I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. I remember it very fondly because it gave me an insight of how much I have grown as a tax professional. A very memorable conversation that I had in the recent times was with my manager. I had a one-on-one session with him back on the 25th of August 2025 in a meeting room at the office premises. During this conversation we discussed about how much I have progressed as a professional and the key developmental areas that I should focus on in order to move on to the next level. I felt the conversation to be quite impressive and quite rewarding because not only did he provide feedback that helped me to develop as a professional but he also pointed out on my strengths which I can better utilize to become a more valuable resource to the company.

    Band 6-7

    So speaking of impressive conversation I can remember a conversation I had with my father. It was in 2023 I completed my 12th exam and I had to choose my career. I was really confused. I was a student of science so I could choose to be a doctor, to be an engineer or to study very general subjects like physics or mathematics or chemistry and there were lots of opinions I was having at that time. I was really confused and no one could give me a great answer or show me a path that I could follow. So I remember one morning I sat with my father. He explained me how he chose his career over the time. He explained that he wanted to be a chemist. He was very fascinated by the subject chemistry. So after the 12th exam, although he was a great student, he did not care to be a doctor or engineer. He just followed the passion and although he was not very happy, not very wealthy or successful at the end of the day he was very happy and that is most important in our life. So from that conversation I started reading physics. I did my graduation. I graduated last year and I could say that it might happen that I will not be very wealthy over the time but reading physics will keep me happy for sure. So this conversation was actually life changing for me. I was very sure after that that what is the purpose of my life or what could make me, what could make my life very peaceful.

    Band 6-7

    One of the impressive conversation which I had is with my friend. He is a friend of me when I was 10 years old, that means in 3rd or 4th class I guess. After that we don't have any connection because at that moment we don't have technology like these phones, smartphones, Instagrams, Facebooks. So we lost connection over there. After that we didn't meet at any moment and when I was 18, I joined my undergraduate college for engineering. There in auditorium I have seen this person and in my mind I didn't remember him but I had thought that I had seen him somewhere. Then I went to him and talked about it. Then we remembered that we are friends and we continued our discussion about our childhood and the timeline. At that moment what we had and how we enjoyed at that moment and how we played games in our ground. Then we used to enter karate classes at that time for extra time in our school. At that moment we enjoyed a lot and we have discussed those things. We also discussed our journey from 10 years to 18 years like where we studied, where we are living and how I completed my 10th class and how I completed my intermediate. We had a memorable conversation and it was really adorable because meeting one of the oldest, one of the old friend, that too childhood friend is a really great thing. That too it is a coincidence. I think it's a fate.

    Band 6-7

    When I was at ICC Global Business Summit, there I met a girl named Chakravarthy, where I had, where I talked with her about business, the rise of AI and the opportunities that are there in the business. After that, she shared me her card and told me that I can call her whenever I want or whenever I am in a need. After that, we talked few things in Marathi too. She was not familiar with Marathi. I told her few sentences in Marathi. She articulated them very well.

    Band 6-7

    So, the first time I had got my first internship, so this was during my fourth year of my college. So we had a compulsory internship that we had to undergo. So I had done an intern with TCS Research. This was based on robotics research, which also had an involvement of machine learning, reinforcement learning, and other AI tools. So obviously this was my first hands-on experience with such a big company, and in college obviously you only get theoretical knowledge and a bit of practical knowledge, but nothing that's industry level. So I was excited and also I was very scared at the same time because this was my first experience. But here I met my research guide, Dr. Arup Kumar Shadhu. He was a scientist at TCS Research, and I remember the last conversation I had with him after I had completed my two months of internship. He had said that I had gone beyond his expectations, and he said that he will try his best to get me a job at TCS Research internship, although it was something which was not possible as TCS Research only takes undergraduates from esteemed universities like IITs and NITs from India. So it was something of a dream come true for me just to hear him say that he will try his best to get me a job and that I had gone beyond his expectations, because again this was my first internship.
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