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Describe an instance when you received an apology.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who apologized?
  • When & why did they do it?
  • How did you feel about it?
Show all 32 answers

Cue 1:Who apologized?

  • Begin by identifying the person who apologized and your relationship with them.
  • Mention any relevant context that makes their apology significant.

Example

The person who apologized was my close friend, Ravi. We had been friends since childhood, and we often shared our thoughts and feelings openly.

Cue 2:When & why did they do it?

  • Describe the situation leading up to the apology, including the time and place.
  • Explain the reason behind the apology, focusing on the specific incident that caused it.

Example

It was during a weekend get-together at my house last month. Ravi accidentally spilled a drink on my laptop, which was a huge concern for me as I had important files saved on it. He felt terrible about the incident and wanted to make things right.

Cue 3:How did you feel about it?

  • Share your initial reaction to the apology and how it affected your feelings towards the person.
  • Discuss any resolution or outcome that followed the apology.

Example

When Ravi apologized, I felt relieved and appreciated his honesty. It showed me that he valued our friendship and was genuinely remorseful. I reassured him that it was just an accident, and we ended up laughing about it later, which strengthened our bond.

Conclusion

  • Summarize the importance of the apology in your relationship.
  • Reflect on what you learned from this experience.

Example

Overall, Ravi's apology was significant as it reinforced our friendship. It taught me that mistakes happen, but sincere apologies can mend relationships and bring people closer together.

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

Providing vague or unclear answers can make your response less engaging and informative. It may leave the examiner confused about the details of your experience.

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Tip

Be specific about who apologized and the context. Use clear examples to illustrate your feelings and the situation.

2: Ignoring Emotional Impact

Failing to express how the apology affected you emotionally can weaken your response. It’s important to convey your feelings to create a connection with the listener.

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Tip

Describe your feelings in detail. Explain how the apology made you feel at that moment and how it affected your relationship with the person.

Lack of Structure

A disorganized response can make it hard for the examiner to follow your story. It may lead to a lower score in coherence and fluency.

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Tip

Organize your answer by following the cues: start with who apologized, then explain when and why, and finally share your feelings about it.

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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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Anonymous student Band 8

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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.
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Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

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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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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

I received an apology from my friend. The reason is he left me for an interview. So I was really depressed because the chances of getting an interview is really difficult. And it was for an interview wherein he left me and he participated in the interview alone. I really felt bad about it and it was really difficult for me to cope up with next interviews.

Band 6-7

and incident this was an incident which happened to me a few months back so it was it was time of a festival that is Diwali which is usually celebrated in South India and North India as well yeah so we had a plan as family to go to a vacation we planned like for a trip for almost a week or so it's been a while since we really had any vacation so I was pretty excited about it and I remember my dad canceling the plan because he had some prayer commitment he had so we couldn't really get to the vacation so I remember my parents apologizing to me and I remember crying over because we couldn't go to any vacations and we really had a tough time back then it was a very important commitment which he had so we couldn't go to the vacation it really had a very it was very really just I felt really bad about it but there was nothing I could do regarding the same so I just accepted that we will go sometime later on anytime so yeah so it was really sad but yes they definitely promised me a vacation the next tour like a vacation for the next festival season so yeah I'm pretty excited about it

Band 6-7

So, this happened recently while I was at work, I'm a doctor and I was seeing patients the other day, I happened to realize that while we examine patients we need to investigate them, so there are a bunch of scans that we would require and I happened to notice that a lot of my patients were waiting for a really long time, so I wanted to find out why that was so, so I went to the investigation room and I found out that the patient was waiting

Band 6-7

One day, one of my friend had apologized me for doing a kind of thing which I really got hurt and first of all I was just like, I was not feeling well at that time and I really don't expect her to apologize me after so long and I was in a kind of state at that time and I really accepted that because it's a kind of thing or it's a kind of action that we need to be done while somebody got hurt because of what we have done. In that case, she has done a nice thing, she has done a thing that's done by all others in the society and during that time I got peace, like literally at that day I really got insulted because of her but when she apologized to me, I feel happy and I feel like in a peace of mind. So, I am just okay with that.

