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Describe something you received for free.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was it?
  • When and from whom did you receive it?
  • How did you feel?
Show all 67 answers

Cue 1:What was it?

  • Begin by clearly stating what the item or service was that you received for free.
  • Provide a brief description of its significance or usefulness to you.

Example

I received a beautiful handmade scarf from my grandmother. It was made from soft wool and had intricate patterns that reflected our cultural heritage.


Cue 2:When and from whom did you receive it?

  • Mention the occasion or event during which you received the item.
  • Specify who gave it to you and their relationship to you.

Example

I received the scarf last winter during my birthday celebration. My grandmother, who is very dear to me, gifted it to me as a surprise.


Cue 3:How did you feel?

  • Share your emotional response upon receiving the gift.
  • Explain why this feeling was significant to you.

Example

I felt incredibly touched and grateful when I received the scarf. It reminded me of the love and care my grandmother puts into everything she makes, making it even more special.


Conclusion

  • Summarize the importance of the gift in your life.
  • Reflect on how receiving this free item impacted your relationship with the giver.

Example

In conclusion, receiving the scarf from my grandmother not only warmed me physically during the cold months but also strengthened our bond. It serves as a constant reminder of her love and our family traditions.


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: Giving Vague Answers

Avoid being too general or vague in your response. Specific details make your answer more engaging and memorable. Vague answers can lead to a lack of clarity.

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Tip

Include specific details about the item you received, such as its appearance, purpose, and significance to you.


2: Neglecting Emotional Impact

Failing to express your feelings can make your answer less impactful. Emotions help to connect with the listener and make your story more relatable.

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Tip

Share how receiving the item made you feel at the moment and how it affects you now, using descriptive language.


Ignoring the Context

Not providing context about when and from whom you received the item can leave your answer feeling incomplete. Context adds depth to your story.

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Tip

Clearly explain the situation surrounding the gift, including the occasion and the relationship with the giver.


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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
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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

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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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
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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 6-7

One of the gift which I got from my very close person was my watch. It was actually I got from my uncle who was residing in US. When I was in 6th standard I was turning into puberty and based on our culture basically in South India a girl turning into puberty is a very good celebration over there. So once I was turning into puberty my uncle visited me when I was in 6th standard and he surprised me with a gift which was a watch and I was so happy and so overwhelming when I received that gift and it was a white strap and having a big dial and also a mickey mouse was there. So I was so happy while I received that watch and I keep that watch as very much close to my heart and I was very much interested in wearing that one and I used to wear when I go for special occasions and all. But I was actually while thinking about that now I literally feel very sad because once my aunt come to my home for writing an exam which is very near to my home a school was there and she got the examination center over there and she went for writing exam but actually at that time she was not having a watch to look on to the time so she asked me and I gave that for her reference but unfortunately after completing the exam when she returned back she forgot to take that particular one and I missed my watch and whenever I think of a watch I was suddenly thinking about this particular watch which I got gift from my uncle and I feel very sad that this thing is right now not with me. So this was such a memorable gift for me and whenever I think of a gift this was the first thing which one came into my mind I used to want that more.

Band 6-7

One of the things that I have been receiving of free without any cost is definitely going to be kindness. I have received it from my parents from the very birth. But I think this is something that we as children take for granted from our parents. Again, I am fortunate that I have a set of loving parents who truly and genuinely care about my well-being and my thoughts and the things that I love. But this free thing that is called kindness that I have received for free is from my parents. And with age, with time, I truly and deeply understand what this thing means and how everyone should be treated with kindness. I believe that kindness is really something that is lacking from today's generation. And with age, it is exceedingly going out and being cruel and selfish is definitely coming in a trend. And people are forgetting how being kind to one another really is an important aspect of being a human being. I am, because of this kindness, this thing that I have received from my parents for free, I have been always welcoming to other people for the personality that I have created because of my parents. I feel in peace.

Band 6-7

I would like to begin my story from when I was in my 10th grade, all of my peers already had a phone, let it be a normal phone or an iPhone, they did have it, but my parents were strictly against considering me having a phone because it was not, it is not healthy at this point as well, but since it is, since it was my 10th, they were not particularly happy for me getting it, later when I cleared my board exams, I was surprised with an iPhone, the latest iPhone at that time, which took me, which I was awestruck by, I never expected my parents to give me such a pricey gift, because I was not looking, I was looking forward to getting an iPhone, but in my opinion if you ask me, my parents would have never given it to me, I don't know what came on to their mind, but I am still very grateful for that, at the moment I received that phone, I felt like that was my whole world, I was overwhelmed, I was completely joyous and to be completely honest, most importantly I was surprised and I feel that was the best surprise my parents ever gave me till date.

