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Describe an unforgettable experience that you had: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What the experience was?
  • When and where it happened?
  • What made it memorable?
  • And explain how it changed you.
Show all 117 answers

Cue 1:What the experience was?

  • Begin by clearly stating the unforgettable experience you had.
  • Make sure to include specific details that highlight why this experience stands out to you.

Example

One unforgettable experience I had was when I went on a solo trip to the beautiful hill station of Manali in Himachal Pradesh. It was my first time traveling alone, and I was both excited and nervous.

Cue 2:When and where it happened?

  • Provide the time frame of your experience, including the month and year.
  • Describe the location in a way that helps the listener visualize it.

Example

This trip took place in June 2022, during the summer holidays. Manali is a stunning place surrounded by snow-capped mountains and lush green valleys, which made it the perfect getaway from the heat of the plains.

Cue 3:What made it memorable?

  • Share specific moments or events that made this experience special.
  • Explain your feelings during these moments to convey the significance of the experience.

Example

What made this trip memorable was the sense of freedom I felt while exploring the local culture, trying adventure sports like paragliding, and meeting new friends from different parts of India. One evening, I sat by the river, watching the sunset, and I felt a deep sense of peace and happiness.

Cue 4:And explain how it changed you.

  • Reflect on the personal growth or insights you gained from this experience.
  • Discuss how this experience has influenced your perspective or future decisions.

Example

This experience changed me by boosting my confidence and independence. I learned that stepping out of my comfort zone can lead to wonderful experiences. It inspired me to travel more and embrace new challenges in life.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my solo trip to Manali was not just a vacation; it was a transformative experience that taught me valuable life lessons and helped me grow as a person. I will always cherish the memories I made during that trip.

    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 Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your answer less engaging and informative. It's important to provide specific details about your experience to capture the listener's interest.

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    Tip

    Include specific names, places, and emotions to create a vivid picture of your unforgettable experience.

    2: Lack of Structure

    A disorganized response can confuse the listener. It's essential to follow a clear structure to ensure your answer flows logically and covers all cues.

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    Tip

    Use the provided cues as a guide to structure your answer: start with the experience, then the time and place, followed by what made it memorable, and finally how it changed you.

    Overly Short Answers

    Providing overly brief answers can make it seem like you have nothing to say. This can lead to a lower score as it may not demonstrate your speaking ability.

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    Tip

    Expand on each cue with detailed explanations and personal reflections to showcase your language skills and depth of thought.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    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

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    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 7

    If I had to talk about an unforgettable experience that I had, it would definitely be the basketball tournament last year in my college fest. I have all throughout been a huge fan of the basketball game, regularly watching games, playing it on a regular basis at my college. However, I didn't have my luck with the college fest. We had lost every year and it was our final year and we had to do something about it. So, we gathered up a team, we practiced every day and finally we won the semi-finals, we won the quarter-finals, we won all the group stage matches just by a point. And unfortunately in the finals, we lost by only one point, but the experience taught me so much. The experience taught me that however hard one might work, there is this small luck factor that is always present. And efforts matter, results don't matter as after that our batch team was respected by everyone in this college and was touted as the best team the college ever had.

    Band 6-7

    The experiences are considered to be memorable and uncomfortable. The experience... The experience that I consider to be memorable and unforgettable was my trip to Goa. It happened last year during July, in the month of July. It was raining and I had a very amazing experience with my friends. I went with two of my friends. We booked the flights by our own and then we decided to make the itinerary and then we went there. And it was a beautiful, amazing experience. We had so much fun there. It was great knowing the places, visiting the places. The beaches were somehow not clean. But I could say that it was a great experience while knowing the places there. First of all, we went to South Goa. That is a natural destination. And people who want to be more closer to nature can visit South Goa any day. And the beaches were very clean.

    Band 6-7

    okay so the incident that I'm going to explain it happened during my college years or during when I was doing my degree and this happened when I was in my third year of my college so we have a practical where we have to go to the field and we cultivate the rice in the paddy field so we get a chance to puddle the field and then we ourselves will sow each seed or we transplant the rice to the main field from the nursery that was a quite memorable event for me because I have never really done any field work ever before and this is a very beautiful experience and I really get to know how it is like working it working with many other people from different regions and I did that with my friends we all were so happy and at the end of the day we would be so tired but still we won't make it

    Band 6-7

    The unforgettable experience that I had in my entire lifetime is Kerala trip, where I have traveled with my friends to experience a good nature and good view of Kerala and to experience and to get extraordinary memories from Kerala. And I was experiencing it in the month of June 2024. Moreover it gives me an adorable experience and a heartful welcome from my Kerala friends. It was happened in Kerala. There are many memorable things and activities which I marked as my lifetime memories. Those are like Kanyakumari sunset and sunrise point which had a certain specific time to rise for sunrise that is about in the morning 6 am and for sunset it is in the evening time it is at 6 pm. These are the specific times where the sunrise and sunset will happen. And moreover it's once in a blue moon and it's a piece of cake to me to enjoy a and to have that much good experience. And I experienced the view of Vatavada and the Guruvayur temple where I got the devotional and I have also visited and made memorable days and a great experience with the Ananthapadmanasam which is considered as the largest and richest temple of the world. And when I used to visit these type of temples I will feel over the moon. Moreover this gives me an extraordinary and awesome experience with my friends. I used to pull someone's legs when you are under the bad weather.

