IELTS Speaking Cue Cards - December 2016

Dec. 18, 2016


Describe something that you shared with someone. Please say
– What was it?
– Who and why did you share it with?
– How did you feel about it?
I have shared my room with a cousin who had come to my city to pursue her Bachelors in Commerce. She is my paternal aunt’s daughter and is very close to me. She belongs to a very small town around 150 kms away from my city so to study further she had to move to my city. We shared my room for 3 years within which time she completed her studies and returned to her hometown after that. All her belongings were placed appropriately in my room like my mother had cleared out half of my wardrobe to make space for her stuff and we also bought a small cabinet for her to keep her things for everyday use. My family tried to make her feel at home as much as possible because it was the first time she had stayed away from her house for so long and we didn’t want her to feel homesick. I was quite happy with her coming here as I liked her very much and we shared a great rapport. To be truthful, we did sometimes have arguments on petty things like misplacing each other’s stuff and borrowing things like hair clips or t-shirts and not returning after use. But overall it was a really memorable experience, and it felt like having a sister of my own! Now that she’s gone, I miss our times together, and whenever we meet, we reminisce those days.

Dec. 17, 2016


Talk about something you do to keep fit.
- What is it?
- Since when do you do it?
- How does it help you?
I exercise daily to keep fit. I believe that besides a healthy diet, exercise is much more of a contributing factor for keeping your body fit and in shape. I daily exercise for 45 minutes, but on some days it might even be for less time as I do not have enough time in the morning to exercise. I don’t like to exercise at any other time of the day. I do sit-ups, for a flat shaped tummy and for maintaining good digestion. I even do planks for that. Then I do squats for my thigh muscles. I do all these exercises for 2.5 to 3 minutes each. After this, I take a break of a minute or so and start skipping. At first, I was able to skip for 30-40 counts, but now I can go up to a 100. Then I start all over again, and in the time of 40-45 minutes, I do this 3 times. It is very important to sweat while exercising which is a sign that your muscles are being worked out. This is why I exercise in a room with the fan shut off. Oh! I almost forgot, before starting any of my routines, I have a cup of Green Tea as it detoxifies my body and makes it ready for exercising. I have been following this routine for 8 months now. I truly feel that instead of wasting money and going to a gym to do these same exercises, you can do all that at home with a little sincerity.

Dec. 16, 2016

Describe something that you have in your family for years. Please say
– What is it?
– How long has it been in your family?
– What memories do you have of it?
I want to describe a piece of furniture that has been in my family for as long as I can remember. It is the dining table in my house. It is made of mahogany wood, and it designed like furniture of the Victorian-era. It is a long dining table with the seating space for 10 people, and I’m assuming this is because the family would have been a large one, during the time my great grandfather lived. I have been told that mine was a joint family, before my father and uncles decided to move to big cities in order to expand their business or look for new work. The thing I like the most about it is it must be at least 60-80 years old, but it still has a shining top and legs. I mean, it doesn’t look as if it has aged at all. I also does help that my mother takes really good care of it, and she also got it polished around 10 years ago. She always covers it with a transparent table spread and that is why I believe the shine of the surface is not as faded as it should be. This table is there in my house because my father is the eldest brother in his family and so when the family possessions were being distributed, everyone agreed my father should get this. Even today, when we have family gatherings on festive occasions, my extended family would insist on coming to our house for meals as they get to sit around this beautiful dining table and talk about their fond memories associated with it.

Dec. 13, 2016

Describe a tall building in your country.
- Where is it?
- How and when did you know about it?
- Do you like or dislike it? Why?
I want to talk about Antilia, that’s the house of the billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries. It is the tallest building in my country according to my knowledge. I read it on Wikipedia that as of November 2014, it is deemed to be the world's most expensive residential property, after Buckingham Palace. The building has 27 floors and requires a staff of 600 people to maintain it. Some of the pictures that we can see on the internet of some parts of the house seem insanely grand and luxurious. I came to know about all this through media news channels as, since its construction, the Indian media have been publicizing it to no end, praising as well as criticizing it for different reasons. There are a lot of controversies associated with this place as it was said that the land acquired to build this house was taken illegally through unethical means, but there have also been proofs coming out denying these allegations. The current valuation of the house is estimated to be US $1 billion. As far as my opinion is concerned, I do not dislike the house. I feel it is an extravagantly opulent home to have. However, it does seem to be a stupendous show of wealth. 

