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Describe something that you can't live without (not a computer/phone): IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What is it?
  • What do you do with it?
  • How it helps you in your life?
  • And explain why you can't live without it.
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59 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 59 answers

Cue 1:What is it?

  • Begin by clearly stating what the item is and its significance in your life.
  • Provide a brief background on how you came to value this item.

Example

The item I can't live without is my journal. I started writing in it during my college days as a way to express my thoughts and feelings.

Cue 2:What do you do with it?

  • Describe the activities you engage in with this item.
  • Mention any specific routines or practices you have developed around it.

Example

I use my journal daily to jot down my thoughts, plan my day, and reflect on my experiences. Every morning, I spend about 15 minutes writing about my goals and what I am grateful for.

Cue 3:How it helps you in your life?

  • Explain the benefits this item brings to your life, both emotionally and practically.
  • Share any personal anecdotes that highlight its importance.

Example

My journal helps me manage stress and anxiety. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I write down my worries, which makes them feel more manageable. It also helps me track my personal growth over time.

Cue 4:And explain why you can't live without it.

  • Conclude with a strong statement about the emotional connection you have with this item.
  • Reflect on how your life would be different without it.

Example

I can't live without my journal because it serves as my emotional outlet. Without it, I would struggle to process my thoughts and feelings, which would negatively impact my mental health.

Conclusion

    Example

    In summary, my journal is more than just a book; it is a vital part of my daily routine and mental well-being. It helps me stay organized, reflect on my life, and cope with challenges, making it truly irreplaceable.

    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 makes your answer unclear. Avoid general statements that do not provide specific details about the item you can't live without.

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    Tip

    Be specific about the item. Describe its features and why it is important to you to create a vivid picture for the examiner.

    2: Lack of Personal Connection

    Failing to explain your personal connection to the item can make your response less engaging. It's important to share your feelings and experiences.

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    Tip

    Include personal anecdotes or stories about how this item has impacted your life to make your answer more relatable.

    Ignoring Cue Card Questions

    Not addressing all the cue card questions can lead to an incomplete answer. Each part of the cue card is important for a well-rounded response.

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    Tip

    Structure your answer by clearly addressing each cue. Use phrases like 'First, I will explain...' to ensure you cover all points.

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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

    location icon

    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 6-7

    Vividly I have a ample of things which I never live without but here I am talking about cooking. I can't live without cooking in a day. Well it is famously said that cooking is an art which can win everybody's heart. Different people have a different skills. Some are good in painting, dance, sports etc whereas other are good in culinary skills. Today I would like to talk about my culinary skills. I have made pizzas two months back and my husband and his friends praises a lot. I love to make different kinds of cuisines and that is my passion to eat everybody's. When someone comes to my house I never send him without food. I want to make my career in that field only. Apart from this I had made multifarious cuisines in lockdown periods and everybody said to me to make it as a career because you have good skills. You can achieve your goal and you can go in that field that is good for you. Furthermore I have made food for my kids, my husband, they feel energetic.

    Band 6-7

    One thing that I can't live without is book, because I do love to read books, I read books every day at least one hour, the book helps me a lot in my life, because usually I read a book after a hectic work, because it gives me mental well-being, and as well as, moreover that it gives me, it enhances my mood, and I feel relaxed, okay, sometimes I always, I one day realized that I can't live without book, because if I am in a confused state, then I will read book, and it always give me guidance to what to do next.

    Band 6-7

    Something that I can't live without is my childhood hobby. Music. Like music is everything for me and from last few years it's my hobby and passion also. Music feels so therapeutic for me like it has healing nature and everything that can refresh my mind whenever I feel like I'm sad or even happy. I used to listen music because it makes me feel more excited and refreshing. It makes my mood even good. Furthermore, my mood has constant swing and the only thing that works for me is my music. Listening to music and I would prefer some classical music and some silent music to make my mind more energetic.

    Band 6-7

    I cannot live without my morning coffee. My morning coffee is the most important meal of the whole day. And without that, I think I would not be able to function properly. Furthermore, breakfast is the main and one of the most important meals of the whole day. And you should eat it properly. So, I drink black coffee with 3 or 4 biscuits. And it's the healthiest breakfast I will be needing for the day to function properly. So, without phone and without laptop, I think coffee is the most important thing in my life.

