Describe a time when you helped someone.

Model Answer 1:
Thank you for giving me the chance to talk about this topic. Actually, I can remember quite a few occasions
when I tried to raise my helping hands for others. The particular event that I would like to talk about was the
time when I helped a poor family in our hometown during my college years.
I can’t recall the exact name of the person but I remember that he had a family of 5 members and he was a
technician. He had very little education and he mostly relied on the small shop he had to repair electronic goods.
After a devastating cyclone, his small shop was demolished and he had no other income source or ability to
rebuild it. One day I noticed him trying to console his small kids who were demanding for foods. This happened
near our college campus and I had been there to meet a friend. I was so touched by the beautiful yet gloomy
faced kids that I went ahead and talk to this person. He explained what happened and was talking in a trembling
voice. He also told me he assured her wife that he would feed the kids and would bring foods to home.
I bought them some snacks and fruits and asked them to stay nearby for a while. I watched the small kids were
eating the foods voraciously and they had smiles on their face. I went to my class and told the whole story to my
three close friends. Finally, we went to our class teacher and wrote an application regarding the suffering of the
person and his family. The teacher permitted us to spend an hour to raise some money for the suffering family
from other classes and we were so glad to have the permission.
We had been able to convey the sufferings of this person and his family to the students and teachers and we
raised a significant amount of money which was beyond my expectation. With this money we bought some
foods and clothes for this family and they were so grateful that the husband and wife started crying and praying
for us. We gave the man the remaining amount and he had been able to start his work again.
About my feelings, I was very satisfied and contended. This is the first time I realised how enthralling and
satisfying it is to help someone. I felt like blessed and the person and his wife revered me as if I was their dear
one. In fact being able to help someone in need is something we can only feel and words can’t actually describe
it.

Model Answer 2:
Helping others is really a very good habit. But sometimes, you will need to be careful about providing the
support. In my life, I have helped many people and at the same time, I was punished for helping them. In fact,
almost all the events were bitter for me, and now I will describe the latest event that took place with me.
Being a student and part-time worker in Malaysia, life is difficult to me. I have been struggling with my
challenges but try to help others in all possible forms. A university friend of mine, Christopher (I am not citing
his real name) wanted some monetary supports for me to deposit his tuition fees for the new semester. In fact,
he did not work and studies with the expense of his own, rather he depends on his family. He belongs to a
wealthy family from Kenya and it was for the first time that he sought financial help to me.
But the situation was difficult for me to handle. In fact, Christopher and I were in the same department and lived
in the same dormitory. When he asked for the support, I was perplexed. I also had to deposit my tuition fees. So,
I had only the portion of mine and was unable to provide any support to him. Later, I had an idea that why
should not I share my amount with him. It will help to meet the crises. So I shared my tuition fees with him and
gave him the half of the amount. We had the option to pay the fees by three instalments. Usually, I used to pay
the entire amount at the beginning of the semester but now I took the option to use the instalment facilities.
Accordingly, I lend him from my money to pay the first instalment of the semester with me.
Christopher successfully deposited the first instalment and then he also deposited the due amount when he
received his required fund from his family. Both of us completed the semester successfully and now we are
waiting for the next semester to begin. But it was hard for me to adjust the amount in the later instalments.
Though my family is solvent enough to bear my educational expense, I do not take any support from them for
this purpose. Rather, I am trying to uphold myself with my own efforts. Hence, I am trying to be self-reliant
from my student life. However, I had a splendid performance in that semester despite the trouble of arranging
the remaining tuition fee amount and some other unwanted hazards.
Finally, I felt pity for Christopher as he did not pay me back the amount I shared with him. In fact, he cheated
on me with the money. He refused about the issue and clearly forbid me not to disturb him about the issue
anymore. I do not know why he behaved so badly about the monetary issue. If he did not want to pay me the
money, he could have told me in person. But he did not do so and created for some scenes in conjunction of
some of his friends. I deeply felt sorry for helping a boy like him. Later, I came to know that he became a drug
addict and spent the money on buying drug which he was supposed to return me. It was an unwanted experience
indeed.
Describe a museum that you have visited.

Possible Answer:
I have visited 5-6 museums in total in different countries and enjoyed visiting the (tell a museum name you
know about) in (say the country name). I went to the museum 2 years back while visiting the city. Visiting the
museum was not in our tour plan and yet we went there as it was prominently expressing its present in front of
us. I went there with my 2 friends and one cousin who were my tour partners. My cousin and one of my friends
were not at all interested to roam inside the museum as they had other plans. I insisted them to go there and
convinced them by saying that if you do not enjoy it; I would pay for the dinner!
After we bought our tickets, we entered into the museum and the colossal front side of the museum building and
the large open garden in front of it mesmerised us. At that time I had a feeling that our time would worth the
visit.
After we entered inside the museum, we found that the place is even larger than we initially thought it would be.
There were 5 floors in the museum and the inside architecture reminded us the imperial age. We could see the
top of the building from the ground floor. People from different age groups and countries were closely
observing the museum. Taking photo was prohibited and yet I was sometimes lured to take some hidden snaps
especially when I saw the colossal dinosaur fossil and alien ship!
The first floor of the museum had some art from a famous artist of the world and sculptures from a different
era.  The first floor gave us the impression of visiting a theatre or art gallery rather than a museum. We came to
know that some of the arts were so expensive that one can buy an island by selling it! Then we moved to the
second floor which was full of Second World War memories. Guns, tanks and other war materials from 1945
WW II had been arranged there. A video was showing some of the fighting scenes of WW II.
When we reached the third floor, it’s been already 2.5 hours. We found all the costumes and traditional things
from different parts of the world have been placed here. One can easily learn about the customs of different ages
and countries just by visiting this floor. The next floor had more adventure and surprises for us. It has placed all
the major inventions of different ages and they were historically famous. I felt overwhelmed seeing the First
computer, Speed boat, Wheel, Motor Engine and many more famous invention of history at this floor. I was so
much dying to touch the first 4 wheeler that had been placed there.
We had visited the whole museum as much as possible and spent almost the whole day. We were so enthralled
to visit the place that we literally forgot to have our lunch. The overall experience was fantastic and I learned so
many things in few hours. As soon as I left the place, I planned to revisit it someday. 

Describe a difficult thing you did well.

Model Answer:
In our life, we do so many difficult things knowingly and unknowingly. For some difficult tasks, we get
appreciation and some remain unnoticed by others.  
I would like to describe one of the difficult jobs I did and was appreciated as well. It was an event when I was around 18
years old and saved a little boy who was drowning in a pond. That day I was near a big pond of our town and all of a
sudden I noticed a human hand in the water. No other part of the little boy's body could be seen except his hand that he
was desperately trying to get up at the last moment of his life. Initially, I thought that I was just hallucinating and nothing
was in the water but instantly I changed my mind and had been sure that it was a boy who was drowning. I took off my
shoes and jumped into the water. Then I realised my mistake that I have not pointed out the exact place where I thought
someone was sinking. 
 I desperately swam and went to the approximate place after I struggled for few minutes. But there was none to be
found. I started feeling very helpless and found some people were looking at me with curious eyes. I shouted that I saw
a boy was drowning and trying to save him. I found 2-3 others also get into the water to find the boy. I felt overwhelmed
with the urge to find the boy. All of a sudden I saw the flash on water and quickly reached there. I felt someone who I
had felt with my body and I tried to pull out him from the water. But to my surprise, it seems impossible to me to bring
the boy out of the water. 
I used all of my force, energy and determination and will to get the boy from the water. I had to struggle a lot and I was
sure how long it took me to bring him up. To me, it seemed like an eternity and finally I had been able to grab the boy
firmly and swam towards the land. I was worried because the boy had already lost his conscience and I tried my best to
help him to breath. I pulled down and up my hands very strongly over his chest and finally he coughed. I felt very tired
and yet happy that the boy was out of danger. Some people came to extend their helping hands and they took the boy
to the nearby hospital. I went to the hospital and returned home when the boy was completely safe. 
 I felt real proud to be able to save the boy and the gratefulness I saw in the boy's parents is something I will never
forget. People appreciated my bravery and efforts and I also felt very relieved and proud. 
 Tips for answering this cue card topic:

Some of the ideas to talk about for this Cue Card Topics:

1. You saved someone from drowning.

2. You accepted a challenge and won it.
3. You started to make awareness against a crime in your locality.
4. You made a team of people to protest an unfair decision or crime.
5. You won a foreign scholarship.
6. You helped someone to overcome a bad habit.
7. You quit a bad habit.
8. You won a campaign or election.
9. You were nominated as a chairperson of an important team/ party.
10. You won a competition.
11. You helped your team to win in a competition.
For the first question ‘what was it’ mention specifically what you did well which was not easy to do. Then
mention why it was difficult and why you were determined to have it done. Then mention your personal
passion/ determination and the benefits that it would bring. Later describe some of the obstacles you faced
towards achieving it and also point out why finishing this particular task was very difficult.
For the final part mention your personal feelings after you achieved it/ have it done. Be very convincing in our
answer and try to specifically mention your determination and hard work to achieve the success.

Describe a person who can speak a second language.

Model Answer 1:
In fact, I know many people who can speak a second language. Just after I looked at this Cue Card topic, their
names and faces came to my mind. However, for this cue card topic, I would like to talk about my uncle,
Joseph, who can speak English very fluently. English is the second language in our country and many of us can
speak it quite fluently. However, my uncle Joseph was graduated from the London University and stayed in
London for more than 7 years. After he came back to his motherland, he went into the teaching profession.
These days he teaches history in a college.
Joseph is 2 years younger than my father and I know him from my childhood. He is around 40 years old now
and stays near our house. He is a doting father of 3 children and a devoted teacher who is loved by his students.
He has a good and natural accent and a pleasant speaking style that give a soothing feeling when I listen him
speak. He has a great way of teaching and I often took his advice regarding my studies. Whenever I had any
complex grammatical issue, he was the person I turned into for the help. He could explain things like a
magician!
Apart from his mother tongue, he can speak English very fluently and I heard that he can also speak Spanish,
Hindi and French. I have seen him speak with many American and British teachers and it seemed to me that he
speaks very naturally with them. I guess he has to speak English every day at the college he teaches in has got
many foreign students and teachers. He needs to deliver his lectures in English as well. I sometimes speak
English with him and I am no match for his fluency, academic knowledge and experience.
Learning a second language is a must in our school curriculum.  So everybody has to learn a second language
in our country. In most of the colleges and universities in our country, the lectures, exams and academic books
are in English. My uncle must have learned this second language as part of his academic study. However, his
study in a university in the UK and his 7 years staying in this country must have improved his knowledge and
language fluency to a great extent. The other foreign languages that he can read and speak must have been the
result of his personal interests and he must have learned them due to his stay in different countries.
Sample Answer 2: 
My dad, Astor Beaman is a French in nationality but he is fluent is a second language. He can speak and write
Spanish fluently. In fact, he has learnt the second language for necessity. His office requires a second language
skill. 
My dad is a man of letters and has a high degree in international affairs from a reputed university here in
France. He looks smart with his tall figure and dark blue eyes. He got married to mum in his university days.
Like all others, his early days were filled with thorns. After lots of struggle, he managed to get a job at an
international organisation. With his hard efforts and sincerity, he is now an established manager of the
organisation. He is to deal with a large number of issues and frequently needs to apply his second language
skills.    
Dad can speak the Spanish language like the native Spanish people. He learnt the language at a language club.
Actually, as part of his career, he wanted to learn some other language. He is quite skilled in English. But he
wanted to learn something more that he could use in his regular life. So, he moved for Spanish. Fortunately, he
got the job at the organisation which is based in Spain. They had been seeking a suitable candidate to run the
activities in France. But by the same time they wanted someone who possesses a command over the language.
It was necessary as most of the activities were based on dealing with the Spanish clients and producers. So, if
the knowledge of Spanish is poor, the candidate will be unable to handle the entire responsibilities. Luckily,
everything matched with dad and he got the job. 
He needs to speak and write in Spanish in his office as most of the staffs are from Spain. They are unable to
understand English let alone French. So, he needs to communicate with them in the language round the day.
Besides, sometimes he also needs to communicate with the headquarter of the organisation he is working with.
He needs to speak Spanish with his superior officials in Spain. Drafting letters, issuing orders and many other
tasks require his second language skills. But when he is at home, he speaks French with us. In fact, I have
never seen him use the language at home. I went to meet him at his office and came to know about his use of
the second language. Also, I was amazed at his skills of using the language in the appropriate places.   
My dad has learned the language based on his necessity. He understood the importance of the second language
and accordingly took the decision to learn it. It took nearly two years for him to learn the language. He
attended the language class on the weekends. Besides, he practised the language with some of his classmates
at home. He also practised writing in the language a lot. After lots of struggles and challenges, he had
completed the course. Now he is enjoying the benefits of his struggle in the past. I think the decision was wise
to learn the language. Interestingly, he picked the language randomly and luckily he got the chance to apply
the knowledge in his real life. Considering the future aspects, I think he learnt the language by his own
initiative. 

Describe one of your childhood memories.

 Sample Answer 1:
Childhood memories are strange things, because sometimes you can’t quite be sure if you really remember
something, or if you just think you do because others have told you about it, or you have seen a photo of the
event later on.  I’m going to talk to you about a memory that I’m very confident is real.  I’ll tell you what it
is, when it happened, how it affected me and why I still remember it.
The memory is the earliest one I have of me and my Dad.  I was very small indeed, I’m not exactly sure how
old, but I’d guess about three years old, maybe even younger.  My Dad was not a particularly tall or strong
man, but I was small enough, and by comparison, he was big enough then, for me to stand with both my feet
on one of his, and to reach up with my arms and cling onto his leg.  I would then hang on and laugh
delightedly as he tried to go about his daily business, walking around the house with me gripping on tightly
refusing to be budged.  It was a favourite game.
I don’t know that I can honestly say it affected me in my life.  However, in my family, we don’t really talk
about things very much or do a lot together.  We don’t live particularly close to one another so see each other
rather infrequently.  I suppose the way the incident affected me was by making me at a subconscious level
feel close to my Dad even years later as we had shared that happy play time together when I was tiny.
I didn’t know I had held onto this memory until quite recently.  Sadly my Dad died, he had been very ill for a
long time, so it wasn’t unexpected, but of course it was very sad.  I wanted to say something about him at his
funeral, and I wanted to pick a memory that was personal just to him and to me.  For some reason that image
of me tiny and laughing and him solemnly ‘pretending’ that he hadn’t noticed I was there came into my mind
and it seemed very appropriate somehow to share that one.  It was a happy memory, but also an intimate
one.  I think he would have been really pleased that I could recall it so many decades later.
So why can I remember it?  I’m not sure, but I like to think the memory was there dormant all the time just
waiting for the moment when I needed to retrieve it.  It is a comforting thing to recall.  The human mind is an
amazing thing!

