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

Describe a time when someone got angry with you.

You should say:

• when it was
• who got angry with you
• what you did that made this person angry

and explain how you felt about it.

[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:
We are humans, and we all make mistakes. The only difference is, however, while some of these mistakes anger the others, the others don’t.  But, my story about is about a time when my mistake angered the others.

Well, it actually happened about 10 years ago when I had just finished high school and about to attend college. And the persons, who got angry with me, were none other than my own parents.

After finishing my school, one day my parents told me that they were going to visit my ill aunt (elder sister of my father) at another town which was about 300 kilometres away from our hometown. They also told me that it would at least a few days before they come back from my aunt’s town. But, as my parents were away, I took it an opportunity to call some of my friends at my home and do some party. And, it was a grand party in one evening since we all used my mother’s kitchen to cook all kinds of foods. The party also included some marathon dancing activities of my friends as the loud music was also on during that evening.

Anyway, everything went well with the party except one thing, and that was we burnt my mother’s lovely oven in the process of trying a bake a cake. To tell the truth, we never really prepared ourselves for such an unfortunate accident. But, prepared or not, the accident happened because of my negligence and carelessness, and I had to pay the price for it. Luckily, however, it wasn’t such a stiff price as my parents kept it to just throwing some angry words on my way.

Anyway, I felt really guilty and ashamed of my activities in the absence of my parents as I thought that I should have informed my parents about the party in advance. Besides, I also felt that I deserved the angry words from my parents as the situation could have easily gone out of my control as far as the accident was concerned.

Sample Answer 2:
No matter how hard we try, we cannot control our anger all the time. Sometimes we lose control and get quite angry with someone. This is a part of our human characteristics. When some people are short-tempered and get angry easily, many others are very placid and super cool. My father is one of the coolest and understanding persons I have ever known. This cue card topic reminds me of the day when he became very angry with me. Thank you for this cue card topic and the chance to share this experience with you.

It would be either 2010 or 2011 and I was around 16 years old at that time. I used to play football every evening and was a mid-fielder in our high school football team. My parents were worried about me as they thought I was too much involvement in sports. To some extent it was true and they were concerned that it would demote my academic performance. Their doubt was proven true and I performed very poorly in my year final exam.

After my father looked at my scorecard, he frowned at me and asked me the reason for this poor performance in the exam. I mumbled for a few seconds and could not give him any definitive and satisfactory answer. Next day he went to my school and found out that I skipped a few classes only to practice football in the nearby playground. My teacher also complained that I was supposed to bring my parents to meet him for a discussion but they never went to my school to meet him! That possibly ignited the rage in my father as I actually never told him that one of my teachers wanted to meet them. After he returned home, he got furious. I do not blame him for the anger he showed. I would probably have reacted the same way if I had been him!

I had never seen him become so infuriated until that very day. He was literally screaming and out of control. He was acting like a wounded wild animal who had been deceived and hurt. I thought it would be the best policy to remain silent and answer honestly everything he asks until he calms down. Though I felt very afraid, I knew my father. He is a great dad and his anger was understandable. I knew that he was a decent and cool person and I should be honest with him to avoid any further damage. I also felt sad for me and for my parents and was promising myself not to repeat that heinous act ever again. I was sorry for my imprudent and immature lifestyle. I also promised myself that I would never disappoint my parents and would never bring any disgrace to my family.

Given the time, my father got calm within 40 minutes or so. He remained silent for the whole day and the next day he had a candid discussion with me. I love my parents very much and my love and respect for them made me realise how important it was for me to study harder and become one of the top scorers in the class. 

Sample Answer 3:
Thank you, sir/madam, for this great cue card topic. Though I am kind of embarrassed to talk about an event when someone got angry with me, I would try to give detailed information to explain the whole situation. I think when a teacher gets angry with someone, it is very confusing and uncomfortable. I have such an experience which I am going to share with you.

I am an undergraduate student at École Normale Supérieure de Paris and I have been studying there for the last two years. A few weeks ago, I was supposed to submit an assignment to my biology teacher- Mr Leo Falkner. Unfortunately, I failed to bring that (in fact, I lost the assignment) and it caused a disaster!

Mr Leo Falkner takes our biology class. He is a very sincere teacher and we love to be in his classes. 'He is a perfectionist'- as referred by many in our college. Besides, he is a man of letters and knows well how to maintain his schedules. Regarding punishment, he is often flexible, but if someone fails to submit an assignment in due time, he is not stretchy at all and I have learned it is a hard way! Usually, Mr Falkner does not get angry with anyone but he was infuriated with me as I could not submit an assignment before the due date.

He has a reputation as a strict teacher and he does not like any incompatibility regarding the matters of academic activities. But he is considerate enough for reasonable excuses on other issues. But in my case, the matter was a bit complex and different than usual. I lost my assignment from my dormitory! I completed the assignment the day before but it was missing since the morning. I notified that to Mr Falkner but he did not believe me and got angry. He thought I made things up as an excuse which he was not ready to accept. I understand his point of view and could not argue with him. He lost his temper and started shouting at me. In fact, I have never seen him so angry before.

I was shocked and totally confused. At a time my face turned pale and my eyes became wet. I guess when he regained his temper, he understood that I was not a liar! Considering the situation, he allowed me two more days to submit the assignment. I was relieved. In fact, without the assignment submission, my grade could have fallen substantially. Besides, it was a great lesson for me as I was not careful enough to keep an important document in a safe place. I am more careful now than ever before about my assignments and their safekeeping! 

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

Topic: Describe a time when someone got angry with you.

1.  I had no idea that such an unpleasant event would take place in the early morning of an important day. Dad got angry with me but I could not sort out the reason! Actually, I deleted some files from his laptop and when he sat with the device, he found the files missing. He asked me to make a copy-paste and I did the opposite. I was nervous with the behaviours of my dad. He later apologized for his rudeness and told me that I made a grave mistake. I expressed my regrets to dad also.

2.  It was almost a few months ago when Samantha and I started enjoying a movie at my home. Samantha got angry with me for several reasons, I guess. First of all, I love to enjoy a good action scene a couple of times. So, I started repeating the scenes, and it annoyed her. She started shouting at me and when I stopped the movie she got angry.  Later, I said that I will not repeat any scene again though I could not keep the promise!!!

3.  I scarcely cook at home but last month when I tried to, it was a devastating event. My mother got angry with me. In fact, I could not cook well and it was a complete wastage of food ingredients. Almost all of the items were overcooked. The taste was weird and none could eat the food. So, my mother turned angry at me and ordered me never to move to the kitchen. So, I felt a bit disheartened with her statements.

4.  Breaking down a precious and antique showpiece is really horrible and I did that a couple of weeks ago. So, my mom got angry with me about the matter. Though I tried to make her realize that it was not intentional, rather a pure accident, she did not pay heed to me. She was angry at her level best and kept shouting. Later, feeling sad and frustrated, I promised her that I would bring a showpiece for her which would be much better than the one I broke! When she calmed down, she apologised to me and I said that I was sorry for the event.

5.  I recently made a mistake and it was purely unintentional. But it made a pedestrian angry. I threw a used tissue from my car, which I completely regret now, and it hit a stranger. In fact, it was a stupid act and I promised never to do that again. I stopped my car and apologized to the man for the act and he told that he was okay as I stopped to beg for an apology. 

Your preparation for this cue card topic would enable you to talk about the following topics as well:

1. Describe an event that made you sad.
2. Describe an unexpected situation that embarrassed you.
3. Describe something unusual you have recently experienced.
4. Describe a time when you apologised to someone. 

• IELTS Cue Card
• IELTS Speaking
• Candidate Task Card

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