Describe a travel you were looking forward to but was delayed: IELTS Cue Card

Bhargavee Sisodia

03 Jul 2024

International English Language Testing System or the IELTS test, is mainly of two versions depending on its functionality: Academic and General Training. The key demographics for both types of IELTS exam are similar with minor variations in study materials. The speaking test for both versions are same. 

The first part of the IELTS speaking test is the General Interview round where the examiner asks a series of questions about your educational background, personal taste, hobbies, and some information about your professional aspirations. 

This round acts as a warm-up round before they dive into the more critical rounds of the IELTS speaking test. Prepare a brief introduction of yourself during your IELTS preparation for this round. 

The cue card round, often known as the IELTS speaking topics segment, is the next round. The examiner would give you a cue card with a random topic on it for this round. You have two minutes to give a two-minute speech on the topic you were given. You will have one minute to construct a mental outline of the monologue you will be delivering on the given topic, according to the examiner. 

The next and final round of the IELTS speaking test is the follow-up questions section. In this round, the examiner will ask you a few questions based on the cue card topic or answer in the IELTS speaking topics section. This round takes about 5-6  minutes while the expected number of questions is 6-7. 

A proper IELTS exam preparation for the speaking test requires a candidate to go through all the commonly asked IELTS speaking topics and skim through all the IELTS speaking questions along with IELTS exam sample answers. 

To excel in the speaking test of the IELTS test, regularly attempting the IELTS sample test is mandatory. You should also take the IELTS practice test regularly to grasp the structure and pattern of the IELTS speaking questions. IELTS speaking test mainly tests the fluency, power of articulation, lexical resources, and pronunciation of a candidate, so make sure to put enough stress on these factors during your IELTS exam preparation to attain your desired band.  

IELTS exam sample 1: Describe a travel you were looking forward to but was delayed

To approach IELTS speaking topics like this, strategically, you should understand the question first. Then you should carve out the key pointers you need to mention in your answer. You need to emphasize strategy-building techniques during your IELTS preparation for this section. 

An IELTS cue card topic like this requires you to share personal experiences with anecdotes from true stories. You should make the answer unique but believable, which is the tricky part. Even if you never had such experiences in life, you should mold your answers in a way, so that the examiner can relate to them. 

For all types of IELTS speaking topics try to have three basic sections in your answer namely : 

• Introduction
• Main thoughts or opinions
• Conclusion

For the above topic, you should draft your answer in the following sections : 

• Where was the travel to?
• When and with whom was the trip planned?
• Why was it delayed?
• Your disappointment/anticipation

Now let us have a look at some sample answers on the topic “Describe a travel you were looking forward to but was delayed”

Where was the travel to? 

I have been looking forward to a trip with my friends to Vishakhapatnam from my college final year but I has been getting delayed ever since due to some reason or the other. 

When and with whom was the trip planned?

During our final year in college, our gang of 5 friends decided to take a trip right after graduation to inaugurate our newfound freedom and adulthood. After pondering on the destination and having several meetings, we finally narrowed it down to Vishakhapatnam. This place has a valley, a huge sealine, and small hills, so it has all our requirements. We considered several other places like Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Mussourie, and even Andaman Islands, but finally agreed on this place. 

Why was it delayed? 

I had dreamed about going on a trip with my college buddies and having a blast with them so I was the one who took the responsibility of getting the tickets and taking care of the lodging scenarios. I went through the catalogs of several hotels in the vicinity and tried to organize the trip in the most budget-friendly manner. Just when I was about to confirm the bookings and travel details, the news of a worldwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 virus hit us. My friends advised me to stall the bookings for some time until the issue with the virus resolves and that was when our trip got delayed. The massacre with the COVID-19 virus continued for 2 long years in India, and our trip kept on getting deferred indefinitely. 

Your disappointment/anticipation

By the time the COVID-19 lockdown cooled down, most of my college friends had gotten busy with their work commitments or personal dependencies, which is why, the trip never saw the light of day. Every now and then, we have a small gathering to catch up, but we always end up getting disappointed because of the cancellation of the trip. I hope all of us will soon have the time to take the trip with the same gusto that we had 3 years ago. 

