Describe a place you have been to where things are expensive : IELTS Cue Card
Bhargavee Sisodia19 Nov 2024
International English Language Testing System or simply the IELTS test is one of the most sought after English certification tests accepted widely all over the world in major educational institutes and corporate firms. The IELTS exam has four main components, namely the Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking test. The IELTS speaking test is further divided into 3 parts, the general introduction, the cue card section and the follow-up questions section which altogether takes 11 - 14 minutes to complete for any candidate.
The first portion of the IELTS speaking test is the general introductory round where questions about your educational background, hobbies, and general information needs to be shared. This portion of the speaking test can be thought of as the warm-up phase where the applicant becomes comfortable before the more important rounds that come next..
The Cue Card part, sometimes referred to as the IELTS speaking topics round, is the next section. You are given a cue card with a specified topic, on whichyou need to give a two-minute comprehensive speech. You have one minute to gather your ideas and prepare a blueprint in your mind for your monologue. To ensure that the individual is not overwhelmed by the IELTS speaking questions, this round requires a great deal of focus and quick thinking.
The third and final round of the IELTS speaking test is the follow-up questions part. The examiner enquires about a few follow-up pointers based on your response to the IELTS speaking topics and you need to answer them accordingly. A good IELTS preparation for this part needs :
- Improve your communication skills : You need to understand the IELTS speaking questions and communicate your answer in an elegant and polite manner without any scope of miscommunications.
- Practice conversation skills : You must practice answering basic IELTS exam sample questions every day. Enact the common IELTS speaking topics and IELTS speaking questions to polish your conversation skills.
- Mock exams : Try to give at least one IELTS sample test every day or apply for IELTS practice test. This will improve your overall English speaking skills for the IELTS speaking test.
English proficiency, pronunciation, and fluency are some of the key criteria that are considered for assessing a candidate on the IELTS speaking exam. Therefore, when you are preparing your responses to the IELTS exam sample questions for your speaking test, give them a lot of weight.To help you grasp the pattern of the IELTS speaking questions, we have prepared some model answers and follow-up questions with their responses on one of the IELTS speaking topics.
IELTS exam sample topic:
Describe a place you have been to where things are expensive
This topic is comparatively easier to approach since this experience is common among all individuals. So it is a topic that requires your practical experiences to be portrayed on the canvas of the IELTS speaking test. You can approach the topic in the following steps :
- Where is the place ?
- When and with whom did you visit the place ?
- Why do you think it's expensive ?
- Your personal opinion / Concluding thoughts
IELTS speaking topics sample 1
Where is the place ?
I have been to many places in India on office trips and vacations. There are a few cities where things are very expensive and today I would like to discuss one such place. The city I am talking about is the capital of India, Delhi.
When and with whom did you visit the place ?
On a trip to Shimla, my friends and I decided to have a small halt in Delhi for a day. While we were there we checked into a nearby hotel and decided to go shopping at a nearby mall. We also decided to grab lunch at a local restaurant and feed our hungry bellies.
Why do you think it's expensive ?
We were taken aback when we saw the tariff of the rooms for some nearby hotels as it was way outside our budget. After careful consideration, we decided on a hotel which allowed 4 people to stay in a room. We were a group of four friends and our calculations showed we could only afford a single room considering the elevated prices of the rooms. After that we decided to dine at a local restaurant and go for a quick shopping run. At the restaurant the prices of even the most simple dishes were higher than we expected.While shopping we realized that the price of every product was almost twice as much as that of my home town. Sure there were items with lower prices too, but the quality of those products were so low, that buying them would mean flushing our hard earned money down the drain.
Personal opinion :
After my short stay in Delhi, I came to an epiphany that this city is indeed a very expensive city to stay and survive in. The most basic items of day to day life are expensive enough to mess up your monthly budget. In Delhi, food, real estate, clothes and even groceries are more expensive than most parts of the country. Hence it would be very difficult to survive in this city without a hefty salary or huge prior savings.
IELTS speaking topics sample 2
Name of the place and reason for visit :
A year ago, I went to visit a friend of mine in Bangalore. We were classmates and roommates while we were completing our master’s degree. She has been staying in Bangalore since our graduation as she got placed in an IT firm there.
Reason to consider this city expensive :
I had heard about the high cost of living in Bangalore from various sources but never have I had the opportunity to visit the city before. While I stayed in Bangalore for 2 days, I experienced the wrath of inflation first hand. During my visit to the nearest mall, I went to a store to buy some summer clothes but after looking at the price tags, I got a few mini heart attacks. Clothes were almost 4 times the anticipated cost, food was equally expensive and the cost of transportation was as high as my 10 days salary. My friend told me she had to go for proper interviews with house owners before finalizing the 1 BHK where she resides currently and it took all her savings to match the security deposit amount.
Concluding remarks :
After calculating my basic expenses in Bangalore during my stay, I realized how hard it would have been for my friend to thrive in this expensive city. Sure the city is very well maintained, easily accessible and filled with budding businesses, but the elevated cost of living is very difficult to manage for any ordinary person without solid financial aid. If anyone is planning to move to Bangalore because of the hike in their salary offered by any firm there, they should definitely weigh the expenses of the city before grabbing the job.
IELTS speaking questions - Follow-up question
Do you prefer buying inexpensive things ?
Answer : I prefer to buy things at a reasonable cost according to my budget. If I come across a beautiful piece of clothing which is way out of my financial capacity, I would prefer not to buy it rather than plunging myself into debt just to satisfy my urge to procure a pretty item. Having said that, I would never compromise on the quality of a product just to save a few bucks. If it is worth the money and within my budget, I would prefer to purchase an item with better quality, since I know it would last longer and I would be able to enjoy it for a long time.
What is the meaning of the term “expensive” to you ?
Answer : In my opinion, the term “expensive” refers to a heightened cost of a particular product. If an item is said to be expensive, it means that the cost of the item is way higher than its worth. The cost of a particular good depends on several factors like cost of raw materials, cost of labor, cost of transport and some other miscellaneous costs. These miscellaneous costs determine whether a product is expensive or not.
Describe an experience of yours where you bargained with a vendor ?
From Answer 1 : I think bargaining is an inbuilt quality of every Indian and it has been passed on from generations. We have seen our parents bargain with vendors and purchase items at a decreased cost, which has given us all the practical experience to try it out ourselves. One such bargaining experience of mine was at the “Gariahat market” in my hometown. I liked a bag from a local shop and went inside to buy it. But the cost they asked for seemed too steep to me, hence I resorted to my bargaining skills. After almost an hour of fierce haggling, both of us came to an understanding and I bought the bag at a much lower price. I was genuinely proud of myself and thanked my mother for her practical training over the years.
From Answer 2 : I have bargained with shop owners on numerous occasions when I felt the price they asked for a particular product was too high. One such experience of mine was when I went to buy a saree from a store and got the feeling that they were trying to rip me off. I bargained until they decided to give in to my demands and finally bought the saree at the price I deemed to be sufficient for it. But I would like to share a strait of mine in this context, I never bargain with local vendors who seem to have a tough time making ends meet in their day to day life. I know for a fact, they have a very low profit margin and a lot more mouths to feed, hence it is my principle to never haggle with the people in need.
Conclusion
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