Describe a leader you admire. Please say
– Who is he/she?
– What does he/she do?
– How did you hear about him/her?
The leader I admire is Mr. Barack Obama. He is the President of the United States of America, and I came to know about him when he got elected as President 8 years ago. I’m not an American, so I am not aware about all that he has done for his country’s development, but I have seen him being revered by his nation’s people and the economic decisions that he has made, that have earned him respect and popularity. The thing I admire most about him is that he has maintained his sense of humor, his dignity, and a healthy sense of self in the face of the most vicious and unceasing abuse. Despite everything that gets tossed at him - by opposing party members, the media, his country’s electorate and the world at large - President Obama manages to handle himself in a dignified manner while his actions always let his absolute sense of decency shine through. His composure is truly outstanding. His patience is astounding. He manages to take a longer view than almost all of his opponents, and of most of his supporters. And, when the opportunity presents itself, he is an effective counter-puncher deftly excoriating his enemies while pointing out their foibles while being funny. It's harder than it looks. Besides this, he is a very real and humble person. He doesn't act like he is above other people. He also seems to be a very caring father and husband, and always gives due respect to his family during public appearances. He truly has emerged as a world leader and has craved a pedestal for himself that his successive nominees would find hard to get on to.

Dec. 11, 2016


Describe a sports center in your city.
- Where is it?
- Who told you about it?
- What did you do there?
A very renowned sports center in my city is the Sports Club, located in Navrangpura locality. It is adjoining to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, a very well-known landmark of our city. The stadium holds the honour of hosting the first ever One Day International match played in India. With a beautiful design and sprawling space, Sports Club has gradually spread its branches for other sports than Cricket, and has become an epitome of entertainment and leisure in the thriving city of Ahmedabad. Today, Sports Club is one of the most regal clubs of Ahmedabad and renowned for its state of the art amenities and splendid aura. The swimming pool of this club has been built to meet international athletic standards, and the maintenance they do is incomparable. The club offers very limited membership so if you have a friend who’s a member you can get in with them to enjoy the club’s facilities. This is one of the reasons why I like this club; it is very exclusive. For this reason only, all the facilities are extremely well-maintained. I had registered for a tennis coaching course being conducted in the club, and they had selected only a few students of which I was lucky to be one. I went there for 3 months to learn tennis, and I have not been able to feel the same enjoyment in other tennis court facilities in my city, that I felt here.

Dec. 10, 2016


Talk about a song you like the most.
- What is it?
- When did you first hear it?
- Why do you like it?
I like many songs, and my favourites keep changing as I keep adding songs to the list of my favourite ones. I would like to talk about a recent favourite of mine, which is from a Bollywood movie. It is called “The Break-up” song, and it is a Bollywood party song. I t from a recently released movie “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” and I heard this song for the first time on a radio station in my city, which is the official radio partner for the movie. So, all the new songs from the movie were exclusively played on this particular radio station only. I liked the song a lot after hearing it, and I searched for its video on YouTube. The video is also as interesting as the song and has some pretty hep dance steps. It is currently a chartbuster in my country and is being played on every music channel, on every radio station and since New Year’s just around the corner, I am sure this will be the party anthem for many new year parties in my country.


Talk about the time when you got angry recently.
- What was the reason?
- What did you do?
- How do you feel about it?
It is human tendency to get angry on things that annoy them beyond a certain limit. In my case, I get annoyed with people who are hypocrites, by that I mean who describe themselves as something else and are very opposite to that description in reality. I believe these people derive a lot of satisfaction by putting themselves on top of others and showing how they are goody-two-shoes here. I recently got annoyed with such a girl in my group of friends. It so happened that she started talking about another person of our friend’s circle who wasn’t present there that day. She started telling everyone about some of the things that were meant to be kept only to herself as I think that friend of ours had trusted her with that information. This annoyed me to the core as this hypocrite girl that I’m talking about is usually fawning over the other girl in her presence and pretends to be a very good and caring friend to her and today here she was bitching about her behind her back. After a while I couldn’t bear any more of her yapping and I burst out. I told her off in front of everyone for being such a selfish hypocrite. She started crying after that which infuriated me even more, as I don’t have patience with grown up adults who cry. I don’t want to get into any further details after that, so yeah this was the time I got very angry. I do feel a little bad about that as I didn’t want to be rude and intrusive in her business, but unfortunately my temper got to be the better of me.

