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.

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.

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.

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.

Tip

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

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

To be fair, it has to be food and water. I mean, you literally cannot live without it. But if I have to give you a philosophical answer, then it has to be music. Because I think it's always been a part of me and I can't even remember how I got into it. But whenever I'm feeling even a little bit down, then I just pull my guitar out and start writing a song or even covering other existing music already. And if I don't have my guitar, obviously, then I just put on Spotify and play some music to help lighten my mood. Well, that's about music. And currently, I'm in a music society too in my university. And it has helped me a lot in terms of making friends. And whenever I don't have anything to do, I just go to my society room and I just lie down on the chairs and grab myself a guitar or ukulele and just start strumming and things like that.

Band 6-7

The thing that I can live without is a camera, because my camera gives me more interest, and my growth is a phenomenon, when I become a cinematographer in the future. And most of the time I spend with the camera, so I can live without taking a picture or taking a video. Most of my hobbies are taking capture moments like random frames and cinematic videos, so I can't live without the DSLR camera. And nowadays, like social medias and instagrams, like facebook, youtube and other social media platforms, I can't live without it.

Band 6-7

So the thing that I can't live without is music, because everyone knows that music is a healing therapy, which helps us to heal when we feel stressed out or we feel low. And everyone likes music because we see that whenever we travel or someone, when we travel or someone who is upset, really listens to the music. Music is a part of everyone's life because we can hear music, we can listen to music through phone, we can listen to music at events.

Band 6.5

Cooking is something that I can't live without it, because ever since I started learning cooking, it has become part of my life. I have joined the cookery skills I got from my mother, who has been a cookery teacher for millions of students. I have taken classes from my mother, on top of that I do practices every day on a variety of dishes. First of all, cooking needs talent and culinary practices too. Moreover, I cook with my friends too, when they come to my house for parties like birthdays, anniversaries, etc. It is very interesting for me.

Band 6

Nowadays, mobile phone is very essential for us for many purposes like playing games, reading news and doing homeworks. In present life, we are very addicted to mobile phone because without mobile phone, the human beings cannot live. With this mobile phone help, we can contact people in other countries and it is very common in every individual that mobile phones are becoming very addicted to people.

Band 6

As a human we have a basic needs, food, water, shelter and also hair, air, breathing. All this are very important to each and every person. So here I would like to say I can't live without one thing, it's food. Because food is giving energy and also I'm a person to be foodie and I love to eat food, I love cooking and I like to explore wide range of food. It gives me energy, concentration as well as good health and body. A person needs a healthy body more than a beautiful face. Nowadays there has been a lot of alternatives to reduce the intake of food like supplementary tablets and alkaline waters. There are different diets like egg diet, water therapy. All these are available now even though I love to eat food more than anything. I'm still thinking food is getting more energy, vitamins, minerals that we need to survive in our life. So food is the most important thing in my life.

Band 6

So, in my life, I had a several thing which I loved the most one, because all of them are very important for me, it is except from the mobile and computer, today on this occasion, I would like to talk about the one such a interesting and very important thing for me is a one locket, which was given by my grandparents. It was such a nice locket. When I was too young, at that time, my grandfather gave me that locket. But at that time, I have no idea about the locket. But after sometimes after I grew up, I watch, I watched that locket and I feel get emotional, emotionally touched with them, him. So, my grandfather and I used to spend a very long time in my childhood, I played with them. Also, we spend times in the garden, as well as sometimes they sometimes he bring me to the amusement park. At that time, I was very happy. I love to spend time with my grandparents. But after his death, the only locket is one of the important thing which I remember and always carry it with myself. Because this thing helped me to when I saw a locket, I feel like it. My grandfather is always with me. And that time I have no two worries.

Band 5-6

That's one thing I cannot live without a phone. Because my phone is everything for me to like chatting and sporing while interested to watching the videos, especially the serials. I can like, I can watch, too much of serials is not bad, little bit of the series, web series and serials I can watch. I can't live without the phone because of, it is the only entertainment for me because I am staying in a hostel, there is no facilities of watching TVs and this game like that, anything is there is, you know, only my whole day entertainment is phone, instant of the phone was hanging, that's why, that's why I was so really bad because of there is no, only there is no entertainment for me. That's why I cannot live without the phone. My daddy and some mommy, they can make, scold me every, every time you can scrolling the memes and the scrolling watching and seeing the phone while laughing because of one, it's a, having a habits to do scrolling Instagram daily and doing a post and videos collaborating me to search the food items and ordering for this new dresses, jinka, jewelries like that. I can adding so much of the things, then also I can, it's how to helpful for me the phone to easily find the best way to go is some weather places and trips and booking the tickets for flight and there is movies like that to order the foods and the environment.

Band <5

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