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Describe Something That Saves Your Time: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What it is?
  • When do you usually do it?
  • Why do you do it?
  • And explain how you think it saves your time?
Show all 21 answers

Cue 1:What it is?

  • Begin by clearly identifying the tool or method that saves your time.
  • Provide a brief description of how it works and its main features.

Example

One thing that saves my time is a meal prep service. This service provides pre-portioned ingredients and recipes for various meals, allowing me to cook quickly without the hassle of grocery shopping.

Cue 2:When do you usually do it?

  • Mention the specific times or situations when you use this time-saving method.
  • Explain how often you rely on it, whether daily, weekly, or occasionally.

Example

I usually use the meal prep service on weekends. I dedicate a couple of hours on Saturday to prepare meals for the week ahead. This routine helps me avoid cooking every day after work.

Cue 3:Why do you do it?

  • Discuss your motivations for using this time-saving method.
  • Include any challenges you faced before adopting this method.

Example

I opted for this meal prep service because I often found myself too busy to cook after a long day at work. Previously, I would end up ordering takeout, which was not only time-consuming but also unhealthy.

Cue 4:And explain how you think it saves your time?

  • Explain the specific ways this method reduces the time you spend on tasks.
  • Provide examples of how much time you save compared to your previous routine.

Example

This service saves me about 10-15 hours a week. Instead of spending time shopping for groceries and deciding what to cook each day, I simply follow the meal prep instructions. This efficiency allows me to focus on other important activities, like exercising or spending time with family.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, using a meal prep service has significantly streamlined my cooking process. It not only saves me time but also encourages healthier eating habits, making it an essential part of my weekly routine.

    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 unclear. Candidates often fail to provide specific details about the time-saving activity, which can lead to a lack of engagement.

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    Tip

    Be specific about what the activity is. Use clear examples and details to illustrate how it saves time.

    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Not addressing all the cues can result in an incomplete answer. Candidates may focus on one aspect and neglect others, which can affect their score.

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    Tip

    Make sure to answer all the cues provided. Structure your response to cover each point clearly and thoroughly.

    Overly Complicated Language

    Using complex vocabulary or sentence structures can confuse the listener. Candidates may lose clarity and coherence in their answers.

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    Tip

    Use simple and clear language. Focus on conveying your ideas effectively rather than using difficult words.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    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 7

    There are many activities I do in order to save time for myself. One thing I like to talk about is cycling. Cycling is a really good exercise for you. I cycle to places where I generally walk. I used to walk in my high school years and after 8th or 9th standard I bought a bicycle which tremendously saved my time. On various occasions like when I want to go to the store or something like I want to go to the gym as well. Also we have a cycling club where a group of my friends and people all around my community of cycling goes. We plan our destinations for the weekends in order to cycle. We cycle together. 20 or 30 friends and other people also join. Also it is good for exercise and the strong cycling community is also good for your mental well-being. Cycling also there is no expense like if you are riding a scooter you have to put petrol in order for the scooter to run. I think cycling saves a lot of time for me. I initially started it in order to do exercise for my health.

    Band 6-7

    Something that saves your time, it would be doodling. Doodling is something that saves my time usually. When do I do it? I do it in my free time like after my studying or in a break time in between my studies. I do doodling or suppose I am travelling to somewhere and I am waiting for my ticket to come or something. I would be doodling over there and it gives me a very inner peace and a very peaceful mind when I do doodling. I love doodling actually. Doodling is actually very interesting and it gives me a joy that I am doodling whenever I am doodling. I doodle whatever is around me, wherever I am sitting. Let's take an example. Suppose I am sitting at a metro station and my metro is yet to come. So what I do is I doodle the whole thing that surrounds me. Let's say like a 3D perspective but it's in the doodle way. So that's how I save my time and I love spending my free time in this. I love spending my free time in doodling and I am actually very happy about it and it gives me a very big inner peace within me. Yeah, I guess that's about it.

    Band 6-7

    I think something that saves my time is definitely creating a to-do list and a schedule. It really helps me because sometimes I tend to forget what I have to do and when I have to do stuff just because I get distracted by stuff. When usually you have to do stuff, it's something that is not as much entertaining with something that you get distracted to. It's more tedious and for that I think it needs a structure. For me, I personally think I don't have a lot of structure within myself. So if I feel like I don't have a structure and discipline within myself, I need to create it outside and that's why a schedule and a to-do list is very important for me. So how I do it is, I create with what I identify as the things that I want to do such as, let's say, I have a few work to do, I have to meet a few people, I have to organize a meeting. So I organize all of these and I give these time frames. Time frames are important because when you place a deadline, it pushes you more to do it.

    Band 6-7

    So something that saves time for me is that I listen to a podcast or a video on a topic on an audio only form while driving. I usually do that all the way and every day through and from my commute to work. I believe it saves time because I am driving, I already am spending that time during my commute, during that time I can concentrate and listen to a podcast or a topic I am interested in and it helps me gain more knowledge regarding that topic which I believe is very valuable. I also think that during this task like while driving you have a heightened concentration so you can listen and gain more knowledge during that time which will help you be more efficient. I do it every day and it saves time because I don't have to listen to it after I have reached my workplace or when I am back home. So it saves like an hour or two every day of my day. It's very important to me because it helps me stay up to date with the latest facts about the fields I am interested in. I would recommend everyone to do that who are lucky enough to drive to work or take a metro. They should also use their earphones to listen to a podcast while they commute. It's a habit of mine now because I believe music is good but this is something I admire more because I have ADHD so it makes me feel like there is someone sitting next to me while I commute to work so it is very important for me to listen to something while I commute.

