116 IELTS LAYOUTS

Part 71

By:
IELTSTEP
116 IELTS LAYOUTS 1
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 Part 1 Topic: "Art".
Part 2 Topic: "Describe a time when you visited a friend or family member at their workplace."
Part 3 Topic: "Different kinds of workplaces" & "The importance of work".

Part 1 – Introduction & Interview

[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]

Topic: Art

Q. Did you enjoy doing art lessons when you were a child? [Why? / Why not?]
Answer: Unfortunately, I never really enjoyed my art lessons when I was a child mainly because I was never
really good at “drawing”. Besides, I found those art lessons to be really boring because they continued longer
most of the times than their expected length.

Q. Do you ever draw or paint pictures now? [Why? / Why not?]

Answer: No, I don’t really draw or paint any pictures now primarily because I have many other important
priorities in life. Besides, I don’t really have, and never really had, the creative mind and the necessary skills
to paint or draw anything unless I am drawing something as simple as an “oval” or a “rectangle”.

Q. When was the last time you went to an art gallery or exhibition? [Why?]
Answer: I don’t really often visit any art gallery or exhibition unless I have a very valid reason to do so. But,
about a few months ago, I decided to visit an art exhibition because my mother asked me to choose some
artworks for her newly renovated room.

Q. What kind of pictures do you like having in your home? [Why?]

Answer: I like having only the pictures of nature and green around us, such as lakes, trees, houses and sky,
any other abstract pictures that don’t have any animals and humans in them, primarily because they help me
relax and recover from stress when looking at them.

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 Part 2- Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card
[The topic for your talk will be written on a card which the examiner will hand you. Read it carefully and then
make some brief notes.]

Topic: Describe a time when you visited a friend or family member at their workplace.
You should say:
 who you visited
 where this person worked
 why you visited this person’s workplace
and explain how you felt about visiting this person’s workplace.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you
are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer 1:
I don’t normally like to visit any friend or family members at their workplaces because I think that such practice
distracts them from their works. Besides, I don’t exactly think that the bosses at workplaces would like that. In
fact, my boss thinks that it should be a standard norm not to visit anybody at his or her workplaces unless
there is a very – I mean, very – valid reason to do so. But I broke that norm once and decided to meet one of
my good friends at his workplace.
Actually, I haven’t met Patrick Lee, since the time we graduated from the university about 5 years ago, because
right after finishing our university life, we had to go on our separate ways due to the professional reasons. In
fact, we both moved to two different cities with more than 250 kilometers of distance between us.
Of course, I knew exactly where he used to work, and we even used to have phone conversations with each
other once in a while in order to keep in touch with each other. So, when an opportunity arrived one day in
the form of an official tour into the city where Patrick lived, I just didn’t want to let the opportunity to meet
my good old friend get wasted. Of course, Patrick asked me to visit him the next day at his home, but I told
him that I would remain too busy to meet him then. So, in the end, it was decided that I would meet him at
his workplace for a few minutes just for old time’s sake.
But, even though, it was supposed to be only a brief meeting for a few minutes, it went on for about a good
30 minutes, as we both tried to catch up with each other on what we had missed over the years while enjoying

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 some great coffee. In fact, I felt like we went back to our old university days again as we laughed and made
jokes with each other as long as I was there at my friend's office.

Model Answer 2:
I met my dad at his office for an important reason a few months ago. It was an amazing experience and this is
the first time I went to his new office where he joined 2 years ago. The working environment was nice and
adorable. Dad was surprised seeing me there too. I went there from my college and get back to college again
after meeting with him. This cue card task topic is an excellent one and I would love to talk about it. Here are
the remaining answers.
Dad worked for a multinational corporation in Nepal while the headquarters of the office was in Malaysia. The
company had its wings in some other Asian countries too. It mostly dealt with export and import of varieties
of goods including cosmetics and toiletries products. The office was located at a corner of Dharan covering a
large space. It accommodated about 30 employees altogether and I found everyone busy with their respective
tasks while my dad was in charge of the office.
My academic progress report card needed a signature of dad. Actually, I was not brave enough to get the
signature again until it was the last date. I thought to submit it without the guardian’s signature and did so.
But finding the card without a signature, my class teacher asked me to have it signed by my dad. So, in the last
date of submission, I went to meet him at his office and got the report card signed.
Visiting dad’s office was a memorable experience and I enjoyed spending time there. I loved the way of office
arrangement. Everyone was performing their responsibilities in different positions. In a word everything in the
office was standard. I liked the office space and inner allocation of staffs. But I was afraid about my dad’s
reactions to my result. Luckily, he was reserved on the day for his official activities which saved me from his
undesirable anger.

More Ideas to talk about this Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card topic:

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 Topic: Describe a time when you visited a friend or family member at their workplace.

