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Describe your favourite way to relax.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What is it?
  • How effective is it for you?
  • When and how do you relax?
Show all 67 answers

Cue 1:What is it?

  • Begin by clearly stating your favourite way to relax, such as reading, meditating, or watching movies.
  • Provide a brief explanation of why this activity is your preferred method of relaxation.

Example

My favourite way to relax is by reading books. I find that immersing myself in a good story allows me to escape from the stresses of daily life and enter a different world.


Cue 2:How effective is it for you?

  • Discuss the benefits you experience from this activity, such as reduced stress or improved mood.
  • Mention any specific instances where this method of relaxation has helped you cope with challenges.

Example

Reading is incredibly effective for me as it helps me unwind after a long day at work. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, diving into a novel not only distracts me but also lifts my spirits. For instance, after a particularly stressful week, I read a gripping mystery that kept me engaged for hours.


Cue 3:When and how do you relax?

  • Describe the times when you usually engage in this relaxing activity, such as in the evenings or on weekends.
  • Explain your routine or environment when you relax, like a cozy corner at home or a park.

Example

I usually relax by reading in the evenings, right after dinner. I have a cozy nook in my living room with a comfortable chair and a warm lamp, which creates the perfect atmosphere for getting lost in a book. On weekends, I also enjoy reading at a nearby park, surrounded by nature.


Conclusion

  • Summarize the key points about your favourite way to relax.
  • Reiterate why this method is significant to you and how it contributes to your overall well-being.

Example

In conclusion, reading is my favourite way to relax because it transports me to different worlds and helps me manage stress effectively. It is a cherished part of my daily routine that contributes significantly to my mental well-being.


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: Being Too Vague

Candidates often give very general answers without specific details. This can make the response less engaging and informative, leading to a lower score.

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Tip

Provide specific examples of your relaxation method, including details about what you do, where you do it, and why you enjoy it.


2: Lack of Structure

A disorganized response can confuse the listener. Failing to address the cues in a logical order may result in a less coherent answer.

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Tip

Follow the cue card prompts in order: start with what it is, then discuss its effectiveness, and finally explain when and how you relax.


Overly Short Responses

Some candidates give very brief answers, which can limit the opportunity to showcase language skills and depth of thought.

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Tip

Expand your answers by including personal anecdotes or feelings related to your relaxation method to create a more engaging narrative.


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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

My favorite way to relax is mainly unleashing my artistic skills. It helps me in winding down, helping me regulate everything, helping me regulate my nervous system and it also helps me in the creative juices flowing out of my mind. So yes, it also helps me think out of the box, you know. Creating little artistic pieces like clay modeling or painting. I mainly do abstract art in that case and you know, make tiny little figurines out of clays, make a pot, make a plate, things like that. I also like writing poetry. That's mainly when I'm really stressed and I need to, you know, vent things out. I vent it out in the form of poetry. And I also have written a book called Her Tainted Soul. It's basically a lot of my venting, but it's, you know, reworded into another sequence of stories that is there. So yes, those are my favorite things to do and it helps me a lot in life. It has helped me till now in my life. And yes.

Band 6-7

There are multiple ways in which I relax myself, which includes ways such as badminton, like playing badminton. I love to play badminton along with that using Instagram. And the most preferred one is to play games on my laptop. So these are the ways I use to feel relaxed in my busy schedule. Also there are things I love to do, which makes my mind feel relaxed, which are going to gym, working out, doing CrossFit exercises. These also give me a feeling of meditation, which overall gives me pleasure mentally and physically. Along with that, taking time with my family, such as going out to have a dinner with them or taking them to a tourist place near my location is also a fun thing to do, which helps me to rearrange my thoughts and just to take out my focus from the stress I am going through. Also there are other sports I love to play, such as cricket or playing chess also is there. Chess also motivates me to think strategically and make use of the time given. Along with that, there are, there includes laziness also, like laziness also makes me feel relaxed.

Band 6-7

Actually, these days I didn't get much leisure time, but if I had a leisure time, I would like to spend my time in listening music or surrounding myself in the nature. My favorite way to relax is listening to music as it provides the more relaxing way and it is most engrossed way to calm my mind and surrounding myself with the nature will unwind me and distance me from the stressful life. And taking a little walk with my pet dog will distract me from the stress and the buzzling nature of the city. So I would like to listen music mostly. The music has a therapeutic way which relaxes and calm us and nature has an incredible way to make us distance from the pollution.

