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Describe an old person you know who has had an interesting life: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who is this person?
  • Where he/she lives?
  • What he/she has done in his/her life?
  • And explain how you feel about him/her.
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34 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 34 answers

Cue 1:Who is this person?

  • Introduce the person by name and relationship to you.
  • Mention their age and a brief description of their personality.

Example

The person I want to talk about is my grandfather, Mr. Sharma. He is 85 years old and has a very warm and cheerful personality. He always has a smile on his face and loves to share stories from his past.

Cue 2:Where he/she lives?

  • Describe the location where this person lives.
  • Mention any interesting aspects of their living situation.

Example

He lives in a small village in Rajasthan, surrounded by beautiful fields and a close-knit community. His house is traditional, with a lovely garden where he grows vegetables and flowers.

Cue 3:What he/she has done in his/her life?

  • Highlight key achievements or experiences in their life.
  • Include any challenges they faced and how they overcame them.

Example

Throughout his life, my grandfather worked as a teacher and later became the headmaster of the local school. He faced many challenges, especially during tough economic times, but he always prioritized education and inspired many children to pursue their dreams.

Cue 4:And explain how you feel about him/her.

  • Share your personal feelings and admiration for this person.
  • Mention any lessons you have learned from them.

Example

I feel incredibly proud to have him as my grandfather. His resilience and dedication to education have taught me the importance of hard work and perseverance. I often seek his advice, and his stories motivate me to strive for my goals.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my grandfather is not just an old person I know; he is a source of inspiration and wisdom in my life. His interesting life experiences and positive outlook have greatly influenced my values and 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 Specific Details

    Avoid vague descriptions that do not provide specific information about the person. This can make your answer less engaging and informative.

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    Tip

    Include specific anecdotes or examples from the person's life to illustrate their interesting experiences.

    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 relevance.

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    Tip

    Make sure to systematically cover each cue in your response to create a well-rounded answer.

    Overly Complex Language

    Using complicated vocabulary or sentence structures can confuse the listener and detract from your message. Clarity is key.

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    Tip

    Use simple and clear language to express your thoughts, ensuring that your ideas are easily understood.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    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

    An old person I know who has been experienced very good experiences in his life is my grandfather, who has lived a luxurious and a thrilling life. He was a tremendously helpful and joyful person and he helped everyone. He was very humble to people around him. Not only his family but also his neighbors were inspired by him. Even today, everyone liked him and remembered him, remembers him, has done multiple things. He was into business, he was into charity, he was a wonderful person.

    Band 6-7

    According to me, the person who has had an interesting life is my uncle who lives beside my house. He is my neighbor. What he has accomplished is outstanding thing. He has lived his life until fully with utmost sincerity. He is a person who has spent his complete life with a start up hotel and he has done his contribution besides that he has also cultivated the land. He is into agriculture also. The most important thing which I like in him is he being the honest person whom I have met in my entire life. His honesty and sincerity which you can applaud for. The main thing is he is truly sincere and the only guy you can find who is very humble when you can meet him for the first time. You will say like he is somewhat rude type of personality but when you know him in detail you can say that he is very friendly, humble and most probably he was my friend when I was beside his house like he used to cherish me with different types of dishes which aunt used to make for him and he used to share all his experiences. How his life was, what are the down and up outcomings he has faced in his life and how we should see the life and how you should encounter the challenges you faced and I

    Band 6-7

    There are many person whom I know in my life and all are, but the one of the person who is very most important place in my life, she is my mother-in-law. She is a very intelligent and a good person. She always help me in every work. She has experience of every work and knowledge of everything. She know how to treat me. She treat me like her daughter. She, I think she is not, she had achieved all things in her life. She got a

    Band 6-7

    So the old person, I would definitely tell about my grandmom and my granddad. I couldn't get much opportunity to see my grandfather, but yes, of course, I have gotten an opportunity to meet my grandmom. One of the most interesting person, the way she has been, her nature, the way she has done financially in order to make our family more successful. She thought about her future generation and at the same time, the intensity to create a joint family was really very wonderful. She is also very interesting when it comes to education. She indulges herself in reading. She is very good when it comes to writing. She has done her qualification in English literature. And besides this, if I say about her nature, she is quite a very, very strict person. Despite being strict, she knows the time when she has to maintain dignity to people. She has too much of respect for everyone. I have learned a lot through the way she has dealt with people. Besides this, she has focused her education in her education also about us and our father, mother, both of them so that they can lead a very happy life. She has also created a good normal health and taken very good care so that we can be happy. She is one of the wonderful person when it comes to personality with wonderful hair. She has very beautiful hair and when I talk about her features, she is a person who loves talking with extraordinary language and I am seriously very thankful for the way she has been doing.