1. Samuel is an engineer and works for a multinational company here in Newcastle in England. I did not have
any prior plan to visit him rather I was passing by his office. So, I decided to visit him and make him feel
surprised. It was a pleasant visit. We spent around 40 minutes together and we discussed different issues.
2. My elder brother works at a computer software producing company based here in Atlanta. He is
the station chief at his office. I recently went to visit him for some private purposes at his office. In
fact, it was an emergency. I liked the office environment much. The office was nicely decorated
and everything was in order.
3. Robert is a technician for a car manufacturing company in Germany. I met him a couple of years
ago and we are good friends now. He has been working in Germany here an overseas employee
for the last three years. I went to meet him to know about some information and I was unable to
get him on the phone. The workplace was nice but it was noisy that I did not like at all.
4. My mom works as a senior teacher at a school for autistic children in Melbourne. I had to meet her
at school last week for some important issues. In fact, mom forgot to take some documents to her
school and I went there to deliver them after she asked me over the phone. The school premise
was nice and attractively decorated. I loved the arrangements.
5. Nicholas is my cousin and he runs a traditional Spanish food shop in Granada. He owns the
restaurant and sells various types of traditional foods. I went there to invite him to my younger
sister’s marriage ceremony. It was a stunning restaurant. He adorned the place with lucrative
materials and I had a special type of feeling after entering there.
6. My brother is a businessman and he owns some nurseries. He sells various types of flower and fruit
plants at a corner in Mumbai. I went there with one of my friends to get some plants for her. I felt
great after visiting the nursery. It appeared that I entered into a small piece of heaven. The entire
nursery was dazzling with greeneries. I fell in love with the place.

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 Part 3
Discussion topics: Different kinds of workplaces

Q. What things make an office comfortable to work in?

Answer: Our offices are the places where we spend a very significant part of our day, so they have to have
comfortable atmosphere such as enough lights, nice temperatures, friendly and relaxing working
environments and, of course, clean and hygienic surroundings. Then also, desk with enough space and proper
height, proper height-adjustable chairs, and an opportunity to have a personal décor inside would also go a
long way to ensure a comfortable office environment.

Moreover, friendly and helpful coworkers and management make an office we love to work in.

Q. Why do some people prefer to work outdoors?

Answer: Some people prefer to work outdoors for a number of reasons. But the primary reason for this
probably is that it helps them to meet new people and visit new places as if every day is a new day for them
as opposed to working in the same place with the same kinds of “boring” environments. Besides, they also
probably like to remain close to the Mother Nature every day, as it would allow them to enjoy the sun, the
fresh air and the greens, which just wouldn’t be possible if they are stuck inside their offices for the whole day.

Q. Do you agree that the building people work in is more important than the colleagues they work with?
Answer: No, I don’t agree that the office building is more important than the colleagues we work with mainly
because it’s our colleagues that we interact with on a daily basis rather than the building structures. Therefore,
if the working environment inside the buildings is not friendly and supportive enough, with a group of great
colleagues collaborating with each other, then the chances are that the people will not enjoy working there,
no matter how nice and comfortable the building may look and feel.

The importance of work

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 Q. What would life be like if people didn’t have to work?
Answer: Honestly speaking, it would be just fantastic (it seems so at least from the “sound” of it) if people
didn’t have to work except, of course, the problem is that they would have to find a way or two in order to
utilize their “unlimited” free times before going completely insane! But some people would still say that it’s
not that bad unless and until, of course, they suddenly find out that they are not getting the necessary things
to live their lives because people are not “working” to make them or build them. As a result, one day the world
would stand still with nothing really to “hope” for.

Q. Are all jobs of equal importance?

Answer: No, not all jobs are of equal importance because not all jobs involve the same level of challenges.
Besides, not all jobs require the same level of skills in order to get things done in a proper manner. Then, again,
the effects of all jobs are not also felt immediately. Having said that, however, I also believe that most of the
jobs we do are necessary for our society. For example, we all would say how important the job of a medical
surgeon really is, since he/she saves lives by operating on seriously ill people, but we never remember to
mention that the job of a “knife-maker”, with which a surgeon operates, is necessary and important also.
Again, we may acknowledge the job of a scientist or an architect as the results of his or her work is visible
around us but forget to appreciate how our farmers are working really hard to bring food at our table. They
are not equally rewarded as well.

Q. Why do some people become workaholics?

Answer: Some people are workaholics probably because they just love their jobs too much. It is also possible
that some people become addicted to their works because their jobs are just too “important” and, as such, it
takes a really long period of times to get them done properly. Besides, some people just don’t have a very
good and happy social life, with no family or friends to spend time with, and as a result, they just choose to be
“workaholics” and spend their times at work.

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