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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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    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.

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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

    My best friend is someone who gives me constant advices. There were a lot of time in my life where I was absolutely feeling low and I had a very tremendous downfall. So in all those times, it was my best friend who was always there with me. After completing my post-graduation, I was struggling to find a job. It was not at all easy. I've completed my education but I was clueless about what to do next. So I used to sit in my room for hours and I used to cry about it to myself. Whenever I was in need of a relief, I would just call my best friend and talk to her about a few things. Sometimes all these talks are just random but the kind of relief and the kind of fulfillment that these talks used to give me is beyond my words. Once when I was stuck and I was completely lost, I called her and I talked to her for almost two hours. So what she told me was, if there is something that is supposed to find me, it is going to find me no matter how hard it gets and how long it takes. So this advice has certainly changed my life. This just made me capable of waiting because I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel. Even though the tunnel was in darkness now, there is going to be light at the end. And I waited for this light to come into my life and finally I was able to land into a job. It was not any job. It was a job that I was totally interested in. I was able to land in it and I continue doing it with utmost joy.

    Band 6-7

    Recently, I gave my university exams where I met Mr. Zoshi who was allotted for us as an external examiner for our exams. When he was taking viva of me on the data analytics practical, he saw my commendable skills in coding, in python and overall in data analytics. So after completing the exam, we were in the corridor when he personally called me and suggested me to take a course on data analytics available on Udemy who was co-founded with him and his colleague from renowned university. So as he suggested, I enrolled in that particular program which was around six months and by the end of that course, I saw that I have n number of skills developed throughout the course of that time and that not only covered my data analytics skills but also helped me to shape my personality and improve soft skills like communication, beard practicing.

    Band 6-7

    It is always good to get some advices or suggestions about a work or study whatever we are pursuing. So as I am a working professional, so there is a person named Divya Verma in my office who is a very good friend now. She once suggested me to take on additional certification courses to excel in my career. Additionally she also advised me to build up my network, start connecting to different level leaders and also get active on LinkedIn that is a career focused application, mobile application which helps us build strong connections over the community that we are working in. So I think that's something I was lacking in myself. I wasn't very active or wasn't very actively building networks for myself. So I think I needed that push and she really inspired me to get started on that. Plus taking different courses in excel or accounting would always be helpful in my career growth.

    Band 6-7

    The suggestion that I got recently was from my workplace. It was the proprietor of our school who gave me positive feedback or praised me for my sincerity observing my work because normally as a teacher we need lots of dedication for our students and in my case I believe we must do something with full sincerity whenever the task is assigned to us we must do it by giving our 100% effort. So it was the co-curricular activities that we were organizing in the school and I put my utmost effort for that activities for planning the program, scheduling and arranging the gift and medals for every student, providing and writing on the certificate so every work has been done within the stimulated time so looking after my work our founder ma'am came to me and she praised me like you are really doing a great job and you are doing not only for your financial establishment but you are doing through your heart and God will really protect you in future also. So her back word hits my heart and suddenly I feel like I am capable of everything.

    Band 6-7

    Yes, it was an education fair where my mentor Rupa Vanmani has advised me on how to prepare for the IELTS exam and she was the IELTS trainer. Recently I was opted for IELTS course and it was very important for me to prepare very hard to get my desired score and that's the reason my mentor suggested me some tools and ways to obtain a score. She has not only gave me multiple mock tests but also assisted me on various topics, my grammar, vocabulary, my writing skills, my listening skills and that's the reason I am today following her ideas and strategies to obtain a desired score, maybe in future I may get my score that is valid to apply for the universities for my further studies. She is very brilliant and she not only helped me scoring well but also she has advised me on life suggestions, mindset rules and how to improve my communication skills, how to use idioms and my subject agreement verbs.

    Band 6-7

    I will take in a positive manner, moreover in workplace also I have taken many suggestions from my superiors, it helps me a lot for working easily and communicate with people in a very easy manner, moreover everyone should take suggestions because we need to learn more things from the seniors and from other positive words from the higher officials, moreover we need to have advice from the elder people and to help from working easily and communicate with each other.

    Band 6-7

    When I just embarked on my corporate journey back in 2023, I was a newbie and didn't know much about the office culture. There I made friendships with a lot of colleagues because I was the junior most employee in the office. I had a privilege to talk to everyone in the office and make connections. With this, one of my senior colleagues, who is also a good friend of mine, taught me more about the office culture in addition to the best recording practices. That literally helped me in building my career and becoming a good software engineer. I thank him for being patient with me and consistently worked with me for me. That helped me to achieve my goals and made me the employer of the month in the particular organization. Along with that, he also noticed few changes in my behavior. Furthermore, he taught me how to behave accurately and consistently with the senior people in the organization. Moreover, he was also helpful when it came to rescue me from police officers because I was asked to show the driving license, which I definitely didn't had. He offered me a place to live when I was homeless for a month due to rent issues and my PG. That's how he helped me a lot during those times.

    Band 6-7

    No audio text available

    Band 6-7

    When I was working in the tyre manufacturing industry, I was asked to do a task which was including our department's key point indicators status, basically updates. So, I was given a task to prepare a dashboard which was including our department's key point indicators status, basically updates. So, as per my knowledge, I made a simple looking dashboard and just presented it to our department head. He found it a bit creative, but he suggested some points, it just enhanced the quality of that dashboard. So, he suggested to me about some points like, first he suggested me to get the insights of each key point indicator, so that I would be more informative and I would show people which is required for them, then he also advised me to be more creative for the templates which I was using, he suggested me to do something creative, something interactive that people should find it more interesting to look at the dashboard and take whatever information they want to. And then, he also… So I…

    Band 6-7

    After I completed my engineering, I joined the company named as Worldly Parson. There I met a lot of my colleagues, but one of my colleagues who is my senior, gave me advice that you have completed your bachelors. Does he think about you planning for masters? So I said that right now I don't have any plan, but he suggested me that you go for masters. That will get a capable knowledge to you. From there, I am thinking about that and from his suggestion, I think that I should go for masters. He briefed me about the masters, what to study in masters and all. Basically, he gave me an idea about the master in engineering management. So that's why I am here to give my advice that I am planning to go study abroad after his suggestion. After his suggestion, I feel so glad that he suggested me that you go for masters and study abroad. He also told me that you will get well prepared for any organization, anywhere where you want to go and work. As you go abroad, your communication skill, your time management, your focus and concentration will get increased as you involve in different type of activities. Along with your study, you are also going to do a job. So you will learn a skill called as time management. He gave me lots of suggestions, but the one suggestion I love from him is go for study abroad and do a masters. That's it. Thank you.
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