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Describe Yourself In An Interview: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What are your key personality traits?
  • How did you developed it?
  • How it has helped you in career?
  • Have you faced personality testing challenges?
Show all 51 answers

Cue 1:What are your key personality traits?

  • Identify two or three key traits that define you, such as being hardworking, adaptable, or a good communicator.
  • Provide specific examples or situations that demonstrate these traits in action.

Example

I would describe myself as a hardworking and adaptable person. For instance, during my last job, I often took on extra responsibilities to ensure our projects were completed on time. This not only helped my team succeed but also allowed me to learn new skills.

Cue 2:How did you develop it?

  • Discuss experiences or influences that shaped your personality traits, such as education, family, or work experiences.
  • Mention any specific challenges you faced and how you overcame them to develop these traits.

Example

I developed my adaptability through various experiences in college. I was part of a student organization where we often faced unexpected challenges, like last-minute changes in event planning. Learning to think on my feet in those situations helped me become more flexible and resourceful.

Cue 3:How has it helped you in your career?

  • Explain how your personality traits have positively impacted your professional life.
  • Provide examples of situations where these traits led to success or recognition at work.

Example

My hardworking nature has helped me achieve several promotions in my career. For example, when I worked on a critical project, my dedication and attention to detail were recognized by my manager, which led to me being entrusted with more significant responsibilities.

Cue 4:Have you faced personality testing challenges?

  • Share any experiences with personality tests during interviews and how you felt about them.
  • Discuss how you approached these tests and what you learned from them.

Example

Yes, I have faced personality testing challenges during interviews. Initially, I found them quite daunting, but I learned to view them as an opportunity to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses. For instance, one test highlighted my tendency to be overly critical of myself, which I have since worked on to maintain a more balanced perspective.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my key personality traits of hard work and adaptability have been instrumental in shaping my career. They have not only helped me overcome challenges but also allowed me to grow and succeed in my professional journey.

    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 Vague About Traits

    Candidates often give vague answers without specific examples. This makes it hard for the examiner to understand your personality.

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    Tip

    Provide clear examples of your traits, such as being 'organized' and explain how this trait manifests in your daily work.

    2: Neglecting Personal Development

    Some candidates fail to explain how they developed their traits, which can make their answers seem superficial.

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    Tip

    Discuss specific experiences or challenges that helped shape your personality traits, such as teamwork or leadership roles.

    Ignoring Career Impact

    Candidates often overlook how their personality traits have positively influenced their careers, missing a key aspect of the question.

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    Tip

    Link your traits to specific career achievements or situations where they helped you succeed, demonstrating their relevance.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    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
    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

    So, I am very happy to meet you and seeing this I have completed my bachelor of art 2013 and then after I have completed institutional training in institute ITI, I have got 70 percentile of this course, after that I am teaching, I was teaching some students, then I think about that my career, so I have got bachelor of education in 2019 and after two years this program I have completed in 2021 December, I have got my degree bachelor of education, after this complete course I have began to master of business administration by Punjab Technical University, so I have completed 7.45 CGPA and out of 10, after that I am searching for good organization to get my future planning by job and other company, so I am day to day giving to interview by searching on boarding by west company like TCS company, I have got letter by TCS, so TCS company offering me 4.5 lakhs CTC, so I am very happy.

    Band 6

    Hi, my name is Ayesha Tasneef. I am coming from a small village in Palakkad. My father name is Shihabuddi. I completed my undergraduation in physics with the complementary courses like mathematics and chemistry in Calicut University. Now I am preparing for IELTS exam to achieve my requirements in MSc Physics. I want to become a medical physicist. So I am preparing for it. That's all about myself. When we discussing about my district, that's called Palakkad, a small village. It's in the state of Kerala, in India. Basically, we are more traditional compared with other states and we have, when we considering education, most of them are not well educated. They are, I think, 12th or 13th grade.

    Band 6

    My name is Vansh Jayaswala and I'm 23 years old, born and brought up in Lucknow. I did my graduation from Institute of Hotel Management Bangalore and where I studied about hotel management and its aspects. A professional journey has diverse roles and I started out my professional career. I started out with ITC Gardenia where I got trained in all the four core departments of a hotel. Later I joined MyCaptain, a net tech company and as a sales and marketing intern my job was to sell different courses online. I also joined Crencia Research that is a startup originally in Bangalore where I was a talent acquisition specialist. Also I joined GetMeTherapy as a business development intern. Now GetMeTherapy is a company which associates with mental health and awareness. My hobbies are that I love to cook, I love to read and also I am a basketball player and also I love to play football. Thank you.

    Band 6

    I am a graduate of three years and I have been to multiple interviews in my career adventure. Just after the graduation I went for a few interviews with multiple industries or companies and I faced a lot of trouble and lack of confidence while attending them. However, over the times I learned how to act on an interview, the tricks I should follow, the important tips I need to follow in an interview. The first and foremost one was to maintain a better personality. Furthermore, I always tried to dress in a formal way for every interview. In addition, I also made sure that the body language when I speak to the interviewer is very formal and decent. I think following these factors made my confidence more and I was able to perform really well for the interviews afterwards. Subsequently, I was able to attend every interview in a positive way with confidence and I was able to get many jobs even with my personality itself. I used to track down the first two rounds with these.

