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Written by IELTS Mentor

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

Describe a situation when others didn’t tell you the whole truth.

You should say:

• what the situation was
• who was involved
• why they didn’t tell you the whole truth

and explain how you felt when you found out that you were not told the whole truth.

Model Answer 1:
When somebody tells us a lie, we can detect it a certain stage and correct our mistakes. But, when somebody doesn’t tell us the whole truth, it can be even more damaging than a complete lie. But, this is life, and we do face a situation sometimes when we are not told the whole truth just like a time when I wasn’t told the complete truth either.

It happened about a few years ago when I needed to fix my car. In fact, our car was giving trouble on and off for the previous few months. But, the problem was that we couldn’t find any other reliable car mechanic in my town after a few mechanics, I knew, either left the town or retired. So, when I learnt about the new mechanic and his “credentials”, I felt that we could finally get our car fixed again.  

Later on, I even provided the details also about my car problem to him, and he assured me that he would fix the problem within a few hours. So, the next morning, I left my car in his shop. But, when I came back to pick up my car later in that afternoon, he told me that it would take him the whole afternoon to fix the car as he detected a few other problems, even though I was pretty sure that my car didn’t have any other problems. Later on, I came to know that he didn’t tell me the whole truth because he didn’t find any problem with my car at all, after all, but he certainly wanted me to pay for his “lost time” which he “wasted” in figuring out the problem.

Anyway, when I found out that I wasn’t told the whole truth by the mechanic, I felt a bit sad and mad. But, more importantly, I actually lost my faith in him which could be really damaging for a person’s reputation. However, this incident also encouraged me to learn to fix my own car, and other things, myself in order to avoid this kind of “unpleasant” situation.

Model Answer 2:
This cue card topic reminds me of a very sad event in my life. I was then a student at the university and one day, I received a call from one of my cousins. He informed me that our grandmother was very ill and she needed immediate medical care. I was very much fond of my grandmother and could not wait to see her. I was quite worried that she had gotten ill all of a sudden. It was more than 7-8 years ago and I did not have a mobile phone as it was very expensive at that time. However, I called my mum from a phone booth and she advised me that I should come to my grandfather’s house immediately.

I had to travel for more than 8 hours before I reached my grandfather’s house. On my way to our village, I met one of my uncles and he looked very sad. I asked him how grandma was doing and he simply answered that ‘not good’. I asked a few more questions about grandma but he could not answer any of them. After I reached my grandfather’s house, I noticed that all of my relatives were present there and everyone looked sad. All of a sudden, I realised that my grandma had passed away.

In fact, my grandmother died last night and I was called at my university in the early morning. But my relatives did not tell me the truth. There was a logical reason behind their lie. They knew that if they told me the death news of my grandmother, I would be very worried and it would be unsafe for my journey. They wanted to make sure I reach home safely and without any anxiety and then they would reveal the whole truth to me.

As I was very sad and was crying that my beloved grandma was no more, I was not worried that my relatives concealed the truth. There was a goon intention to lie to me and that was very understandable.
 

Sample Answer 3: 
Since my childhood, I love to paint and in fact, this is a great fascination for me. I wanted to be an artist but due to the disapproval of my family, I could not be so. Now, I will describe the entire story here in brief. 

After completing my higher secondary, I tried to get admitted to a local Art college in Durban in South Africa. By the same time, I attended in the admission test of some other local universities lest I do not miss a year. So, I was unable to collect my result of Art college test. I was told, from my relatives, that I was on the waiting list and hence the possibility to get admitted at the college was pretty slim. I believed them and went on attending the other university tests. But later, when I went to the Art college after a few weeks, I came to know the real truth. I passed the test, was on the merit list but the admission date was over.  

I realised that this was a kind of plot against me and one of my maternal uncles was the key plotter of the issue. In fact, they did not want me to be a painter. They wanted me to be businessmen like them. They are a bit commercial in every aspect. Actually, this is true that being an artist has less value in the present age. It may also not help me to survive in this competitive world. But sometimes you need to listen to your heart. I wanted to be an artist as I can paint very well. So, it would be helpful for me to be an artist and do whatever I wanted with this skill. Gradually, I also found that my dad agreed on the issue to misinform me about my result.     

They did not tell me the whole truth considering some aspects. First of all, the world is becoming competitive and survival will be challenging in the coming days. So, if I cannot grab a profession or build a suitable career, I will be unable to survive, and it was the view of my family and relatives. So, they made the plan and decided to hide my result from me. But they did not realise that I could figure out the actual truth. It was my bad luck that I paid attention to their comments and did not check the result by myself. They supposed that by hiding the truth from them would be beneficial for me. But by the same time, the decision was to kill my mental faculty which they did not understand. 

I felt sad when I missed the chance for admission to the Art college. In fact, it was one of the reputed colleges in the locality and dealt with the different sorts of cultural activities. I preferred the painting section and wanted to complete my graduation on the subject. But for the misguidance of my relatives and parents, I missed the chance of admission here. I have got admission at another college under sociology and planning to try for another admission test in the Art college next semester. I know it is really difficult to survive in this competitive world, but I need to satisfy my inner needs first. I want to be a renowned painter and someday I will be so. Hope my firm determination will take me to the goal.

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