Dec. 9., 2016

Talk about a movie you liked.
- When did you see it?
- What was the movie about?
- Why did you like it?
(Also asked on Dec. 17, 2016)
I saw a Hollywood movie recently that I absolutely enjoyed. It was Doctor Strange. It is a superhero movie, created under the Marvel comics banner as the character Doctor Strange is a comic character developed by Marvel. The movie was in 3D and the effects and visualizations of the movie did total justice to it. The visuals were very trippy; I and my friends felt dizzy at times! That’s how effective the 3D was in the movie! The story was about a very established surgeon who becomes a little arrogant because of his success, but one near fatal accident shatters his ego down and in the process of curing himself to be like before, he turns in a sorcerer. How he becomes a more humble human being willing to care for others forms the rest of the story. I have always been a fan of the Marvel comic characters and their movies, but the difference between this movie and the others was that I had some background information on the other comic characters as I used to read about them. I had no clue about Doctor Strange and this cluelessness took me by a huge surprise! I loved the character and its development in the story and there was a hint at the end of the movie about a sequel. I’m pretty excited for that as no I’m a fan of this superhero as well.

Describe a garden you visited recently.
- When and where did you go?
- With whom?
- What did you do there?
I went to Vadodara last week to visit my relatives, and I went for a walk in a garden near their house. The garden is known as Sayaji garden. It is named after Sayaji Rao Gaikwad, a former ruler of the cities, whose successors still live in a palace in Vadodara and are much respected by the people of the city. Talking about the garden, it is spread out in a huge area and is full of greenery. I noticed that the garden is very well kept and the bushes and trees are trimmed properly and are all in healthy condition. I didn’t see any trash lying around anywhere and there were small fences around flower bushes that were planted for decoration. The garden is home to the Baroda Museum & Picture Gallery, the Sardar Patel Planetarium, and the Sayaji Baug Zoo. The most fascinating thing I found here is they have a unique floral clock. I got to know from the garden keeper that the floral clock was the first of its kind in the state. It consists of an hour, minute and seconds hand that move on the dial which is 20 feet in size. The machinery moving the clock is underground, giving the clock a natural look. This is one of the finest gardens in India and is maintained by Vadodara Municipal Corporation. Thousands of Citizens of the city do come here for morning walk as well as for pleasant view of the Garden.

Talk about someone interesting whom you met recently.
- Who was it and where did you meet?
- What did you talk about?
- Would you like to meet the person again?
I am going to talk about a stranger who helped me recently. His name is Rishab Dutt. Well, this happened last week when I had gone for a drive in my car. It was just a normal day for me and I had gone for a usual drive for some quality alone time by myself. It was around 10.30 pm and some of the streets in my city start to become less crowded at this time so I decided to drive on those routes. On one such road, I had to brake quite suddenly as a bus was taking a U-turn, and stopped midway, I don’t know due to what reason. I was driving at a decent speed so when I braked, there was a noticeable screeching noise of my car tyres and the engine turned off, which made me a little worried. I thought it must be because of my sudden braking so nevertheless, I waited till the bus took its turn and drove off, and then I started my car. However, it did not start. I tried doing this for the next 5 minutes but the engine refused to start so I started getting a little panicky. Just then a bike rider stopped beside me and offered help. He said he noticed my car standing in the middle of the road and guessed there might be some problem. The man seemed genuine so I let him take a look at the engine, and he talked like he seemed to know what he was doing. He seemed educated so I asked him about himself. I was surprised to know that he was a student in the engineering faculty of the same college campus where I studied Literary Arts. I eased a little after this familiarity as I was skeptical of a stranger helping me in the first place. He said that he wouldn’t usually stop to help a stranger but the locality that my car had stopped in got a little deserted after 10 pm so he got concerned. Anyways, after 10 minutes of us talking and messing with the engine he could start it, but he told me to keep it running till I reached home as he wasn’t sure whether the engine would start again after it stopped one more time. I thanked him for his help and drove away, and fortunately there was no trouble in me reaching home. I did meet him in college the next day I went, and we have been friends since.