    Band 6

    The biggest personality trait I have is to understand and agree with others. Whenever they are sharing their feelings and emotions and to help them and make them understand where they are going wrong. Another personality trait I have learned is to be patient in whatever the situation might be. Because in life there will be so many ups and downs. We need to be patient in whatever situation we are in. We can't just take decisions in a hurry whenever we are in a sad or happy moment. If any trial befalls us, we need to be patient and understand this is the life it goes on. This is how things will go. We can't make decisions or take decisions out of worry or anger or something. I try my best to agree with someone when they are trying to help me out or explaining their situations or emotions. Everyone should be patient.

    Band 6

    Well, my name is Amanpreet Kaur. I am 26 years old. I got married last year. Furthermore, I have completed my secondary education in medical profession. After that, I completed my Bachelor of Nursing. Now, I want to go abroad to pursue my higher study in Masters. My short-term aim is to become a nurse, which I fulfilled last year. My long-term aim is to become a gynecologist nurse. In addition to it, I am very punctual as well as disciplined person in my life as well as I like to do every task on time. Furthermore, I also applied this skill in my daily routine. With the help of that, I achieved my every goal without wasting any time. So, I made a daily plan. With the help of that, I am able to do my every chores on time. Apart from it, I am very health-conscious person. So, I like to do daily exercise. With the help of that, I keep myself more healthy as well as it also help to boost my energy and I can prevent myself from the some kind of hazardous health issue. Therefore, I feel more energetic and I am able to do my every task by my own. Afterward, I am an independent person. So, I do not rely on another usually. If I face any difficulty in my life at that time, I share my problems with my family member and friend. With the help of that, I can reduce my stress and burden from my shoulder. So, I have some aim in my life. So, I made the list with the help of hard work and dedication. I am able to fulfill my goal. So, it's all about me.

    Band 6

    In my interview, I often try to be very confident and on to the point to what is actually asked. So this makes me feel like I am answering in an appropriate way. And the important thing which I focus on is my answer to be precise and clear. So this makes me to be the better version of myself while I am answering the questions. The key personalities are being confident and sticking on to the point. And while coming to the development, I developed it during my graduation days to attend on campus placements which is often done starting with an assignment and then an interview. So I was preparing for that. During that days, I just developed it. Yeah, it actually helped in my career as well because now the job which I am currently working in is because I cleared the interview which the company had conducted back in my final year of B.Tech. That was the point in my life where they actually tested my skills of answering the questions and being apt.

    Band 6

    I am Mithuna SS. I am coming from Valladamma Puram. My family comprises of three members including me, my husband and my daughter. I have worked as a postmaster in the postal department of India. I have completed my MSc Physics from Government Women's College in Trivandrum under the University of Kerala. My main hobbies are listening to music and cooking. My aim as well as my ambition is to live abroad and to work in abroad. I do my graduation and post-graduation in Physics. It's a challenge to me that Physics is one of the toughest subjects in Science. I do it in a way that I have to put my level first. Moreover, in my study days, I am very much thought of the science world, that is the inventions, also the experimental sections. We have to convey many thoughts into the science world that I really enjoy while I am studying. The another one is that all of them know where the daily life science thing or related to science is.

    Band 6

    One of the personality which I was having was able to handle the pressure situations where nobody could handle it and second most thing was able to communicate during the hard times. And these two things which I developed from my younger age onwards. I had developed this during my B.Tech and my 11th grade onwards because I used to get interacted in lot of activities like club activities and conducting of fests. And where I developed lot of skills like communication skills and handling the pressure during the hard times and able to communicate in different tunes for the people who are able to understand it much easier. Because I faced plenty of times that lack of time we could not able to conduct the events in a proper manner. So I usually take a clean note where we need to be improving our time so that the work gets faster and so in time the works get completed in time. And I used to communicate with the people in a proper tune and tone manner so that they get acclimatized to the words which I gonna use it and they feel much friendlier and much easier to take it in words of mind. And the handling of pressure comes from my B.Tech onwards where I have less time for conducting of fests so I usually make a note of what are the things I need to be doing, what are the things I need to do and later on I list of them and I used to separate the majority of the things which I need to do and later on the least things which I need to do later on was the first priority of mine.

    Band 6

    Hi, my name is K. Vipunsai and my surname is Kothwali. I am currently pursuing my B.Tech in J.B.I.T. college where it is located in Moinabad in the state of Telangana, Hyderabad. And coming to my hobbies, I love playing sports like cricket, watching TV and using mobile phone. Basically, I am an introvert to the people who are not unknown to me and also I can say that I am an extrovert to the people who loved me most and I can be more friendly with the people. At the starting of my day, at the starting of my earlier career, I being so quiet and calm with all the people, building up my confidence, building and never regretted about my personality. I gradually started my speaking skills to the other ones. I slowly started my communicating skills and interacting with the others that helps me a lot that builds up my confidence. And I used to have stage fear in my earlier days but practicing by myself at the home and teaching lessons in front of my friends and lecturers that helps me more, that avoided me from the stage fear. As I never faced any personality changes since because I have good personality, not enough of good communication skills.
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