    Band 6-7

    The thing which I can't live a life, I would say it's my bike. So it helps me to travel from one place to another place. For instance, as a professional, I daily need to go to my office and return back to home. So the bike helps me a lot to travel from my home to office within a short time period. So I can use the public transport too but that kills my time while shifting from home to office. So the main advantage of having a bike is no need to wait for someone or no need to face the traffic problems. So where it is more economical and we can effort and the maintenance cost is also low. So without this bike it sucks me a lot and it is hard to find always a public transport if we want to move from one location to another location. So we need to do some research to get to know the information about which transport will go to our destination location. So having a bike we can directly search the location and we can follow that location within a short period. So this helps me a lot in life.

    Band 6-7

    It's not about the particular thing, but if I want to pick a one option, I will select education. As the education is the key to the success, I can't imagine without education my life is null. Conversely, there's a situation where most of the people are bringing their children with zero education, like professional education from schools during their formative years. On the top of that, after some age, they will join in the school, in the primary school. This will help the student to learn about the contemporary society. Furthermore, it will show the concentration and knowledge about the advancement in the technology. This will hit the nail on the head by having the career objectives. This will assist the student to work professionally and gain insights from the teacher, which it will help them to motivate themselves. Additionally, from the formative years, the tutors will insight them with the dedication, determination, and discipline.

    Band 6-7

    One thing I absolutely can't do without is my glasses. As someone who is suffering from hypermetropia for almost all my life, my glasses are my holy grail. I absolutely cannot imagine doing my day or any chores for that matter without these glasses. Furthermore, these glasses or the contact glasses that I use, they are very, very essential to help me with my vision. And especially with all the long duration that is required on screen duration, more specifically that is required in today's day and age, it becomes an indispensable part of my everyday need. So all in all, to conclude, my glasses are something, my spectacles rather, are something that I always swear by. Whether I'm wearing an ethnic cloth or a piece of Western wear, since I'm someone who is not very comfortable using contact lenses, so I rather prefer wearing the usual spectacles as they're more convenient and less hassle-free. And of course has less chemicals in it, so it's more better for your health overall as well. I am planning to get elastic surgery also done that I'm hoping will combat my vision power altogether and help me enhance vision altogether. So yeah, that is pretty much why my spectacles are a regular need in these days.

    Band 6-7

    As a hobby I really enjoy doing numismatics, so numismatics basically it is like collection of coins or the currencies from the various countries, so I make collection for the various currencies, they include coins as well as the notes, paper notes, so yes I think that is really useful hobby for me because financially I need to know that which currencies are going in which direction that the dollar is increasing or like the euro is increasing or Indian rupee value is decreasing as compared to the dollar, so not only it helps to get the knowledge of the finances for me but along with that I really enjoy it as a hobby because you get to know a lot of information about various places and the factors affecting the value of that currencies then as well as for various currencies you have different kind of metal used in different coins additionally you can say the paper quality of the notes is really different from countries to countries and how they make it, so I really enjoy getting information about it and as a hobby I cannot live without it because it really calms me down when I am nervous or when I am very stressful I look at that all the collection I have got and study about them a bit and it is really

    Band 6-7

    Having bath, I cannot live without it, because if I don't have a bath, I will not feel refreshed all the day. And having bath is very much important in our lives to keep our body refreshed, clean and hygienic. Without having bath, we cannot live healthy for a long time, we may get into many diseases, because bath is very essential for our life. I cannot, I cannot.

    Band 6-7

    My brother is something or someone without whom I can't live because there needs a negative energy for someone's life to live better. Like if everything is positive there is no growth in someone's life. My brothers are so negative and so demotivating that they have generated discipline in my life. Every time they demotivate me, I get disciplined. They always irritate me, I get controlled. I have control over my anger and it builds patience as a skill. It's actually a life skill, patience. So I got that and also sometimes they are my assistants. Like every time they help me, they buy me things, they bring something from out like where I can't go and buy. They provide me all the help and also negativity. So yeah, I think that's really important to have someone negative in our lives to get a positive result and good vibes.
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