Dec. 8, 2016

Talk about a situation where you forgot an appointment.
- When and how did it happen?
- What were the consequences?
- How did you handle the situation?
(Also asked on Dec. 10, 2016)
I once forgot to go to a job interview that I had gotten called for. I had mailed and talked to at least a dozen people for a job as it was my first job I was applying for, and didn’t expect to get it in the first interview itself. I was lucky enough to get a call for an interview from half of them, but I didn’t pay attention to the dates of each company’s interview. It so happened that I got many interviews lined up for one day and that too in a close time frame. It was too late for me to try and re-arrange the timings so I decided to strategically attend every interview and be punctual from the start of the day itself so as to not go wrong anywhere. I attended 3 interviews and I thought it had gone really well, and in that excitement I forgot I also had the fourth one scheduled. I came back home to check if any of the people I had just met had mailed me any approvals when I saw the reminder of the fourth interview. I cursed myself forgetting it and started thinking about an excuse for being late, while rushing to my car to get there. I reached the company an hour late and was sure I had made a bad impression already. Fortunately for me, they still allowed me to go for the interview and I decided to be honest about the whole situation. They were impressed with my resume, but still commented on my lack of organisational skills. They asked me to wait outside for the result and I was sure I didn’t get it but I sat there anyways. To my immense surprise, I was told I was hired for the job as the interviewers were impressed with my honesty and taking responsibility for me being late.

Describe a small business you want to operate in future.
- What would it be?
- Why do you want to do that?
- How would you run it?
I would like to open a restaurant in the future. I am a food lover and I also love to cook. Unfortunately, I couldn’t choose this as my field of study, otherwise I would have loved it if I could have made a career out of this for me. Anyways, what I plan to do is work in my current academic field for a good amount of time, earn good money and then open up a restaurant with the amount I have. It would be okay if it is not a big, fancy one, a small eating joint would also be lovely, as long as I can cook and serve people. I am particularly adept with Italian and Asian cuisine, so I would like to open up a restaurant serving these. I believe that besides the ambience, décor, and service, the thing that will keep your customers coming will be the food only. I do not intend to compromise in the quality that I offer people, so I would like to take my time, study about managing a restaurant and a kitchen, make myself more professional regarding this and then I would want to start with my own restaurant.

Talk about a public place that you visit often.
- How often do you go?
- When did you last visit it?
- When do you plan to go next?
(Also asked on Dec. 10, 2016)
I like to visit a place called Food Truck Park in my city. I live in Ahmedabad and my favourite part of the city is a locality called SG Highway, where this place is located. First of all, SG Highway has turned into a very posh locality towards the outskirts of my city in the last 10 years and it is laden with fancy corporate parks and building, big posh hotels, and many good restaurants. I am very fond of eating out so naturally this Food Truck Park becomes a hub for me whenever I go out to eat. All cuisines imaginable are available in this place, with fancy food trucks in attractive colours and banners making the whole place look lively. This place attracts quite a lot of crowd. It is also a great idea as you have SG Highway just connected to it for a stretch for cruising in your car, as the road is wide and long, and there are no unnecessary vehicles parked on the sides congesting it. It is almost like driving on a freeway. I often come here with my friends and family members, mostly after 9.30 pm, and enjoy late night drives after having our fill. I just visited her last Sunday when I got to know that a new truck had opened up here and served mind-blowing Mexican cuisine. Indeed, we weren’t disappointed when I and my best friend went there to try it. I would like to add that the locality is also comparatively less noisy, and very clean, as the people staying here are very civilized and cordial. I think these are reasons enough why I like visiting the Food Truck Park so much. The next visit I’m planning is on next Sunday when we’d take the other friends to try the Mexican truck again for other dishes.

Dec. 6, 2016


Talk about a life changing event for you.
- When was this?
- What happened?
- Was it a positive or negative impact?
(Also asked on Dec. 12 and Dec. 17, 2016)
I would like to talk about how my 12th standard result changed my life forever. It was at this time that I took one of the most important decisions of my life and thankfully it favoured well for me. I was a good student in my school till my 10th standard and used to score decent marks in all exams, securing a respectable 81% in my SSC exams. However, when I entered the 11th standard, I kind of got carried away with my friends and their company and started showing less interest in my studies. This went on unchecked for a long time and I found myself in a difficult situation during my 12th standard when I had a lot of difficulty in concentrating on my studies. I used to crave to go out with my friends and roam around. This struggle cost me my result and I scored only 73% in my final board exams, which was really disappointing for me as well as my parents. I had chosen the Science stream and this result wasn’t considered a very good one if I wanted to take up a good subject for my Bachelor’s degree. I had to face a severe reprimanding from my father and finally it was decided to get me admitted in a college in another city as I couldn’t get admission in a good college in my city with my score. This was terribly difficult for me as I had to bear the separation from my friends and family and at that time I thought this was the most dreadful thing to happen to me. But my parents calmly made me realize that some sacrifices would have to be made now to secure my future. With a heavy heart, I decided to go to a college in Pune. After a few months of staying there, I experienced a lot of change in me. Not only was I happy that I could get a course of my liking but I was also in one of the reputable colleges of that city, something I couldn’t have said about myself if I was in Ahmedabad. My father had to pull some strings in his acquaintances for my admission here, and I’m not proud to have made my father ask for favours for me. But this made me stronger inside, and I vowed fiercely that I would make them proud. This drive led me to become one of the high rankers of the college. I’m glad that I could develop this passion in me again, stronger than before, and I feel sometimes you need a failure in life to get up back again, more determined.

