Cue Card Sample
When you had to wait for someone or something to arrive - Cue Card # 810
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IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.
Describe an occasion when you had to wait a long time for someone or something to arrive.
You should say:
- who or what you were waiting for
- how long you had to wait
- why you had to wait a long time
and explain how you felt about waiting for such a long time.
[Instruction: 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:
Nobody really likes to wait, whether it is in their own interests or in the interest of others except, of course, the problem is we just can’t avoid it in our lives. So, the other day, about a few months ago, when I had to wait for "an important piece of document" at a local government office, I wasn’t really very “excited” about it, to put it “mildly”.
I arrived at the office exactly at around 9:00 am to pick up my “land-related” document, as I was told. But, the problem was that the government offices in my country are not exactly very “famous” for keeping their “promises”. So, when I was asked to wait because the “person in charge”, who was supposed to deliver me the document, didn’t arrive at the office, I wasn’t really surprised. So, I just kept waiting until I became a bit “impatient”. I think, I waited at least one hour initially and then decided to ask about when the ‘person in charge’ would arrive. And, when I did ask that question, I was ‘answered’ very casually, as well as very angrily, that they had no idea about it and that I could simply leave if I didn’t want to wait. So, I started to keep waiting again. Finally, I think, it was after waiting for almost three hours that I got my document.
Anyway, I did get my document in the end, but it was not without making me feel very frustrated and angry at the behaviour of those government officials because they never understood the “urgency” of our “need”. Besides, I felt a bit “helpless” too because I just didn’t know how long I needed to wait in order to obtain my document. Finally, it was after this “waiting incident” that I lost my respect to some extent for government offices in general and the officials working in those offices because I just could never “rely” on them for any kind of “urgent” work.
Sample Answer 2:
Thank you for the opportunity to let me talk about an experience when I had to wait for someone for a long time. We all know that waiting for someone or something can be frustrating, especially if it takes longer than expected. One such occasion when I had to wait for a long time was when I was waiting for a friend who was running late for our meeting.
My friend and I had decided to meet up for lunch at a restaurant in the city centre. I arrived at the restaurant on time, but my friend was nowhere to be seen. I decided to wait for him for a few minutes, but soon realized that he was running very late. I tried calling him, but his phone was switched off, which made me even more anxious.
I ended up waiting for nearly an hour before my friend finally arrived. It turned out that he had some urgent work to take care of and couldn't let me know in advance. While waiting, I felt frustrated and irritated because I had other plans for the day, and this delay was affecting my schedule. I also felt a bit concerned because I didn't know where my friend was or what was causing the delay.
Looking back, I realize that waiting is an inevitable part of life, and sometimes we have to be patient and flexible when things don't go according to plan. While waiting for my friend, I had some time to reflect and plan my day, which was a good use of my time. Although it was an unpleasant experience, it taught me the importance of communication and punctuality.
Model Answer 3:
Well, my memory is actually crowded with too many occasions when I had to wait for a long time. One such occasion was when I was too busy watching a very important world cup football match with a couple of my friends while waiting for our pizza to arrive!
Talking about the football match, it was actually an “epic battle”, obviously because it was being fought between Brazil and Argentina, the two best and most prominent football/soccer teams in the world! So, all we needed to do was to order our pizzas and wait for the match to start. By the way, pizza was something that we all considered a “must” for enjoying any football match between Brazil and Argentina.
Anyway, the match had started on schedule, but we completely forgot about our pizza, apparently because we were too busy following the match on TV. It was during the match interval that we came to our senses. In other words, more than 45 minutes had already passed, and we were still waiting for our pizza!
For a while, we thought that the pizza delivery man had forgotten about us. But, then, we still decided to wait for about another 20 minutes before calling the store manager in order to enquire about our pizza delivery. Then, just when we were about to give up on our idea of enjoying pizza that evening, the pizza man showed up at our door with a rather guilty look on his face.
Needless to say, we were frustrated, and probably a bit mad too, because the delivery person had arrived so late. But, then, we couldn’t actually blame him because the demand for pizza was just too high for him to handle that evening. Besides, he also told us that the traffic situation on the road was very bad. So, we were left with no option but to become reasonable with him while also assuring him at the same time, smilingly, that he was going to get his full “tip money” regardless, even though he had slightly spoiled our otherwise perfectly exciting evening!
Model Answer 4:
People say that patience is a great virtue, so I try to be patient as often as I can, even when I have no reason or incentive to wait. But, for better or worse, waiting for something or someone is a reality of life, and we have to wait, no matter how much we dislike it, just as I didn’t like it when one of my fellow co-workers kept me waiting for a long period of time for no valid reasons.
It was about a few months ago when this happened at my work. Anyway, it was Friday, so I was naturally a bit excited to leave my office as soon as I could and enjoy the weekend. But, suddenly, one of my fellow workers jumped in front of me just an hour before the closing of our office and asked me to loan my motorbike to him. He told me that he needed to go out for some emergency reasons and he would come back just in time before the office had closed. So, I just gave the key of my motorbike to my co-worker in good faith only, of course, to find out that he just couldn’t properly value my good faith.
In fact, instead of showing up after an hour, he actually showed up after several hours. Anyway, I tried to keep my calm when he came back and asked him what really had caused him to delay for such a long time. In response, he said that he had gone to see a friend at the hospital, and he just got stuck there. He also politely apologized for the delay.
Anyway, after waiting for such a long time, I naturally felt a bit frustrated and even annoyed at the irresponsible act of my co-worker, especially, at a time when I was planning to leave my office as soon as possible. However, after knowing that he went to visit his friend at the hospital, I felt like I lost very valuable several hours of my life in a good cause, and that was to help someone out during a crisis time.
Part 3 - Details Discussion:
Discussion topics: Arriving early
Q. In what kinds of situations should people always arrive early?
Q. How important is it to arrive early in your country?
Q. How can modern technology help people to arrive early?
Discussion topics: Being patient
Q. What kinds of jobs require the most patience?
Q. Is it always better to be patient in work (or studies)?
Q. Do you agree or disagree that the older people are, the more patient they are?
Answer to these Part 3 questions - Speaking Sample 70: Part 3 - Details Discussion
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