    Band 6-7

    An old person I want to describe who has an interesting life is none other than my uncle who is an elder brother of my father. He is none other than Mr. D. Murali Krishna who is an educationalist and a social activist in our community, in our state. He started our family business, our educational ventures in 2002 and from then there's no looking back for him. He has an interesting life because the kind of work or the kind of social work or the impact he tries to bring into the society is unimaginable because he always wakes up around 5 a.m. and goes on a walk for almost one and a half hour, two hour just to see who are facing what problems in the village. He discusses with the local people and understand their concern. Moreover, he tries to bring a resolution or a solution to the problem and also he tries to bring in a lot of innovation, innovative technology and newer skills into the society to bring back to the community. Also furthermore, he lives in my hometown itself and also he's a very keen person to learn something new. Now he almost crossed his 50s and now he's pursuing an executive MBA from the most renowned college that is Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. So he's one of a...

    Band 6-7

    I would like to talk about a person who is a 60-year-old man. Firstly, to add a few pointers to this, I must admit that there is a nice story that is attached with this. When I was in my secondary school, I used to watch YouTube frequently. Then there is a suggestion of one video where an old man of age 60 years took his Land Cruiser, a car, and travelled the world with it. And I feel very surprised and he visited more than 100 countries in his car. It is not possible with every old guy. Although I never seen such person, but I really admire him and I am so impressed of his work and determination. So recently when I researched about him, he also had very interesting lifestyle. He owns nearly 20 cars of world collection of 10 crores, which I feel very surprised.

    Band 6-7

    Mr. Kedarnath is a person that I know who has been most influential and he is about 70 years as good as my father. So he lives in Bangalore at a place called Maleswaram. He has his office in Maleswaram as well. So I was introduced through a mutual friend and a mentor. He is a practicing company secretary who has a lot of experience in the corporate world and also as a professional he has his own firm. I respect him and I am deeply in gratitude for his support to my family.

    Band 6

    So, the person that I am going to describe, he is an old person and he is my neighbor, he is a retired banking employee and he is living his life right now, after retired he is not doing anything, he is sitting in his balcony and he is looking at his wife and children. The person that I am going to describe is an old person, his name is Marco, he is a retired government employee, he used to work in a bank and he was very funny, he used to work in his bank. After his retirement, what he does is that he used to sit on his balcony at his house and he used to look at other people's life. So, my house is in front of this guy's house and every time he used to look at my house from his balcony and what he does is that he talks about other people's life. So, I am going to describe an old person right now and this guy is a retired bank employee, he used to work in a bank at his younger days and he was a bank manager. After his retirement, he is not doing anything, he is just sitting in his house. My house is opposite to his house, so he could see me and my family. Even when we are sitting inside our house, through the windows he could see us. So, that is the kind of situation we are in. So, this guy used to sit on his balcony which is opposite to my house and he used to watch us. So, according to me, according to my intelligence, the only thing that he did after his retirement is that looking at us, the way we live, the things that happens in our house, all these things are being noticed by this person. So, this is his life. So, everyday he wakes up, he comes in front, he started sitting, he will come to the balcony and he will look at us, that's what he does. This is his job once after his retirement. So, this guy is very annoying and because of him I had to pull the curtains down. I was not getting fresh air when I covered the window with the curtains. So, I don't like that. But because of this guy sitting in front of my house.

    Band 6

    As I know many person in my life, but here I am talking about a person who is my uncle. He is very calm and very positive thinker. I always gain a good vibes from him. He is 59 years old and he live in Delhi which is capital of India. Firstly I want to talk about my uncle. He is very polite and everybody praise him in their surrounding. Whenever he came in my house, I just thought that whole of the house is becoming full of energy. Moreover he has a good thing to communicate good power to anyone. He is very extrovert kind of person, always give good things to others. I always feel very happy with him. The one thing I want to tell, he gives positive thinking to everyone so that they forget their stress. However I believe that my uncle is the unique person in this world. Because he has a ability to resolve the tensions and give good solution to everyone's life.

    Band 6

    An elderly person whom I know personally who has inspired me a lot and has had an interesting life has to be my grandfather. My grandfather stays in my house as of now and he is an interesting person. He started off as a farmer. He worked as a farmer for around 16 to 20 years of his life. Then he shifted to a metropolitan city, Pune to be specific. After that, he became a teacher. He was a teacher for around 8 to 9 years and after being a teacher, he figured out that there was more to his professional life than just being a teacher. So he hustled his way out of that profession and then pursued a career in a pharmaceutical company. When he was in a pharmaceutical company, he made a decent career growth and he was there for a healthy 10 years approximately. For me, he is an inspirational personality. I really look up to him and I can proudly say that he is my grandfather. One cherishable memory of my childhood is that I went to his office once. I met his colleagues and he introduced me to all of them. The thing that really fascinated me is that all the equipments which are used in a pharmaceutical company were really cool to look at. So to put it in a nutshell, I really look up to him as a person and as a grandfather as well.
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