Talk about your favourite season in your country.

Model Answer 1:
I come from the United Kingdom, where talking about the weather is always a topic of conversation. That
is because we have four different seasons, and each is special and beautiful in its own way. Each different
time of year also has its own distinct weather. Today I’m going to tell you about my favourite season, when
it is, why I like it and what changes it brings, as well as the things I like to do in this season.
So in the UK, our four seasons are spring, summer, autumn and winter. I like all of them in a way, but if I
must choose, then I think my favourite must be autumn. Autumn is usually between around September and
November each year, though it can shift a little if we have a long hot summer.
Factually, autumn is the time of year when the days start to get shorter again, the temperature cools and
plants and trees start to shut down and prepare for winter. You might think this would be depressing, but I
don’t think so. For me, autumn is something of a relief. I get terrible hay fever in the summer from pollen,
and I’m not great in the heat, so I find the temperature much more comfortable in autumn and I can be a lot
more active and do more things. The best thing about autumn is the way that the trees change colour. I’m
lucky because I live near woodlands. As autumn begins the leaves on trees transform from green to rich
oranges; vivid yellows; warm browns and blinding gold.  If you have never seen a forest in autumn, it’s
quite hard to imagine, but really and truly, at this time of year, if the autumn sun catches leaves as they
blow off in the wind they can look like flames or pure gold. It is astonishingly beautiful.
I also like to be outside, in summer, everyone else has the same idea, but in the autumn there are still some
mild days to be enjoyed and I like to wrap up warm and head off for long walks in the blustering wind and
have the countryside all to myself. I like to look out for wildlife and interesting plants on my treks.
Sometimes I’ll go walking or running with a friend and it feels like the whole place up on the hills belongs
just to us.
So for me, autumn is special because of its beautiful colours; the lack of pollen to give me hay fever, the
possibility of long country walks and being able to enjoy our wonderful British countryside all to myself!
Eventually autumn ends, and it becomes very dark and cold as we move into winter. I’m not so keen on that
as there is very little daylight and it seems to go on forever.  On the other hand, we have some great winter
festivals: Halloween; Bonfire night and of course Christmas, so every season has its good points in my
view!

Describe something interesting you learnt from the internet.

Sample Answer 1:
I am a regular internet user. It would not be an exaggeration if I say that I am a technophile and a netizen.
On an average, I spend around 10-12 hours online due to my profession in software development and
personal interest. I run two blogs: one personal and another one on technology and this increase the
amount of time I spent online. In fact, I learn so many things every day during my internet surfing. For
this topic, I would talk about a really interesting thing that I learned many years ago which is related to
human interaction in search results in famous search engines like Google and Bing.
The term is commonly called Golden triangle that represents the human eye hit maps on the search
results. The search engines like Google and Bing and also Yandex and Baidu are market leaders. They
serve an unbelievable amount of data to internet searchers and lots of research are conducted to present
the most relevant and accurate data to the searchers.
The golden triangle is the hit map of human eye activity on the search engine result pages and this looks
like the English alphabet “F”. This means all the search engine users look more on the upper-left corner of
the screen and then on the right side. The eye hit map presents that the search results that are placed on the
top (upper-left) have a better chance to be noticed by the searchers and thus get more traffic.
I was reading an online article by one of the prominent online research websites and that article
particularly caught my eyes. This was actually a 6-7 page article and the illustration and data was so
interesting that I could not leave my desk until I finished the whole article. To dig further I read some
other relevant articles and blog posts and the whole idea of researching user interactivity while searching
was fascinating.
The search engines are the doorway to the internet and according to a recent statistics, Google alone gets
more than 200 million searches every day. Since traffic driving and doing well with websites and online
business rely heavily on search engines, I often read articles and research papers about search engine
optimisation. This article gave me a good insight on human interaction on the screen and thus helped me
think in a different way to implement my efforts to help clients get a better position in search engines. So I
would say that was a really fascinating thing to learn.

Describe a traditional meal that you prepare in your country on special occasions.
Model answer:
Tandoori chicken with paratha is a traditional mean that we prepare in our country on many different
occasions. This is a famous meal in our country and people can have them from some restaurants but
they prepare this meal during festivals at home.
Tandoori chicken is originally Punjabi dish that we adopted and this dish consists of roasted chicken
with spices, testing salt and yogurt. This meal is usually prepared in a cylindrical clay oven, a tandoor, in
which this dish is usually prepared. The city people usually buy this special oven which is made of steel
or metal but in a village, people make the oven with mud and wood.
The paratha is a special kind of baked bread. Usually, the paratha is made from wheat flat bread and then
dough with cooking oil or ghee. We have this meal almost in all occasions. Not necessarily this is the
only meal we prepare in our festivals but this is a very common meal along with other traditional meals.
People love to have this meal in festivals and it seems like they usually assume that this is something
they must prepare for the guests. In the different parts of the country, this meal gets some other variation
in terms of cooking process, presentation and ingredients, but they are almost same in all part and the
custom of making it in a festival is quite common.
From my childhood, I have always found this meal delicious and very common during festivals. So
psychologically and in terms of its great taste, I love to eat this meal. Our people have a good hand on
preparing delicious meals and as a traditional meal, we enjoy it very much. For me, I don't have the
chance to eat this meal always as I live in a city far away from our hometown. So during the festival
when I stay at my hometown, I really enjoy a known meal which is delicious and traditional to us.

Describe a child you know.

Model Answer:
My grandfather had been the father of six children and later on when they became parents, the family
grew up quite large. In our joint family there are several children and among them, the youngest boy of
my elder sister is the one I'd like to talk about. He is 4-5 years old and is my most favourite nephew. His
name is Abraham and I call him Nir. I still remember the day he came to this world and I chose to name
him Abraham. He lives with his parents in a different city and they visit us almost 3-4 times each year.
From his childhood, he was very cute and adorable. I loved him very much and because of my affection
towards him, he became very fond of me. I usually see him with an interval of 3/4 months and each time
I get the feeling that he has grown up more.
We often play hide-and-seek and cricket together with other people and kids. He loves to listen to the
ghost stories, adventurous stories and fairy stories. While their stay at our home, he stays with me at
night and I tell him bedtime stories. We often go to walk in the field, go to open places like parks, near
river and forest. He likes ice-cream and I buy him chips, ice-creams and chocolates. He loves sweet and
hates to eat any pungent food. I often cuddle him, make fun with him and play with him.
My affection and love for him are very profound and I love to spend time with him.

Describe an unusual or interesting thing you did recently.

Model Answer:
Few months back while our visit to a friend’s hometown, all of a sudden a friend proposed us to go
inside a nearby forest and have a picnic there. This was a plan proposed by Arnold (...say one of your
friends name...) and 4 of our friends agreed to do so.

This was bit dangerous as people scarcely go inside the forest and from the local people we have heard
different scary and wild stories about this jungle. Our main attraction was the abandoned house inside
the jungle and we planned to do the picnic there and take photos of wild lives and the abandoned house.
We knew that my friend's guardians won't permit us to do that and hence we planned not to let them
know about it upfront.

On a Thursday morning we left the friend's house and bought the necessary ingredients, vegetables,
foods and other things that would be required for us to do the picnic. We entered inside the jungle and to
our surprise the inside was much more open and beautiful than we thought it would be. With some
difficulty we reached near the abandoned house and spent time till the afternoon. This was a very
exciting and unusual experience for us. We collected some woods and made an arrangement for
cooking. We eat the food we cooked and that was horrible in taste. However, we were looking for the
adventure and interesting stuffs so a bad food did not kill our spirit. We could not enter the abandoned
house as it was blocked and very fragile. We took several photos of the place and we notices some of the
wild animals were observing us with suspicion.

I have to confess that was a bit dangerous and imprudent thing to do but we enjoyed our interesting and
unusual picnic inside a forest.

Describe one of your neighbours.

Model Answer 1:
I’m lucky, I’ve got good neighbours. I’m going to tell you about just one of them, when we met, how
often we meet and why I think he is a good neighbour who I like very much.
I live in an old house which has been converted into about eleven different flats and bedsits. I live on
the top floor, which is actually the modernised attic space of the original building, there is just one
other flat in this roof area. To get to my flat, and that of my immediate next door neighbour, you have
to go up a back stairway that was probably originally the servants’ staircase, I think what is now my
flat and that of my neighbour’s too, must have been at one time servants’ quarters. This means that our
doorways are directly opposite one another, and we are the only people who use this entrance to the
building.
I moved into the flat I live in about five or six years ago now. It is a rented flat. At that time the flat
opposite me was empty, but a few weeks later I met a woman a little bit older than me who was busy
cleaning just inside the flat, but with the door wide open. I paused to introduce myself and talk to her.
She was really friendly, and I found out it was her son who was to be my new neighbour, she was just
helping him to move in. A bit later he, Oliver, turned up too. He was new to the area, so I explained
where all the local shops were, when the rubbish was taken out and various other little details about the
practicalities of living in the property. A couple of days later he knocked on my door and called round
for a chat. We found we got on really well. We have a very similar sense of humour, a shared (but
slightly half-hearted) interest in running, and a mutual appreciation of good food – I could recommend
the deli over the road to him as a source of lovely upmarket cheeses, olives and home-made lasagne
and delicious pasta and pesto sauce too. We also both have an unfulfilled wanderlust, always plotting
our next journey. He is off to Australia soon, lucky him!
Given how close we live together, our front doors face directly onto one another, we see each other
incredibly rarely. We both have busy lives, working full time but different hours. At weekends I tend to
be out and about, and he’ll often disappear for the weekend to stay with his girlfriend. Even so,
whenever we do meet, it is always friendly, we make each other laugh. We often end up having long
conversations just chatting in the hallway outside our front doors. I probably see him only once a
fortnight or so, but we leave each other notes too from time to time if we need help with anything.
Oliver is a great neighbour because I know I could call on him if I needed to. We will always help each
other if we can. I dug his car out of the snow for him once as he didn’t have a shovel, but he’s returned
the favour in other ways, taking in parcels for me when I’m away for example. Because I live on my
own it is really important to me to have a neighbour close by that I trust and like. I was really sad when
he told me he was planning to emigrate. I was also really pleased for him, you have to wish someone
well when they are following their dreams. I hope my new next-door neighbour is half as nice!
Describe a subject taught in your school.
Possible Answer:
The subject that I'd like to describe is Physics that was taught in our school. We had this subject in
each year of our high school and each year a new teacher used to teach us the subject. Even we had to
read physics in college as Science was my major. I remember Mr Alex, Burter, John, David and Mrs
Jeniffer took Physics in different years. We were lucky to have good Physics teachers who could make
the subject interesting and enjoyable.
Our teachers used to tell us stories first and then would explain the theory, experiment or math of the
textbooks. They would then relate the story with the study. Later they would explain us the real
examples and facts. Sometimes they used to take us to the Physics labs and explain how something
works. I have learned numerous things of physics from simple definition of mass to the complex
explanation of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. My foundation of physics grew up and expanded with
the help of those teachers.
The subject itself is utterly interesting if one can have a passion for it. It is one such subject that one
would start loving it if s/he starts understanding the underlying concepts of it. Physics is all around us
and the lesson I learned from my School had helped me greatly throughout my higher academic years.

Describe your favourite subject in your academic life.

Model Answer:
History was my favourite subject in my academic year and I have learned so many things from the
history books I read and learned from teachers related to history and they were so interesting that I later
did my graduation majoring History.
Learning about the past history is something that gives us real knowledge about our country, the world
and about the human race. I read History in my grade 7 and found it very interesting. This subject
taught us about the past of your world, how the social and economic condition was and how the world
has been shaped by the different events throughout the time. After that, I become so interested on this
subject that I started reading books on History from different writers. There is a famous saying that "to
shape the future you must know the past" and history teaches us that. I had been lucky to have some
great teachers who have a tremendous way of explaining the topics of History. To me, other subjects
like literature and Math were also interesting but I felt a different passion on History.
After I finished my school, I took History as my major and that has greatly influenced me the way I
look at the world and to the past and future. Reading and learning history was like travelling through
time and generations that excited me so much.

Describe a situation when you received some useful advice.

