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

Describe an occasion when you could not pay for something you wanted.

You should say:

• what you wanted to pay for
• why you were not able to pay
• what you did

and explain how you felt about the situation.

[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:

I had always wanted to buy a motorbike in the past, but I couldn’t really progress with the idea mainly because I just couldn’t manage to save enough money for the purpose. But, one day, the situation changed, and I decided to buy my dream bike.

I searched a lot of markets and motorbike stores to choose my dream motorbike, but the problem was there were just so many different models with so many different features and options that I was really struggling to decide whether I wanted to buy a sports bike, a standard motorbike, a cruiser or a naked motorbike.

Anyway, after spending many hours at different motorbike stores, I did finally find what met my requirements. I even liked the price. So, I just told the store owner that I would come back the next afternoon in order to pick up the bike as it was on discount. So far so good! But, when I did go back the next day with enough cash to pay for the motorbike, I found out that there was no discount on the bike anymore, and as a result, I needed to pay a significantly extra amount of money which I just didn’t have with me at that moment.

However, after that, I asked the store manager if I could pay them some money in advance and bring the rest of the money after a week in order to buy the bike I really liked, but to my astonishment, the store manager disagreed and told me that his hands were tied!

Well, anyway, I felt really disappointed, to say the least, with what happened to me at the motorbike store mainly because it was a bit embarrassing for me. I also felt a bit annoyed at the store manager as he never told me about the possible price change should I had failed to buy the bike on the same day. Besides, I also got very frustrated as I travelled a significant distance and spent a lot of time travelling to the store, of course, only to find out that I couldn’t buy my bike on that day.

Model Answer 2:

Thank you very much for this topic. I would like to share my experience when I wanted to purchase a mobile phone so badly but could not pay for it. Since my younger sister had been saving money to get a smartphone and had been too far away to manage the total budget, I wanted to buy her the phone. She had been saving money for at least three months by adjusting her regular expenses as she wanted to change her feature phone and own a smartphone. So, I planned to pay for the smartphone and surprise her.

Unluckily, I was unable to pay for the phone. I lost my wallet on the way to the shopping mall from where I intended to purchase the mobile phone. This unfortunate event happened in July 2019. I had no idea how I lost my wallet with money in it! I might have dropped it in the taxi I took to reach the shopping mall. So, I could not buy a mobile phone right then.

I informed the matter to my mom and then called the bank authorities to report a lost debit card that was placed inside the wallet. It was a disaster for me.

I felt terrible. In fact, it could have been one of the happiest moments of my life. It was meant to be the very first gift for my younger sister after I got my first job. But luck was not kind to me that day! I explained everything to my dad and he agreed to pay me a loan with which I finally purchased a Samsung smartphone for my sister. I eventually could solace my heart as my sister was exhilarated as soon as she unwrapped the box.

Sample Answer 3:

Thank you very much for this interesting topic. It reminds me of a sardonic yet interesting day when I felt quite embarrassed about my inability to buy my younger sister a trendy dress that she wished to have.

While doing some holiday shopping, my sister pointed out a dress in the vast Neoclassical building on Oxford Street in the Selfridges shopping complex. They house some of the most expensive brands in the UK and they virtually invented window shopping. It's a great store at which big names such as  Mulberry, Vivienne Westwood, Barbour, Burberry, Paul Smith, Aquascutum and many more are housed. They allow customers to interact unhindered with the items from the sale.

The particular attire she craved was a women's crepe dress with a concealed zip fastening at the back, and it was a blue attire made in Japan. However, it was something I could not pay for as it was more than twelve hundred Pounds Sterling while I had only seven hundred something in total in my wallet!

If you can talk about the cue card topic "Describe an occasion when you could not pay for something you wanted" you should be able to talk about the following IELTS cue card topics as well:

1. Describe something you wanted to gift someone but could not.
2. Describe an unfortunate experience you have in your life. 
3. Describe an interesting experience you have had.
4. Describe a day when you took someone to do some shopping.
5. Describe a time when you felt sad.
6. Describe your experience with holiday shopping.

• IELTS Cue Card
• IELTS Speaking
• Candidate Task Card
• Speaking Part 2

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