IELTS exam sample 2: Describe a travel you were looking forward to but was delayed

When and with whom was the trip planned?

A few months ago, I joined an IT firm as an intern as a part of my last semester curriculum along with a few others. There were a total of 8 interns in our batch and we had a jolly time getting to know each other in between our training during our internship. We had lunch and snacks together in the office cafeteria while chatting about our assignments and other personal stuff. It was during one such lunch break, when we all decided to go on a trip to Goa, to commemorate the successful completion of our 6 tedious months of internship. 

Where was the travel to? 

When we started discussing the probable destinations of our trip, we wrote down our favorite holiday destinations on a piece of paper and jumbled them up. We asked our team lead to pick a chit, and that is when Goa came up. We were all happy with the destination as none of us had been to Goa before. We were aware that Goa was the ultimate destination for youngsters like us to go on a trip with friends. 

Why was it delayed? 

The trip never saw the light of day as we all scattered to different parts of the country once we finished our internship at the firm. I came back to my hometown to prepare for my next educational journey, whereas the others went on to their jobs or higher education in different cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai. We never got the chance to plan the trip and successfully execute it because we fell apart after our graduation. I still think about the trip and all the planning we had gone through whenever I talk to my old colleagues from my internship days. 

Your disappointment/anticipation

Every once in a while I think about the lost opportunity to travel with my friends and feel disappointed. I think we could have executed the trip if we had the proper determination to do it. We should have been more serious about the trip when we had the opportunity to execute it. I know for a fact, that it is impossible to go on the trip with them now because we have different priorities now. It is a sad but bitter truth about growing up, commitments change and life goes on, thus some plans never work out the way they were supposed to.  

IELTS test next step: Follow-up questions

In "follow-up questions," the third and last section of the IELTS speaking test, the examiner will assess your communication skills by asking you a few follow-up questions in response to the responses you gave in the IELTS speaking topics segment. To comprehend the variations of the often asked IELTS speaking questions and their follow-up questions in the IELTS speaking follow-up questions section, you must thoroughly review the IELTS speaking questions. 

IELTS speaking - Follow-up question

How do you prefer preparing for a trip?  

Answer: I am a very planned person when it comes to traveling. I like to sketch out the travel options, food choices, lodging, and sightseeing itinerary well in advance so there are minimum surprises while traveling. While I travel, I like to keep my luggage very compact with all the necessities like snacks, medicine, quick change of clothes, hygiene items, and my identity proofs. I plan my trips well in advance and stick to the decided itinerary until and unless there is a big obstacle that requires me to change it. I also make a list of my daily expenses at the end of the day which helps me keep track of my finances. I have inherited this methodology of traveling from my father whom I have observed minutely during our family trips over the years. 

Which mode of transport do you prefer while traveling? 

Answer: My mode of transport depends on the destination and company as well as the finances. If I am strapped for cash while traveling with my friends, I prefer economical means of traveling like via train or bus. If I am traveling with my family, I usually prefer flights because it saves a huge chunk of our travel time. But if you ask about my favorite means of travel from a non-biased point of view, I would say it's the train. A train journey is long enough for people to bond and easily affordable as well as comfortable. The picturesque scenery we witness from the window while traveling on a train is a bonus.

In what ways traveling can help an individual? 

Answer: Traveling can be a therapeutic journey for a lot of people. It is a great stress reliever and  

It gives a person the right amount of space and change they need when they get overwhelmed by the stress and pressure of their day-to-day life. Traveling can give you the right amount of dopamine boost which is required in our hectic lives nowadays.  Going to unknown places and interacting with strangers while exploring nature is the correct way to destress and untangle the knots of tension we have from our busy schedules.

Conclusion

For your IELTS speaking practice and IELTS exam preparation, D-VIVID provides you with excellent teachers and sample materials. We're committed to giving you everything we can to help you reach your objectives and get a fantastic IELTS test score. To help you prepare for the IELTS exam, we offer personalized programs that include individual IELTS sample test as well as multiple IELTS exam sample questions with answers covering a wide range of IELTS speaking topics. Our highly skilled instructors will support you at every stage of your IELTS preparation and make the test simple and enjoyable for you to take. We are here to support you as you embark on this road of improved education. So seize the chance and get in touch with us right now.