Sample Answer 1:
I was bit confused while picking the situation when I received some useful advice from others and
finally I decided to talk about the advice I got from my father when I was in my early teenage.
There was no particular situation or reason my father gave me some advice. In one evening I was
sitting near him and watching TV. I was then 14 years old and was very fond of quiz shows. Both of us
were enjoying the programme and a few minutes later my father asked me about my school. That was a
bit embarrassing to talk about since my recent exam result was disappointing. He then told me some
fascinating stories from his childhood and how he felt about school, study and other stuff. My father
has a natural talent for telling compelling stories or maybe I love his stories because I like him very
much. At one point I was so amazed to learn that he was very much like me and had more passion for
playing, hanging out with friends than studying. He then explained me the importance of studying very
attentively and how my academic performance will determine my future. If the advice had not been
received from my father, I might have taken it very lightly. But when he told me how he had changed
himself and achieved excellence in his academic results and how that has helped him to achieve a
career he always dreamt about, I took it very seriously. The best point about this conversation was that
I did not feel like I was being lectured or intentionally delivered some good advice. I thought about
what my father advised me and I was really captivated about the idea that my academic excellence can
someday make me a person I want to be. I was really enthralled about what I want to be in the future
and my father’s advice made it clear to me that I will have to study hard to achieve this in my life.
I won’t say I have achieved an excellent academic record, but this advice helped me to become
interested in learning and studying. Things could have been quite different for me if I did not receive
the advice in proper time. This is the reason I consider it as the best advice I have ever received from
anyone. This advice grew the interest of reading and learning in me and that’s the best part in my life
so far.
Sample Answer 2:
When I was in my college, I decided to start a coffee shop at the street where the college was located. I
had a partner with me to start the business but a friend of mine advised me not to start the business. He
was correct and his advice saved me from a huge loss.
In fact, to earn some cash to continue the academic expenses, I wanted to open a small business. After
lots of research, I found that a coffee shop would be fine for me. Besides, I also selected a partner to
run the shop. The idea appeared in my mind while I was drinking coffee at a small shop located nearby
my college. So, I thought that it would be beneficial for me to have such a shop and with the earnings, I
would be able to meet my expenses. I feel shy asking for money to dad. So, I decided to start my own
small business.
My childhood friend, Jonny was my advisor. I always seek advice from him for his extraordinary
intellectual level and ability to judge the situations. Almost all of his advice were effective and
beneficial for me. So, in this scenario, I asked him to suggest something that how can I run the
business. The advice he gave me was really impressive. Though in the beginning, I could not agree
with him for the reasons he showed, later I thought that he was right in every aspect. Besides, Jonny
was a boy of practicality and he did not compromise with the emotions. But he was not a rough and
tough man at all. He used to adjust with the situations and did accordingly after the situation demands.
When I described the intention to open up a small business, like a coffee shop, at the college street,
Jonny suggested me not to open the shop. Besides, he advised me to keep patience and continue the
study. Hearing the suggestion, I was astonished and thought that he might be jealous of my potential
earning and success. So, I wanted to avoid him and his advice. He also said that my partner was not a
trustworthy man. Moreover, the partner I selected was not insincere and I might not be able to continue
the partnership for a long, he commented. Jonny asked me to think about the issue again and again, and
then to decide either I will continue or not.     
The advice was extremely useful to me for several reasons. I followed the advice and did not open the
business. Jonny told me that there is a skyrocketed competition among the existing coffee shops, and
actually, there are a substantial number of small coffee shops in the college street. So, if I opened a
new one, I would have to struggle a lot to survive in the business. Moreover, I was wrong in partner
selection. Three months later, the man I teamed up with chose another partner, a friend of mine, and
opened a new coffee shop at the same place where I intended to run my business. But unfortunately,
they failed to attract new customers and keep pace with the immense competition. There were some
other internal business issues between them, told my friend, like lack of transparency and trust. The
advice was beneficial for me as if I started the business with that man, I had to suffer a huge amount of
financial loss.
Describe what you want to do in the future.
Model Answer:
Everybody has a plan for future. Though future is uncertain and many times unpredictable, I believe
that to some extent our future depends on our actions on past and present. In the future, I want to run a
mega shopping mall business where my involvement would not be mandatory to run the daily business
and I would enjoy my time by visiting different places of the world.
After I finished my graduation, I started working for a small company. Now I am working for a large
multinational company I have planned to work till I become 36 and then I will take early retirement.
The money I will inherit and the amount I am currently saving per month should allow me to start a
business. I have planned to start a big shopping mall. I will have my close relatives as the employees
and authorities of the business and initially, I will work in this shopping mall for 2-3 years to make it
run smoothly. When the business would go on with its own path, I will enjoy my vacation and would
visit different renowned and beautiful cities of the world. I will visit Asia, Europe, Russia and many
more places.
Hopefully, I will enjoy the retirement and the trips. Though I am not sure about the future, I have
already planned for it. Because I believe proper planning and initiation is the half of the total task and
fulfilling dream. I have already taken some steps towards achieving my future plan.

Describe something you plan to learn in the future.

Sample Answer 2:
I would say, I want to learn computer programming in the future. More specifically, I want to learn C#
(C Sharp) and PHP which are two very common yet powerful programming languages. Besides, I want
to enhance my skill in database programming so that I can combine those skills to develop great
desktop and web based software and applications.
I come from commerce background and I have finished my undergraduate degree in business studies.
During my 4th and 5th terms in the university, I got admitted in a computer training centre and learned
the basic of computing and programming. At that time I was introduced to the C programming
language and I found that being able to write codes to develop a software is a great and unique skill. I
found that I was coding very passionately at that time and I came to the decision that I would spend at
least a year to learn computer programming. I want to learn it to enhance my skill, to get a job in
Information Technology field and to develop some great software. Without knowing these
programming languages, I will not be able to develop those applications and software.
Though I have learned some basic of C programming language, there are still so many things that I do
not know about programming. As computerisation is a must in every field of work, I want to prepare
myself for this in advance. I need to learn more about programming to meet the great demands of the
application of the computer.  
I have decided to get admitted in a large IT training institute in our city and I would get enrolled in
programming language courses. Besides, I would invest a great deal of my personal time to practise
and would take help from the Internet to become an advanced programmer. Online video tutorials and
podcasts on learning to code would make things easier for me, I believe.  
As I have already told, I want to build up my career in Information Technology related field and
without learning those programming languages, it would be quite impossible for me. I want to develop
some great software and make a great contribution in this field. Honestly, I am quite ready to dedicate
my time and effort to achieve this. 

Describe a thing / subject that you want to learn more about.

Sample Answer 1:
I learned the Spanish language in my early school years and then moved to a different country with my
parents. In three years I learned the very basic if this language and I am very much enthusiastic to
enhance my proficiency in it. In fact, Spanish was my second language in my schools and I spent many
hours studying and practising it not only to get a good grade on the exam but also to actually know this
language.
I did not have any alternative but to take part in the Spanish classes during my school days. However,
in few days I found it very fascinating. I started spending a considerable amount of  time to learn more
about this language and my mother bought me a story book written in Spanish. I was determined to be
able to read it. That’s how I started to learn it. I had a moderate skill on handing the basic conversation
and writing in Spanish. But a long time since then had passed and I never practised it later on.
Learning a language is always helpful in terms of better understanding of their culture, tradition. It has
other benefits like better migration and job aspects. I have few friends from Europe and they are my
friends only because I could speak Spanish. I had also been able to read few books and magazines
written in Spanish language and I enjoyed reading them thoroughly. I had twice been in Spain and I
found the language knowledge very handy.
Main reason I want to learn about it because I have a passion and enthusiasm to be able to speak
Spanish fluently. My childhood memory is connected with it and I don’t want to miss any chance to
worship my childhood memories.
Apart from that, being able to speak Spanish would be an excellent chance for me to meet new people
and read many new books. It would also be helpful to get some privileges to get a better job in a large
multinational organisation. Considering all of this fact, I am very much eager to further learn it.

Describe a place that you would like to travel to.

Model Answer:
I had a very close friend in my school level who is currently working as a doctor at (...say a place
name...) and I would like to travel to his living place. I have a plan to visit (...say the place name...)
whenever I will get holidays for 4-5 days. The friend has invited me to visit his place and in the
meantime, he has visited my place twice. So my turn to visit his place has become mandatory. As he is
living in a rural area where hills, tea gardens are available, I am sure I will enjoy my visit there.
There are three options to visit the place- bus, train and aeroplane. For me, the aeroplane would be bit
expensive and I like travelling by train, so I will take the train to visit there. I have few reasons to visit
this particular place. First of all, this area is famous for its natural beauty and a good number of local
and foreign tourists visit this place each year. I would be able to enjoy my stay and live close to nature
during my stay there and that would be a goof refreshment for me.
Second, I would enjoy my friend's accompany there and as he has already visited my place twice, I feel
kind of obliged to visit his living place. Another reason I would like to travel
Alternative Answer:
I have a great desire to visit the Vatican City and that’s a wish I would like to fulfill. The Vatican City
is a comparatively small area and I want to visit all the major places of this country. Since I live in (…
say your country name…) and would require a visa to enter the Vatican City, airplane would be the
most convenient transportation for me. From the airport, I would need to hire a taxi and I wish to travel
the Vatican City either in a rented car or on foot. I do not have any particular plan to take a friend or a
family member but a good companion would not b a bad idea. Someone who has interest in History
(especially on Vatican City) would be a good company for the journey I guess. Right now I can think
of (…say a friend’s name…) as my travel companion in this journey.
I have a great interest in the mysteries and history of Vatican City. The places, the artworks, the
buildings, the archives and many other interesting historic events of this city make it a great attraction
to millions of tourists of the world. I want to take the first hand experiences of the historic events I
heard, read and learned about this city. The places and monuments of this city were described in lots of
book I have read and the movies I have watched. I would like to go there to witness the greatest works
of famous painters, architects and leaders. My interest in history, art and mystery are the main reasons
for my interest to make this travel to Vatican City.

Describe a competition/ contest you have entered.

Model Answer 1:
Ooh, it’s quite hard for me to think about an example of a competition I’ve entered as generally
speaking I am not a very competitive individual! However, I can think of one competition that I
entered, which I think you will find funny. I’m going to tell you what I had to do, what the competition
was for including the prize, and what happened after I entered.
Many years ago I used to live in a town called Leamington Spa. One of the few independent shops in
the town was a large old-fashioned department store which sold quite traditional items like
haberdashery products for sewing and knitting and gentlemen’s gloves and handkerchiefs. Over time,
they decided they needed to extend their product range to attract new customers, so they held a
competition in a weekly local newspaper. The competition was very easy to enter, you simply had to
complete your name and address on the coupon and post it into the newspaper offices of the
Leamington Courier. The prize was to be a specially fitted lingerie set, as a way of launching their new
selection of ladies underwear!
I never win competitions, or I thought I never did. So I was amazed when a couple of weeks after
posting my entry I received a letter telling me that I was one of three lucky winners! I was instructed to
come to the store for a fitting and informed that ‘a photographer from the local paper would be on hand
to photograph the winners afterwards!’ It was very funny, the letter was badly written, and it made it
sound as if we would be expected to pose in our winning underwear and agree to be pictured in the
local news! I duly went along to the store, where the comedy continued. Although the brassiere range
was supposed to be suitable for women of all shapes and sized, in fact, none of the three of us who had
won could be correctly fitted into the bras available. Embarrassed, the manager of the store offered us
alternative products, and the photographer from the paper said he still wanted a shot of all the winners
with an appropriate background. After some discussion, he got us to peer into a brochure, as if
choosing a glamorous underwear set, whilst behind us were rails and rails of lingerie. The lingerie
department wasn’t very big, and nor was it well lit. Our photographer was unfortunately rather
generously proportioned and he struggled to move his ample frae between the rails of clothes to get the
right camera angle. Eventually, he stepped backwards without looking properly, and as he did so
knocked over some rails of bras and knickers and ended up in a tangled heap of coat hangers, fallen
rails and covered in a selection of compromising underwear. I hadn’t laughed so much in years!
So how do I feel about the competition? Well, I was amazed to win something, and I did end up with
quite a nice new set of underwear for very little effort, but most importantly of all, I had a really
hilarious day collecting my prize and I hope you will agree I got a good anecdote out of it too!

Model Answer 2:
I have attended many competitions in different phases of my life and have won some prizes from those
competitions as well. One such contest that I would like to talk about was the Cycling competition that
I participated in my college.
I was then a student of the college and around 15 years old. One day I noticed an advertisement in our
local newspaper that an inter-college cycling competition would be held on next week. The entry fee
would be $20 and the prizes would be given to the first three cyclers. I had a passion for cycling and I
that’s why I thought to participate it.
On the day of the contest, I went to the starting point and registered my name in the competition. I took
my bicycle and wore my cycling dresses. I noticed there were around 30 competitors and I was asked
to stand at my start point. With the sound of the whistle, I start cycling. I had almost no intention of
winning prized but I simply did concentrate on cycling. The total distance was around 5 miles and that
required some energy and time. After I finished the racing, I was really surprised to hear that I won the
third prize. I found that some of my classmates were shouting because I was one of the three prize
winners.
I felt really happy and proud that I did well in this competition. Actually, I never took my cycling habit
seriously and after I did well in that competition, I started participating in other cycling competitions as
well.

Describe a historical place that you know about.

Model Answer 1:
I have a special interest in visiting famous places and on my list historical places always get
preferences. I have visited many historical places like Machu Picchu in Peru, The Pyramids at Giza,
Taj Mahal, Parthenon in Greece and many more. The historical significance and the site attractions
sometimes mesmerised me. The historical place that I would like to talk about today is Colosseum
(also known as Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre) which is situated in Rome, Italy. 
It is basically an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy which is the largest
amphitheatre in the world and is made of concrete and stone. The construction of Colosseum began
under emperor Vespasian in 70 AD and was completed under Titus in 80 AD.
The Colosseum could hold approximately 50,000 to 80,000 spectators and was used for gladiatorial
contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of
famous battles etc. The Colosseum was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980 and was
also included among the New Seven Wonders of the World. It is 189 meters long, and 156 meters
wide, with a base area of 6 acres .The height of the outer wall is 48 meters. The Colosseum nowadays
is one of the major tourist attractions in Rome with thousands of tourists each year paying to view the
interior arena.  
I have heard and seen of this famous place a lot and when I witnessed it for the first time, I became
speechless. The huge architect, the overwhelming interior and exterior decoration was beyond
appreciation. The place kept reminding me the classical mythological and historical facts I have read
and heard about.

Sample Answer 2:
The Three Swords Monument

The Three Swords Monument is an unofficial National quiescent object of Pakistan and is located in
Clifton Karachi. The Three Swords Monument is also renowned as Teen Talwar which is known as the
symbol of Unity, faith and Discipline. It is one of the best historical notable sights of Karachi. Its just a
Roundabout, but considered one of the best places to see in karachi.
The Three Swords Monument in Karachi was accredited by the previous President of Pakistan,
Zulfiker Ali Bhutto. The building structure of the monument consists of three white marble swords
with the wordings of Quaid-e-Azam, principles of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Unity, faith and Discipline.

History of Three Swords Monument

This monument was built on acquiescence by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as the sign of Pakistan People’s
Party. The party’s representative flag was colored with Black, Green, and Red. The Three Swords
Monument was accomplished by the architect Minoo Mistri in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s era. During
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s ruling period, the Three Swords Monument reveals the three pillars of Qaid-e-
Azam, and symbolizes Unity, Faith and Discipline.

Three Swords Monument at Present

Now days, the monument has become the goal of political and religious beliefs. The white marble has
been consigned with different inscriptions which go against the original intention of putting equal
weight on the three qualities of “Unity, faith and Discipline”. The monument is also covered with
different political banners and flyers as well.

It is important to be noted that if you’re hoping for a picture of yourself standing in front of this
monument, it’s not possible because the 3 swords are located in the middle of a very busy roundabout
(also known as Teen Talwar Intersection near St Andrew’s Church). So clicking a few pictures from a
distance whilst you’re waiting in traffic is the best option.

Describe a handcraft item which you made yourself.