Band 6-7

Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite hobby that is listening music. Whenever I get free time from my daily routine, that time I used to listen music. And it is a stress buster for me. After getting frustrated from my daily routine, like I spent my most of the time in chemistry lab. That's why it's really hustle and bustle in the lab. And I got frustrated from my whole day. And after that whenever I need to cool down, that time I prefer to listen some types of songs. Like party songs or soothing my mind, that types of songs. And mostly I preferred the Arjeev Singh songs and Shreya Goswami songs. And after listening music, it feels a positive vibe in my mind. And also I get confidence to fight back with my life. And if I talk about the time when I listen music, that is I want to talk that whenever I work like cleaning or dusting or like washing cloths. And also after returning from my lab in hostel whenever I try to sleep, that time I really want to listen such type of music.

Band 6-7

Well, I am doing various activities to relax like watching movies, listening to songs and many more. So, here today I would like to talk about my favorite way I can easily relax. It is doing meditation. Whenever I feel down in a dump, that time frame, I would love to doing meditation. Through the meditation, I can easily enhance my energy and also focus on my work. So that is why, sometimes I am worried about my career and I need break from work. After that, I would like to go in a public garden and spend my quality time with nature and enjoying scenic view like landscape and doing meditation with listening music. So that is why, whenever I feel down in dump, feel blue, that time frame, I would love to go in a public park and do meditation. Through the meditation, I can easily calm myself and also I can easily overcome anxiety.

Band 6-7

As a hard-working student, I am most of the time swamped with my schedules, mostly every day of the week except on the weekends, therefore I rarely have any leases as I am mostly occupied with my assignments other than the weekends. So during my free time, I love to sing or play the piano as a way of recreation. Though singing is my hobby, I am not a great singer, or I sing random songs on my YouTube playlist and practice them with karaoke. And as I have already stated, I also have a strong passion in playing the piano which also adds a lot of aromas to the taste as I sing along. So I would say that singing and playing the piano are ways in which I spend my leases as a way of relaxation.

Band 6-7

Okay, so firstly I feel the best way to relax is music. I personally feel music is the best thing for me to relax whenever I feel stressed out. Even though I'm having a stressful day or even I'm tired of doing a lot of work and studies, I feel music is always the best way to relax, to get your mind calm and to have a peaceful day ahead. Music, I am personally a musician and I feel playing guitar, which I do, I am professionally into it now, but earlier when I was just playing music or playing guitar for relaxing, I felt it was amazing as it calms me out whenever there's tough times in my life or, you know, when I'm having a stressful day. Talking about guitar, why guitar specifically? I feel guitar is the only instrument that gives peace to my mind as it helps me to think even more. The only way I relax is to sometimes think more by distracting myself by thinking more about music rather than thinking about the actual problem that is going on. Even for few seconds or few minutes, it helps me out to, you know, relax a bit. Secondly, talking about music, I hear pop music or you can say soft music that relaxes my mind even more and it even gives me creative ideas to think about whatever I can play and what I can do.

Band 6-7

Whenever I feel stressed and feel that I do not do in a good space, then I like to relax with the music. I just go for a walk, start my music and it feels so good and it calms my mind. It stops my mind just to keep thinking the things and gives me a solution also to how to proceed further. However, I like to go shopping whenever I feel that I am not in a place that I can do things more. I just go and take some clothes, buy something which gives me a pampering. These are my ways of relaxing and further I also like to spend time with my family and friends. It also makes me feel good. I also like to cook because it is also a way of relaxing. I enjoy all these things, just cooking, shopping, listening to music, then go for a walk. Especially when I go for a walk with my sister, it calms my mind. I just stop thinking anything else and it reinforces me to do something creative. Furthermore, I also like to have some kind of pizza party. This is another way to calm myself and stop thinking about the workload whenever I am stressed. These are some of the ways to relax.

Band 6-7

No audio text available

Band 6-7

So, I am talking about the meditation. Meditation makes me very relaxed and I feel like, oh, that's very nice for me to do that meditation. So, I love to do the meditation, especially in the winter time, in front of the sun. And I am just sitting in front of the sun and then I am doing meditation. I am just remembering some God names in front of the sun. And then I am just feeling that's like, like a frame in front of me. And then I am just start to praying with the full of, you know, full of my confidence. I do that in the morning time and that makes me very relaxed and controlled. Like, I feel like full control on my body. And I am feeling like everything goes very well. That makes me very happy as well. Because it's your body is in your control. So, how you feel if your body is in your control. And then it makes me like very stressless as well. I am feeling very comfort with that, to doing meditation. And it's like a medicine for me. Meditation is very, very good for the health or to make yourself like a focus. You always focus your goal by the medicine. You do the medicine in proper way every time. They make your brain also strong, very strong. So meditation is for me, that makes me very relaxed, comfort and stressless as well.
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