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IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.

Describe a time when you helped someone.

You should say:

• who you helped and why
• how you helped this person
• what the result was

and explain how you felt about helping this person.

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 lend a helping hand to 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.

Similar Cue Card Topics

Your ability to talk about this Cue Card would enable you to talk about the following Cue Cards as well:

1. Describe something good you did for other.
2. Describe a situation when you helped someone.
3. Describe something that you felt good about.

• IELTS Cue Card
• IELTS Speaking
• Candidate Task Card

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