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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
    anonymous person icon

    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

    location icon

    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

    Well, I have many experiences that are unforgettable but here I want to discuss about the experience that I ever had. And it was a road trip with my friends after 12 board exams as I have given my exams and there was a time gap between my exams and the results. And my friends were also excited to go to the trip. Moreover, we planned a trip to go to Manali and this was the amazing trip we ever had. And in this trip we go by car and there were a lot of friends with us. We are going on two cars, five persons in each car. And we have a lot of baggage with us. My first priority is to book hotels whenever we go on a trip. And we had a lot of memories together there because it was the first time I ever had a trip with my friends to Manali. And I booked a hotel there which is a three star hotel and it gives quite good facilities there. And there are a lot of tourist sites where we went and there are a lot of tourist sites where we went. Moreover, we had a good food experience there. They served very nice food. The view is also very pleasant and it gives us ambitious vibes. Furthermore, my friends want to do some activities which is like bungee jumping and many other like river rafting and many more activities. And we come back to our home with loud music.

    Band 6-7

    The unforgettable experience that I had in my life is that actually I am a football player. So it happened in our school life that I was in 12th standard at that time and my football team was, the school football team was, the particular team never scored, never scored any trophy and all. So we have, well, we wanted to have that trophy. Then we played that game. The experience that was, we actually won that trophy. But after that incident, so I was the captain of the team. Then after that incident, the people, the way they are talking to me and the teachers used to speak me well. Then the whole school started to recognize me and my life got changed there. Then everybody accepted me as a successful person. A lot of fans I got and a lot of people come around me and they wanted to learn football. And then I started to teach football for them with the help of our teacher. Then we actually started a coaching camp for our juniors. Then we trained them. Then today they were actually playing in a big, big team. So these incidents was very beautiful moment that I have had in my past. And from there on, I realized that I have a good quality. I can teach people how to play football now. I am in Rajasthan right now. Then I am teaching the students as a physical education teacher. I am taking the theory classes also and I am also taking football coaching as a part time.

    Band 6-7

    This cue card wants me to shed some light on unforgettable moment or experience that I had in my life. So recently me and my friend went to Kashmir trip and after our final exam got over and we went for Kashmir trip. We did lot of fun over there and we explored many things, many cities and the scenery view, the landscape view we had that makes us very memorable. We had lot of fun over there and we did bungee jumping over there and had a lot of things with us. My friend was also living in Kashmir and he showed us the Kashmiri culture, the food, the traditions of Kashmir and that makes us unforgettable moment at that time. Now I am just feeling very proud that I have visited Kashmir, the heaven on earth. It is also known as the heaven on earth. So I am very glad we went to Kashmir and we had a lot of experience together. Now I am looking forward to revisit again and now I am planning with my family to visit again the Kashmir trip and have a fun over there and do so many things that we can't at that time.

    Band 6-7

    Unforgettable memorial trip has to be, experience has to be my bike ride to Chirala. I currently reside in Hyderabad and the closest beach is Chirala, approximately 300 km from here. I remember there was one night randomly me and my biking friends made a plan to visit that Chirala, the nearest beach. I didn't know at that time that this trip would be so memorable for me. It just happened in 2025 summer I believe. So we started the journey at night from Hyderabad and by the time we reached there it was morning. I remember after we almost reached Chirala, the experience was just incredible. We spent 3 nights, 4 days over there. The beaches over there were just outstanding, there was very less people over there. I just think it was a private pool, private beaches kind of thing. I didn't see any people over there. We rode bikes on the beach, we played with the beach, we made sand castles on the beach post. It changed me in many ways. On that trip I understood how you can enjoy life.

    Band 6-7

    Well, I had quite a lot of moments in my life which I will not be able to forget but the time which I can't forget till my last breath is when I visited to Chandigarh with my younger brother actually. So as he was living in Chandigarh for quite a lot of time, since quite a lot of time, so I visited him. He said that we should go out to enjoy our time. So we went out, I went out with him, firstly we went to Alante mall which is quite a lot, quite a famous mall all over the India. It is really big and when I visited, when I first visited the place like it was so huge I got so devastated like after seeing its absolute pristine beauty like there was too many stores which we can't even fully explore you know but later on after some time we stay, we visited to the another place named Sukhnath lake. It is also quite a lot of, it is also a famous place in Chandigarh as it is mainly famous for its you know eye-catching beauty and some most captivating sceneries in the evening time. So when we visited there, there were not a lot of, there were not like the place was not much crowded when we visited and people were just chilling with their families and friends having some you know drinks or thing and the thing which enhanced my experience more was that the place was a lot more cleaner than the other places which we visited earlier.