Sample Answer 1:
Kite flying is a popular activity in China and I have made different types of kites in various occasions
all by myself. For this cue card topic, I would love to talk about a dragon kite that I made when I was
around 16 years old.  
Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, is a traditional and widely celebrated festival
in China and it usually falls in April. During this festival, many people, especially children and young,
play around with a variety of kites. On such an occasion I made a kite which was more than 4 feet in
length and looked like a red dragon. This sort of kite is usually called dragon kite and it is quite tough
to make and fly. When a traditional kite might take an hour to be made, a dragon kite sometimes takes
more than a week, depending on the size and shape of it.
It took me more than 4 days to complete this kite and I required to purchase some special papers,
colour, plastic, glue, ribbon, and sticks to make this kite. First I had to use the sticks of different sizes
to build the main shape of the kite. The sticks were linked to each other very strongly and I used glue,
sticks and plastic to make the final shape of the kite. Then I  checked whether the structure was strong
enough to fly or not. After that,  I wrapped the frame with colourful papers and plastics to give it a
beautiful shape. I was quite happy to see the final outcome and was convinced that it would fly without
any obstacle. The wings of the dragon were more than 1 feet each and I had to be very careful while
making it. Any wrong shape of the wing would actually ruin the whole project. I had to make it strong
while keeping it light. That was a tough challenge but luckily I was quite successful in making the
final kite.  
When I made the kite and finally flew it in the sky, it was a great experience for me. I was relieved that
it was flying and looked good. People were looking at that large size dragon kite and some of them
appreciated it. It was embracing the white cloud in the sky and went higher than most other kites. It
was moving as if a great dragon was acting as a guardian of the sky and protecting the people below it.
I was quite excited when it finally declared its prominence in the sky.

Cue Card Answer 2:

Oh my goodness! This topic is tough for me. I’m not really a ‘handcraft’ sort of person. I am very bad
at creative things, I really admire it when I see what other people can do – somehow taking some old
newspapers and a bucket of glue and creating some extraordinary work of art out of papier mâché, but
that isn’t really me, unfortunately. If I tried the same it would end up with spilt glue and newspaper
print smeared everywhere and a gooey heap of soggy paper trailing all around the room! However,
when I was very little we used to sometimes do crafts at school, and occasionally I’d see a children’s
TV programme which would include ideas of things that were easy to make with discarded household
items. I can think of an example of this, and that’s what I’m going to talk about today. I’ll tell you
what it was (though that might be harder than you think), how I made it, what I did with it, and what I
felt about it too.
 Well, as to the ‘what it was’. I suppose I can only say it was a ‘useful box for putting things in’,
(which is a quote from Winnie the Pooh in case you were wondering). Not that useful probably,
because it was very small. It will make more sense when I explain how I made it.
So, what you needed was an old matchbox. Nowadays, matchboxes tend to be made of cardboard, but
when I was very little they were actually made of very finely cut wood sometimes. I have no idea how
that worked, but they were. All I did, was take an old matchbox once the matches had all been used.
Then I got hold of some very special sellotape. It was gold, I really don’t know where it came from
because it would be unusual even now. However, I had it, and some silver tape too. I very carefully
wound the gold and silver tape around the outside of the matchbox until it was completely covered up.
If you look at the box now you can see it’s a bit wonky, so it must have been hard to do with my little
podgy fingers as a toddler. I then found a button from somewhere and stuck it in the middle of the top
of the box. Job done! A little box for secret treasure. So what did I do with it? Well, the purpose of this
creative outburst was to make a gift for my Dad. I’m not sure if I did this for fathers’ day, or whether I
made it for a birthday present, but it was very definitely made with my dad in mind. So what I did with
it, was wrap it up carefully for him to open at breakfast on the morning of his special day.
Honestly, I don’t remember now how I felt about making it myself, but I’m guessing I would have
been very proud, because I was at an age when I’d have been too little to have any money of my own,
and it took quite a bit of initiative to come up with this gift idea and follow it through (though I have a
suspicion my mum might have helped a bit with gluing on the button!). However, last year my Dad
died, and over the subsequent months, I’ve been sorting through some of his things quite gradually. In
a side drawer of his desk, I came across this little box which he had carefully kept for nearly 50 years.
It had been put into service for storing potentially useful paper clips, and was very suitable for such a
job. It was really strange seeing it again. On the one hand, it was long forgotten, until that moment I
had no idea he still had it, let alone for current use. On the other hand as soon as I saw it I recognised it
instantly. It was quite poignant, but also a good memory. I had done this spontaneous thing for him,
and although essentially it was just an old matchbox wrapped up in sellotape which had now largely
lost its stickiness and was peeling away that didn’t matter. It wasn’t the quality of my handcraft that
was important, it was the love and determination that had gone into making it.  
So it seems, even though my attempt at handcraft wouldn’t win any prizes in a competition, I hope this
little story goes to show that really and truly, it is often the case that it really is ‘the thought that
counts’! How do I feel about making it myself? Well, really happy, it was such a personal exchange,
and I was happy that my Dad must have really appreciated it to have kept it for all those years.
Describe a cafe/restaurant you have recently visited.
Sample Answer 1:

I went to a café about two weeks ago to attend a birthday celebration of one of my colleagues and this
was a unique place that caught my eyes. The name of this café is ‘Café Metro’ and it’s near the City
centre shopping mall. I was a bit inquisitive about the birthday celebration in a café. But after I reached
there, I found out it was quite a large place and in fact had much more facilities than a conventional
party centre.  I once heard about this café but never went there as it is located far away from my house
and office.
It was Thursday evening when one of my colleagues reminded me the birthday invitation of Mike. I
went to the café with 3-4 colleagues and before reaching there we bought a gift for Mike.
There were about 30 people in total and most of them were my colleagues. I wished Mike a happy
birthday and gave the present we bought. I sat in a corner and enjoyed the soft music that was playing.
A piece of birthday cake was served and it was the first thing I ate there. After that, I drank a glass of
water. I was then asked whether I would like to join the supper of wait a while. I had to get back home
early that day and that’s why instead of a dinner, I preferred to eat my supper. But to my amazement,
more than 20 items were served which were white heavy for the evening meal. However, I ate the soup
first and then went for the traditional Italian item called primo. Then I ate antipasto before I ate the
dessert. There were probably more items in the supper but I was full and did not eat anything further.
I would say I had a very delightful experience in this café. The environment was quite unique with
gorgeous painting and decoration. The spacious café offered an excellent experience that made me like
this place very much. The food items were delicious and the service boys were very friendly and
amiable. 
Sample Answer 2:
Living in a busy city like Kuala Lumpur is really troublesome because there are few places to sit and
gossip. My recent visit to a small café in the city has made me feel irritated. This was an unhappy
event for me and I will describe the event in as brief as I can.
The café is located in the downtown of Kuala Lumpur. It is small in size and the seating arrangement
allows around 15 people to sit at a time inside the café. Besides, there are some other seating
arrangements outside. Since the café is located beside a busy street, the environment is really horrible.
There are people everywhere and you cannot have peace of mind for a single moment. The majority of
the visitors take their seats outside as the inside remains filled always. To take a seat inside the café,
you need to reserve or move early for it. The food quality was also unsatisfactory as well.
After passing a hefty in the college, I wanted refreshment and thus visited the café with some of my
college mates. In fact, this was the nearby café from my college and it was a five-minute walk. We all
planned to pass a wonderful evening at the café, gossip for hours and then return home with a
refreshed mind. As per the plan, we moved for the café. Though I objected over the selection of this
particular café, they denied my objection for it was the closest one we had then. Moreover, the day was
long and we attended three classes continuously. So, they did not want to move to a distant place. We
walked down there and took seats outside of the café. Our waiting started since we took the seats.
It was almost dusk. So, we planned to take some light snacks and drinks. We ordered for chicken fries
and coffee. I took a set of chicken balls instead of chicken fries. Besides, I took a cup of coffee. But we
stayed there for over two hours and ordered for another time. This time we took some heavy foods. I
ordered for a chicken burger while the others ordered for various food items including beef kebab,
pizza, chicken grill and more. This time we also ordered for soft drinks. After finishing the foods, we
ordered for coffee for another time. In fact, it was a heavy meal for almost every one of us. The food
was too heavy for me and I was unable to take my supper on that night.      
I disliked the café for some specific reasons. First of all, the service was not up to the mark. They had
fewer employees to run this café. There were 30 persons altogether in the café whereas they had only
four employees to serve the customers. So, most of the time, the people had to wait in a queue and
waited for their turn to come. Moreover, the charged more than the usual rate in the name of serving
the best foods. But my experience was different in this case. I found some foul smell emitting from the
dishes when I came here for the first time. The similar thing happened with me this time. An unusual
smell was emitting from the burger that I ordered and had to wait for long 20 minutes to replace the
faulty burger. Considering all the matters, I am displeased with this café.
Describe a situation when you were late.
Model Answer: 
The city I live in has a severe traffic jam problem and due to that, we often get late to reach our
destination. One such event when I was late in an important exam was a frustrating experience for me.
It was 2 years ago when I was a student in the university. I had an exam at 8.30 am which I thought
would be at 9.30 am. I did this mistake because I noted the time wrongly in my notebook. I prepared
for the exam well and left home at 8.15 am as my usual journey to my university takes around 40
minutes. According to the schedule, I should have reached at least 30 minutes before the exam time.
I already had the wrong idea about the exam timing and I found that it was raining outside and there were
only a few transportations available on the road. I had to wait at the bus stoppage for more than 30 minutes
before I actually got into a bus. To my surprise, the traffic on the road was very bad. The buses were moving
very slowly because of the unavoidable traffic jam. I was hoping desperately to reach the university in time.
But that was not my day! I reached at the exam hall at 10.15 am and I was shocked to learn that the exam
would end only in 15 minutes. I was so worried and anxious that I could not think clearly what to do.
 I felt helpless at that time and was asked the teacher what can I do now. He asked me to come after the exam
ends. I followed him as soon as he left the exam room. I noticed that some of my classmates were also looking
at me with surprise and were probably thinking how careless I was to miss such an important exam.
 After I reach the class exam coordinator’s room, he took me to our advising tutor and asked me to give a good
reason why I was late for the exam. I told everything that has happened and the coordinator arranged an exam
in his room. As a penalty, he deducted 20 minutes from the exam time and asked me to finish the exam and
leave the answer sheet to him. I was kind of worried and felt a bit relieved also. As my preparation was good, I
had been able to answer all the questions in the due time. Thus the situation was handled and I was not in a
big trouble for the late I made unintentionally.

Describe an interest or hobby that you particularly enjoy.

Model Answer 1:
Today I am going to talk about a hobby I particularly enjoy when I am at home in the UK. I will tell
you what the hobby is; how long I have been doing it; who I do it with and why it is important to me.
My hobby is running!  I know I do not really look like a runner, and it is true I am not very fast, but
this is still the activity that I like to do in my spare time.
I have not been running for very long.  I started running just 18 months ago, as I decided I needed to
get fit, and I thought it would be a cheap way to exercise.  I did not expect to enjoy myself. Near to
where I live, there is a park.  It is very beautiful with trees and streams.  Each Saturday a large group of
about 500 people meet at 9.00 a.m. in the morning and go for a 5 km run together. This event is called
Parkrun, and it happens in over 300 different places in the UK each week. I was nervous when I first
went but found the group was friendly and encouraging.  Now I go every week, and I even have
trained for some longer races 10 km and my longest was 20 k.m.!
I have made lots of friends through running.  However, the best surprise was that when I went to my
local Parkrun, I met someone I had not seen for over 30 years!  We had been at school together but did
not keep in touch.  We had both moved to the new city of Sheffield and did not realise we lived so
close to each other.  Now I run with this friend every week, and we go for breakfast each Saturday
after our run.

Running is important to me because it keeps me fit, has helped me make new friends, and it has shown
me that I am not too old to try new things!  I hope you all find activities that you enjoy doing in your
spare time!

[ Written by - Lucy Marris | Careers Adviser (UK), TEFL teacher (Vietnam) ]

 Model Answer 2:
Blogging is the interest or hobby that I really enjoy and have been doing it very passionately for the last 2-3
years. A blog is basically the short form of 'weblog' and it lets the blogger write on topics he/she likes. It is very
similar to a website and the blog posts I write is open for anyone to read using the internet. This blog is not
collaborated with anyone at the moment. Currently, I am updating it alone but I have a plan to share this with
some of my friends who also has interests in writing and blogging.
 The blog I am maintaining has lots of importance both for me and for the intended readers. For me, the blog
helps me improving my writing skill as it requires lots of content writing, helps me exploring of relevant topics
that improve my knowledge and to upload the images I take with my camera. Sometimes I write on how-to
and tutorials which are helpful for people looking for it. Sometimes I write on books I read, movies I watch or
about new things I learn and that helps me observing those in a different perspective. People can comment on
the articles I add and thus I have got many others in my blog who shares similar interests that I have. Thus the
importance of my blog immense to me and I maintain my blog with utmost passion and fervour. 
 For writing blog posts I need to explore different topics and thus this habit helps me increase my knowledge
on different topics. 

 Model Answer 3:
Today I am going to talk about an activity that I do in my spare time. I will explain what the hobby is;
how long I have been doing it; who I do it with and why it is important to me.
I don’t think you will be able to guess what my hobby is because it is quite unusual! In my free time, I
work at an Alpaca Farm! An alpaca is an animal that is kept for its fleece, they look a little bit like
sheep but with a very long neck! They are related to camels and llamas which you may recognise more
easily. They usually live in South America, but there is an Alpaca Farm near to me in Sheffield and I
work there at weekends. Although it is called an Alpaca Farm, in fact, there are lots of different
animals there: horses; goats; sheep; some ducks and hens and even some llamas.
Working with the alpacas and the other animals on the farm means I have to get there early in the
morning. I help to feed the animals and clean up after them. Sometimes I have to drive a tractor to take
hay and water out to the horses. Often there are visitors to the farm and I will give them a guided tour
and introduce them to all the different animals. At some times of the year, I help with special jobs to
care for them, such as giving injections to protect them from illnesses or trimming their toenails if they
get too long. My favourite time of year to help is in the spring when baby Alpacas are born. New-born
alpacas have to stand up very quickly and within hours are drinking milk from their mothers and
running around – it is amazing to watch.
I work on the farm with the farm manager. He is a very kind and funny man. Although we might not
seem to have much in common on the surface, we get on really well together. We laugh and talk all the
time whilst we are getting the jobs done.
Although my hobby is unusual it is very important to me. My full-time job is in indoors in an office
and a lot of the time I am sitting down, so at weekends I like to get outside into the countryside and do
some physical work that is completely different. I love the animals, the fresh air and the exercise. I also
really enjoy talking with the farm manager as he can tell great stories. In the winter though it can be
very cold, and trudging through 3 foot of snow to feed the animals is really exhausting. On those days
I am glad that working with the Alpacas is just a hobby, I can spend the rest of the week in the warm!

Describe a garden you remember visiting.