    Band 6-7

    One device that saves up most of my time is my mobile phone. I carry it with me all the time around. It's very handy and has all my essentials. To add on, it has my schedule, my college, academic works, and my friends' contacts and all important data in it. I mostly use it as an alarm to wake up in the morning, to navigate through the city, to check my attendance percentage, to check any messages that I receive from my class advisors or friends regarding projects or any of their good news. It has helped me save up a lot of time in a day by just processing the information that I have to process on my own. During times I don't use mobile, I find it a bit difficult to understand, to analyze certain situations or to just go through or go around. But with mobile phones, it's more easy for me to have everything and everything is just under my fingertips. I can call someone, I can contact different people, I can process my emails, finish my college stuff or do academics, do some of my creative activities, leisure activities. I also use my mobile phone as a digital e-book and I download books for reading. It saves up the time to just go to a bookstore, to grab a book or to just surf through it. It provides you lots of information, keeps you updated and is like an all-in-one package in a miniature form. And it has been a very essential part of everyone. Similarly, it's just like that for me. Yeah, I would like to say it's my phone that has saved up a lot of time for me.

    Band 6-7

    So, the thing that saves my time is kind of a to-do list or a reminder list. I generally use it every day for like every task of mine. Like there are so much of things in life going in different aspects of life. Like I do have to manage two teams at my office and there are some mails I need to take care of and get a regular follow-up on like three business days and four business days. I have to keep, I want to keep a track of everything I have to do like just take my hair gummies, my skincare and every reminder or every small little thing. Anything like for example, last month I started one FD on my mother's account. So, I will, it will just kind of a reminder that I create for like every day in iPhone. There is this one feature kind of a reminder like if I want to do some kind of RD or something that I have to send my mother money in like next two working days, I can set an alarm for it. Like so, it just saves my time in a way like I do not have to think much about it like what are my daily routines, what else I do need to complete. For example, I have set an alarm for like every Monday to send LinkedIn request to professionals that matches my like role and that aligns with my things and stuff. So, yes, to-do list is one of them.

    Band 6

    For someone who loves shopping, I feel online shopping is something that has been a saviour for me that saves my time and money at the same time but let's talk about time. I shop a lot, I love shopping, I love to have all the new trends in the market but some online shopping is something that saves my time because a person like me who loves shopping and needs something new everyday would be running to the market or running to some place really far to get a single top or a single jean but online shopping saves my travelling time, saves me going over there, trying the article, if the article doesn't fit, if the article when I come back doesn't really appeal me again because of the change of lighting and everything then I have to go back to that place and change whereas in online shopping I order an article, it comes to me at my home, I can order at any time, I don't have to take out time of my routine or I have to save some special time for shopping and the article comes home, I try it, I can try it with different things that I have in my home and yes if it appeals me I can keep it, if it doesn't appeal me, if I don't like it I can return it and the return process is also easy so online shopping is something that saves my time, I do it at any point of time in my day, right now I will be scrolling through Myntra or other e-commerce websites looking for any jeans, some new top, we scroll reels, we find something new and we need it so online shopping is something that can save time, you can order something, you can have something in the comfort of your own home.

    Band 6

    Well, there are quite few things which saves my time while I am doing my study or any assignments. Whenever I do study or take a time for study, after half an hour, I take a break of 5 minutes. That doesn't exhaust me for another hour which helps me to study consistently and help me to learn things easily which saves my time because of which I can learn more and do my work efficiently and produce something good out of me which is healthy for me as well. Usually I do like to do my work in middle of any break so that I can save my time and I like to do it in my personal space which is in my bedroom or on my study table and this method saves the time which helps others also so I think this is the good thing to do. Everybody can follow this tool by practicing it as it can save your time as well as you can learn more and do work efficiently which is amazing for your work.

    Band 6

    So, there are many ways I think one can apply to their life to save time. But one particular thing that I do is to make a to-do list. You know, you wake up in the morning, you have the entire day to yourself, your mind is fresh, and just to put everything in order, right, in order of priority. You list out all the jobs that you need to do on that particular day and put them one after other, just number them and get them done and tick them off, right, throughout the day, you spend only the amount of time that that is required to do the job, right. And you save up a lot of time because when you mark the times, right, what it does is your brain is focused on accomplishing that work within that time. So I think it, you know, centers your mind around that job, it lessens the distraction and it gives you a purpose, it gives, making a to-do list gives your brain a direction that you have to do this, you have to get past this. And that is what I think pushes somebody to, you know, not procrastinate, but do that job, finish that job with all their might and which ends up, you know, ends up saving a lot of time doing that. I think that's why I do.

    Band 6

    Time is a very valuable asset and it should be valued. Today I would like to talk about my scooter which really saves my time during the day. Whenever I have to go outside for an urgent work or market to buy something, I just ride my scooter and reach the market in a few seconds. If the scooter is unavailable, it will spend a lot of time by earth as I have to take a bus or a public vehicle to reach the destination. Whereas with scooter, I reach the destination very soon. I usually use my scooter on daily basis like for going to the college or for market or for many other purposes. It is very helpful for me. This was gifted by my father on my 11th, on my recent last year birthday. Because all my friends had a scooter except for me, so I also requested my father to buy me a new scooter and hopefully and happily he agreed to this. I really value my scooter and I always protect it.
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