Dec. 5, 2016

Talk about a time when you had to use imagination.
- Where and when did you use it?
- What did you do?
- What was the challenge you faced?
I used my imagination quite elaborately at a story-writing competition I attended in high school. I am very fond of reading fiction and when my friend told me that my favourite publication house was organizing a story-writing competition, I was very excited to register for it. I thought that since I loved reading so much, it would be easy for me to write a story as well The competition gave us 5 topics to choose from, and we had to write a creative original short story in 500 words in the time limit provided. I chose the topic of aliens landing on Earth, and I got all geared up to write. However, it was not as easy as I thought. I had to really struggle for ideas as all the ideas that I was getting were from movies and books I had already seen and read. After what seemed like ages, I was able to develop a basic plotline for my story and started writing. It was also very difficult to think of names for the characters, and I changed them thrice, even after I had written half of the story I intended to. Naturally, hearing all this you must have figured out that I wouldn’t have own that competition. However, it gave me a really good insight on the struggles of becoming a writer or an author. Since then, I have been practising writing and expressing my ideas on paper, and I am still learning and improving.

Talk about an equipment you like to use at home.
- What is it?
- Why do you use it?
- With whom do you share it?
(Also asked on Dec. 8, 2016)
I want to talk about my desktop computer here. I used it most of the time when I’m home. In fact, I don’t even watch TV anymore. I just browse things that I find interesting on the internet and spend a lot of time on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. I am on YouTube.com a lot, as it serves my purpose of watching TV for entertainment. I also download many sitcoms and watch them in my leisure time. I am on my computer this much as it is in my room, and I spend most of the time in my room only. I also get a lot of work done on my computer regarding my college projects and presentations. Also, since I am planning to go abroad for studies, I browse a lot of college websites and mail the correspondents for information about admission requirements and all.  I share my computer with everyone in my family who wants to use it. My mother is new to Facebook and she too loves to browse through it so when I’m not sitting on it, she uses the computer. My father uses it to check his emails, but he doesn’t like to use it much for anything else. 


Dec. 4, 2016

Describe a place in your town where you like to spend time. Please say
– What and where is this place?
– Why do you like it there?
– When was the last time you visited this place?

My favourite place to spend time is Crossword – it is a bookstore and a library in my city. It houses a lot of books, all from various Indian as well as international authors. The interiors of Crossword are very bright coloured and they don’t give a serious sedate feeling of being in a library. That’s why I think many kids also like to come to read here. They have a very small sitting area, as compared to the people I see who come to read books. But I think this might be to encourage buying the books so that people just don’t come and read for free all the time. There are no entrance or membership charges too. I usually go there whenever I’m free in the afternoons to read books or comics or whatever takes my fancy. I prefer to go in the afternoons only as I don’t like napping in the afternoon and if I’m free and at home, I’d definitely fall asleep after having lunch. I often visit this place, thrice or four times a month to be specific, maybe to buy something or to just go and read. They have a great collection of music and very cool stationery items too.

Talk about a traditional activity in your country. Please say
– What is it?
– What are the origins of this tradition?
– Do you follow it? Why?
(Also asked on Dec. 6 & Dec. 13, 2016)
I would like to talk about a tradition called “Raavan dahan” in my country… which in English means burning an effigy of Raavan. Raavan was a ten-headed rakshasa who lived hundreds of years ago, according to Hindu mythological epic Ramayan. He was a great scholar but was an arrogant ruler of Lanka, now known as Sri Lanka, and he abducted Lord Ram’s wife, Sita, in hopes of marrying her himself. Ram, his brother Lakshman, their disciple Hanuman and an army fought a battle to rescue Sita. Finally, Lord Ram defeated and killed Raavan and they all came back to their home Ayodhya. To mark this triumph of good over evil, big huge effigies of Raavan are prepared many days before Dussehra, and are stuffed with fire-crackers. These crackers are then lit and the effigy burns symbolizing the vanquishment of evil. This is a very interesting tradition because even children are quite eager to watch this burning in the form of a firework display, at the same time being taught about the legend of Ram and Raavan. Most of all, I find the folklore behind this very intriguing. Almost everyone in my country, from children to the aged are aware about this tradition and celebrate it with zeal and enthusiasm. However, I used to attend this traditional event till I was 14, then I grew up and started finding it a bit boring. So I don’t follow this now.

