1. IELTS Speaking Test Questions & Answers
IELTS Cue Cards | Natural Disaster | Seminar/Speech | Difficult Choices
Describe a natural disaster you heard about.
You should say:
What it was and where it happened
When it happened
How you heard about it
and explain how people reacted when they heard about this disaster.
IELTS Topic Cue Card | Describe a Natural Disaster
Well, there have been many disasters in the news, in various different countries, but one I
remember hearing about just the other day was in California, where they have had a severe
drought for a long time.
Just recently they suffered severe storms caused by El Nino – and there was flash flooding and
mudslides which caused a lot of damage to the area, even though they badly needed the
torrential rains to ease the drought conditions. The drought was so bad there that the
authorities estimated that they would need years of such heavy storms and drenching rains to
recover from the water shortfall they have experienced in recent years.
El Nino is a weather phenomenon which is caused by the Pacific Ocean becoming warmer and
this then has an interaction with the atmosphere and this climatic reaction has been the reason
behind many dramatic and disastrous changes in weather across the world and natural
disasters such as flooding and storms. Previous storms in California caused by El Nino were
responsible for people dying, roads being washed away, and entire fields of crops being
completely destroyed, so storms like this have the potential for disastrous results for the area.
California is frequently battered by Pacific storms causing flooding which causes a lot of damage
and can be fatal in some cases. They are also still concerned about further flash floods and
mudslides, specifically in the areas which were hit by the wildfires last year.
In some areas, residents have been already been advised to evacuate to safer zones, and
people are busy preparing for worse storms predicted to be on the way – by stockpiling
sandbags and taking other measure to try and mitigate the worst of the damaging rains and
winds afflicting the area.
2. Describe a seminar or a speech that you have attended.
You should say:
What kind of seminar/speech was it?
Where was the seminar/speech held and who was the speaker?
Was it helpful for you in some way?
IELTS Topic Cue Card Answer | A seminar/speech
About six months ago I attended a seminar held by a company here in the university. The
purpose of the seminar was to present and discuss the opportunities for postgraduate study in
Australia.
This was something I had been considering for a while so I decided to go, with a friend of mine,
and find out more about what was on offer and what would be involved if I did finally decide to
study my master’s degree in Australia. The seminar was held in an auditorium here at the
university, on a Thursday evening, and lasted for around two hours in total.
The main speaker was a representative of an educational agency which deals with students
who want to follow postgraduate courses in Australia. She outlined the various steps required
to be approved and also some discussed some of the academic areas which were popular for
foreign students and she also presented some information about long term career
opportunities in Australia and the highly skilled jobs for which there was a shortage of
candidates at the moment.
I found the seminar extremely interesting because it actually answered many of the questions I
had at the back of mind and addressed several points I had been considering previously, so all
in all it was very informative and helpful.
In fact, now I’m almost certain that Australia is where I want to pursue my postgraduate course
in the future – that’ll be in two years from now, so it gives me time to organize everything.
That’s really what set me on the road to doing IELTS this year, because obviously that is one of
the requirements for acceptance in almost all universities in Australia.
Follow up questions
3. Why do people get nervous when they speak in public?
Quite possibly because it’s something they don’t do very often, or it might even be the first
time they are doing it. It’s one of those things that the more you do the better at doing it you
become – but the first couple of times can be nerve-racking if you’re not used to standing up
and talking in front of people.
However, if you do it regularly, it’s surprising just how quickly you can begin to feel comfortable
speaking in public in front of people you don’t know. Like anything really, practice makes
perfect, and you soon learn lots of little tricks and things to help you deal with any nerves, or
unforeseen circumstances.
How can they improve their public speaking skills?
So, one of the easiest ways to become better at speaking in public is to practice. Now, clearly
it’s not that easy to find a large group of people to speak to whenever you want to practice, but
there are still a lot of things you can do to improve your performance, without needing an
audience.
For example, it’s important to be able to look at your audience when speaking so practicing
reading your notes while speaking and moving your head from one side of the room to the
other so you can make eye contact with audience members while speaking is a simple
technique to practice until it becomes natural.
Another tip would be to record yourself speaking – this can be very effective because most
people have no idea what they really sound like when they speak. So it’s a good way to
evaluate and analyse yourself in private and try and improve anything you don’t like about the
way you speak.
Along the same lines, you could video yourself delivering one of your speeches to get a better
idea of how an audience sees you. And then, obviously you need to actually speak to groups of
people as if you were delivering a real speech. Even asking a couple of friends to sit and critique
your performance can help you become better, more polished, and feel more comfortable and
confident when speaking in public.
IELTS Speaking Tips
Never memorize a sample answer. Use them for ideas, expressions, phrases, etc. but
IELTS examiners are trained to identify memorized speech - so don't do it!
Always try to think of at least one example and some reasons before you begin speaking
- it's much easier and it only takes a second or two
4. Talk about a time when you had to make a difficult choice.
You should say:
Why was it difficult?
What and whom did it involve?
What was the outcome of the choice you made?
and explain if there were any consequences?
IELTS Topic Cue Card Answer | Making a Difficult Choice
When I was growing up my parents were having problems in their relationship and for a couple
of years things were not good at home; the atmosphere was terrible and they seemed to be
constantly fighting with each other. My sister and I were very worried at the time that our
parents would end up separating – which they did eventually.
That was a really difficult time in life because so many things changed, but as often happens,
there was a positive side to this also – our parents actually became happier people when they
were not actually living together. They were like different people all of a sudden, happier and
more carefree, but still our parents.
Anyway, as things changed, one of the difficult things we had to decide was where to live. My
sister and I were both old enough to have a say in this, so we had to choose between living with
our mother or with our father. This was not easy, and we both spent a long time discussing it
with each other and trying to decide which was the best option for everybody. We tried to take
into account everybody’s feelings, practical aspects of where we would live, and also what we
had planned for the future. But it was also a highly emotional time for everybody which didn’t
make the decision any easier.
In the end we both decided to stay with our mother because we felt that she needed our
support more than our father. And one of the main factors that helped us make the final
decision was the fact that I had plans to study abroad, which would have meant that our
mother would’ve been all alone if we had decided to move in with our father. So we decided it
wasn’t worth all the upheaval – and chose to remain with our mother.
As for consequences, it meant that we didn’t see as much of our father as we had in the past,
but at least when we did the atmosphere was much better and we were glad that they had
stopped fighting with each other all the time. So that was a time when I had to make a difficult
choice.
5. Follow Up Questions
[Click the question to see the answer]
Looking back, would you have made the same choice now? Why?/Why not?
Who do you think has a harder time making decisions, children or adults? Why?
Do you mostly have a hard time making decisions on your own?
How would you answer these IELTS Speaking questions?
