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Describe an interesting discussion you had with your friend: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was the discussion about?
  • What opinions you and your friend had?
  • Why do you think the discussion was interesting?
  • And how you felt about it.
Show all 47 answers

Cue 1:What was the discussion about?

  • Begin by introducing the topic of discussion clearly and concisely.
  • Mention the context in which the discussion took place, such as during a casual meet-up or over a phone call.

Example

Recently, I had an interesting discussion with my friend about the impact of social media on our lives. We were sitting in a park, enjoying some snacks, and the topic came up naturally as we were scrolling through our phones.

Cue 2:What opinions you and your friend had?

  • Share your perspective on the topic and how it differs or aligns with your friend's view.
  • Use specific examples to illustrate your points, making the discussion more relatable.

Example

I expressed my belief that social media can be both beneficial and harmful. I think it helps us stay connected with friends and family, especially during the pandemic. However, my friend argued that it often leads to anxiety and unrealistic comparisons. We both agreed that moderation is key.

Cue 3:Why do you think the discussion was interesting?

  • Explain what made the discussion engaging, such as differing viewpoints or personal experiences.
  • Highlight any new insights or realizations that emerged from the conversation.

Example

The discussion was interesting because we both had different experiences with social media. My friend shared a story about how it affected her mental health, which made me reflect on my own usage. It was enlightening to hear how our backgrounds shaped our views.

Cue 4:And how you felt about it.

  • Convey your feelings during and after the discussion, emphasizing any emotional impact.
  • Mention how the discussion influenced your thoughts or actions moving forward.

Example

I felt a mix of emotions during our conversation. At first, I was defensive about my social media habits, but by the end, I felt grateful for the honest exchange. It encouraged me to be more mindful of my online presence and its effects on my well-being.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, discussing social media with my friend was not only enjoyable but also thought-provoking. It reminded me of the importance of open conversations about topics that affect us deeply. Such discussions can lead to personal growth and a better understanding of each other.

    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 that lack detail. This can make your response uninteresting and fail to showcase your language skills.

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    Tip

    Provide specific examples and details about the discussion to make your answer more engaging and informative.

    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Neglecting to address all the cues can lead to an incomplete answer. This may result in a lower score for coherence and task response.

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    Tip

    Make sure to cover each cue in your response, ensuring a well-rounded and structured answer.

    Overly Complex Language

    Using overly complex vocabulary or grammar can confuse the listener and detract from your message. Clarity is key.

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    Tip

    Use clear and simple language to express your ideas effectively, focusing on fluency and coherence.

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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 6-7

    So, recently me and my friend we had a discussion or we had not kind of a debate a friendly debate maybe like we were like talking about the merits and demerits of going abroad for a direct PhD or to stay here in India and have like here in India do a PhD in the top institute like ISC or IIT any IIT. So my point was like even though the situation is hard but the fundings are much much higher compared to the all the institutes we have in India the exposure we get from abroad is much much more we have a better peer group we have a better setup there the lab setups are already there and they are always like 10 to 20 years ahead of us in terms of research. So that was my point and he was saying that currently the many things are changing abroad specially in US, Europe and funding wise specifically in our field which is electronics India the government of India is spending a lot more than the foreign government. So his point was that going abroad getting settled down there struggling to find or struggling to have a comfortable life there at the same time if the funding is similar to what we have in India then it's better to stay in India and you know prosper than going abroad but the thing is like outside all the abroad universities have better ranking they have better image they have better reputation and that is a point which we both agreed to. So it was a friendly discussion and I mean we concluded that either ways we have some benefits and disadvantages.

    Band 6-7

    Yeah, well, I remembered a conversation with my friend. It was a really fantastic experience because he explains me about the future, what he was able to learn and focus on his idea and his goals that really attracts me to work with him to achieve his goals. And we often meet after work and we share our experiences about our work. And sometimes we also go to restaurants and malls to explore and find new items and experiences. And we had a strong bond between us, but we want to expand our relation to next level. Yeah, but it's a hope, but we haven't finalized this. But when I spent a lot of time with him, it's really fascinating for me. And he also felt the same when he met me.