Model Answer:
I remember visiting a big garden at my uncle’s house when I was a college student. The garden was so
big and was so beautiful that I still remember it. It was at my maternal uncle’s farmhouse and was
adjacent to a narrow lake. My uncle lives in a 4 storied building but he had a firm house and a very nice
garden that he looked after. This was a very good earning source for him as well.
One day he invited me to visit the garden with him and I agreed to visit it. I became speechless when I
entered into the garden. It was at lease 2-3 acres and had been placed beside a lake. A soft, balmy wind
was blowing and the flowers were dancing with the wind. I have never seen so many flowers together
that I watched in this garden. There were fences all around the garden to protect it from savage animals.
There were several types of trees in this garden including flowers trees, vegetable & fruit trees and big
trees to give shadows to other trees.
This was not a public garden so the entry was restricted for the people to enter the garden. But I have
noticed that people could easily come near the garden as the lake was a public place. They enjoyed the
beauty of the garden from outside. The people who take care of the garden water the trees, cut off the
unexpected branches of the trees, takes away the dust and rubbish and keep a close eye in the garden so
that wild animals can’t do any harm.
I remember the garden because it was so beautiful and was near the lake. The several numbers of
flowers in the garden and the chattering of the known and unknown birds overwhelmed me. I was
supposed to be there for an hour or so but I was so much attracted to the beauty of this garden that I stay
there for several hours.
Describe your favourite flower
Describe your favourite flower.
Model Answer 1:
It is hard to find a man who does not love flowers. Everyone loves it for different reasons. I also love
flowers and prefer sunflower most than the other flowers for some specific grounds. This is the flower
that is highly beneficial for the humans and sunflower is my favourite flower.
Flowers have a special attraction to the humans. They are used to serve several other purposes as well. It
is a kind of symbol of love, peace and happiness. So, people are attracted to flowers. They love to have
flowers on different occasions. I am not an exception in this case but my preference is a bit dissimilar
from many others, even my family members. Most of the people are fond of rose which is considered as
the queen of flowers. But I like sunflower the most. This is a special flower for me and casts a different
charm to the people. This is a photogenic flower and looks beautiful when blooms. The flowers are of
different size and shapes and the naming as ‘Sunflower’ might have been done so as they face to the sun
when bloomed.
The flower is grown around the world but France produces a large part of the global share. The flower
was brought into the country and in the European continent by the Spaniards during the 16th century.
They used to sunflower oil for cooking. Initially, the flowers were found in wild state and after a few
centuries, the importance of the flower appeared. Then commercial production for the flower began in
France. Now sunflower is one of the most important agricultural crops of France. The sunflower seeds
are used for a wide number of purposes. Usually, the sunflowers grow over 10 feet in height and
summer is the best time for the bloom. So, when the flower is grown commercially, the growers harvest
the flowers by July each year. The vast fields look gorgeous with the bloomed sunflowers but the scene
lasts for a short time. Such scenarios are now places in view cards. Mostly the village areas are used for
massive sunflower production in France.
Sunflower is one of the major products of France and mostly the seeds are used to manufacture cooking
oils. The sunflower oils are healthy and free of the other toxic issues that may cause physical disorder
after consumption. Moreover, the seeds are also used for beauty products and cosmetic. The flower
sticks look stunning when they are installed in or out of any house. Thereby, some people grow
sunflower plants on their lawn or small garden beside or before the house. Sunflower oil is widely used
here for its easy digestion feature and other health benefits like improving the brain, removing physical
disability or preventing cardiovascular diseases. Besides, the sunflower seeds are enriched with vitamin
E which is essential for our daily needs. The use has become too common in France that the sunflower
and its products are found almost everywhere across the country.
I firmly believe that I am a bit different from the ordinary people and my choices are not similar to the
choice of others. Most of the people like to prefer some regular flowers but in this case, my choice is
completely different. I love sunflower while many of the people will consider the flower as a
commercial product for its random commercial use. The fully grown flowers face to the sun and swings
in the air and this is adorable to look at. I also like the flower for its numerous benefits. Most of the
other flowers do not have any usefulness except being used for decorations but sunflower is opposite to
them. I like to think practically and do all the things which are beneficial for me. So, in preferring my
favourite flower, I will pick the one which will be advantageous for me. Sunflower owns all the features
I admire and find useful.
Sample Answer 2:
Lavender is one of most prominent flowers in my country. It comes with a gorgeous look. This is mostly
an ornamental flower but has some other benefits as well. This is a pleasant question for me. Thank you
for asking it. I will describe the flower in brief now.
Lavender is also known as Lavandula. This is flowering plant and belongs to the mint family. Thus the
smell of the flower is completely different from the other flower plants. The flowers are grown both
commercially and individual level. When it is cultivated in private level, it is aimed to use the flowers
for decorative purposes only. But when it is on the commercial level, the purposes are dissimilar like
extraction of oils etc. 
Lavender is available around the world in various quantity. It mostly requires a temperate climate. And
so the places with temperate weather are most suitable to grow the plants. Hence, it is mostly found in
the European region. Besides, the plant is also available in some parts of Africa, Mediterranean regions,
some places of Cape Verde, Canary Islands, some parts of Asia and India. The cultivation process is
dissimilar than other flower plants. Growing lavender needs an open space and the right amount of
sunlight.
Yes, this is a common plant in Australia. There are wide areas where the plant is grown. Most of the
cases, the plants are cultivated for commercial purposes here. There are some other people who grow
lavender on their private properties. In that case, the aim is just to use the flower plants as ornaments.
They change the look of the house or of the place. But commercially this is used as a culinary herb. The
application of lavender oil is highly beneficial for human health. So, it needs a huge production. Without
massive planting, this is impossible to get the desired amount of oil that is used for various purposes like
mosquito repellent, bathing materials etc.
Lavender is my preferred flower. I am attracted with the fragrance of the flower most. Besides, it
provides a very pretty look. In fact, I love the large lavender garden before my residence which has
increased the beauty of my house. The short-living nature of the plant is another feature that makes it
more attractive to people. The flower hue brings a sense of peace inside my mind. Cooking with
lavender helps to bring an exceptional test to the foods. The foods smell like lemon or citrus when
lavender buds are applied on it. The lavender oil is also beneficial for removing sleep disturbances too.
Most importantly, the lavender fields look really striking when the flowers are bloomed. For all such
reasons, this is my preferable flower and I have a moderate garden where the plants are greatly taken
care of.

Describe an important decision/ choice that you made in your life.

Model Answer 1:
Decisions, decisions. I’m not always good at making decisions. I worry about making wrong choices,
and often seek advice from friends to help me think through the consequences of picking one option
over another. Mind you, some people say that we choose who to ask for advice depending on what
advice we want to hear. That might be true. Some decisions are easy to make – perhaps because all the
possible options are good ones (like choosing a favourite pudding) others seem to have no good options
only ‘least bad’ ones, those are hardest to make. The important decision I can think of, and which I’m
going to talk about today, worked out in the end, but it was terrifying to have to make at the time.
I’ll talk you through what the decision was, when I took it and what the results were. Finally, I’ll explain
why it was so important that it still impacts on me today.
The decision was whether or not I should relocate to a different part of the country to take up a new job.
I had to make the decision about 6 years ago. I had been self-employed for a while, but then there was a
downturn in the economy and I stopped getting enough work to support myself. I applied for a job in
Sheffield, which was a city I didn’t know at all, and when I had first an interview, and then a job offer, I
was faced with a big decision. Should I leave my home and friends to start a new life in Sheffield for a
promising job at a prestigious university; or should I stay where I was in my lovely house and familiar
surroundings, and hope the work might pick up again in the future?
I thought a lot about the pros and cons; I cried a lot to be honest, as the thought of making a new start
was really scary. I’d be all on my own, and what if I didn’t make friends or couldn’t do the job well?
However, ultimately it came down to income. I couldn’t live on fresh air, and this was a well-paid job. I
also thought if I turned the work down, and then didn’t manage to pick up new contracts I’d always
wonder ‘what if?’ or how might things have been different if I’d just been brave enough to ‘give it a
go!’  I accepted the job and started to pack. In less than three weeks I was renting a flat in a new city and
turning up to work in a new office with new colleagues. One resolution I made early on, was to be really
positive about the decision once I’d made it. I’d join societies, say ‘yes’ to every social invitation, and
really try to build a new life quickly. I wouldn’t ever look back!
The result of the decision? Well, I moved to a new city, and took a new job. It was hard at first, there
was a lot to learn and sometimes it was lonely too. However, I’ve never regretted it. Sheffield is a lovely
city near to beautiful countryside. I've rented an attic flat which has great views over the city in one
direction and woodland in the other. I think this city must be one of the friendliest ones in the UK,
people were incredibly welcoming to me as a newcomer, and there is always lots to do. I don’t have that
job anymore, but I don’t regret taking it at all. I do sometimes miss my old house in Leamington where I
used to live, but I don’t miss anything else. I think the move revitalised me and took me on a great new
adventure, sometimes you do just have to take a bit of a risk in life to progress, this bit of risk taking
worked for me.
So in conclusion, I think it was a big decision, but I made a good choice. Of course, it was an important
one as it changed everything for me, from where I lived and worked, to who my friends are. Honestly
though, I think perhaps with decisions it matters less what you decide, and more that once you have
made a decision you make the best of it, wherever it may take you. Sometimes the journey is speedy and
smooth, sometimes it is rocky along the way, but whatever path we choose, it is what makes us the
people we are – for better or worse!
Describe a time in your life when you were very busy.
Model Answer:
We all get busy in times of exam, sickness of a family member, for completing assignments, to meet
deadlines etc. and though most of us wish to lead a relaxed and hassle-free life, the situation demands
our promptness in action and we all get busy then. One such busy time I still remember was the time
when I had the deadline to submit my thesis paper in the final year of my university.
I had about 2 months to complete the thesis and I killed almost 2 weeks due to my job pressure. I joined
a company as a part-time employee at the beginning of my final term and had to work for about 4-5
hours per day. I had classes to attend, exams to prepare for, study and work at the office. I had hardly
few hours remaining for my personal stuff and I was worried that I was falling behind my schedule for
my thesis paper submission. The thesis was a complex one and I had to visit libraries, browse the
internet, do group discussions and meetings and brainstorm a lot to organise the writing for the thesis.
Moreover, I had to visit some local offices to collect data for my thesis. Those days were so tough and I
had been so busy that sometimes I slept for 4 hours only at night.
The work pressure, tension, tight schedules, deadlines, moving from place to place, classes & study
were my life. I did not visit my parents for the whole semester as they were in my hometown. There was
hardly any month that I did not go to my hometown to meet my parents but during that period I did not
have the chance to do so. In fact, I was unable to go to my hometown for about 7 months. I usually
watch 2-3 movies on my computer each week, go for walking each morning, visit some close friends,
maintain my social networking profiles and update my blog but during this period I was so busy that I
did not do any of these activities I usually maintain.
I am so lucky that I was finally completed the thesis and submitted it in due time. To my surprise, I got a
straight 'A+' in my thesis, continued my job and did well in my term final. But for that, I had to sacrifice
a lot and maintain a strict routine. I slept 4-5 hours each day on an average, read academic books and
notes in public transportation while moving from one place to another, and utilised every single hour I
got. Moreover, to finish things in time I stopped a lot of my other activities that I usually do. Thus I had
been able to handle the pressure and deadline. I have to thank some of my teachers, classmates and some
of my friends without whom it would have been impossible for me to finish everything correctly and in
time.  

Describe a photograph that you remember.

Sample Answer 1:
I want to talk to you about a favourite photograph of mine. I’ll explain when and where it was taken and
why it is important and memorable to me.
The photograph is quite old now. I took it myself using what would now be thought of as an old-
fashioned camera with traditional film. I can’t remember exactly what year it was, but it was probably
around 2005. The photograph is of my uncle and aunt with their daughter, my niece. My uncle was born
in the UK but ended up working in America, eventually taking American citizenship. I didn’t get to see
him very often. Unfortunately, just before this photo was taken my uncle found out he was very ill, so I
travelled out to America to visit him and his family, knowing that I might not get the chance to see him
again.
Because it was my first time in America, they took me out and about to see the sights. The photograph
was taken on a day we went to New York. It was pouring with rain, and really blustery. In the picture,
my uncle and aunt are both holding black umbrellas, and the one my uncle is hanging onto has turned
inside out in the wind. My niece, who was probably in her late teens then, is standing between them, and
they are all laughing because the torrential rain had thoroughly drenched everyone. In the background is
a yellow cab, and the streets are awash with water. It ought to have been a miserable day, but we had to
see the funny side because the atrocious weather was so extreme, and it was madness for us to pick such
a day to go exploring in the city!
I really like the photo because in it everyone looks happy and relaxed. Although the photo was a bit
posed – they knew I was photographing them, the weather was so appalling it has a spontaneous feel to
it, my relatives were reacting to the rain rather than to me the photographer. It was also incredibly lucky
that the photo came out so well. In the days before digital cameras, you would just take one snapshot of
an occasion and hope for the best. This is a brilliant photo, it’s flattering everyone, and captures each
individual animated and amused by the elements.
I have very few photos of my uncle, but I keep this one of him with his family on display in my flat. It
reminds me of a really happy time and is how I want to remember him too. Looking at the photo makes
me smile rather than feel sad – he looks so joyful with his family - and what better way to celebrate
someone’s life than to remember them with affection, laughter and celebration long after they have
gone? This photograph is special, as it enables me to do that every day!

Sample Answer 2:
With the arrival of modern digital cameras and smartphones, photograph taking and preserving has
become very easier and people take more photos nowadays than they did 10 years back. In our house,
we have many photo albums which are full of different photos of our family members including me.
Among all the photographs, my favourite photograph is the one that depicts my father in his early
childhood. This photograph was taken at least 60 years ago when my father was around 5-6 years old.
As I heard from my grandmother, this picture was taken by a professional photographer from a distant
town on occasion of my father’s birthday. In the photograph, my father was wearing a shirt, a short pant
and a pair of shoes. He was sitting in a chair and the background was the garden where the picture was
taken. This black-and-white photograph and two years back the photo was retouched by a professional
photo editor.
This is a very important photograph to me as it depicts a time and moment that I would have never been
known to in any other way. This is the only photograph of my father from his childhood and it gives me
ideas how he was at that moment. I revere this photograph and somehow it reminds me the similarities
that I have with my father.

Describe a shopping center you often go to.

