Cue Card Sample
IELTS Cue Card Sample 263 - Describe a skill which is important to you
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IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.
Describe a skill which is important to you.
You should say:
- what skill it is
- how difficult it is to learn
- how can one learn it
and explain why this skill is important to you.
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Model Answer 1:
In this modern, tough and complicated world, one could never have or learn enough skills. In other words, the more skill sets someone possesses, the better he or she is positioned to face the challenges, not only in the professional world but also in personal life. Thankfully, I also have a couple of skills, and today, I would like to talk about one of them.
The skill, I have, is popularly known as “computer fixing or repairing skill”. Now, please don’t get me wrong, when I talk about having this particular skill, because I am not a “professional computer technician” nor do I intend to be one in the near future. But, by saying this, all I am trying to suggest is that I know a few things about how to fix a computer problem when the machine acts up or doesn’t work.
However, this particular computer repairing skills of mine is limited to finding and fixing hardware problems mostly rather than fixing some software issues as well. For example, if the computer has a problem with its ribbon inside its case, I would most likely be able to know about it after running the machine.
Anyway, learning this computer repairing skill isn’t really that difficult, depending on how much one really enjoys breaking a computer into pieces and then put them back together again. Besides, it also depends on seriously one really wants to learn about the roles of different computer parts. But, as far as I can say, if a person is willing to read a good book on fixing computer hardware and listen to a “moderately expert guru”, he or she will be able to learn this skill.
Anyway, this particular skill is important to me, mainly because it stimulates my brain unlike anything else, especially, when I have nothing else to do or ponder over. Besides, it also offers me a certain mental satisfaction, knowing that I can fix my own computer, as well as the computers of my friends and relatives, at my own pace. Finally, it is important for me because it helps me save some good money, used on repairing a computer from a technician.
Sample Answer 2:
I’ll talk about driving which I think is the most important skill I’ve ever learned. I guess the main reason as to why it’s so special is that it was a passion for me to see myself at the wheel driving at a fast speed and going where ever I fancied. What’s more, my father bought me a car when I got my driving license which is a great gift to me, both financially and sentimentally.
It is not a very difficult skill to learn but it requires some dedication, practice and concentration to learn. One can learn it in 7 days with a few hours of practice daily. But to become a really expert driver, someone needs to keep driving regularly for about a year in my opinion.
Someone interested to learn driving can contact to the local driving school and can get enrolled with the quick driving lessons they have. Alternatively, if someone has his/ her access to a car and can manage someone to teach him/her the driving; s/he can do it as well.
Tips for answering this cue card topic:
Every positive skill is important to the person who has it as it helps him/her doing things in a better way, getting things done quickly and establishing him/her to be a bit different than other ordinary people. For this cue card topic, you should be able to quickly think about a skill that you have. For people who have some kinds of special skills can easily pick that and start talking about it. But for people, who are not sure about their special skills, often get confused about what to talk about. Following are some of the ideas that you can talk about to describe a skill you have:
1. Ability to swim: This is a special skill that would be handy when you need to journey on water road or work in a job which is related to water travelling related.
2. Electric work: This is another important skill that often becomes very helpful for people who can work on electronic devices.
3. Ability to sing, draw or dance: These three are kind of gifted skill that helps people to entertain others and show their extraordinary skills on things that the majority of people love.
4. Communication Skill: This is probably the most important skill for a recognised professional life and the better the communication skill, the better the career path. This communication skill also includes the ability to present things, arguments, language skill etc.
5. Writing Skill: This is another type of communication skill but is done through writing. This is also a very helpful skill for academic and professional life.
6. Technical skill: Any short of technical skill that someone has is considered to be helpful for the career.
7. Designing and Computer Skill: Since computer, internet and designing have become important skills for today’s job market, these skills are also considered to be very important.
8. Leadership skill: This is also a very important skill for an individual who has it. This is also a proven skill for high-level professionals.
9. Skills like cooking, sewing, fashion designing: These are also good skills and usually, women have them more than men have them. These sort of skills are helpful for personal and professional life.
10. Ability to drive different types of Vehicles: This is also a skill that can be very helpful in times of need.
Like the above list, you talk about anything that you consider as a skill and would be comfortable to talk about. For the first question, give the details of the skill you have and for the second questions, say that skill can’t be always learned like leadership, singing. Some of the skills are inherited and over time with practice, this gets even better. Some skills are strictly dependent on the effort and practice, like computer skill, swimming skill etc. None learn those skills from their genetics and though some are better than others on those skills, practice is the mantra for those skills.
For any skill, you talk about, mention the hard work you have done to achieve it or to fine-tune it. Mention some of the extraordinary efforts you have put to achieve it. Mention that with passions and practice this skill can be learned though it is very difficult.
Again for the third question “How can one learn it”, you should emphasise on the practice and passion it requires to learn it. Describe some of the steps that someone needs to go through to learn it. For the final question, why this skill is important to you, mention that hours of works it has saved you, how people appreciated you for this skill and also mention how this skill has made thing easier for you in your personal, academic/ professional life.
Part 3 – Two-way discussion:
Q. What skill do you think the university has provided for your job?
Q. What skills can you learn in school?
Q. What do you think of the role of family for children to learn skills?
Q. What is the most popular skill that people want to learn?
Q. What kind of school would you send your children to? Why?
Q. What kind of skills have your parents learned?
Q. What are the advantages and disadvantages of school education and family education?
Similar Cue Card Topics:
1. Describe an important skill that you admire.
2. Describe a skill you would want to learn.
3. Describe a skill that someone in your family has.
4. Describe an important skill that one of your friends has.
5. Describe something important you know.
6. Describe something valuable you have learned from your parents.
7. Describe a skill that most of the people should have.
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