Describe a Time You Made a Promise to Someone - IELTS Cue Card

Describe a Time You Made a Promise to Someone - IELTS Cue Card: A cue card is a topic you are given during your IELTS speaking test. Analysing the topic carefully is key to succeeding in the speaking exam. In a cue card, you will be given a broad topic like A promise you made to someone, along with this there will be either three or four points on which you have to talk.

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This Story also Contains

1. Understanding the IELTS Cue Card Topic
2. Structuring Your Answer for the Cue Card
3. Tips for Crafting a Memorable Response
4. Common Mistakes to Avoid
5. Practice and Preparation Strategies
6. Final Thoughts on Delivering an Impressive Answer
7. About the Author:

In this example, the points could be,

• Who did you make the promise to?

• What was the promise?

• Why did you make the promise?

• Were you able to keep said promise?

During the test, you will be required to speak on these points in the order they are presented on the cue card.

You will learn how to answer cue cards further exactly.

Understanding the IELTS Cue Card Topic

You can't answer a question without understanding the question properly, the same applies here. Understanding what the cue card is asking is one of the most important things to know. In the example we discussed earlier, knowing what the cue card is asking is imperative. The pointers and the main topic will be a good clue as to what exactly the examiner expects you to speak.

The examiner is not there to see if you can recite facts, the test is about seeing if you can understand what the conversation is about and whether or not you can answer the question with confidence, keeping this in mind is the key, but answering the cue card accurately will be a big aspect of the test.

1. Importance of Addressing the Cue Card Prompt Accurately

If you fail to address the cue card prompt accurately no amount of confidence will let you pass the test, it would mean you don't have the language proficiency to understand what the other person is asking you, and this will lead to a low band score which is something no one wants.

So let's look into avoiding that and see how you can answer the prompts for the cue card properly.

2. Key Aspects to Focus on When Answering

Some of the key aspects to focus on while answering the IELTS cue card are described below. Students preparing for the IELTS 2025 must be prepared to showcase their language skills confidently.

Structuring Your Answer for the Cue Card

The structure is the most important aspect of a speech if someone is talking about a topic and is jumping topics (mixing of topics), then the person could be the most influential speaker ever born in history but if there is no cohesion in their speech it will be ineffective in moving anyone.

The below-given example answer to the cue card should paint a better picture of this statement.

“I am honoured to be able to talk about such a fond memory of my childhood, I made the promise to always be with him.

He was one of my best friends but we could not stay together due to life and study getting in the way. We used to play all the time but can't anymore because of our schedules.

We made the promise cause we wanted to be together at all times since we were such friends, but life had different plans.”

This is shorter than it should be but it also acts as a good example of what exactly not to do.

This has the following mistakes-

• Not following the sequence of points given in the cue card.

• Repeating the same point.

• Lack of vocabulary

• No real structure

• And way too short to fill the two-minute time frame you will need to speak for.

Fixing these mistakes is essential for you to get an impressive score on your test, and this is how you can fix this answer and impress the examiner.

1. Introduction: Setting the Scene

Think of the second part of the IELTS speaking task as narrating a story, you should set the scene by introducing the main theme and covering the first point in the IELTS cue card is a good strategy to make a good introduction, let's look at an example-

“I am greatly honoured to be able to talk about such a fond memory of my childhood. I had once made a promise to my best friend Raju, we met when we were in the first grade and have been best friends ever since then. The fondest memories of my youth were the ones in which I was having the time of my life with him, our parents always said that we were more like brothers than friends.”

This establishes the main context of your speech and covers one of the four points we need to cover, now let's see how we will be progressing.

2. Body: Explaining the Promise and Its Context

In this part you should try to cover the second and third points of the IELTS cue card because covering two points in the conclusion will have you making a rushed conclusion which will not leave a good impression on the examiner, your speech should sound natural and flow properly, rushing any part could be detrimental to our main goal.

In this part, as per the previous example of a story we will build upon the beginning we have established, here is an example of how the body would look like for the given IELTS cue-card topic-

“The promise we made was to be friends for the rest of our lives and have fun together for our entire lives. It was an ambitious and slightly foolish pact made by kids who had no idea how cruel and unfair life can be. We made the promise cause we thought that we would be able to keep the promise and stay as close as we were but our lives had different plans for us”

Senti sap like that usually impresses the examiners, with this response, we have covered two points in our IELTS cue card: What was the promise? Why did you make the promise?

Now comes the most important part of our story, the conclusion.

3. Conclusion: Reflecting on the Outcome

You may have noticed this in movies, many times a movie might be mediocre at best but the ending capitalizes on all the setup throughout the story to make an amazing ending of the movie, at the same time some stories have fantastic starts and middle parts but the ending falls short of delivering what the audience was expecting, and the entire movie is labelled as trash because of it.

Your speech will have a similar dilemma, if the ending is bad, the feel of the whole speech is ruined and your points could get deducted, so making this part as impressive as possible will be the key to it all.