Talk about how you save money.
- What do you do?
- Why do you save money with this method?
- How often do you save?
(Also asked on Dec. 17, 2016)
There is not one particular method that I use to save money. I personally feel people need to save money with 2-3 techniques; that’s what I do and I can save up pretty efficiently. I first started saving money when I was 12 years old. My mother taught me the importance of having some money saved in cases of emergencies, and since then I got into a habit of saving. The first thing I was taught was to keep accounts of the expenses I make and the pocket money I get. Every 15 days I was made to sit down and my mother assisted me in listing out various expenses and how to neatly write them down in a budgetary format. In time, I started doing this on my own. I realized that my debits were showing a higher or a nearly same amount as my credits, it was time to cut down. I exercised self-control and stopped spending money till the time I got another lot of my pocket money. Another thing I started doing when I turned 18, was to save 500 rupees mandatorily every month, no matter what the temptation or urgency is, and deposit it in my bank account. I had an account opened with the facility of no withdrawals till 1 year. This way I made sure I would save up to 6000 rupees at the end of 365 days. I started prioritizing my expenses and would only spend money if it would be necessary. This way I learned how to save and I have been doing it regularly ever since.

Dec. 3, 2016


Talk about an international company where you would like to work.
- What is its name?
- How did you come to know about it?
- Why do you want to work there?
- What are the benefits of working in an international organization according to you?
OR
Talk about a large company you are interested in.
(Also asked on Dec. 17, 2016)
I want to work for Google. As everyone knows, it is a world famous search engine; basically, the company is based in the United States and is mainly into computer software and hardware technologies. It was found in 1996, and although it is widely used as a search engine, it has also launched phones and gaming software among the many things. I don’t exactly remember how I first found out about it, but I have been actively using it since. Google ranks the top in Fortune magazine’s list of best companies to work for. It has one of the most unconventional offices, and I read on a website that the work environment at Google is what any employee would kill for. Google offers on-site physicians, nurses, medical services and health care coverage to keep its employees happy and healthy. If a Google employee passes away, his or her domestic partner or spouse receives a check for 50% of the employee's salary every year for 10 years. The most amazing fact I found was that employees are free to bring their pets to work, to help with morale. All these factors are very interesting and intriguing for me to join the company if I am that lucky. Apart from the growth, learning and opportunities Google would offer, credit to being one of the largest MNCs of the world, it also takes care of its employees to levels unimaginable. I think these are the main benefits of working in MNCs, the service, and environment provided to you is world-class, and the employees do not have to worry about petty things and can fully concentrate on work, ensuring maximum productivity, not to mention the surge in reputation due to working in such esteemed organizations.

Describe a trip you often take but dislike.
- Where do you go?
- Why do you dislike it?
- With whom do you go?
I would like to talk about my daily commuting to my college which is around kilometers away from my house. It is one of the top 3 engineering colleges in my city that is why I had to take admission here, even though it is this far. I tried going on my own, on my two-wheeler, for a month initially when the college started, as I have always travelled in my city on my two-wheeler since the time I got it. However, it became increasingly exhausting for me to travel all the way to the college and back that I could not do any work immediately after coming home. It took me an hour to reach my college and I used to get pretty bored driving alone so I asked my classmate from my area to pool with me. In spite of that, I still didn’t like riding there, so I had to reluctantly start taking the city’s bus system. It took me even longer to reach as the bus made a lot of stops on its route and many times I could not find a place to sit immediately after boarding. I meet a few of my college mates in the bus sometimes, who come from my area or farther, and now that I have been travelling like this since 2 years, I am not that bothered by it. But still, if given a choice, I would gladly change my college to one that’s near to my house; say like just 10–15 minutes away. That would be great!


Talk about a time when you had to get up early in the morning. Please say
– When and where was it?
– Why did you have to do it?
– How did you feel later in the day?

