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Cue Card Talk about a time something good happened to you

May 27, 2020 IELTS Research

IELTS Cue Card Talk about a time something good happened to you

Talk about a time something good happened to you

You should say

When was this?

What happened?

Why was it good?

And describe the situation.

Cue Card Talk about a time something good happened to you

Sample Answer

About two months ago, the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and quarantine began. When it was first announced I was in a state of shock, so far, the concept of this virus had been abstract, something present but not likely to harm me. Needless to say, when the fact that this notion was indeed real and impacting me directly hit home, I was a tad bit overwhelmed.

Soon, however, I settled into a new routine, I worked out every morning and evening, ate healthy and woke up on time. I found myself extremely satisfied with this new work routine, not only was I getting time for my hobbies and getting work done, but I was having fun while doing it. This was indeed a blessing in disguise for someone like me. I rediscovered my love for writing and restated my online blog, I gained deep-set contentment from sharing everything I had to be grateful for in these trying times.

I got into reading again, and even experimented with my coffee that I had been mindlessly consuming for years without any thought to the process. I reworked so many flaws in my previous way of life, identifying things that used to be a source of stress and worry to sort them out. I managed to complete projects that I had all but given up hope on, which motivated me incredibly. The amount of self-discovery I have gone through these past weeks has been enlightening to say the least.

Not only have I learned about myself, I have learned more about my friends and family as well. The people who still took the time to talk to me every day now hold an even more special place in my heart.

While I am acutely aware of how severe the situation is globally, on some level I can’t help but be thankful for all this, for me it was a much-needed period of discovery, to organize my life and realign my goals. I have no doubt in my mind that once this entire thing blows over I will be more than dedicated to my relationships and work life balance. I am grateful for everything in my life and that I can still support myself on my savings as well as working from home. I am grateful for this extended break no matter how bleak the situation might seem.

Useful words and their meanings
Abstract	existing as an idea, feeling, or quality, not as a material object
Hit home	(phrase) to cause you to realize exactly how unpleasant or difficult something is
Contentment	happiness and satisfaction, often because you have everything you need
Bleak	If a situation is bleak, there is little or no hope for the future

Feel free to call for suggestions and queries.

IELTS Band 7 Dehradun
Near Ballupur Chowk, Dehradun

email: info at ieltsband7.com

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Cue Card Talk about a boring meeting

May 24, 2020 IELTS Research

IELTS Cue Card Talk about a boring meeting you had with other people

Talk about a boring meeting you had with other people

You should say

When was this meeting?

Who were the other people?

What did you converse about?

And explain why you found this meeting boring.

Sample Answer

Boredom is the word used to describe a task or situation when the human mind finds a task dull and uninteresting, something mundane oftentimes a repetitive task that becomes monotone. To alleviate our boredom we can do a lot of things, but sometimes it is just better to suffer.

Take last year for example. I had gone to a family reunion because our twice removed uncle had built a new house, thus everyone in the extended family was invited to the house warming. Since it would be unspeakably rude to deny such an invitation, I was forced to leave my weekend plans and drive a good four hours form the city all the way to my ancestral village.

Once there I had to pretend to recognize distant relatives who might just as well be strangers for all I knew them. We took a trip to the temple, it was a hot sweltering day, I was wearing a large Indian traditional gown and on top of that I am an atheist. Needless to say, I was finding this expedition more and more cumbersome by the minute; it all looked to be a giant waste of time. When we arrived at the house, we had another three-hour long ritual of chanting while sitting around a fire. I was very fed up by the time everything began to wrap up. As if that wasn’t enough, my aunt proceeded to drag me into the most boring and futile conversation I have ever had in my life.

Generally, I am a great conversationalist and I love to listen, asking questions at the appropriate moments and really getting to know the other person. But this was truly beyond me. The village ladies had all sat in a circle and were bragging to each other about how much milk their cows gave, how much money their husbands made, and how many marks their four-year-old got in their latest test. Every single sentence was repeated what felt like dozens of times, the conversations were simply shallow and intrusive. How one could live a life that revolves around envy I will never understand. I am one for self-development; if you try hard enough you can learn anything. Why then discuss the mundanity of life when you have the miracles of possibility, of learning, and of development to talk of?

I felt extremely tired after that taxing day, I am aware this is not a nice thing to say but, oh my!! Relatives are indeed simply tiresome! Even when you are bored you cannot say anything for fear of making your family feel unwanted. It is a delicate balance of wanting to love them and see them dearly but not having the courage to converse for more than a minute. That was my story of a tedious meeting I had to attend.

Useful words and their meanings
Boredom	the state of being bored
Oftentimes	on many occasions
Shallow	not showing serious or careful thought
Intrusive	affecting someone in a way that annoys them and makes them feel uncomfortable
Mundanity	the fact of being very ordinary and therefore not interesting

Link for follow-up questions

http://ieltsband7.com/ielts-preparation/ielts-speaking/ielts-speaking-meeting-people/

Feel free to call for suggestions and queries.