    Band 6-7

    However, there are many exciting events that had happened in my life. One of the major noticeable event was my viva practical. There was not only one practical that I can't forget, this was the period of one month in my senior secondary viva practical in January 2025. The examiner who had come, she praised me a lot for my creativity and well manageable and speaking skills. It happened in my school during my viva practical in January month and they just appreciated me a lot, they gave me a lot of praise and they just gave me a lot of motivation to get more succeed in my art and craft skills. When she just opened my project, she was quite amused and she not only appreciated my work but also she just carried it to her school to show my art to her school. Moreover, she not only praised me but also she praised the authorities, my teachers and my parents who had just always stand by my side. This event just had a significant impact in my life. Added to that, this event motivated and inspired me to do more craft and doing more to do more achievement in my that hobby that will help me to achieve something in my life.

    Band 6-7

    I never believed in love after the incident happened with me in my college and the experiences I gained from seeing others until Shantanu appeared in my life last year. I did not intended to fall in love with him but it happens. I don't know when, where it happens but I fall for him. For the first time I trusted someone more than me, you can say blindly. I went out with him to a place I even don't know the way back. I went out with him without thinking twice, lying to my parents. And as the day passed by, we came closer, distance became shorter between us, late night talks and our time together on the bank of the river, that was so memorable for me. For the first time I trusted someone, I let him touch me. I wanted to experience what love is. I wanted to believe that not every man are animals. I wanted to experience what it feels to be touched by the person you love and when someone touch you lovingly, not for love, how it feels. But it all stuttered, the moment we come closer and after that he changed so much and he made me realize that how useless, how worthless, how unlovable I am. It was just a game. I was just a chaser.

    Band 6-7

    So for me a very good and unforgettable experience that I had was during my college days. So me and another 9 to 10 batch mates we decided to go for a trip to mountains basically Kasol and Kheerganga and the nearby areas. It was a trip of around three to four days where we had planned each and everything on our own. There were no faculty, no guardians, nobody. Just all the young blood which was going for that excursion. It was an unforgettable experience definitely for me because I get to experience a lot of new things for which was quite new for me. For example we went for trekking to Kheerganga as well as Chalal. Both these routes were very beautiful surrounded with natural beauty and lot of good things are along the way. In addition we went to nearby Gurdwara. It was a religious place. We stopped over there. We spent a night in one of the rooms at that religious place. In addition there are a very good local market where we were able to see a lot of wooden artifacts, lots of amazing clothes which were very much similar to how the local used to wear. The entire experience showed us how the locals are living with foreigners as well as the tourists which are coming from all around the world and how all of them are welcoming in nature. The kind of different food varieties that we can explore in addition to the natural beauty that where they are residing as opposed to the kind of city troubles and the burdens that we are mostly used to. And yes whenever I'll get the chance I would like to go to that particular experience again. Thank you.

    Band 6-7

    So, I would like to describe my unforgettable experience, so that experience was the vegetable and ice carving competition which was held in Bangalore at Institute of Hotel Management Bangalore. So, basically we had a carving competition in which we used to carve vegetables and ice with carving knives which contains carving knives, carving tools, groovers and etc, peelers. So, the experience was very fascinating and I used to practice in college and I was the first person who got selected for this competition. So, we headed to Bangalore for the competition and on the competition day, you can't even imagine I forgot my carving kit and the competition was, when the competition was about to start, when I checked my bag, I had no carving kit. So, instantly I just went to the instructor, chef instructor and asked help from him. So, he gave me one piece of carving knife, he was like please adjust with this knife. So, I started carving vegetables from that knife, finally it was the instruction time, so I was just standing behind my counter, all the vegetables were carved and nicely presented on the table and the examiner comes and started examining me, he was like, what did you carve? I was like, I carved vegetables and on that day, I got the first place.

    Band 6-7

    Ndiyo was in 2004, last year July, when me and my co-workers were doing internships in Vizor to cinema hopers. I ended up being the only one who is focused on the movie because it was interesting to me what type of culture do Indians have, what they are displaying there on the screen. And for them it wasn't their first time to encounter such events, to encounter such visualizations. It's their culture. I heard that they are not even bothered about it. I was looking at the place there on the movie while my friends were sleeping. It was fantastic to see people sleeping while you are watching a movie. Yet it is their culture which is being displayed on the screen. I was amazed by the things which were there. It was the best moment of my life.
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