While you frame this, remember, that this is where you need to shine the brightest, this is where you show off your vocabulary and speaking skills, and this is how the conclusion should look like for this topic-

“In the end, we were unable to fulfil the promise we made in its entirety, we had drifted apart around class 11, we had chosen different fields of study, he wanted to pursue commerce and go into marketing, and I wanted to be a doctor, being in different classes and studying entirely different things, we were not able to spend as much time together as we had hoped but the decade we had spent brothers will make sure that even though we may drift apart in life, we will always be the best friends, and someday in the future, when we are both retired, I hope we can rekindle the spark we had when we were kids.”

Tips for Crafting a Memorable Response

The above-mentioned techniques would help you craft responses, but here are a few tips for IELTS speaking cue-card that you should use and they help you craft even more memorable responses.

1. Use Specific and Relatable Examples

The topic we had for this cue card didn't need to give examples, so we didn't have to cram this in but if the topic was along the lines of, global warming, pollution, and such topics, examples would be imperative not only for filling time but also to better illustrate the point you are trying to make, in this scenario using specific examples would be better than using vague examples that have various interpretations, or is open-ended. This will help in making your points crystal clear to the listener.

2. Highlight Emotions and Personal Reflection

This was a major factor in this topic. Everyone can relate to being separated from a childhood friend due to circumstances in life. In similar topics regarding family, friends, or community, highlighting emotions can be the key to impressing the examiner. Personal reflection will also be a good tool for you.

3. Maintain Coherence and Logical Flow

You might have noticed that, outside of detail, the only real differences between the first and final examples were coherence and flow.

As highlighted in their mistakes, the first example lacked coherence. Each point was followed by another without expanding upon the previous, and the explanations for the points that did come were too late to have any impact.

In the final example, we maintained coherence and made sure that one point connected with the other. This helped us make an impressive speech on the topic.

Well now that you know what to do let's also make sure that you don't make rookie mistakes and get your IELTS speaking band score reduced after working so hard.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Some of the common mistakes that should be avoided in the IELTS speaking cue card are discussed below. Students must make sure that they practice diligently before the main exam to score high bands in the IELTS speaking module.

1. Being Vague or Overly General

This one goes hand in hand with the tip of using Specific and Relatable Examples, being vague will give the examiner to make their interpretation of what you are saying which could work against you since they would not be following the emotion you are trying to convey, this will drastically reduce the impact of your speech.

2. Exceeding the Allotted Time

We all know someone who just keeps on babbling and just won't shut up, that is someone you don't want to be, especially in a speaking exam, the examiner is not there to listen to you babel about something they could not care about, make sure you keep all your points within the time frame.

Babbling also doesn't look good cause it gives the impression that you didn't understand the assignment, remember that you won't be given access to a clock during the exam, so make sure you know how long you have to speak before the time runs out, this is especially important since a few examiners might use the lack of a clock against you.

Since you have no idea of how long you have been speaking, they could just stop you in the middle, this doesn't necessarily mean you went over the clock, it means the examiner has seen what they need to see, it is one thing to know this and another to keep this in your mind and heart as you speak, your brain would be running a mile a minute, do not panic, that's what they are there for, cause if you panic, you most necessarily fumble your third phase.

3. Failing to Address All Cue Card Points

This will be the most important thing for you to do, if you don't that tells the examiner that you did not understand the assignment, which by a really thorough estimate is the absolute last thing you would want to leave the examiner with, so be mindful that you cover everything, or else everything you did for this section is meaningless.

Practice and Preparation Strategies

Well now that you know what to do and more importantly what not to do, let's see how you need to practice to make sure your time is not going down the drain reading this.

1. Practicing with Similar Cue Card Topics

Practising with similar cue cards might seem redundant, I already practised with this, so why bother with this one? It's the same, and that's how you have no idea what to say during your exam.

Practising with similar cards does not mean that you can copy and paste the same at every one of those cue cards, each cue card requires precise attention to detail while crafting the response, cue cards being similar means you can brainstorm unique ideas for a topic each time you practice.

2. Recording and Reviewing Your Answers

It is normal to assume that you delivered the speaking test perfectly, but we are humans, and making mistakes is as natural as breathing. An effective method of rectifying these mistakes is to record what you say and listen to yourself.

Being objective is the most important part of this assessment. If you are not objective, then this exercise is entirely meaningless. So, be true to yourself and be honest with your future self.

3. Seeking Feedback from Others

Judging your work, at some point, objectivity is lost, and a second opinion is imperative. Ask for help from your parents, friends, teachers, and other people around you. Their opinions will be valuable for your betterment.

Final Thoughts on Delivering an Impressive Answer

To conclude, the test isn't testing your factual knowledge, all they are looking for in a candidate is the level of English language that is understood, and how much can a candidate express and explain in detail confidently.

1. Staying Calm and Confident

Not panicking is the most important thing alongside being confident in what you say, if you lack confidence or panic, no matter what you say it will not matter.

2. Focusing on Clear Pronunciation and Grammar

Not fumbling is the most obvious thing someone will tell you, but making sure your pronunciation and grammar are also clear is just as imperative as not losing your calm in the exam.

About the Author:

Pooja Aggarwal is an experienced trainer with over 15 years of expertise in helping students achieve their educational goals. With a degree in Education, she focuses on clear, patient, and personalized instruction. Her approach has successfully guided students from diverse backgrounds, preparing them for both Academic and General Training modules of various exams in a supportive and engaging environment.