Describe a piece of good news that you heard about someone you know well: IELTS Cue Card

Bhargavee Sisodia

21 Jun 2024

Describe a piece of good news that you heard about someone you know well : IELTS Cue Card

Understanding how to approach the IELTS exam is crucial before delving deeply into IELTS exam preparation. Going over the IELTS exam sample questions and answers will help you develop a methodical approach to the question, making it simpler for you to create your own responses on known or unfamiliar IELTS speaking topics. Emphasizing the speaking test is extremely important as that is the section of the IELTS test that gets tricky for the students.

Your approach in dealing with the IELTS speaking questions should be to understand, imagine, and communicate.

Needless to say, it is important for you to listen to the question given to you in the cue card round of the IELTS speaking test. If you do not understand the question, you can ask the examiner to repeat it, register it in your brain, and try to frame the answer in your mind. If you want, you can make use of the paper and pencil to note down your thoughts.

The next step for you is to imagine the situation. Whatever the topic is, picture the event or incident in your head. Try to be offbeat with your thinking. Remember, IELTS speaking topics are often similar and the examiner has listened to thousands of answers to similar topics before. Try to make your answer stand out. For example, if it is a question about your hobby, instead of “listening to music”, go for “collecting stamps”. This will make your content stand out in the IELTS speaking test.

The final part is the execution where your communication skills and vocabulary will play a key role. The more you answer IELTS sample test questions during your IELTS preparation, the better you will perform in this part. Fluency, articulation strength, grammatical command, and general command of the English language are all factors that go into an individual's score on the IELTS speaking test. Thus, it's critical that you provide as accurate and error-free of an answer as you can throughout the speaking test of the IELTS exam.  

IELTS sample test topic: Describe a piece of good news that you heard about someone you know well

We will take one of the IELTS practice test topics, "Describe a piece of good news that you heard about someone you know well," and discuss this in detail. First, we will learn how to answer the question. There are 2 sample answers which you can go through and thus have an idea. You can then try to frame the answer in a similar or in the same format based on your life incident.

After the sample answers, we will discuss a few follow-up questions related to "Describe a piece of good news that you heard about someone you know well". This will give you an idea of what type of follow-up questions you can expect around the IELTS speaking topics.

Having a clear idea of all the sections of the IELTS speaking test will take your IELTS preparation a notch higher and ensure a stellar score for you on the IELTS test.

IELTS practice test sample answer 1: Describe a piece of good news that you heard about someone you know well

Introduce the news:

There are seldom any incidents in our lives that stay etched in our memories like an imprint. One such day was when I got to know that my sister was pregnant and we were to welcome the youngest member of our family.

Who gave you the news?

I got a call from my brother-in-law. They had previously given me no hints of consulting any doctor, so the news came out of nowhere and that was what made it all the more special.

When did you receive the news?

It was early in the morning. I was in deep sleep and it took a moment for me to register what he had said on the call. He said that they had received the confirmation report from the clinic a few moments back in their email and I was the first person they were sharing the news with.

How did you react to listening to the news?

I remember jolting up from my sleep as soon as I understood what he said. My first reaction was to ask him how my sister was and once I was assured that she was doing well, I could feel tears streaming down my cheeks. Tears of joy! I was the youngest child in the family in my generation and always been pampered by everyone and to imagine that there would be someone younger than me, whom I could love and pamper and watch them grow up was a surreal feeling. I congratulated them and rushed outside to quickly pass on the phone to my parents and grandparents who were equally happy to get the news. After all, it was the first time for them as well to become grandparents and great-grandparents. 

Conclude the answer:

That day I understood the power of good news. An absolutely ordinary day turned out to be extraordinary in the most special way, so much so that every moment and the feel of it will be remembered by me forever. 

IELTS practice test sample answer 2: Describe a piece of good news that you heard about someone you know well

Introduce the news:

It was the day when my cousin's CAT result was going to be declared and to our happiness, he had scored a 99.7 percentile. We were sure that he would get a call from any of the IIMs. The result was all the more special because my cousin quit his high-paying job at Coal India which he had started after completing his M.Tech at IIT Kharagpur. He wanted to study MBA and thus, took the decision to quit his job and prepare for CAT. A lot was at stake.

Who gave you the news?

I was sitting with my cousin when the result was declared. He had taken a big leap of faith and thus, was too scared to even look at the screen. I logged into the site with his details and all I could do was give a shriek in happiness. My cousin looked at me and then at the screen and I could feel him letting out the breath that he was holding and relaxing in his chair.

When did you receive the news?

I remember it was December and extremely cold. Our family had just started to have our tea when my cousin's friend informed him that the results were out and we rushed to get his laptop to check the result.

How did you react to listening to the news?

The moment I looked at the relieved face of my cousin, my heart filled with joy. I remember our entire family screaming and jumping and I jumped from my seat to give him a tight hug. He has been my role model right from my childhood, and to see him achieving newer heights and beating his own records of success was an overwhelming feeling altogether. I realized that day, that some risks are worth taking. I was so proud that the person whom I have considered my Hero yet again taught me a life lesson, which somewhere pushed me eventually to spread the wings of my dreams and opt for higher studies.

Conclude the answer: 

What followed next was an absolute frenzy. There were happy tears and praying to God for showering our family with so much positivity and blessing.

IELTS test next step: Follow up questions

Follow-up Question 1: Do you think with the use of technology, personal touch is missing while sharing any good news?

Answer: To an extent yes. Nowadays, even if we have to share the news with our neighbors, we tend to call them instead of walking a few feet to their houses, meeting them in person, and sharing the same. However, technology also has quite a few positive sides. If someone is miles away in another country, sharing news before the age of the internet was time-consuming and expensive. So, we take small initiatives in case of feasible scenarios to meet the person and share the news. It certainly increases the warmth.

Follow-up Question 2: Do you think happiness increases if good news is shared with everyone around?

Answer: Absolutely. Happiness is infectious. If we are able to share our happy news with our loved ones, not only does the joy double, but also we get a lot of appreciation, admiration, motivation, or blessings, depending on the scenario. I personally always tend to share any good news with all my friends and family almost immediately as it gives me a sense of satisfaction and happiness.

Follow-up Question 3: Do you think sharing good news on social media is a good idea?

Answer: Social media is a great way to stay connected with people. A lot of time it is not possible for a person to individually share news with every person they know. However, some news is worth sharing and people might expect to receive communication. In such scenarios, social media can be a useful tool. A single post and every person in our lives will be updated and informed about the news. 

Conclusion

Our D-VIVID staff is here to help, mentor, and support you while you go through the IELTS exam preparation. We offer excellent answers to a variety of IELTS speaking topics, personalized study resources for IELTS exam samples, and many ways to take IELTS practice test samples. With our expert advice and carefully crafted strategy using the best IELTS exam sample, our goal is to assist you in achieving a high score on the IELTS test. Enough IELTS speaking questions will be provided, together with practice questions and answers, error correction assistance, and guidance to help you achieve your maximum score on the test. D-VIVID is, thus, your best friend during the IELTS preparation for achieving your ideal IELTS exam score. Get in touch with us to create a study schedule that will help you prepare for the IELTS test without worry.