Describe your experience when you changed your school/college: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

Why did you change your school/college?
When was it?
Was that helpful?
What were the consequences after that?

17 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 17 answers

Cue 1:Why did you change your school/college?

Explain the reasons for your decision to change, such as seeking better opportunities or a different environment.
Mention any specific issues you faced at your previous school/college that influenced your choice.

Example

I decided to change my college because I was looking for a program that offered better specialization in my field of interest, which is computer science. My previous college had limited resources and outdated curriculum, which made it difficult for me to learn the latest technologies.

Cue 2:When was it?

Provide a clear timeline of when you made the change, including the year and semester if applicable.
Mention any significant events or feelings you experienced during this transition.

Example

I changed my college in the summer of 2022, just before the new academic year began. It was a big decision for me, and I felt a mix of excitement and anxiety about starting fresh in a new environment.

Cue 3:Was that helpful?

Discuss how the change impacted your academic and personal growth.
Share specific examples of improvements you noticed after the transition.

Example

Yes, changing my college was incredibly helpful. I found a more engaging curriculum and access to modern labs and resources. My grades improved significantly, and I felt more motivated to learn. I also made new friends who shared my interests.

Cue 4:What were the consequences after that?

Reflect on the long-term effects of your decision to change schools/colleges.
Consider both positive and negative consequences, if any.

Example

The consequences of changing my college were mostly positive. I gained valuable skills and knowledge that helped me secure an internship. However, I did miss some of my old friends initially, but I quickly adapted and built a new social circle.

Conclusion

Example

In conclusion, changing my college was a pivotal moment in my life. It opened up new opportunities for me academically and personally. I believe that sometimes, taking a bold step like this can lead to significant growth and success.

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 Responses

Providing vague or unclear answers can make it difficult for the examiner to understand your experience. This can lead to lower scores in fluency and coherence.

Tip

Be specific about your reasons for changing schools, including details about your feelings and experiences during that time.

2: Lack of Structure

A disorganized response can confuse the listener and make it hard to follow your story. This can negatively impact your overall score.

Tip

Use a clear structure: start with why you changed, then discuss when it happened, followed by its helpfulness and consequences.

Ignoring the Cues

Failing to address all the cues can result in incomplete answers, which may not fully demonstrate your speaking abilities.

Tip

Make sure to answer all the cues provided, ensuring you cover each aspect of your experience in a balanced way.

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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

I have done my secondary education from a common school that is affiliated to ICSE and after that to pursue my senior secondary education I changed my school. I got admission in Golden Senior Secondary School which is affiliated to Punjab School Education Board. I changed the school because as we all know that ICSE is quite difficult than Punjab School Education Board. That's why I changed to school much better in my senior secondary education. During that period of time that was very difficult for me to make new friends because that school has totally different environment. To be honest that school didn't have facility of advanced technology and the students of that school were very arrogant and selfish so that was very difficult time for me to pass out. I didn't enjoy much during my senior secondary education and also the teachers of that school were very like they gave more importance to those students who go to their house to have tuitions and they gave them more marks and those students who didn't go to them to have tuitions, the teachers gave them less marks so that was very rude, that was very bad for the students.

Band 6

Yeah, I was 10 years old when I had to change my school and move to a different location. Basically that was because my father had, you know, got a promotion in his job post and due to that he had to migrate from one country to the other. Well, I was in India at that point of time, so when I moved to Canada it was a bit challenging for me as, you know, altogether I had to cope up with a different community at the same time. My friends were not there with me for me to gel with the new people. It was taking time, so that was a bit challenging for me. So the consequences, however, post completing two months, I did make new friends. I was getting along with the teachers. I was also loving the place where I started living and going out with my new friends.

Band 6

I changed my school when I was in 10th standard because I took science as my module I have to future I have to move forward with physics chemistry and math which were not available in my previous school that was st. Mark's so I had to change my school from st. Mark's to Pippadiwala which is a school nearby because those modules were available there and it was kind of disappointing I would say because I spent my whole life in my previous school I had friends there teachers that I know of and the atmosphere I loved it it was a bit far away from my home but it was good additionally the culture there was amazing the uniform everything was good and when I changed and moved here which was Pippadiwala school the students here were I wouldn't say sincere they were harsh running around they had no discipline I mean the school was pretty good because it was being run by the government and the teachers were also decent and the main problem that I was facing was the sincerity and discipline that I had back in that school and that was lacking here it really changed my perspective because I spent around 10 to 12 years there and I have to live I have to spend two days here following my studies so I think it was pretty harsh for me however I adapted to the situation and I enjoyed there for two years got my degree and went back

Band 6

Yes, when I'm at the fifth standard, unfortunately, my dad got promoted to another city, which is a hundred kilometers far away from my native area. So me and family was shifted to that place, which my father got promoted. So in that case, me and my sister has changed the school. So when I was in another native place, we are having a very good bonded friends. So we are having very good connection between us. So once we got to change to other place, which my father got promoted. So it takes for us a lot of time to adapt their nature to the friends and atmosphere of the school. But we didn't feel very fulfilled about the school, but the teachers are very strict there comparing to my native place schools. So it takes a lot of time, but it's okay.

Band 6

I changed my school because I wanted to have better education and syllabus for my prior school. I changed when I was in my 9th standard and transitioning to 10th standard. At first I didn't like my transitioning very much, I didn't want to. First of all transition from one school to next but my parents were very pushy so I had no choice but to transfer. At first it was a little bit tricky but over time I got used to it and I got better and new friends who shared more many common interests with me. I found it very helpful and I got to really understand the purpose of changing schools and why I had to change it. So by understanding that better I was able to put myself more out there and really gain the full experience of changing school and fulfilled my reason of changing school.

Band 5-6

It was in the year 2005 when I changed my school along with my brother. The main reason of the change of school was that my father got transferred to the big city which is Jammu and I and my brother have to get along with my father. It was not very good experience for both of us because the place was quite far and there was language barrier and moreover the place was quite hot and humid because we people belong to the mountainous areas and we were not accustomed to the hot areas and it really affected our studies because we weren't able to concentrate on our studies and most of the time we just used to get distracted by the different creatures of hot area and we were really depressed at that time. As far as I remember we hardly had any good time and we didn't secure a good rank and we hardly got marks and pass it anyway.

Band 5-6

In fact, I never changed my school or college midway, but I had an exchange student in my class who started coming, who joined a school when we were in 8th grade, in fact, I never changed my school midway. After secondary education I went for diploma which was 3 years and after that I opted for degree in engineering which is another 3 years. Now, after completing your diploma of 3 years you get a direct secondary admission in degree for engineering. So, in a way you can say that I changed my school or college for opting higher studies. I was very scared, I am not a socially extroverted person, I am very introverted, I don't talk to a lot of people, so I was really really scared to meet new people and interact with them. I have social anxiety, I was very anxious and I didn't really make any friends until the third week of college. I would leave the college midway, after 3 hours of college there is a lunch break and I would leave during that lunch break and go meet my other friends who were in another college who were also pursuing degree and they were with me during my diploma. So, we would all just leave our current college and go meet our other friends.

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