Model Answer 1:
This topic is quite difficult for me to speak about. It depends on which bit of the subject is most
important. You see, for me, ‘shopping centre’ implies a big commercial area like a mall with lots of
chain stores and possibly out of town. In fact, there is one outside Sheffield - the city where I live – it’s
called ‘Meadowhall’ – but people locally refer to it as ‘Meadow-hell’ because it is vast and soulless.
Some people love it because there is a huge selection of branded shops, but personally, I hate going
there. I don’t really enjoy going shopping for the sake of it, and for me, the centre lacks character.
Therefore, if you want me to speak on the topic of a shopping centre that ‘I often go to’ it would never
be a large mall or retail centre as such, it would be quite, quite different.
I’m therefore going to tell you about a different sort of shopping centre that I go to often. I will interpret
‘shopping centre’ as the place at which I do most of my shopping, and hope that that will be good
enough for you! I will tell you where it is, how often I go there and why. I’ll try to convey something of
its characteristics and explain why I end up nipping over there several times a week.
The shopping centre is about 2 miles up the road from where I live. I could walk there, but when I go
I’m usually heading there to do a big food shop and other errands, so I tend to take the car, or sometimes
I’ll walk up and catch a bus back. The shops are in a sort of village at the edge of the city of Sheffield,
it’s called Fulwood. I go at least once a week to do my food shop at the local co-op mini-supermarket
store, and I also visit the post office at the same time. However, there are other little shops there too – a
newsagent; a florist; a greengrocer who sells high-quality fruit and veg and a really good hardware store
for household storage and cleaning items. These are all quite handy, so sometimes I’ll just nip over to
buy something specific like new batteries for a clock or bin-bags if I’ve let myself run out – I can be
there and back in 20 minutes if I take the car. I probably end up going to the shopping area twice a week
on average.
Why do I go? Because it’s near; the shops cater for almost all of my general needs; and because it’s
local to me the staff know me. Sometimes they’ll have a chat in the post-office when I go to send a
parcel and in the co-op the woman always gives me a double discount if she can (I have some special
loyalty cards but I don’t always remember to have them with me so she gives me the benefit of the
doubt). I also think that because most of the people who work in the shops own them (they are all small
businesses) you get better service. The proprietors care very much about their customers, and they
appreciate you coming back as a regular. It is a much friendlier and more personal experience than I’d
get at a big anonymous out of town mall. Also, if I’m honest, because there aren’t that many shops were
I go, I probably save quite bit of money. There is no temptation to impulse buy anything extravagant, or
to sit down and have a cup of coffee every few yards either!
Sometimes I need things that I can’t get locally, like clothes or perhaps electrical items, and then I do
have to grit my teeth and go into town, or head to the out of town mall -  although I also do some of that
kind of shopping on the internet these days. Anything to avoid the retail nightmare of Meadowhall –
perhaps I’m just too old for that these days!
Sample Answer 2:
The shopping centre that I often go to and would like to talk about is (...tell a shopping centre's name
from your city....). This is the largest shopping centre of the city and is probably the most popular one.
This shopping centre is in the middle of the city and is 20 stories. You can find almost everything in this
shopping centre and the reasonable prices and quality of the products have made it a popular shopping
mall where people from all classes come to shop. You name it and you can find it here; from grocery
shop to 3D cinema, the food-court to the playground, gym and thousands of shopping shops are there.
The market authority imposes a strict rule about the quality and price and that's why you can find
products at a reasonable price here. The neat and clean environment, the rigid security, the arranged
shops and shopping convenience are the main reasons I visit this shopping mall very often. There is a
dedicated floor only for social gathering and there you can sit and talk to your friends as long as you
like.
I go there almost 2-3 times in a month. If there are more shopping to do, or if it is before any major
festival, I go there more than 2-3 times. I go there not only for shopping but also sometimes for social
gathering, party, to have lunch or dinner or to watch a movie.
There are many positive reasons why this shopping centre is popular among the visitors and shoppers
including security, reasonable price, shopping convenience, the position of the shopping centre, and
convenience of parking, open space and neat environments. The interior and exterior of the shopping
mall are very attractive. In the front of the building, you will find a large open space, more like a big
park or a garden. You can sit there for a long and no one is going to ask you to go away!

Describe an adventurous person who you know.

Possible Answer:
My younger uncle in my view and experience is the most adventurous person I've ever seen and met.
He is my father's younger brother and is around 35-36 years old. I know him from my childhood as he
is my uncle and visits us often. I have always known him as a mysterious man who loves adventure
and love to explore new things and places. From my childhood till now I've heard lots of stories about
him and many of them are so exciting and adventurous that they can be easily converted to stories or
movies. I often found my uncle disappears from home and then nobody knows where he has gone. All
of a sudden he comes back and disappears again. I heard he only lets my grandpa know about his
departure and his next exploration. He does not lead a conventional social life and still unmarried. He
loves to read and visit different places. All the stories I heard about him from other and some of them
from him seem very interesting and new to me.
Once he disappeared and came back with the story that he has found a place where ghosts can be
found. Then again he came back with long bearded and we learned that he lived in a forest with people
for about 2 weeks. He knows a lot about people and their customs of our country. To me, the most
adventurous thing I know he did is the time when he went to Nepal to reach the top of the Mount
Everest. There are so many other stories that I heard about him like killing a giant snake, swimming in
a big river to rescue a victim, Egypt and many other places. Everything he does is a mystery to me and
I have never met anyone more brave and adventurous than he is.

Describe an adventurous person you know.

SAMPLE ANSWER 1
Talking of adventure, the one person that comes to my mind is my brother, David Miller. In times
when we thought about jumping off the walls, I remember he went  river rafting. Initially, we all were
so scared that we tried manipulating him to drop the idea. But he did it and came out stronger. Ever
since he has been part of lot many adventurous sports. However, it is not just about playing those
sports out, what he has learnt is how to take tough decisions in life. So, when all of us were busy
confused on whether we should do certain things or not, he did it.
Recently, he left a very cushioned job to have his own company. I think this is more of a real
adventure, the one that effects lot of things and one that requires patience and confidence. In his words,
he never takes risk, he does what he thinks is right and then does it all the way no matter how
uncomfortable he gets in it.
SAMPLE ANSWER 2
Taking risks requires lot of courage, be it for any sport or for that matter in life. One adventurous
person I can think of is a friend of mine Avinash. He has been one of those few people that I met who
remained calm on the surface but paddled hard beneath. Talking to him one feels like the only thing
that he does is sleep. But, he has been at some of the most amazing places one could think of and done
really crazy things.
I remember him telling me how once he sneaked out of his house for a trip to Leh and on reaching
called back his parents. He was in 12th grade then. Recently, when I met him he has become a traveller
and for earning takes people to people they have never thought of.
I think it is not just about going to the exciting places that makes him adventurous but then doing
something that people never thought him to be doing and taking it all over is what makes him
audacious.

Describe a river or a sea you have visited.

Model Answer:
I have once been at Cox's Bazar for about a week and really enjoyed my visit there. Cox's Bazar is
considered to be the largest sea beach in the world and it is beside the Bay-of-Bengal. We had the trip
to visit the sea, beach and natural beauty of this place.
Three of our friends including me went there in 2010 probably around June. This was a good time to
visit the sea beach. We stayed at a hotel which was very close to the sea. We could hear the roaring
sounds of the sea from our hotel, especially at night. The sea seems endless and this was my first time
to see the vastness of the sea. I tried to imagine the position of the other shore of the sea and the depth
of it and after sometimes abandoned this silly idea! I was really surprised when we took a motorboat to
visit a nearby island. All I could see was water around us. The waves were so enormous and high that I
thought this would hit us hard and our boat would sink. I am not ashamed to disclose that I was a bit
frightened about the big waves and our small boats.
At night I walked beside the sea, I watched the lives surrounding the sea, people and their culture. The
moon looked like a hanging light in the wall on the other side of the sea. The sea looked less
formidable at night, except the sound which was louder at night. The people, tourists from different
locations, local people, fishermen, the long sea beach and the sea exposed a life and place that we
never knew about. I enjoyed fresh foods and fishes, different culture of people, the vastness of the sea,
the hotel, the working class people and their mildness and have planned to visit the place again
whenever possible.

Describe A Work of Art (Speaking Part 2)

Ok, so, I’ll tell you about a painting I saw several years ago when
I was living in Ecuador. It’s a painting that I’ll never forget,
because it was so different from anything I’d ever seen before. The
painting was done by an Ecuadorian painter named Oswaldo Guayasamin,
and I guess it’s a modern painting because it was done in the 60s or
70s? I’m not exactly sure. Anyway, my friends and I went to the
Guayasamin museum in Ecuador, and we really enjoyed his paintings.
He has this very unique style. It’s a little bit abstract but he
still conveys a lot of emotion with his art. Many of his paintings
have a sad and lonely feeling to them. Anyway, as I walked around
the museum, I was particularly struck by a painting called “The
Pentagon.” It’s five paintings, actually, and all of them are very
evil-looking men. The colours are very dark and grey and you get a
frightened feeling when you look at it. I also think that, because
of the title, this painting makes you think about the Pentagon in
America, and you can imagine these evil guys making plans for war.
They look really greedy and corrupt. So, I guess I wouldn’t say that
it’s a beautiful work of art, but I like this painting because it’s
really striking and it makes me think.
My favourite piece of art or my favourite  painting is very playful
and a little bit sexy, and it’s one that I saw at the Musee D’Orsay
in Paris. Paris is a very artistic city, so there’s lots of
paintings I could talk about, but I’ll just stick to this one. I’m
not sure what it’s called or even who painted it but it’s probably a
few hundred years old. The painting shows a knight, wearing very
shiny silver armor and standing in the middle of a meadow, and he’s
completely surrounded by a group of beautiful naked women. I think
they are meant to be magical fairies or sprites or something like
that. Anyway, the women are looking at the knight and touching him
curiously as if they’re not sure what to make of him. The painting
is very colourful as all the women are covered in flowers and the
grass of the meadow is bright vivid green and the knight’s armour
reflects all these colours. Everything about the image is very
fantastical and surreal and dreamlike, in fact, you get the idea
that the knight might have died and gone to heaven. In any case, I
like the painting because of its fanciful mood and interesting
colours.
So…that’s that.

Describe a painting or work of art that you have seen.

I’d like to talk about one of the most popular paintings in the world- Mona Lisa which was painted by 
an Italian artist-Leonardo da vinci. This (1) masterpiece was (2)acclaimed  as the most recognized and
most visited artwork in the history of art. The woman sits markedly upright in an armchair with her
arms folded to (3) depict Lisa as a (4)virtuous woman and faithful wife. The painting was one of the
first portraits to depict the sitter in front of an imaginary landscape, and Leonardo was one of the first
painters to use toughest drawing technique of all the time. The painting is so famous as there are so
many(5) hypothesis about it. What attracts me the most about this painting is Mona lisa’s charming
smile. It’s not only the most beautiful feature on her face but also has lots of mysteries. Some people
said that her smile looks different from different angle and it has been at the center of much debate and
speculation over the years . The artist created a painting that worths a thousand words and has become
the iconic painting of all the time.I personally think Mona Lisa is truly an impressive painting, after all
it was painted by the great Leonardo DaVinci

masterpiece
be acclaimed as
depict
virtuous woman and faithful wife
hypothesis
at the center of much debate and speculation
a painting that worths a thousand words
iconic painting
the great

Describe a foreign culture that you like.

Model Answer:
Different cultures and nations have their own custom, way of living and many distinctive characteristics.
Some of those are common across different countries and some of those cultures are quite different.
Finnish culture is one such culture that I like very much. Finnish culture is a rich culture that has a long
heritage and has gone different changes over time.
Finland is located in Northern Europe and has more than 6,000,000 populations. Finnish is their main
language and Evangelical Lutheran is the main religion of Finnish people.
Finnish culture is composed of Finn, Swede, Sami, Roma, Tatar   ethnic group and Finn is over 90% of
the total population. Finnish people have an egalitarian society, which is reflected in their language that
employs gender-neutral words. Finnish people are very modest in behaviours and they give very
importance on modesty and humbleness.

Tell me about a part of your city that is changing.

and explain how do you feel about that?

Follow-up Questions:
- Are the changes in the cities good or bad?
- How do people react to them?
- Which facilities should the government make available for people?
- How do you and your friends spend time?
- What are the differences between the way people were spending time in the past and now?
- Should a government consider local people's opinion when deciding on changes in the city?
- Should people know about everything the government is planning?

Model Answer:
I have been living in (..say your city name...) for the last 15 years and know almost every street of this
city. The city I knew the first time I came here is far more different than the city has evolved now. The
north part of the city has changed more than any part of the city and still changing.
When I first visited this part of the city, it was mostly an open space that had lots of fields, trees and a
very minimum number of dwellers. There were hardly any high rising building and mostly farmers and
fishers lived there. The fields, lakes and people’s way of living used to give an impression of an urban
life. But this is no longer applicable for this part of the city. I went to that part of the city a few days
back after a long time and was very surprised to notice the changes which occurred there and still
happening.
The need for industrialisation, to accommodate the increasing population and for the business
expansion, the part has changed dramatically. The open spaces, fields, and lakes have reduced
significantly and one can notice the overwhelming number of factories, industries and offices there.
This place no longer gives the urban area impression rather it gives a neo-industrial area impression.
The numbers of roads and cars have increased, the farmers and fishers have moved to the farther north
side of the city and 2 new colleges and universities have been built there.
I feel the necessity of the new industries and offices and their importance for a country, but the way
this part of the city has been transformed is really shocking. There could have been an alternative place
for industries and the city administrators and authorities could have saved the natural part of the city.
Already the city is overpopulated and because of that we are facing lots of problems, the changes of
this part of the city have caused to accommodate more people and have destroyed the natural habitat of
wild lives. I feel sad to notice the changes happening in this part of the city.

Describe a positive change in your life.

Follow-up Questions:

 What changes do you want to make in your life?

 Do you believe we can control our own fate? How?
 What three changes you would want to see in your country?