Band 6.5

So, thinking back to a day when I received an actual apology was probably two years ago when I had an incident with my sister. So we were just simply teasing each other and, you know, the catfights between siblings. Yes, so we were just, you know, playfully just having a conversation with each other and suddenly she became quite angry and she took it quite personally and she just started racing in anger. And I was suddenly so shocked and surprised and I didn't feel the instant and I suddenly felt that instant regret. In fact, I thought of calming her but things had already gone out of hand. And then she just took my phone and then she just threw it on the floor and it just broke into pieces and that moment it broke my heart as well. It broke my heart as well. I felt really, really bad and I couldn't just forgive her because it was such a big mistake from her part. But later on, she just came and gave a sincere apology. She was bawling her eyes out that she did wrong and I just couldn't resist because at the end of the day, it was my younger sister and she did a mistake. And as an elder one, I need to forgive her and I just forgave her with all my heart and at the end of the day, just could repair it.

Band 6

The incident was a two-wheeler accident. So one day me and my friend went to our workplace. In between we were stuck in traffic. Then suddenly when we started, when she started the vehicle, the two-wheeler, some vehicle came and just hit us. So it hit on the back actually. So I was already having a severe back pain and when it hit me it was it was so bad I couldn't feel my back at all. So my friend, it was my friend's mistake because she forgot to pull the brake. So she said me an apology. Soon after this accident we admitted in the hospital for entire day. My friend felt so bad after that because exactly two weeks ago I came across another accident. So that was when I went for sampling. So she felt too bad and she was there when I was hospitalized. And other than that, that day when this accident happened I was already having a fever. So everything just add up and she felt so like sad and she just kept saying sorry for that entire week. But it was okay for me because that was my first accident by the way in my life. So I felt it like a dangerous thing that I achieved during this past year. It is okay that she can say sorry but not for an entire week. I felt it is too much.

Band 6

So, I will share my experience about my recent apology. I was in my clinic doing my patients and one of my patients suddenly came and started yelling at me as he was waiting since morning for a long time as he was in a lot of pain. So, he was like it was his turn and then his turn couldn't come and he was in a lot of pain and he wanted to cure. So, I took him, I started procedure on him, told all his treatment and all. After that he was convinced with the treatment and even I gave him a instant painkiller which would relieve him for temporary on temporary basis. After that he felt quite relieved and he was calmed down. I gave him water to drink and all after which like he was very guilty about whatever happened in like past 10 minutes. So, he very nicely and politely apologized me saying that he was very sorry for whatever happened and for his rude behavior. He was like he shouldn't have said this. He was quite guilty about it after which I was like it was as he was in a lot of pain. So, I didn't say anything to him and I felt even very good. At least he realized his mistake and even he was like respected me a lot and said that he shouldn't have done this. He shouldn't have said this and he shouldn't have done this.

Band 6

so it was all about two years ago when I was just hanging out with my friends on the street of Mumbai and there was one guy who accidentally split on my shoes literally I just got so angry at that time but my friend just stops me otherwise I just want to fight to and kick that man but that man just made a really great apology to me he accept his mistake as soon as he cues me and tries to provide me money for my shoes but I refused to accept that because it was not my morals at that time but still I feel that it was a really great apology for me and I really give him my apology

Band 5-6

My mother apologized to me when I was small and that was because I did not get enough attention from any of my family members and I did not expect that apology and I did not want that apology because I wanted the situation to stay just as it was and it was a little annoying when she did that. I was like, she said why, she said the reason to all my relatives and which gave me more extra attention which I did not really needed. I felt a little uncomfortable after that. I couldn't share anything to her after that. I had some trust issues and the same thing happened with my sister. It was an apology, has to be sincere from the heart and just because they apologized to me, it was and then they gave me more attention and more care which was, I felt it was fake that it did not come from the bottom of their heart and it was not very necessary. I just wanted the same attention my sister had. From small, my relatives used to hate me for some reason. I still don't know why and I hope they understand me more better and not show that fake love.

Band 5-6

Day before yesterday, my sister apologized to me for lashing out on me for using one of her makeup products. She apologized because she thought that it was a stupid thing to just lash out on your sister just for using one makeup product and yes, even I thought that finally that now she has realized it. I am glad about it and I am very grateful to her that she came to me and said sorry, which she rarely does. Only this time, she realized that it was a stupid thing to lash out randomly on me just for using one makeup product, which is just a temporary thing and it's an object and you can't hurt some people's feelings just because they touched one of your things, even though that thing was very expensive and to be honest, I was not ready to accept her apology because it was quite rude to just scold someone because they have just used their liner for about a minute or so, but whatever, that bitch.
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