Describe someone you know who made a good decision recently : IELTS Cue Card

Bhargavee Sisodia

20 Jun 2024

Describe someone you know who made a good decision recently : IELTS Cue Card

The IELTS speaking test is the most important of the four exams since it evaluates a non-native English speaker's fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and personal opinions. Therefore, the most basic aspect of the IELTS speaking exam is to correctly comprehend the IELTS speaking topics and IELTS speaking questions. You must practice responding to the typically questioned IELTS questions and go through a lot of IELTS sample test in order to attain a good IELTS score. This will increase your self-assurance and strengthen your language skills, both of which are key factors for your IELTS preparation. 

There are three sections in your IELTS speaking test namely, the general introductory interview, the Cue Card section and the follow-up questions. Each section of the IELTS test is designed to analyze different aspects of your personality, opinions and your grasp on the English language.  The first section is designed to ease the candidate into the IELTS exam. You will be asked some general questions about yourself and your line of education, hence it is important to prepare a simple general introduction about yourself for this round during your IELTS exam preparation.

The second and the most crucial part of the IELTS speaking test is the Cue Card section. You will be given a Cue Card with a random topic written on it and you have to speak about it for 2 minutes. When practicing your monologues on the most often asked IELTS speaking topics as part of your IELTS preparation, you must time yourself because you will not be permitted to go over the allotted time. To assist you comprehend the format of each segment of the IELTS exam, you must practice speaking on frequent IELTS speaking topics as part of your IELTS study. You need to understand the strategy to properly structure your response, emphasize on fluency and express your ideas clearly all of which requires hours of preparation on IELTS questions and proper IELTS learning.

The third part of the IELTS speaking test is the follow-up questions section. This section is devised to judge your communication skills and your personal opinions. You will be asked a set of follow-up questions based on your IELTS speaking topics monologue. Your response to these IELTS questions need to be quick, effective and witty if possible. This portion of the test determines your grasp on the language and would help you earn brownie points if your answers are thought provoking and effective enough. 

IELTS speaking questions : Describe someone you know who made a good decision recently

Introduction : 

A very integral part of growing up is to be able to make tough choices and critical decisions which could impact the life and future of an individual. I have a school friend who recently made a life altering decision which resulted in a very satisfactory outcome.

What was the decision? 

The decision my friend, Ayusmita, made was to quit her job in Bangalore and start her own party-planning agency. Ayushmita had been in Bangalore for 3 years and she gradually realized that her 9-5 job in the IT sector had become very mechanical for her. 

How did they take the decision? 

Aushmita helped me plan my sister’s wedding and she also enjoyed hosting parties at her place every now and then. She had realized that her people skills and quick thinking would be an amazing fit for the sector of party-planning business and after giving it ample thoughts, she decided to go ahead with it as a full time occupation. It took her a lot of courage and hard work to quit her well paying job, gather enough fundings, form a team and look for clients, but she successfully managed to overcome all the hurdles one after the other.  

Conclusion : 

Today Ayushmita is doing what she loves the most and I have never seen her happier. Sure the initial paychecks are small, the growth of the company is slow but nothing can diminish the smile of satisfaction and the sparkle of excitement in her eyes every time she gets a compliment from her clients for crafting their dream weddings. I am so glad she took the leap of faith and ran towards her happiness leaving the dull and mundane life of hers behind. 

IELTS speaking questions : Describe someone you know who made a good decision recently

Introduction : 

About two months ago, my father made a big decision about his career and it was one of his best decisions according to me. My father has been working since he was 24 years old just after graduating from college. Ever since, he has had very few moments of leisure time. Even after his official retirement, he joined another company on contract for 3 years and worked tirelessly as the Vise President of the company.

What was the decision? 

Two months ago, he was offered to extend the contract by two more years and he had to make the decision whether to continue working or finally accept his long overdue retirement. After carefully considering all the factors, he decided to do the latter. He finally decided to bid farewell to his corporate life and enjoy the rest of his life in leisure as a retired person.  

How did they take the decision? 

For my father, his job was not only a means to earn money for his family, it was a very big and integral part of his life. He knew that it would be hard to “do nothing” after “doing everything” for the past 45 years. But he also understood the importance of pulling the brakes before his health started affecting. It was becoming impossible for him to stay healthy after doing so much work on his job given his age. So he decided it was high time to embrace his retirement with grace.

Conclusion : 

In my opinion, it was one of his best decisions because now he has the time to go on morning walks with my mother, discuss our day, watch television, read books and most importantly, he has time for himself. He had neglected himself for a very long time because he was busy earning the bread for our family, but now he has finally passed the baton to me and my brother and can enjoy a relaxed and tension free life.   

IELTS test next step: Follow up questions

The IELTS speaking topics section is followed by a segment of follow-up questions. Here, the examiner will evaluate your conversational abilities by posing a few follow-up questions to you in response to your monologue in the Cue Card section. You need to go over the IELTS speaking questions a lot in order to understand the variants of the commonly asked follow-up questions and undergo a lot of IELTS speaking practice to elevate your confidence for this section. 

IELTS speaking - Follow up question

Do you tend to become disheartened after a decision of yours fails to yield the desired outcome ?  

Answer : According to me, success and failure are part and parcel of life. It is very obvious to get disheartened after a decision doesn’t pan out the way we had anticipated, but what is more important is to absorb the learnings from the failure and move ahead with it. If we are stuck in disappointment, it would be extremely hard to move on with life, hence I tend to have a positive outlook whenever a decision of mine fails to pan out the way it was supposed to. 

Do you tend to take the help of others while making big decisions? 

Answer : The tendency to take the opinion of others while making a big decision is very common, especially when you are young. Whenever I am at a crossroad and need to make a big decision, I tend to consult my family and intimate group of friends. After considering all their inputs, I evaluate the positives and the negatives of the decisions and then take the plunge. For me, considering an outside opinion is important to understand the perspective of others in a particular decision, but the ultimate decision needs to be made by myself. 

How important is it to learn from past mistakes? 

Answer : It is very important to absorb the learnings from past mistakes and apply them in the future decisions so that the dismay of the outcome is not overwhelming. No decision of mine has ever gone in vain, either I have achieved what I thrived for or have learnt a lesson from the mistakes. To me, the problems of the past impart a great deal of wisdom and help make wiser and better decisions in the future. 

Conclusion

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