    Band 6-7

    So, recently, me and my friend, we had discussed about our career as we have chosen into the teaching field. We both have finished our entity, which is nursery teachers training in Bangalore at the institution of these institutions. So, we discussed about taking our career to the abroad teaching way in which we have enquired like consultancies here, like if we are both are planned to do the masters in ECE, which is early childhood education. And we had also came across that teaching field is in quite often demand in Canada, UK and Australia, in which we had to plan according to our funding of the fee and also staying accommodations as well. So, overall it was costing a budget, which we did not think about it, but still somehow we managed to take a loan from the bank in which like we will be able to repay them in the future. So, this was the one of the decision we both have discussed and took part to take her career job aspects to the abroad place. I had chosen for Canada. Why? Because now in Canada, the teaching fields are in very high demand in which they are seeking for teaching field and healthcare sectors such as pharma, medicines, etc. Furthermore, my friend has planned to take up her teaching field in special needs educator for children in Canada, which is one of the easiest way for her to teach for the special kids as she always has a helping nature. Here in India, she almost have three years of experience in special tutor. So, she wants to further carry that in Canada as well. So, we both have discussed this.

    Band 6-7

    We have always ongoing discussions with one of our friends because whenever we are sitting with our friends, there are some topics that we are definitely discussing. But one chat that I remember with my friend clearly was with my best friend Vrinda. There was a time in my life when I was feeling very much demotivated due to current situations going on in my life. So by listening to my problems, she suggested me an idea for my mental health. She guided me to go for a yoga session or a meditation session because it will help me to gain clear insights of my life, what is actually going in my head and it will calm my mind and I will feel very much relaxed because I will be completely stress free after that. So I took her suggestion very seriously and I immediately looked up on Instagram or Google search engine for nearby yoga sessions and some meditation classes. Also, she suggested me a meditation course on Instagram and I quickly enrolled in that course. To my surprise, after getting my first session done, I felt that the burden has finally off my chest and I was completely relieved. Also, she helped me a lot during that time. So there was a discussion that is always important for me because I got valuable knowledge that despite having a busy schedule, how one can manage time so that they can be fit as well as mentally as well as physically.

    Band 6-7

    The discussion we had about like is about being a vegan is a good thing or being a non vegetarian is a good thing. I was a supportive of non vegetarian and he was a supportive of vegan. So we had discussion on this for more than a one and a half hour and nearly about two hours. We come to an opinion where he is a vegan and he has opinion why we have to be vegan in a way and why we don't have to kill animals to fulfill our needs if we can choose a food where we are not harming someone why we shouldn't use vegan food. And my opinion was even if you think practically we are killing someone for having anything even we are trying to have grains like rice or even another grains. So still you are killing the bombs and insects to having some food. The whole cycle is based on that. We are in the ecosystem cycle that which is based on we even we are going to have something we are like unconsciously or consciously we are going to kill someone to have something. That was the point. The reason I still remember the conversation because it was so fascinating and we are still remember it because it was huge. We both were opinionated with our stance and we are still he still supports vegan and I still support non-vegetarian because non-vegetarian has a lot more protein a lot more nutrition than we can cover than vegetarian diet and not everyone can hire a nutritionist for.

    Band 6-7

    A discussion that I had with my friend and I considered interesting was when we debated on the topic whether social media is good for us or not. So me and my friends, we were basically just sitting and discussing about normal day to day life when one of my friend whose name was Trisha asked me if social media was hindering my studies or not. On a personal level I told her that for me it was a distraction as it deviated me from my studies and I was not able to focus while my phone was on my table. She on the other hand insisted that social media could be used to our advantage and does not necessarily always, does not always cause problems. We had this discussion for about 15-30 minutes, both of us were continuously putting our points across each other. For me it was interesting because it was less of a fight and more of a discussion, we tried to get our point to the other person and while I agree that she was also right at that point, my sole focus was to make her understand on what I was trying to say because my opinion was something that I held very strongly. But later I understood that social media can hinder or can for that matter of fact also help you in your studies, it all depends on how you perceive it.