Model Answer 1:
You have asked me to think back on some change I’ve made in my life, that turned out to be one for
the better! I am going to tell you what the change was and when it happened. I’ll give you a bit of
detail about how things were different for me after the change and finish by describing what it means
for me now, a bit later in life. The funny thing about changes is that you don’t always recognise them
at the time. For me, I didn’t know when I started out that the positive change I was making would turn
out to be a long term difference in my behaviour. However, it turned out to be just that. It is only
looking back now that I can identify there was a definite shift in what I got up to, and I can even
pinpoint a definite time, but in the midst of it all, I had no idea where that change would take me.
The change was basically that I decided I needed to get a bit fitter, and the thing that helped me do so
was joining up to do Parkrun. However, I’m jumping ahead. Let me explain how it came about… A
couple of years ago I started to feel like I was getting old and losing my basic fitness. Although I
walked quite a lot (as a form of transport, as well as to enjoy the local countryside) I wasn’t really
doing anything else very much that was physical. I was never very good at sports, so I didn’t really
know where to begin. However, I’ve always liked being outdoors, so on something of a whim I booked
an activity holiday in Northumberland, which is a beautiful rural area in the north east of England,
right by the coast. The holiday was great. We did abseiling; hill walking; body-surfing – all sorts of
things. In addition, every morning began with a run along the sands of the seaside. Now I’d never run
before – well only if I was trying to catch a bus, but otherwise, not at all. I wasn’t very good at it, and
honestly, I didn’t even really enjoy it all that much. However, I did have to concede that it is a great
form of exercise. You don’t really need any special equipment (apart from decent trainers); you can do
it anywhere and it’s free! What’s more, I found out from some other holiday makers that in the UK
there is a free weekly event held nationwide in parks all over the country. It is called Parkrun, and
basically people gather every Saturday morning at 9.00 a.m. to run a fixed course of 5km and get a
time for doing so. I wasn’t too sure if this would be achievable for me. I’d never run that far before.
But I promised myself I would try it ‘just once’ to see if I could.
The day after I got back from my holiday I turned up to do the Parkrun at my local park. I can tell you
the exact day! It was 24th August 2013 – I know this because the whole point of Parkrun is that if you
register (which is free) then the organisation records your time each week and you can access it online
afterwards. The first time I went I didn’t even manage to run the whole way round, but I did finish, and
I did get a great sense of achievement. Because you know your time, it is quite addictive, you find you
do want to go again the next week and see if you can improve!  My local parkrun is huge, with well
over 500 runners taking part every week – so even though I was pretty slow, I found I wasn’t the
slowest.
Since that day over two years ago, I’ve found that I’ve gone to Parkrun almost every week.  I have
taken part in some 70 parkruns, and through doing so made new friends, maintained a certain level of
fitness, and even gained the confidence to take part in some longer runs.  I’ve done lots of 10km races
now, a few off-road runs – including one over 24km as well as taken part in obstacle races!  I would
never have believed that the small change of ‘just going once’ to Parkrun to ‘give it a go’ would lead
to me being such an enthusiastic member of Parkrun two years later.  By the way, I haven’t really ever
got any faster, but I’m definitely a lot fitter.  Now I can’t imagine a Saturday morning without heading
off for a run with my 500 friends at the local park!  That first day I turned up nervously to join in with
Parkrun was definitely the beginning of a positive change in my life!

Describe a life changing experience.

Model answer:
I was only 6 or 7 years old then and went to visit my grandpa in our village. I had lots of cousins and
many of them were similar to my age. Visiting the village was very exciting to me. One day I along
with my cousins went to play in the evening and all of a sudden we decided to catch some fished from
the nearby pond. We had no hook or net to catch fishes so we decided to do it with our bare hands.
There were no people around so no one was there to warn us. As we did not know how to swim and
had no idea about the depthless of the river, we lost control and all of a sudden I found that I and my
cousin were trying to get out of the water. We already got ourselves trapped in the deep water and
were struggling to breathe. I barely remember what happened except that I was trying with my last
effort to fight with water and get into the land. I can't recall how much time had spent but suddenly I
found that I was lying on my mother's lap and was trying to find my cousin who faced the same fate as
I did.
Later I heard that both of us were almost sinking in the water and an old woman came to rescue us.
She was a village dweller who came to take water from the pond and had noticed us. She single-
handedly rescued me and then my cousin.
This event was a life changing event for me. After that event, I learned how important it is to stay
closer to parents and to heed to their advice. I also learned how fleeting our lives are and we out to
help each other. From then I also started respecting all sort of people from all ages and always believed
in human. When we are in danger, human (known and unknown) would come to rescue us. So we
should never disrespect the human and always keep faith on them.
The tragic part is that the grandson of the old woman who saved us died in the water of a river.
Knowing it I started strongly believing in fates and then the tests we are bound to face in our lives.

Describe an occasion when someone visited your home.

Model Answer:
We often have guests, visitors and relatives in our home and for a special occasion like a birthday
party, several invited guests come to our home. 
One such occasion and special guest I remember came to our home 2-3 years back. He was a famous writer
and came to our home on occasion of my older sister’s marriage ceremony. He was known to the father of the
bridegroom’s senior brother and a well-known figure in our city. His name is Mr Jonathon Durik (…say a name
you like…) and when he arrived all of us recognised him. The marriage ceremony was a big program and
almost 200 people attended the ceremony. We had to prepare for the program for about a week before the
due date. This ceremony was arranged in our own house and we had been tremendously busy for the
occasion. A marriage ceremony is a big arrangement and my parents were very busy as well as sad that my
sister would be leaving our house after her marriage. This was a big event and there were lots of things to be
done. I had been so busy and had to greet and serve so many guests that I had a hard time concentrating. 
 The bridegroom and their relatives arrived and we got even busier. They introduced the guests to us and one
of them was Mr Durik. I greeted him and helped him sitting on a comfortable couch. I got busy with other stuff
and came to the guests time to time to look after if he needed anything. I asked what type of foods he would
prefer to eat and took him to the dining place. I had a short conversation with him and I told him that I have
read some of his books and those were good stories. He smiled and asked me if I have enjoyed a book called
‘Shadows and smiles’. I understood that he was trying to figure out if I have really read his books or just told so
to convince him. I told him the reasons I liked that book and I found him smiling. In the evening, just before the
time of the guest’s departure I brought a book written by him and asked if he would be kind enough to give me
an autograph. He signed it and wrote a complementary note on the book. 
 My feelings on occasion of my sister’s marriage was a mixture of happiness and sadness. I was happy that she
was getting married as well as sad that she would not be with us the way she had always been. About the
writer’s visit to our house, I would say that was exciting. Meeting a famous person and having a conversation
with him/ her is always exciting and I felt the same. I wish I had more times to talk to him as that would have
let me talk more about his writings and books. 

IELTS Speaking topic: Time management

1. Are you good at organising time?

2. How do you usually organise time?
3. Do you think planning is important for time management?
4. Why do you think some people pay to learn time management?
5. Do you think children should learn to manage time?
6. Why do some people find it hard to follow their plans?
7. How would you teach your children time management?
8. Do old people and young people manage time in a similar way?

No, I’m not good at organising time. Though I know that taking the time to organise makes my work
and study more effective, I always find that the only thing that drives me is deadline.

Well, normally I’ll list the tasks in hand in the morning, and do them in a row in the daytime; but if
there is something really emergency, I’ll put priority on it.
Yes, I feel that planning is the start point of time management. Once you have plan what to do and
when in the first place and then stick to it, then you will have time to do them and achieve your goal.
Well, I guess that’s probably because time management is a systematic course that contains several
skills and techniques so that you need a teacher to understand them closely and follow them in your
own practises.
Yes, I believe that time management is a life-long job and the younger you learn it, the more benefits
you will get. It helps children to prioritise, plan and pace their tasks and is a communication tool
between home and school.
Well, the reason why difficult to follow plans is probably people are distracted with their surroundings.
If you notice, most people set all these plans and goals usually at night, before sleep, or when all is
quiet. Then a lot of people end up getting distracted and veer off course during the day.
I believe there are several steps to help children time management. Firstly, I should be a role model.
Unorganised, chaotic parents usually have unorganised, chaotic children. Therefore, I should
demonstrate with my behaviour, how a child can be a successful time manager. Besides, help them
make a hierarchy of priorities they can use as a master checklist to make better time management
decisions. For example: prioritise the following values: family, school, personal development,
community and friends. Finally, provide children with the necessary tools they need to succeed. Alarm
clocks, wrist watches and personal calendars, for example, can help them focus on necessary activities.
Well, between the two, old people would like to put more time on leisure activities as they are retired
from working position, and have plenty of time to do what they like at ease. For example, they will
probably spend more time in the nearby garden, or travel around. On the contrary, young people will
definitely put priority on work, therefore, their time management would be more work-oriented, and
other things, like family time and social activities would sometimes give way to work.

Talk about a picnic spot /recreational public spot that you liked.

Follow-up Questions:

What's the importance of picnic spots as recreational places?

Say the names of recreational places/ spots you heard about?
Why do we need recreation?
Can you tell about some recreational spots that are absent in your country but are common in other
countries?
What are the most recreational places in your country?
Sample Answer 1:
Picnics are a great way to get outside and socialise with friends. I’m lucky because there are lots of
good places near me where people can relax, play, chat and have a picnic if they wish. I can think of
one favourite place. I’ll tell you where it is and what it’s like and try and make you understand why it
is so appealing to me and lots of other visitors too. I actually think the place has quite an important role
in our local community, and maybe you will understand why after my little talk.
The place is Endcliffe Park in Sheffield. It is a city park, by which I mean it is close to urban areas,
surrounded by residential streets and local shops. However, the park itself is lovely. It is quite big,
about 37 acres, big enough to have streams running through it, patches of woodland, a duck pond,
mown areas where people can play ball games and plenty of benches where you can sit and watch the
world go by. It’s well maintained by the local council and has other facilities – including loos and a
very nice independent café. In the summer months there is often an ice-cream van parked up, and at
weekends and bank holidays a local guy puts up a bouncy castle and a miniature children’s carousel
for children to play on. There is a small playground with swings and climbing frames, and recently, the
council even incorporated a new parkour area. This is a special structure of climbing frames and walls
where people can practise the sport of free running in urban areas. It is incredible to watch.
I love this park because it is really well used. I’m a great one for people watching. You can head down
there with a sandwich, find yourself a bench and sit and watch the world go by. There are always
families out feeding the ducks; children on their bikes or scooters; joggers sprinting by; dog-walkers.
Sometimes you will see a school party pond-dipping or bravely crossing one of the sets of stepping
stones. Often photographers will set up elaborate tripods there to try and get photos of the wildlife –
there are lots of squirrels and birds, including a dramatic heron (a large stork like bird) which fishes in
the pond, or the colourful tiny kingfishers that favour the running water of the streams. Local fitness
instructors run outdoor boot-camps there, so you will see puffing people doing press-ups and looking
like they’ve rather regretted signing up for their exercise class that morning! I think you can see why I
like it so much and appreciate all the many attractions that are there for visitors of all ages and
backgrounds to enjoy.
In terms of how the spot influences people, I think it just really brings the community together.
Everyone who lives locally uses it. If ever I go out for a walk there, as I do quite often, I will always
bump into someone I know. People use the café as a base for setting up community campaigns – like
saving local trees, or fundraising for charities. It is also a great location for many local events,
particularly running ones. Endcliffe Park hosts my local Parkrun (a 5km weekly jog each Saturday
morning) as well as being the start of lots of off-road running races that are held throughout the year.
Because it is a big open space, it even hosts funfairs, music festivals and circuses – I don’t really like
circuses to be honest, but it illustrates the point of how well-used the space is as a venue.  On a daily
basis, people use the park as a short cut to get to work in the city. It is great to be able to appreciate the
trees and changing seasons on a walk to go to the shops or get to the office. This park is one of many
that fall within the city boundaries. It is one of the reasons that Sheffield is known as the greenest city
in the UK. You should come and visit and find out for yourself.
There are other more remote places you can go to enjoy the countryside and be alone in the heather
and the hills. Those are beautiful destinations too. But for me, my local park is just brilliant, it’s
practically on my doorstep and a window on the world. I am so lucky to have this picnic and recreation
spot nearby, I try never to take it for granted, but always take the time to really look at what surrounds
me when I pass through.
Talk about a gift that you gave to someone recently.

Possible Answer:
The gift I gave to my younger sister recently is the one I would like to talk about. I gave her a cell
phone recently. The model of the cell phone is Sony Experia Z and it has Android Operating System.
This is a water resistant cell phone manufactured by Sony Mobile and is a hot one in the market. The
cells phone cost me around 40 K and I had to save the money for the last 6-7 moths to present her the
gift.
I knew that she had been wishing to buy a smartphone for a year but could not do so. I thought to buy
her one on her next birthday and started saving the money. I saved almost 7-8 k each month and just
before 3-4 days of her birthday, I bought the phone.
I felt really great after I gave the gift to my sister. That was an unexplainable pleasure, amusement,
satisfaction that I felt after I saw her bewildering face after she opened the gift. She was so happy that I
felt like that was a perfect gift for her. I am sure I would not have felt the same pleasure as I felt giving
her the gift doing something else. She had been longing to own a smartphone and after receiving it
from me she hugged me.
As I already told, from her conversation I knew that she wished to own a smartphone that she would be
able to use the internet and take quality photographs. From that day, I promised myself that I would
buy her one. And I wished to buy her a really good one. I could have bought her a phone for 10k but
seriously I wanted to give her the best one that I can accommodate.

Describe the best gift/ present you have received.

Possible Answer 1:
In my life, I have got numerous gifts and presents and among them, most exciting and best gift was the
Laptop my father gave me when I was 14 years old. When I was 10 years old, I found that many of my
friends had their own laptops and desktop computers. I was heavily fascinated about this wonder
machine and dreamed about owning one someday. After getting admitted in grade 6, I got admitted to
a computer training centre and learned the basic computing. Whenever I visited a friend of mine who
had a computer, I felt overwhelmed to play games, learn new software, browse the internet etc. over
there. I sometimes visited some of my friends’ houses more often than usual only because they had
computers. Thus this machine became the only dream of my life. As I knew that my father won’t be
able to buy a computer for me, I did not ask for one. I made a dummy computer using papers and
boards and played with it. One day I bought a savings bank and started saving coins and notes there.
After one month I found that I have saved very few amount to purchase a computer!
I got busy with other stuff and could hardly find times to visit friends’ houses to use their computer but
in a corner of my heart, I felt the same fascination for owning a computer. On my 14th birthday, my
father told me that he wants to take me to the computer shop and purchase one for me. I could not
believe what I was hearing. That night it was tough for me to sleep. In the morning I wake up earlier
than usual and went to the computer shop with my father. He bought a Dell Laptop that was Pentium 4
machine. While returning home, I found myself flying in joy. I opened the box after returning home
and showed it to my mother and other relatives.
As a kid, that was a long expected gift that my father gave me and till now it’s the best gift/ present I
have ever received.

