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Describe an occasion when someone gave you positive advice or suggestions about your work/study: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who is the person?
  • What he/she said?
  • How the advice/suggestion affected you?
  • And explain how you felt about the advice/suggestions.
Show all 161 answers

Cue 1:Who is the person?

  • Introduce the person who gave you the advice, mentioning their relationship to you, such as a teacher, mentor, or friend.
  • Provide some context about their background or expertise that makes their advice valuable.

Example

The person who gave me positive advice was my college professor, Dr. Sharma. He was not only my mentor but also an expert in the field of environmental science, which is my area of study.

Cue 2:What he/she said?

  • Summarize the key points of the advice or suggestions they provided.
  • Make sure to include specific phrases or ideas that stood out to you.

Example

Dr. Sharma suggested that I focus on practical projects to enhance my understanding of theoretical concepts. He said, 'Real-world experience will make your resume stand out and deepen your knowledge.'

Cue 3:How the advice/suggestion affected you?

  • Explain how you implemented the advice in your work or studies.
  • Discuss any changes in your approach or mindset as a result of the advice.

Example

After his suggestion, I started participating in various environmental projects and internships. This hands-on experience helped me grasp complex theories better and boosted my confidence in my abilities.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt about the advice/suggestions.

  • Share your feelings about receiving the advice and how it impacted your relationship with the person.
  • Reflect on the long-term benefits of the advice on your personal and professional growth.

Example

I felt grateful and inspired by Dr. Sharma's advice. It strengthened my respect for him and motivated me to pursue my studies with more passion. I realized that good guidance can truly shape one's career.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, receiving positive advice from Dr. Sharma not only improved my academic performance but also instilled a sense of direction in my career. It reminded me of the importance of seeking guidance and learning from experienced individuals.

    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 Specificity

    Being vague about the advice received can weaken your response. Specific details help illustrate the impact of the advice and make your answer more engaging.

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    Tip

    Include specific examples of what the person said and how it directly influenced your work or study.

    2: Ignoring Personal Feelings

    Failing to express your feelings about the advice can make your response less personal. Sharing your emotions adds depth to your answer.

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    Tip

    Describe how the advice made you feel, whether it was motivated, inspired, or relieved.

    Overly Complex Language

    Using complicated vocabulary or structures can confuse the listener. Clarity is key in speaking tasks, especially for non-native speakers.

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    Tip

    Use simple and clear language to convey your thoughts effectively, ensuring your message is understood.

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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

    It was back in 2023 when I was facing difficulties in a specific subject called Power Electronics. I had no clue and had been facing a lot of difficulties throughout the year. I had failed in that subject one time, but for the second time I reached out to one of my professors. Her name is Professor Sonali Majum. She is an expert in the subject of Power Electronics. She encouraged me to be confident about the concepts in the particular subject. It was by her guidance that I felt very confident and encouraged while studying. She told me to focus on the main points given in the subject. It was my point of view that the toppers in the class had some special skills and abilities, but she, Professor Sonali Majum, made me feel extremely wrong about it. She told me it's not about skills and talent, it's totally about hard work. She told me how hard work can beat talent and especially in the case of studies and sports, it has been proven all the time that how these consistent efforts can beat a topper in the class. Even a backbencher can beat a topper in the class. So with this guidance from her, I was a bit of surprised in the initial stages with my performance and abilities which I have unlocked with her guidance. The steps which I followed initially were hard to achieve, but at the end I achieved the results which I wanted and her guidance were just a gift to me for completing my engineering. These guidance did not just help me in that particular subject, but it helped me throughout my engineering.

    Band 6-7

    I was talking with my mother and my mother advised to become a doctor after the 10th board exam. So, I liked the advice very much and I am thankful for her advice. I suggested myself that I should prepare for 10th board exam initially from starting and I should get good percentage in the 10th board and will go to 11th science. And after completing my science college, I will clear the NEET exam and try my best to gain admission in AIMS. It affected my...

    Band 6-7

    The advice that I received from was my ex-manager in my previous company and it was about leadership. I remember the occasion when I was initially, it was my initial week when I had got promoted as a manager and I was facing some issues with conflicts between multiple team members and it got tricky for me to address and calm both the ends down. I spoke to my manager regarding the same and he advised, he gave me some tips actually how I can navigate from this situation and incorporating that tips I spoke to both the individuals separately and tried to calm them down, implementing all the key aspects of leadership elements. It finally worked out for me and at the end I felt so happy about this leadership suggestion from my manager. This really worked out for me and when I started practicing it over time and again then I realized that this is a very essential element and we need to be very very empathetic about such situations and since then I have made sure that I am practicing it in every situation where it fits and yeah it kind of worked out for me every time and I am happy that I could get such kind of leadership.

