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

Describe a piece of work you did fairly quickly.

You should say:

• what work it was
• why you did it quickly
• how easy or difficult it was

and explain what the result of your work was.

[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 didn’t exactly fall in the category of “quick & fast” during my high school days unless, of course, I was quite good at doing that thing or felt very passionately about doing it. So, when I was asked to “organize” our shoe store by my father with the help of his store staffs within just a couple of hours to free up some space for the new arriving shipments, I was less than enthusiastic. This topic reminds me of this day, and I thank you for the opportunity you have given me to talk about it.

The “fun” of moving the shoeboxes was on with me running almost at the speed of “Usain Bolt” (the Olympic champion sprinter from Jamaica) from one end of the store to the other. As if moving the big boxes, which probably weighed as much as me, if not more, weren’t difficult enough for me; I was faced with even a greater challenge of “pairing up” the lost shoes that were “running around” the store floor “pair-less”. Of course, putting back each pair of shoe boxes on the shoe racks in an organized manner along with swiping the floor wasn’t as difficult as moving the large boxes and ‘pairing up’ the shoes, it was a challenge nonetheless. After all, back then, I wasn’t exactly a very strong boy with a strong “physique” to get the job done for my father!

But, defying all of my expectations and that of my father’s as well, I was successful in giving a completely new look to our store at the end of two-hour-long tireless efforts. And the final result was a tidy-looking store interior with more than enough empty space, which looked to me as big as a “football stadium” at that time! Of course, the empty space didn’t remain “empty” for long as the new shipment containing the new shoe boxes arrived shortly after I had finished looking at my “accomplishments” in wonder.

After that very demanding couple of hours, I often took the liberty to visit our shoe store and “push” the store staffs so that they would think at least a hundred times before making the store look “untidy” again! And guess what, the results of that “little push” was simply astonishing, to say the least, as I never found the store to be “unkempt” again!

Sample Answer 2:

This topic reminds me of the day I was late for my "Physics" practical class at my college, and as a consequence, had to finish a test pretty quickly. I must thank you first for the time you have allowed me to talk about it.

My physics lab class was supposed to start at 11:30 am, but I could not arrive there before 12:15 pm. When I reached the lab and asked for the teacher's permission to join the class, the teacher pointed out his wristwatch to remind me that I was already late. He then told me that all the other students were taking a class test and he would add the mark to our final score! He also mentioned that I would not be allowed any extra time, and the test would end at 1.00 pm.

Frankly speaking, I was shocked that the teacher had decided to take an exam on the very day I was late! However, I was determined to take part in it and finish the test before 1.00 pm. Personally, I think that it was a really difficult task especially because I learned about the experiment the week before and did not get the opportunity to examine it myself. And it was even more challenging since I had only around 40 minutes left to complete it.

I had to think and act swiftly. The first thing I needed to do was to take the tools from the lab assistant and then concentrate on the question. I thought about the experiment the teacher showed us a week ago and the harder I tried, the more difficult it seemed! I took a deep breath and started working on the "test".

My task was to find the value of "v" for different values of "u" in the case of a concave mirror and to find the focal length. I quickly mounted the concave mirror in the mirror holder, moved the mirror forward and backward to get a sharp image of the object on the wall. I needed to measure the rough focal length of the mirror and then followed several other steps to get the results of the experiments. I did not even notice the time and when the teacher declared that the time was up, I handed over my answer sheet to him.

Luckily I managed to finish the experiment and wrote down my findings on the answer sheet in time. I did everything so swiftly that I could not be sure whether I did good or ruined the whole experiment! When the teacher returned my answer sheet the next week, I was excited to notice that I managed a B+ on this quickly done lab exam which was in a way quite inspiring for me.

Model Answer 3:

Well, one piece of work I completed fairly quickly was a presentation for a team meeting at my workplace. After I looked into this topic, I knew that I would talk about this event when I had to do it pretty quickly. But before anything else, thank you very much for the time and opportunity to let me talk about this topic.

The task involved summarizing quarterly sales data and trends to present to our department head and team members.

I completed this task quickly because I had prior experience working with similar data and presenting it in a clear and concise manner. Additionally, I was familiar with the software tools needed to create visually appealing slides for the presentation, which streamlined the process.

While the task was not overly challenging due to my familiarity with the subject matter and tools, there were still elements that required attention to detail, such as ensuring accuracy in data interpretation and selecting the most relevant information to include in the presentation.

The result of my work was a well-received presentation that effectively communicated key sales metrics and insights to my colleagues. The clear and organized format of the slides facilitated productive discussions during the meeting, enabling the team to identify areas for improvement and develop strategies for future sales initiatives.

In retrospect, completing this piece of work quickly was beneficial as it allowed me to meet deadlines efficiently and contribute to the team's decision-making process effectively.

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

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