Cue Card Answer 2:

First of all, I would like to thank you for this nice topic. The best gift or present that I have ever
received is a digital dictionary that my mother bought me on my 18th birthday. I was a college student
at that time and my parents celebrated my birthday at home. Few friends and relatives were invited and
it was a kind of family celebration. I was quite excited to open the gift boxes that my friends and
family members gave me and there were some books, chocolate boxes and other gift items. Out of
these gift items, an electronic dictionary was there in a small box with an ordinary wrapping paper
around it. As soon as I opened it, I knew it was a gift from my mother.  
I once told my mother about this electronic dictionary and how some of my classmates used it. I never
told my mother that I wanted to buy one but I guess my mother knew very well how much I wanted to
own this item. She had to save money, I guess, to purchase it for me and this is the best gift I have
received ever. This was not merely a gift item or an electronic device, it was more than that- like a
wonder box wrapped with care and love. My mother is a housewife and managing the money to buy
me this gift must have been a result of her many small sacrifices. I thanked my mother for this
fabulous gift and she was so happy to see me excited about the gift.  
It was a while coloured small digital dictionary, not more than 4 by 6 inches in dimension, but was one
of the latest models. It was quite handy for me and having this dictionary encouraged me to learn more
words, their synonyms and their origins.  
The gifts are always good gestures and tokens of appreciation and love, in our tradition. This gift was
something special to me. I knew how much my mother has always loved me and her gift represented
her love as well as sacrifices for me. In terms of utilisation, it was quite handy for me. I could easily
carry it in my pocket and I used it quite often to learn new words and that has helped enhance my
language skill. This is the only gift from my teenage that I still have. I will always remember my
mother's love that was blended with this gift and the unparalleled utilisation this device has brought
was also important.

Describe a library that you visited.

Follow-up Questions:

 Why is library important?

 What facilities do you expect from a library?
 What type of book do you like to read? Why do you like them?

Possible Answer:
The library I’d like to talk about that I visited is ‘Illumination Library’ (Tell the name of a library from
your home town)  and it is situated in my home town. I have not visited this particular library for the
last 2-3 years as I am not living in my hometown any longer and yet this is the library I will always
remember. This library is situated at the centre of our hometown and occupies the whole 3 story
building. There are plenty of books there and the library offers a variety of books, novels, research
papers, magazines and so on for the people of different tastes.
The books are well catalogued and arranged in a convenient fashion. There are more than 3-4
librarians and several other assistants to help find any book. The library also offers membership
facility and the active members are allowed to take books to home. Since the library is funded by the
government the membership fee is very negligible and affordable for students, there are lots of people
visiting and reading there.  
People of our hometown consider this library as the best place to gather knowledge, read in peace and
to find reference books for study or professional reasons. For me, this library has a great influence on
me. I became a member of this library when I was only 7 years old. My reading habit has been grown
up from there. I became a passionate reader of books and novels and this library had a great influence
on that. This library also helped me finishing some academic projects as I could find books and
reference reading materials. I have read plenty of books in my childhood and adolescence time only
because the library was conveniently there for me.

Some teachers prefer the group study methods for their students while others prefer
the individual learning method. Which one do you prefer? Discuss the benefits of
group study and individual learning.

Model Answer 1:
Methods of learning are important factors in the learning process. Some teachers feel that studying in a
group is more beneficial than individual learning while some other groups of teachers have a different
opinion. This essay examines the advantages of individual study and group study.
On the one hand, personal learning helps the individual to study at their own convenience and as a
result, they can learn in the most comfortable environment. This method helps them to score well at
the academic level. Secondly, the attention span and the grasping power differ from one student to
another. Thus individual study will help the pupils to learn things in a more systematic way. This ,in
turn, helps to save times.
On the other hand, it is fairly easy to understand the importance of group study. Firstly, studying along
with their friends helps them to gain more knowledge. Because every individual has a unique pattern
of catching the points, group study is more beneficial to share knowledge. Besides, it will help others
to aware about all the aspects of that particular topic. Secondly, when we study in a group it is easy to
find solutions for our problems. This is because we can clear our doubts with others those who are
more intelligent at that time itself. So it improves the depth of our knowledge. Also, we can identify
our weakness and with the help of our friends we can boost our weakness. Furthermore, studying along
with others rather than individual study motivates us.  This helps to excel our talents. Thus it paves the
way to increase our attitude.
Another important benefit of studying in a group is that it can improve our memory. For instance, if we
study any procedure or principle relating with our friends or by making small fun with them, it helps to
remain for a long time.
To conclude, when we analyse both methods of studying, I personally prefer to group study than
individual study. All should understand the significance of studying in a group and our state education
system should modify our curriculum by adding group discussions, seminars, panel discussions etc
even from the primary school level itself.

Describe an item you would buy if you receive a large amount of money.
Model Answer 1:
I am pretty sure if I get a large amount of money right now, I will buy a nice car. The car would be
Ford Fusion series latest car with all the latest technology that a car can offer.
This would cost around 45 thousand USD and would require some additional cost to own and maintain
it. I would mostly use it to go to places I regularly go and the car would give me the freedom to choose
my own schedule and my dependency on the local buses.
We have a family car that 7-8 persons of our family share and I often have to take a local bus to reach
my university/ work place. Since I don’t have a car, I often discard the idea of visiting a friend or
relative who stays a long away from our house. My own car would facilitate me to visit these places
and travel to my workplace/ university easily and in less time.
I often dream of having a car and somehow I have a weakness of purchasing a car from Ford brand.
The fusion series cars are really good looking and come with the latest technology a car can offer. So, I
will buy this car if I can manage the amount it would require or let’s say I get the amount all of a
sudden.

Sample Answer 2:
I would like to buy a sports car if I receive a large amount of money. In fact, this is a kind of dream to
me to have such a sports car with a great speed. Besides, the muscular body and performance of the car
are also striking. This is a great topic for discussion and I personally thank you for asking the question
to me. I will describe the issue in brief now.
Audi is one of the most prominent and muscular brands in the arena of the motor vehicle. This is the
finest and gorgeous vehicle I have ever seen in my life. The sports car manufactured by this brand are
also strong and performs much better than any other sports car. So, I want to buy Audi R8 2015. This
is a stunning sports car with a good number of facilities. Besides, the outlook of the car is also eye
catching and the driving experience is extraordinary.  
This is more expensive than most other sports car. The price range of the car is around $134,800 to
$187,800. It mostly depends on the configuration of the car. But you can have the chance to get the car
at a lower cost if you get the second-hand car. I think this is unwise to get a used car because most of
the times the sellers sell such cars for defects or faults. They may not show you the faults but when
you will come to know about the defects, it would be difficult for you to drive the car anymore. Hence,
it should be considered before purchasing the car. Besides, there are some people who also try to get
the cars in instalment which is not also a great issue to consider. If you fail to provide the instalment
amount anytime for uncertain reasons, it may bring a disaster for you.   
Using a sports car is really difficult in the usual roads. Most of the time, the drivers of the sports car
cannot drive smoothly in the busy streets. In fact, the cars are manufactured to ply on the race tracks
instead of the usual streets. Sometimes, the drivers feel perplexed to drive the sports car. They generate
a great speed within a second and this is the greatest weakness of the cars while they are on the
ordinary streets. So, I have a plan to drive the car in some places where would be no or fewer crowds.
This is a bit trouble to sort out such a location here in Canada. Besides, I can drive the car slowly in the
streets. But in that case, I have to be very careful about the other vehicles around me. Controlling the
speed with a sports car is a difficult task indeed.    
I am to complete my graduation here and been using a Ford for the last couple of years to move inside
the city. My car has become old enough to be sold at any junkyard. Its performance is also degrading
gradually. In fact, I bought the car from a used car gallery. But it has served me very well comparing
its price. Now, I am feeling the necessity of another car, and I have a plan to buy a brand new one.
Price is a notable fact here but if I wait or get a large amount of money, it becomes easier for me to get
the car.
Describe a thing that you possess and which is important to you.

Follow-up Questions:

1.  What are the changes of the city between now and the past?
2.  Does money represent happiness and why?
3.  How do you regard as the things people want to earn?

Possible Answer:
My cell phone is very important to me as it helps me communicating my friends, family members,
teachers and gets me connected with the people I care. I use the internet on my cell phone, check my
emails, update my blog, track the statistics of my website, send and receive SMS, play games, listen to
music, take pictures and then share on my Facebook, Google plus and twitter profiles. Besides these I
do lots of other things in my cell phone including using important apps, reading e-books, using it as a
modem to use the internet on my PC etc. My father gave me the money to buy a cell phone and I
bought the HTC desire X cell phone from an authorised seller. So my father actually gave the mobile
phone to me.
This smartphone has versatile usages and is very special to me. I spent a significant time with this
device and some of them are very positive for me like updating my blog and reading e-books. This is a
small device with approximately 6.5 x 4 inches dimension but it is a powerful tool and the internet
connection in it makes it even more powerful. The first and foremost speciality of this device is that it
lets me get connected with my family members and friends. Second, it is an amusement and
recreational device that lets me play games and listen to music. Third, I can update my social
networking profiles and get updates of my friend right from my cell phone. I had to go to a cyber cafe
to check an email or to send one before I purchased this smartphone. Now I have this handy device
that I can easily use to connect to the internet. Since this is an android OS device I can download many
application and tutorials and learn new things. Sometimes I take photos and then share it with my
friends. Communication has become so easy and convenient with the help of this cell phone.
Yes, if needed I can give this device to someone who I care about but I will then have to own another
one. It's not like I will give this cell phone to someone and then would stop using any cell phone or
switch to an ordinary phone. What I mean is, I can give this particular phone to someone but can't stop
using a Smartphone.
Technological advantages have made things easier especially communication and my cell phone is a
really unavoidable and inevitable device to me.

Describe your favourite item of clothing.

Sample Answer 1:
Ooh, my favourite item of clothing! I’m not much of a clothes horse to be honest, I’m not very
interested in fashion so at first, I thought this topic might be quite hard. However, I’ve thought of one.
I’ll tell you what it is, when and why I bought it and why I like it so much.
The item is in itself unremarkable. It is a purple craghoppers’ long-sleeved shirt. It is made of a quick-
drying poly cotton blend and the fabric has some stretchy qualities which make it easy to wear. The
fabric keeps out the sun, and the design incorporates a couple of pockets, one of which has a zip so you
can keep small items securely on your person. It is designed as a travel shirt, and to be honest, was
rather expensive compared to clothes I would normally buy.
I bought the shirt online ahead of travelling to South East Asia. It was just coming out of winter in the
UK, but I’d be going to a hot climate. I wanted something lightweight and comfortable to take with
me. It was the wrong time of year to be browsing shops in England, they were all still full of winter
clothes, so I just had to trust the description on the site that this would be a good buy, but I was
nervous in case it didn’t fit or wasn’t practical. I shouldn’t have worried.
I LOVE this shirt. It is incredibly comfortable to wear, the colour suits me quite well, and even though
it is designed as a travel shirt, it’s actually smart enough to wear for work if you match it with some
respectable trousers (or a skirt I suppose, but I never wear skirts!). It washes brilliantly, and if you
shake it out and put it on a hanger it dries crease-free within an hour or so. The hidden pocket is handy
for carrying emergency cash on your person, and I like to have a hanky with me too – there is a pocket
for that as well. Because the shirt is so comfy, and much harder wearing than I expected, I wore it
almost all the time on my travels. This means that the shirt is now linked to very many happy
memories of places I’ve been, people I’ve met and adventures I’ve had. I wish I’d bought loads of
them at the same time. I’ll be heart-broken when it eventually wears out as one day it surely must.
Talking about it has got me thinking – would it really hurt to have another quick look at their travel
clothes website once again? You never know, perhaps they’ll have a sale on and it would be a shame
to miss out...

Describe your study room.

Model Answer 1:
Describing my study room is easy – but perhaps a little embarrassing!  Firstly, I will tell you what it
looks like, then I’ll talk about how much I spend using it before comparing it with what my ideal study
room might be like. That way you will have all the details of my study room.
I am lucky because there is a ‘spare’ room in my flat which I can use as a study space. That’s the good
news. The problem is that the room has also ended up being a dumping ground for everything else that
doesn’t have a home. It is full of clutter. The room hosts a large double bed, already made up in case of
guests, and a wardrobe. There is also a small chest of drawers and a bedside table. Also stored in the
room are a Henry Hoover (a type of vacuum cleaner); an ironing board, a clothes rack and a set of low
clothes rails that I use to hang out washing to dry. These items and bits of furniture all added together
don’t leave very much space for me to work in. Even so, I have a table in the corner of the room. It is
quite light, as it is positioned right underneath a duplex window – that’s a sort of sloping window set
into the roof – my flat is on the top floor of a converted old house, so it is actually an attic space.
The table is reasonably sized, but I’m afraid it’s also rather cluttered. I have a couple of sets of in-trays
on my desk, full of writing paper items (notebooks and reams of A4 paper), together with letters and
documents awaiting my attention. There is also a tin full of pens, pencils, highlighters and other odds
and ends which take up more space, and an old shoe box full of envelopes and cards that I tend to stock
up on in case I need to send a friend a birthday card or quick message. I still like to send messages
traditionally through the post for special occasions, rather than using email or texting. In the middle of
my desk is my laptop, on which I do all my work. That doesn’t leave any spare room, so my printer is
on the floor under the table. I have to crawl on my hands and knees to retrieve papers from it when
necessary!
Even though the space isn’t ideal, I do try and discipline myself to go in there every day to do some
work free of other distractions. At least a couple of hours a day, but obviously if I have an important
deadline then I can spend all day and half the night in there ‘burning the midnight oil’ to use an English
expression. I sit on a little swivel office chair, that was actually very, very cheap to purchase and looks
rather flimsy, but is in fact extremely comfortable. That was a bargain buy, I must have had it 15 years
at least.
My ideal study room would be airy, spacious and uncluttered. It would be a dedicated room, rather than
a shared space that ends up collecting all the overflow from every other room in the home. I’d have a
huge table, with neat piles of documents and space to spread out reference materials if needed. I’d prefer
a window I could properly see out of, rather than one in the roof, but I do like the natural light. If money
were no object, all my stationery would match, and I’d have a printer that never jammed or ran out of
ink. A neat wooden filing cabinet would contain all my paperwork filed away in an orderly fashion. In
one corner I’d have a cosy armchair by a window overlooking a beautiful garden. When I needed
inspiration I’d be able to sit in it, gazing out of the view and thinking wise thoughts. I’d also like an
endlessly refilling pot of hot fresh coffee, though I expect if I did all that caffeine would be very bad for
me.
So you can see why I’m a little embarrassed by my study room, I’m ashamed it is such a cluttered area.
Even so, when I find I’m really focused on some interesting project I don’t notice my surroundings.
Unfortunately, if I don’t really want to face up to the task I’m supposed to be working on then it is very
easy to be distracted when I’m so squashed in by the chaos around me. One day I might have to have a
serious clear up, though I really don’t know where else I’d put all those things if I do.