    Band 6-7

    In life full of surprises, twists and turns, I cannot able to specify any particular moment but I could say the moments I have spent with my family and my love have ever been my precious moment and unforgettable experiences In addition to that I could say whatever experiences I am getting for the development of my career, growth, all are my unforgettable moments I especially like changes not routine life, so whatever the sudden surprise changes I am getting, I would really love to experience that and get learning from it

    Band 6-7

    We live to create memories. One of the memories that was unforgettable to me was visiting a water-themed park. However, the experience was marvelous in total. The park was located in Kochi, Kerala. It consisted of various land and water-based rides. I had this opportunity to ride all of the available rides. It was set up like till afternoon we can ride land rides and afterwards we can go for water rides. It was mainly because of the concerns regarding the water problems and all. Whenever I get into a train ride, it was fun. It actually felt me alive. It just felt me like I am on cloud nine.

    Band 6-7

    So... So few months ago, I travelled to Nashik, a Hindu pilgrimage site, as well as a wine capital of India. So there we visited the temple of Lord Shiva, which is situated at Trimbakeshwar and also has, and most important in Hindu mythology, also the river Godavari originates from this location itself. So after the blessings of Lord Shiva, me and my family headed to the Sula wineries and vineyards. So there we had an experiential tasting of various Indian wines. Then we went through all the wine production process and ended with tasting some best collection of wines of them. After that, me and my parents headed towards the Godavari Aarti, which happens every day in the evening, which was the best part of the trip. We, with my family, were truly immense in that whole surrounding, which was created and it was more of energizing moment and we also, I love that moment because it was shared with my parents and that was one of the most...

    Band 6-7

    One of the unforgettable experiences I had was when I was in 10th grade and I was preparing for my board exams, while leaving, on my way, we realized that I had forgotten my hall ticket. I wouldn't say it was an unforgettable experience but it was for sure one of the most hilarious experiences which makes it rather unforgettable. So we forgot the hall ticket then my dad rushed back to home and it was a floody day and it also happened during when just when the covid just broke down. The news was horrific so we were asked to wear mask. By the time I was writing my exam and everything, I realized that the hall ticket was always in my bag which made my dad even more mad because he did all that effort for nothing.

    Band 6-7

    Multiple times I had a chance to collect unforgettable memories. Last year I went to Tamil Nadu with my friends and explored a lot of things. It is a new tradition, explore new culture and we tasted a lot of food and learn about how to people communicate with each other. It is a northern, it is a south part of India. Some famous places are available in Tamil Nadu. Moreover, the most likeable and interesting part of this state, there is a traditional temple which is called Tirupuchipalli and Rameshwaram. In addition, Dhanushkoti is a religious place in the world. In my country, other citizens of... I love to travel and explore new things, places and the culture also. Moreover, last year I went to Tamil Nadu with my friends and we decided a short trip. But we spent one month around Tamil Nadu. It is a southern part of India. It is famous for their religious places which is called Rameshwaram and other religious places as well as Dhanushkoti. It is a world famous and most of the visitors around the world came to watch these beautiful places. I had to tasted a lot of south Indian dishes such as Idli, Dosa, Sambha and fish chips. It is a delicious and we explore a new culture. I watched the Bharatanatyam with my friends in the Tamil Nadu stadium. This is a classical music and classical dance. It makes me over the moon because first time I explored this type of place, I clicked a lot of pictures and selfies, make unforgettable memories and experience with my friends.

    Band 6-7

    One of the many unforgettable memories I have is our trip to Pondicherry. It was a family vacation where one summer all of us decided to go to a beach. And the closest beach after Andhra Pradesh was the Pondicherry, the Union Territory. Here we had booked an Airbnb where all of us, my grandparents, my mother, my sister, my siblings, everybody was there. And all of us started to feel hungry. Here we decided... An unforgettable experience I had was one summer when my family and I decided to go to a beach town called Pondicherry. It's a Union Territory in India where the town is a French colony and is surrounded by beaches. It's a very pretty place to visit and it's a very chill town. There, one night on the Airbnb, all of us were tired and had just got back from a place more like a carnival. Here, now that night, my grandmother asked me to cook something and I was not very aware of how to cook. That time she asked me to cook a pasta alfredo which was an Italian dish. And I did not know that she knew so much about Italian because she's such a traditional woman. I never thought or even fathomed that she would be able to tell me to cook something so nice and delicious. She also used to... No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Last summer we had been to a... Yes. One summer we decided to go explore the town of Pondicherry, a Union Territory in India. This town is a very chill place and is more of a French aesthetic where all of the people there are very kind, polite. And since it's a Union Territory, there is a mix of a lot of different language of bilingual people and us being bilingual as well, we fit right through. Now, one night after visiting the beaches in Pondicherry, we got back to our Airbnb and all of us were pretty hungry. And we decided that the kids should cook something. I was, of course, included in the kids and we did not know how to cook. So our grandmother told us that she'd be able to guide us, only guide us, and we would be making something for the entire family. It was seven or eight people and that night our chef was not available. So we decided that we would take over the kitchen and make something that was a mixture of an Indie-French delicacy. Now, being Ratatouille, being French, we did not know a lot about it. We just knew that a lot of bright colored vegetables are included in it. So my grandmother decided to guide us step by step throughout the entire process. And she even knew how to pronounce each and everything perfectly. That is one incident that made me realize that a person has more than they show. And that's it. Thank you.
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