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

Describe a school rule you did not like when you were in school.

You should say:

• what it was
• how others thought about this rule
• whether you have ever violated this rule

and explain why you did not like this rule when you were in school.

Model Answer 1:
As a young boy, I really enjoyed going to school as it allowed me to learn new things and make new friends. But, there were a couple of rules at my high school which I didn’t really enjoy that much, and today I would like to talk about one of them here.

The rule, I am talking about, was related to attending PT (physical training) classes. As students of our high school, we all were required to attend physical training classes at least two times a week, apparently to remain physically fit and also to get some bonus class marks at end of every term. Or at least, that’s what our school authority had thought.

But, as for me, I thought that I was way more fit and healthy than I could ever ask for! After all, I would almost always remain active in either playing with my friends or doing something else, outside of my sleeping hours and school hours. Of course, you could ask me about how exactly I was doing with my homework and class tests since I said that I was fairly fit and healthy. My response would be that neither my parents nor my school teachers had any problem with my academic performance. So, I guess that I was doing just fine on that front, and that’s probably why I didn’t really hesitate to violate this rule on many occasions, even though I frequently had to get admonished because of such unruly behaviour.

But, of course, my consolation was that, like me, a significant number of other students also violated this rule (not attending physical training classes) and as such, had to deal with some harsh “verbal assault” from our physical training instructor.   

Anyway, if you are wondering about why exactly I didn’t like this rule, I would say that it would carry on for too long and thus making me a bit too tired for my liking. Besides, thought that the class was too boring since I was pretty much doing the same thing every day.

Sample Answer 2:
Well, this topic reminds me of my school days when things were quite different than they are now. Things were magical, more colourful and in my mind everything was possible. I quite loved my school days and our teachers were very friendly. When some of my neighbours were worried about their kids in schools, my parents, on the contrary, were very contented about their son’s schooling.

I loved everything about my school except one thing – attending the cultural programmes arranged by the teachers and class captains on last Thursday of the month. It was mandatory to attend this event every month and I did not like it at all.

I mostly hated it because I thought that attending this event should have been optional, not mandatory. If I loved singing, dancing, debating or acting only then I would have felt attracted to such events and in my case, this was not true. I loved listening to music but when I had to sing, I simply loathed it. Same goes for dancing, debating, poem writing, acting in Shakespeare’s play and so on. In my timid and fragile mind, this was kind of torture. Though I feel differently these days about this rule and event and find it quite charming, it was not the case in my school days. Another reason I did not like the rule was that the power the class captains exercised during the event. To illustrate how they used their power I would like to tell you an event. One day I had a disagreement with my class captain and he threatened me that he will have his revenge soon. Two weeks later during the cultural programme, he selected me as a volunteer singer in a play without even notifying me. That was quite an embarrassing moment for me.

I think others mostly enjoyed this event and rule until they were called to attend the programme in front of the teachers and other students. Some of our classmates have passions in such events and they enjoyed participating and they felt that everybody should attend it. A few students were more attracted to sports and TV shows and they did not like it as far as I recall. I actually violated these rules quite a few times. Once my parents came to meet my math teacher and I went home with them and skipped this programme. In many other occasions, I tried to skip attending this programme and in some cases I was successful.

If you ask me whether this was a good rule or not, I would say, this was in fact, a good rule to introduce art, literature and cultural programs to the young students. I learned more about Shakespeare and his work through this programme than reading academic books. Thus it was a good initiative and a good rule as I understand now.

Sample Answer 3:
In my early days, schooling was never fun for me as it is today for the kids. In fact, I had to go through some unwanted and tiresome rules and regulations like detention in my school days. I will discuss the entire issue now.

Detention is a kind of punishment, or a disciplinary measure’ – termed by our honourable teachers. They liked the process very much and ordered anyone even for the slightest excuse of discipline violation. I was lucky in this sense that I did not have to undergo any corporal punishment from my school in Kentucky in the USA that my ancestors did. But at the moment when the nation was forwarding in at a great speed, punishing the kids with detention was really unwanted and not welcomed by many, especially the students. But nobody stepped ahead to protest about this ‘touching’ issue at the schools. Now I am free of the troubles but the experiences were really shocking.  

The teachers and parents were positive about this particular disciplinary measures and they became glad when they heard their kids have been taken to detention at the school. In fact, they were of the view that the kids will be disciplined if they are punished for violation of the rules and regulations of schools. Yet the view was different among us – who were detained or punished in other forms. So, we were always in serious trouble when the detention order was issued for us. Actually, it was not a pleasant experience to be detained for three to four hours and have some extra burdens or assignments. Thereby, a majority of the students were unwilling to violate any rules and regulations of the school lest they are detained in the holidays.  

Once I had violated the rule. But I was not that much matured to realise the consequences of the violations. Fortunately, the teacher who issued the detention did not carefully investigate the issue and thus I was saved. On a Saturday, I was detained for six hours in the detention zone of the school with the charges of copying from another student’s answer script in the exam. But I left the place after only half an hour and fortunately the teacher who issued the detention was a bit careless about me as he thought I would be unable to get out before the detention was over. Actually, it was a tremendous success for me to bunk the detention.    

The school I studied had some hard and fast rules. If someone violated the slightest part of the rule, s/ he had to be punished. Sometimes the punishments took place for weird reasons. I was punished for my forgetfulness. Often I forgot to bring the homework copies and as a result, I was punished with detention for an extra one or two hours. Even sometimes, my parents also had to appear before the teachers to reduce the punitive measures. The entire environment was horrible at that time. The same thing happened to many of the other kids in my class. They turned reluctant to attend school fearing the punishments. For all such reasons, I did not like the rule of detention. However, I could not avoid the rule until I was in ninth grade. the students of this grade were free of the detention rules.
 

More Ideas to talk about this Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card topic:

Topic: Describe a rule you did not like in school.

1. Doing all the homework by myself was the most irritating rule in school, in my opinion. But the rule was appreciated by many other people while the majority of them were against the idea of homework. I have violated the rule several times and been punished as well. I did not like (and still do not prefer) rule because doing homework was annoying. After reaching home, it becomes impossible to start tons of homework assigned by the teachers.

2. Some may take is as strange and oppose my views but I do not like the rule of switching off phones during the class hours. Many of the people may back the rule for maintaining discipline but I have some other alternatives to the issue as well. I often had broken the rule and kept my mobile phone on during the class hours but in silent mode. I could not like the rule because a student might need to attend any emergencies. There might be an accident in the family. And the phone of the student is shut. So, it may result in negative consequences.

3. Getting organized in all the matters is nearly impossible for anyone let alone the students. Some of the matters might be jeopardized and this is natural. But people take it as a syndrome of ill manners or a sign of insincerity. I have often violated the rule. An outsider might not get the thing they want from my desk, but I knew the right places to get the things I need. In fact, this is not always possible to remain alert and do the right thing in right the moment. So, becoming organized in all the manners, especially in school, is unfeasible.

4. Bringing all the necessary instruments for the practical classes in school is highly dissatisfactory. There is a mixed reaction to the matter. I have violated the rule several times. It happened that I forgot to bring the scale or ruler for the practical class. I did not like the rule because this is not possible for each of the students to care about the things they need to bring to the lab. Rather, the labs should provide all the necessary instruments needed to complete the classes.

5. Talking about personal issues is forbidden in the classroom and I am against the rule. A majority of the students are against the rule as well. And I have violated the rule several times. In fact, I have the most important friends whom I share each and everything in my life. And it is unfeasible for me to meet them after the class as we do not live in the same area. So, when talking about personal business is banned in the classroom, this is highly irritating for everyone, I think.

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