IELTS Band 7 Dehradun
Near Ballupur Chowk, Dehradun

email: info at ieltsband7.com

IELTS online simulator

IELTS BAND 7 Home page

Cue Card Talk about a journey you made by public transport

May 23, 2020 IELTS Research

IELTS Cue Card Talk about a journey you made by public transport

Talk about a journey you made by public transport

You should say

Where were you travelling to?

What was the means of transport?

Why were you travelling by public transport?

And describe the journey.

Sample Answer

Public Transport is a communal means of transport for a cheaper and quite often faster, route to common destinations. Most frequently used transport facilities include buses, metro, tram, trains, planes, trolleys and even ferries, depending on the location. They are generally maintained by the government and municipality.

Few years ago, I used to use the public metro to reach my workplace every day, I traveled home via the same. During my children’s summer vacation, I decided to take them on a trip. At that time, we resided in central London. The family voted to go to Scotland. As luck would have it, there is an Express train that travels from Cambridge to Scotland. So, I booked our tickets for the journey before time.

When the day came it was a tad bit cloudy, but that is just a typical day in the United Kingdom, I was just thankful it wasn’t pouring as the weather report stated it might. Soon enough we reached King’s Cross railway station and caught our train after grabbing a quite bite to eat at a lovely bakery in the food isle. As the train began to move, we checked our baggage and I called the hotel we would be staying at to confirm our bookings as well as note some tourist hotspots we could visit later in the day.

My kids and wife took out their travel sized card games and began to play their game. After about two hours the kids started to get bored with the card game so I suggested a game of “I spy with my little eye; something…” in which you would pick a characteristic of an object and the person would have to guess the object. This also served to make us take note of the beautiful fields and mountains we were passing, the people on the train, and the types of adverts on the way. This occupied them for another hour.

Now it was around noon, meaning lunchtime. The train had a half-hour stopover where I got some fresh bread, coffee, and cake to accompany the sandwiches my sons and wife worked so hard on. After our makeshift lunch the journey continued. The boys fell asleep soon after, and I was grateful for that, since this was going to be no short journey. We had already passed four hours we still had two and a half hours to go. My wife and I talked for a bit after which she bought out her book and started to read, I on the other hand, decided to take out my mp3 player and look outside the window nostalgically.

After what seemed like ages we arrived at our destination, we had woken up the kids a bit before and had all of our luggage on hand. Once we deboarded the train, we caught the complementary hotel taxi and checked in. The vacation went absolutely marvelously and we had a blast. The long journey was completely worth the wait and I would certainly not mind going there again.

Useful words and their meanings
Communal	belonging to or used by a group of people rather than one single person
Tad bit	A little amount of something
Nostalgically	in a way that involves thinking about things that happened in the past with happy and also slightly sad feelings

Feel free to call for suggestions and queries.

IELTS Band 7 Dehradun
Near Ballupur Chowk, Dehradun

email: info at ieltsband7.com

IELTS online simulator

IELTS BAND 7 Home page

IELTS Cue Card Talk about a member of your family

May 19, 2020 IELTS Research

IELTS Cue Card Talk about a member of your family you spend a lot of time with

Talk about a member of your family you spend a lot of time with

You should say

Who the family member is?

Why do you spend so much time with them?

How do you spend this time?

And describe the family member.

Sample Answer

We can choose who we spend time with and who we surround ourselves with, except for the people whom we were born among; our family. Whether we like it or not, the family will always be present throughout our life and play a critical role, even in absentia they will leave a memorable impression.

I honestly do not manage to spend all that much time with my extended family due to living away from them in the city. The only family I truly know is my parents. Up until recently both of my parents used to work office jobs, after quarantine they too were forced to stay at home like me. I found myself spending time more with my mother though. During our roof walks post-dinner we had debates on academic and practical subjects both. It’s fascinating to be able to debate two different world viewpoints.

Mum and I would help each other out with our respective pastimes, mine would be drawing and hers would be writing. I introduced my mother to some new books which I thought she would like, to my delight she loved them: Red Notice by Bill Browder especially. She told me all about the intricacies in that book, and I, in turn, showed her the fantasy universes of Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games too.

My mother comes off as a very uptight and strict person when you first meet her; someone you should not trifle with. However, it is after knowing her for my whole life I can indeed confirm that she does indeed smile, and she does in fact, have a silly side too. Sadly, she is not ticklish but one cannot have everything in their lives. I love both of my parents dearly and I am very privileged to have such savvy and understanding people in my life.

Useful words and their meanings
In absentia	When you do something in absentia, you’re not physically present.
Uptight	nervous, anxious, or worried
Trifle with someone or something	to act without seriousness or respect toward someone or something.
Privileged	having special rights or advantages that only a small number of people have
Savvy	used to describe someone with practical knowledge and ability

Follow-up questions:

Speaking Part-3 

Q1. What are the things that you like to do together as a family?
Q2. Do you get along well with your family?
Q3. Are people in your country generally close to their family?
Q4. What kind of families are most common in your hometown?
Q5. How important is the family bonding for you?
Q6. What is your favorite memory with your family members?

Sample Answer here.

Feel free to call for suggestions and queries.

IELTS Band 7 Dehradun
Near Ballupur Chowk, Dehradun

email: info at ieltsband7.com

IELTS online simulator

IELTS BAND 7 Home page