Band 6-7

I never knew that when someone gives us a gift, how that would make us and our heart feel so warm and happy. I was so ecstatic that when my friend gave me a gift of a book, which I really really wanted to read. I went to visit a cafe nearby my beachy with my friend and there were some books. I randomly took one book and I skimmed it and I really liked it. I told my friend that this sound, this book is really good and it's interesting. I would like to buy it someday. I already had that book in my list to buy it but I was procrastinating things and I didn't get it. Then I met my friend the other day. She got me that book as a gift and it made me feel so warm and happy. It felt so good because I casually said it out loud to her. I really didn't expect her to listen, to remember and put in efforts to get that book for me. It made me feel so special and wanted. I felt heard and seen. So I think I would like to do that to other people because it made me feel really good and it would make me happy to give that kind of happiness to other people too. So I can say that I got that as free but I really cherish that book. My other friend asked me to lend it to her. She's my best friend so whenever she asks me something, I never say no but when I got this book, I really wanted to give it to her.

Band 6-7

So recently I received a gift from a shopping app which was a small LED light, so it was USB based and it can be connected with any laptop or any adapter or anything else, so I received it from an app named Smitten and firstly I thought that it would be of a big size as compared to what I received, but still it was okay, it shined brighter and it was great. So I received two LED lights, so I kept one and I gifted another one to my boyfriend and he also liked that LED because it was of so much use and I really felt very overwhelmed by receiving that gift because I have never received any miniature gift as such.

Band 6-7

Recently, I got a wallet from my cousin, we had a walk in the mall and we went for shopping. As soon as I saw the wallet in the store, I was in love with it and I was at the over of the world. So she decided me to give that and to make me surprised and feel enthusiastic. So that wallet had a special feature and had a three layered lock system, which would make my keep my money safe. As soon as I saw the material, it was of leather and was in blue in color. So that as soon as I saw that I was like, this is the one which I was I needed. So as soon as I got that, I was like, that was unexpected to me and was very loving gift I ever had from my cousin. That made me feel very positive and at that spot, I felt that if I, I would have not taken that if she wouldn't have gifted me. So I think I'm the luckiest one to get that wallet as it was the last piece from the store. As I got it free, its price was almost 2000, which was too high for me. So I didn't, I was not ready to buy it.

Band 6-7

A few months ago I experienced a very happiness time when I got my lost beloved dog Bruno. It happened on a sunny Saturday evening while I was going for a walk in the park. Bruno being a playful and curious dog suddenly ran off his chasing squirrel and I felt so happy he returned. The long days ago despite my calls he disappeared into the woods and I couldn't find him. I got a part of my family and the emptiness was healing.

Band 6-7

A bike is a vehicle that I received for free because it is a gift given to me by my parents when I turned 18. It was a very special moment for me because it was my birthday and I went out with my friends and when I came back from that party, there's a bike standing beside my door on the ground floor and I asked my father on call that whose bike is this, is there anyone who's been in our home. So he eventually smiled and happily said to me that it is your bike and he gifted me that bike. He handed over me the keys and I was very much overwhelmed with that surprise gift because I was not expecting it to be such a great gift for me. Firstly because from a long time I wanted a bike, a sports bike and a cruise bike, something like that so that I could get to my college more conveniently. Although I opted for another city so I was not able to take my bike there but the moments I spent with my bike is great because at the beginning when I just learned the bike, I used to overspeed a lot, used to go to religious places, temples in early morning, very preciously taking my bike and cleaning it every day. I just loved that feeling that how a precious gift being given to me without any demand and without any much of doing such things like I deserve this but still my father gave it to me out of love.

Band 6-7

I received a gift which was a blender and I received this gift on a Diwali festival. It is a complimentary gift with a fridge and this gift was offered by a salesperson and after receiving this gift I was so excited to use it but I don't know how to use it so I and so I opened the YouTube channel and posted the company name and get the video. In this video he explained all the function which I don't know. After knowing the function of this blender I use it very frequently and this blender was so nice and it saved my time and energy and this gift was very useful for me whenever I am in when I am in hurry so I use it so I use it with a very confidently and my husband also use it for blending. I use it for cold coffee and hot coffee and I also grind it with spices.

Band 6-7

So, I bought something from Zepto, the hair rollers, for a function I was going to, actually a Christmas party, and I was expecting them to be a larger size, but they were not that large, and I asked them for a return, but they were not convinced that I was not getting a return or a refund, so I just tried my best to convince them, then I started at the start of the day, I actually talked to the 5 people, 5 people through the day, and at the end of the day, the 5th person was like, yeah, I'll give you your refund, and also you can keep the rollers, I was like, what? I actually didn't need the rollers, because I needed them in the particular size that I want, but they told that you can have it, the rollers have a nice gesture, and I actually loved it, like, it was a really nice gesture, and, yeah, so, however, no, I got the rollers for free, and I actually, they're not that bad, just not the size I wanted for the occasion. Thank you!
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