Analysing IELTS Cue Card Topics

The sample cue cards provided below are organized by various topics. These represent the most recent cue card topics that have been used in actual exams, along with their answers.

This categorization is intended to help you easily navigate through the list and select speaking cue cards that interest you.

Favourite

These are the cue cards that ask you about things you like.

• Describe your favorite Picture or Photography you like
• A song that has special meaning to you
• a story/ novel interests you
• Describe A Special or favorite Toy you liked in your childhood
• Describe a favorite song that you like
• Describe a restaurant you like(to go to)/ that impresses you
• Exciting Sport
• Describe an Indoor Game that you would like to play
• Describe an area of science you like or are interested in
• Describe A free time activity you like to do after study or work

Time-Based

These are the cue cards that ask you to talk about events that occurred in the past/present and future.

• A Subject at School
• Things You Want to Buy in the Future
• An age/stage in your life you enjoyed most

Person

These are types of cue cards where you will ask about your friend or a guide.

• A Person You Admire/Love Essay
• Describe someone you consider a good leader
• Describe one of the Family members you Spend The Most Time With
• An Occasion You Unexpectedly Met Someone for the first time
• Describe Someone in the news you like to meet
• Someone/Something Made A Lot Of Noise
• An Older Person Who You Admire
• A Good/Best Friend
• Describe an Old Friend
• Describe a Family Member
• An Interesting Neighbor You Like
• talk about an interesting conversation you had with a stranger
• A Person Speak A Second (Foreign) Language Well
• A Time When You Waited For Something or someone to arrive

Family

In these types of cue cards, you will asked to talk about your family.

• Describe Your Family
• Describe a family event you are looking forward to
• Describe a family picnic or tour you have had

Object

These are the cue cards in which you will be asked about things like objects.

• Describe a picture or photograph in your home
• A Gift You Gave That Took A Long Time To Choose
• Describe a piece of electronic equipment that you find useful
• A Time You Borrowed Something Useful
• A house/apartment you like to live in
• A Product You Were Happy With
• An item of clothing that someone bought for you
• Describe a painting or work of art
• Describe a time someone or something made noise

Place

These are the cue cards in which you will be asked to talk about the places which you are going to visit or already visited.

• A Place you remember well that is Full of Color
• A country you have not been to yet
• A street that you like to visit
• Describe a polluted place
• A place near water you visited
• Describe a place where you often go to relax

Work/Study

In the following list of items, you’ll find cue cards related to work and study.

• A Project at Work or Homework Assignment
• A Course You Like to Study and Found Useful
• Describe a piece of work you did quickly
• Describe your Dream/ideal/Perfect Job
• Describe something that you want to learn more

Emotions/ Aspirations

These are the cue cards in which you will be asked to talk about different kinds of emotions that one feels and various aspirations.

• Ambition You Have Not Yet Achieved
• Describe something A Child that Made You Laugh
• A Paid Job You/A Friend Enjoyed Doing
• An experience you had as a member of a team
• A disagreement you had with a friend
• a recent activity or event that made you happy
• a difficult decision you made in your life
• A TV Program That Made You Laugh
• A Goal that You Have
• Describe the Best and most exciting experience in your life
• Describe an exciting or Interesting Thing You Did
• Describe an Advertisement that you found very persuasive
• A Time You Used Your Imagination
• A Time You Need to Use Imagination
• A book that had a major influence on you
• Describe a success your friend has had or achieved
• A special and memorable meal you have had
• A situation made you angry
• Describe an experience you spent time with a child that you know
• A positive experience when you were a teenager
• Describe an unusual/unforgettable meal
• Describe a time you were friendly to someone you didn’t like
• Describe an ambition you have not achieved yet

Occasions

These are the cue cards in which you will be asked to talk about certain occasions that you attended and celebrated.

• An Occasion When You Got Up Very Early in the morning
• Describe a birthday party celebration that you attended

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The IELTS Cue Cards are part of the second task in the speaking test of the IELTS examination. While answering these questions, one is expected to have some skills and one of the important skills is framing answers which is based on the topic.

A cue refers to a prompt or signal which serves as a reminder or guide for an action. In the context of the IELTS Exam, the cue is a short phrase or sentence that introduces the topic one will speak on. Let us learn more in the article!