    Band 6-7

    So, yes, I'm talking about language in India today, today's time in India, yeah, language is a very barrier thing for every state, when we go to other states, they are trying to convince us, you should speak in their language, if you are living there, and India today is very faceless, racism, through language, in Maharashtra, in Bengal, in South, in maybe Haryana, maybe UP, and I think language barrier is very, not a good thing, if you walk somewhere, you should learn, but if you are not learning, it doesn't mean you are punished by them, and my opinion is this, and I think this topic is very interesting, because we are Indians and we should participate in everything, including politics, including everything, and we should try to convince everyone, so they cannot fight it through language barrier, and I feel very what happened recently, in Maharashtra and so many places, so that's it, I think it's enough for today.

    Band 6-7

    Me and one of my friends, Ashwin Shankar, we always have an... One day when I was coming back home from one of my friend's house from Cochin to Cherthala, in a car, his car, his name is Ashwin, and we had a discussion about atheism and belief. For me, I always believe in atheism, and my friend is vice versa. He doesn't... He always believe in God, existence of God. But for me, I... I would say one of the best discussion I ever had with one of my best friend, Ashwin, was about atheism and belief, belief in God, belief in God. And I always... I always love to take things in a scientific manner, and he always believes in Godly manner, and for me, it was a good discussion. And actually, you know, we every know, everyone knows that a discussion always gives us knowledge, and will give more information about the current scenarios and all the things which are happening all over the world. And, you know, our discussion was like hectic, and I always stick on to my point of view that... about the belief, about the atheism. Atheism is actually... What I believe is that we should believe things which are scientifically proven, and he is one of the best. You know, the scientific things is the... Scientific scenario is the only thing which we can relate. You know that everything around us is followed, focused by scientific things, and he always thinks that whenever we go to God and we pray there, all the things will happen according to that prayer, and I always disagree with that thing, because you know that, you know, everything...

    Band 6-7

    I have a friend, my best friend, and also she is my childhood friend. Her name is Manjusha. She and me studied very well from the school time onwards. We are very close friends and we make all decisions together, especially in our studies and careers also. And after our degree course, we chose the degree for B.Com, Bachelor of Commerce. After our B.Com course, we said we don't have any plan what to do in our future and how to get a good job that we didn't know. So, we thought and we researched around our connected peoples like government and central government working officials, working friends and officials. So, we decided to choose a career path to get a government job or central government job or else the railway job. Then we go to one of the best nearest study center and we joined there. We joined there for our coaching and along with our coaching, we are done our post graduation also. Now, the exam was passed and then we are waiting for

    Band 6-7

    The discussion was all about developing a game for neurodivergent people. So me and my friend was sitting in our cabin and discussing what we could do as a CSR activity to help the neurodivergent people. I give a suggestion that we could develop a gamification for neurodivergent people so that it would be easy for them to play that game and also be a physically reliable like physical active in that and my friend also agreed with the same and we started discussing about how we can develop that game and we shared both. Both of us shared many suggestions, opinions etc because we have to develop a game and show to our clients then only we will get approved. So he shared ideas like we could provide them sitting hands up, squat etc so that the neurodivergent people have difficulties in moving. So it would be easier for them to move when we develop a game that would be easy for them as well as make them healthy and I also gave opinions like there are people in wheelchairs so we could make simple tasks so that they can also involve in this and this discussion was very interesting because it is a new development and a new project so we were mostly involved in that discussion that make it more interesting and after that discussion we came up with a final solution how to develop that game, the coding process etc and we started developing that project on it and I felt so proud of myself and my friend because we are developing something that helps the humanity, human society and provides a contribution to our CSR activity.
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