    Band 6-7

    Yesterday, I went in the UK for a conference, there I met my old colleague who was working in another company he heard about my previous work and he was very overwhelmed and happy about it he praised me for my hard work and

    Band 6-7

    My father is a person who always gave me advice and suggestion. He always said me that, be potential, always do hardworking, keep doing it, don't lose hope. And the big suggestion and advice he always gave me that, working for 50 years is better than working for 5 years and that what affected me a lot and for that reason and for me, for myself, for my freedom, I always felt that yes, his advice are the best for me because he is my father. Okay, so the person who always give me advice and suggestion is my father. To be honest, I love him so much. Okay, so he always said me that, keep hardworking, you should be potential and like, don't lose hope. So, once upon a time, he said me that, working for 50 years is better than working for 5 years and getting retired at 10 years. So, I felt that and his suggestion, his advice, his motivational thoughts always motivates me to do such hardworking educations and studies and thinking about my future and I was so scared to give my IELTS exam and then he recommend me this app to do the practice and moreover things and I just without thinking any much, I was like, okay, you have to start it now no matter what. This how you will keep learning it, keep learning it, no one learn when they are born. Everyone hardwork for owning something. If I want something, I have to hardwork for that. So, he always give me advice that, do that, do this, apply for some scholarship, keep doing hardworking things in such age that if you become in our age then you don't have to do anything because you have your hardworking powers and his advice always motivates me a lot. The thing is I felt and I was like, okay, now you have to catch this when he said that working for 50 hours is better than working for 5 hours and I felt that and I was like, no, I am gonna do this no matter what.

    Band 6-7

    The person that gave me the most valuable advice about work has to be Mr. Rahul Sharma who was a professor in my college and he taught us in second year. So the advice he gave was I should focus on an all around development instead of just focusing only on academics and rather than focusing on just grades I should also pay importance to getting a deep understanding of the topic and I really was grateful about that advice, that advice has helped me a lot and because of that advice I am now able to grab better opportunities for my masters and get into influential educational institutions. I am very grateful to have such an amazing person in my life.

    Band 6-7

    The person who I'm going to talk about is my aunt, the sister of my father. I remember when I was in class 12, she gave me an advice on how to study and how to remember the things, which helped me a lot in my board exam. She always told me to study in the morning because the brain works most in the morning. It helped me a lot and I'm thankful to my aunt as it helps me to score 90 plus in my class 12 board exam. I felt very amazed by listening to the advice of my aunt and it is very important for all of the students that we have to study in the morning. I remember that my aunt always gave advice to his children also and I always amazed how they get so much marks in the exam. But now I also had the trick to score that much higher because of my aunt and she's just a wonderful woman. I'm very thankful and grateful for her. She also told me how to learn the things very quickly. As she said not to just try to over learn it, just understand the things and try to read it and try to understand it. It helps me to grab things more quickly than before.

    Band 6-7

    so few months back when I was preparing for my IELTS exam and I was facing a bit difficulty in my reading module although I know how to do reading effectively and how to analyze whole the passage and answers the question but the time limit was the main concern for me as I was not able to attempt all the three passages in such a short span of time and when I consulted one of my friends named Harshdeep and we grew up together since our childhood he's he have completed his IELTS and scored 8 plus bands in reading module so that's why I decided to get the opinion from him when he analyzed my problem and he gave me a suitable advice to adopt some techniques known as skimming or space repetition to elaborate the skimming technique involves highlighting main keywords from the passage such as a noun pronoun or adjective and ignoring all the verb agreements and other little bit things which increase my overall efficiency and effectiveness at a great scale moreover in addition the there was a another technique named space repetition in which the user doesn't have to cram all the things which helped me a lot in my speaking module in which firstly you make the whole templates or notes which you require and day by day you have to give it a overall reading and while reading you have to increase the span like in initial days it could be one or two days

    Band 6-7

    When I was in high school my accountancy teacher was a person who I really respect till this day. She gave me a lot of advices throughout my two years of high school but the one I specifically remember the most was during my mid semester exams. She had given me tips on how to improve my scores and how consistency can help improving my test results. Furthermore she gave me a push and motivated me how I can believe in myself and just focus on studying to receive the desired outcome. I felt very touched and realized the importance of being consistent as well as how failure can shape us to what we become in order to become successful. Moreover she made me realize how being bad at something is not the end of the world. It just makes us grow even more and shapes who we are when we try to become what we're ambitious of. My teacher had given not just me but other classmates the similar amount of advices which additionally helped them as well to get better in their academics and the real-life interviews too.

    Band 6-7

    It was during my work purpose where I worked in my previous school. It was my ex-coordinator, my mentor, who was the one who appreciated me, who gave me a positive advice, I would not say, but something she said in a positive note for me, like I am very diligent with my work, very hard-working and see it reflects in my work. I'm conscientious regarding my work, that is what she said and it really made me feel very happy that the thing, the very thing which she said made me feel very, gave me a positive viewpoint regarding my work and I felt like to do more and more. It was like a booster, that level of my confidence which encouraged me to work even more harder than whatever I was doing, as I really believe that I was a diligent person and I felt like to upgrade it more. It encouraged me like anything and I was very happy, I was contented and I felt delighted from within and feel like to serve more and do it more. That is how I felt it and not only her, even my colleagues, everyone appreciated me, everyone praises me for my work as being very diligent person and that is something, it's like a booster which boosted up level of my confidence when I was feeling very low, when I was having self-doubt, it gave me reassurance that I can do something much better, that is not only enough, that is how I felt and
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