(Also asked on Dec. 14, 2016)
This was just last week when I had to get up really early to pick up some relatives from the airport. My cousin maternal uncle had fallen ill in Mumbai, and he had been getting blood reports and all sorts of medical reports done there but his condition was getting worse. My sister, who is a very reputed doctor here in Ahmedabad was consulted, and she asked them to take the first flight out here, along with all the reports, as there was so much that she could diagnose over the phone. My uncle and aunt booked the tickets on a flight that departed Mumbai at 1 am at night. It was supposed to reach here at around 3.15 am, and my mother asked me to take the car and pick them up from the airport. I was a bit reluctant at first, as I would have to wake up at 2.30 to reach the airport at 3. However, this had to be done so I got up, picked them and brought them home, then later on at 8 am I drove them along with my mother to the hospital where my sister works. I had to rush to college that day as I had borrowed some notes from my friend and had to return it to him that day. Otherwise, I was really determined to come home and sleep again. Somehow, though, I didn’t feel tired or sleepy at all till midday, but after that I felt dangerously drowsy. My friends were planning to hang out at a local café after college, but I opted out of the plan and came back home. Meanwhile, I learned that my uncle has been hospitalized and all the necessary treatments are being done to make him better as soon as possible. I knew I would have to drive my mom dad and relatives to and from the hospital to meet my uncle, so I decided to get a good 2 hours sleep before I was given some other job.


Talk about a building you liked or disliked.
- How is its appearance and what activities can be done there?
- Where is it located?
- What is the reason for your liking or dislike?
(Also asked on Dec. 12, 2016)
I would like to talk about a mall in my city that I absolutely dislike, by the name of R3 Mall. It is in a central commercial area of the city, and it was one of the largest buildings in that area, a lot of new larger constructions have started developing in the area now. Anyways, the reason why I’m talking about this building is that it is very weirdly shaped from the outside. It seems like a semi-circle, but it is an oval somehow. First of all the name doesn’t make any sense. Secondly, it is built around a slum settlement that makes it look even more ridiculous standing out like a lone building amongst shabby settlements. I guess it is because of this that the mall hasn’t sold many of its properties. It just has a restaurant outside on the ground floor, an electronics retail store on the top floor, and a few small local shops scattered here and there in the mall. I once went inside to visit the electronic retail, and the mall looked so depressing, I could hardly imagine how the shop owners would like to work there. There are no activity centers like other malls usually have, maybe a fun rides zone for kids or something. There were 2 lifts inside and only one of them worked, that too was unclean. One more thing I’d like to add is that the mall is built on a curved corner, and as soon as the mall steps finish, the road starts. This is the most absurd construction ever, for a mall, according to me.

Dec. 2, 2016

Describe an advertisement you have seen recently.
- When and where did you see it?
- What was it for?
- What was so special about it?
I saw an advertisement for an online clothing website by the name of Jabong.com. It’s not a new company, I think it has been around for a couple of years now, but they didn’t advertise much before. This ad that I’m talking about was recently telecast on TV, and it seems that they are trying to upgrade their image from a normal clothing website to a more fashionable, a more select one. I saw it in between the ad break of a primetime show that I watch from 9 pm to 10 pm. I usually surf other channels during ads, but this was the first one shown as soon as the ad break started and I found the first glance quite interesting. The ad starts with a few young men and women posing individually in landscapes like a field, a mountainside, on a long empty road and a few other sceneries. The background music meanwhile has a kind of eerie but a solidarity kind of a feeling to it, I’m not sure if I’m explaining it correctly. Anyways, the notable thing was the unconventional choice of clothes they were wearing along with a wide array of accessories decked on each model. I had visited Jabong.com before and there were a lot of economic options at that time on the site, but with this ad they have included reputed brands from local as well as international markets, and offer a range of classy clothes and accessories. Their USP, that is unique selling point, is they still have marked quite reasonable prices on everything! I personally love this change very much and I think it will do very well for them.

Talk about the time you prepared for a happy event.
- What was it?
- How did you prepare?
- Who helped you?
(Also asked on Dec. 12, 2016)
I would like to talk about the time I planned a surprise anniversary party for my cousin sister and her husband. This was around six months ago, my cousin was going to complete 5 years of her marriage on June 28th, and I and my younger brother decided to make the occasion special for them. We also let in our and her parents into the plan and decided to keep it a secret and throw a surprise party for them. Since her anniversary was on a Sunday, we thought of pretending to invite her and her husband for a made-up wedding party, which eventually will lead them to the venue where we would be hosting their anniversary celebration. We also got a fake wedding invitation printed and her parents told her to attend the wedding as they would not be able to go themselves. On the side, we were also fixing the party venue and catering, and sending out invitations to close friends and family for the celebration, asking them all to not let my cousin know anything at all! Thank Gog that no one even by mistake let the plan slip and by 28th morning, we were all very very excited! By 7 pm, my cousin and her husband left for the venue, and their parents also left soon after. Meanwhile, I, my brother and a few other friends of my cousin, had reached the party venue, and were setting everything up in order, and welcoming the guests. Finally when the couple entered the restaurant, they were surprised to see the decorations and the banners all in their name, wishing them for their special day! There were tears in my sister’s eyes and at that moment I felt like on top of the world! My brother-in-law too was very overwhelmed and could not say thanks enough! We had some games prepared that we made everyone play and then everyone enjoyed the feast. It was really a very memorable day for me, and I’m sure for my cousin and brother-in-law too.

Talk about your favourite website.
- What is it about?
- How and when did you come to know about it?
- How often do you use it?
OR
Talk about your favourite social networking website you often use.
- What is it called?
- What is it about?
- How and when did you come to know about it?
- What do you do on there?
(Also asked on Dec. 5 & Dec. 7, 2016)
My favourite website is Facebook.com. It is a social interaction platform where people from all around the world can create their profiles and participate in various activities Facebook offers. I came to know about this site many years ago, I don’t exactly remember when. I have a profile on this site since 10 years now and I use this site to connect with my friends, share pictures, chat with each other and know about what is going on in the lives of my friends. Facebook also offers gaming applications like Criminal Case and Candy Crush, where players can play virtually with each other and enjoy competing for high scores. The most prominent use of Facebook is that you can connect with friends and relatives from anywhere in the world, and I have found some long lost ones through Facebook. We can like and comment on the photos and the life events that people update, and this is really great because even though we don’t meet or talk to each other very frequently, Facebook still keeps a small string of connection alive between people so that we don’t feel like complete strangers to each other. I use Facebook every day, in fact I have also downloaded it mobile app and I browse it every day for 1-2 hours. I really enjoy using this site; it makes me pass my time while travelling or while getting bored at a party or normally when I’m at home doing nothing. I think it’s a great website.


Dec. 1, 2016

Talk about an app or program you use on your phone.
- What is it called?
- How did you come to know about it?
- How often do you use it?
- Would you recommend it to anyone else?
(Also asked on Dec. 17, 2016)
I would like to talk about a utility app on my phone known as Camscanner. It is used to photograph any paper and convert that photo into a PDF format that is the most widely used format for documents stored in soft copy, and is compatible with any operating system or software. I got to know about this app from a friend of mine. He is a web designer, and he told me that he often had to get documents printed at odd times and not all copy places had the facility of taking clear prints out from a photo. So he used to click photos through this app and convert them into compatible PDF files and easily get the prints done. Once when I had to send him a photo of my license in a PDF format for some documentation, he told me to send it through this app and I found it really remarkable. It has all these formats of picture effects….like Grayscale, Black & White and such so you can adjust the appearance of the documents as per your choice. I use it every time I need to send across a document not, and I don’t need to go to the copy place to scan anymore and waste money. I would definitely recommend everyone to install the app in their phone even if their need of scanning documents is once in a blue moon.


Describe a situation that made you laugh.
- When was it?
- What was the situation?
- Who was with you?
This happened an year ago in my college. It was the time of the annual events, and we had dance performances and fashion show segments at the annual function which we were really excited to see. The fashion show was going to be an inter-college competition as well so all the students of my college were really pumped to cheer our college to victory! I and my friends had arrived before time to occupy the seats among the front rows for getting a good view of the whole show. Cutting to the main part, we incidentally heard a few of the other college students scheming to steal the opening theme of our college participant’s performance, which made us really alarmed and angry. We found one of our performers and informed them about this plot, and to our glee, the performers decided to let the rival college know the wrong theme in order to teach them a lesson. It so happened that when the competing college’s students came first on the stage, their dance steps were so messy and non-co-ordinated as a result of them trying to copy some really difficult dance steps that our college students deliberately let them see. A few of the dancers clumsily fell while doing some flips and their anger at each other was evident. Since we knew about the whole plot, we were laughing uncontrollably imagining the feeling of exasperation and confusion that our competitor’s might be experiencing right now and that they had risked losing points as a result of being over smart and cunning. We also let the others know about all this and we have a really good laugh remembering that incident even today.
IELTS Speaking Cue Cards - December 2016 IELTS Speaking Cue Cards - December 2016 Reviewed by Devanshi on December 25, 2016 Rating: 5

1 comment:

  1. Could you please post some more latest que cards . I appreciate your expertise in english your knowledge beyond praise thanks for these que cards

    ReplyDelete

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