IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 2
Describe a person who has been an important influence in your life.
You should say:
- who this person is and how long you have known him or her
- why you chose this person to talk about
- how this person has influenced your life
and explain how you feel about him or her.
[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:
Without a shadow of a doubt, the most important and influential person in my life is my father. He taught me to walk, read, help others and sometimes fight for justice. I really am grateful to you for the time you have allowed me to talk about my idol in life- my father.
I have known him my whole life – from the time when I was an infant, throughout the time when I started going to school or at the time when I became an adult and this relationship will go on till the angel of death decides to visit one of us- you know what I mean!
When I got this topic to talk about, I was certain it would be my father. I took some time to brainstorm about how I should present him to you but I had no doubt that my father had been, and still is, the most influential person in my life. Due to his unconditional love, and his instrumental guidance for me in every stage of my life, he is the most obvious choice for me to talk about.
My father has taught me the importance of morality and honesty in life and showed me how to become a good human being. He also taught me the qualities of a good person, and how to form good and reliable relationships with others. He has always been a good role model for me as I was growing up. So the person I have become is greatly inspired by my father. I will give you an example of how he guided me my whole life by telling you about an event. I was the top scorer in my school days but my grade started declining in my college. Noticing that he started spending more time with me and put in his every effort – including hiring two home tutors, taking me to libraries, and consulting with my college teachers, to make sure I retain my good grades. During the process, he had never been rude and always assured me that exam results are not that important in life! A truly remarkable way to inspire someone, yet not to pressurise him.
As a person, he is kind, hard-working, patient and understanding, not to mention his sense of humour that allows him to get on well with almost everybody. He was a successful lawyer but has recently retired. Hopefully, I’ve inherited some of his traits and I dream to be a father to my kids the way he is to me!
He is always fair, and he has always been someone I can turn to for advice. I think my father has a positive outlook on life and that has helped me fight my depression in my adolescent years. I feel very close to him and would be ready to do anything and everything humanly possible to make him happy, the same way he did for me his whole life.
Model Answer 2:
I am thankful to many people around me who have influenced my life in one way or another. But, today, I would like to talk about a person, who has influenced the way I live my life a bit more than others, and he is none other than my grandfather.
Anyway, when talking about my grandfather, the first thing, which comes to my mind, is that he is probably the friendliest person I have ever met. Now, of course, you would probably argue that all grandfathers are the friendliest persons to their own grandchildren, so what makes my grandfather so special?
Well, what makes my grandfather so special is that even though he can be the friendliest person on earth he could also be very easily regarded as one of the laziest persons, but he is lazy in some sort of “adorable” way. In other words, you can’t really be mad at him for him so lazy even on your worst days. In fact, he is so lazy that most of the time, he sleeps with his shoes on!
By the way, I have seen my grandfather this lazy since the time I came to recognize him as my dear grandfather probably about 20-plus years ago from now. Since then, he has aged a little with some wrinkles on his forehead and some grey (well, on second thought, probably a bit more than just “some grey”) hair. But, old or not, I have chosen to talk about my grandfather for this topic because it is he who has taught me to remain happy no matter how bad the situation may get around me.
In the end, I feel that my grandfather indeed has influenced me a lot to help me become the person I am today. After all, it is he who has taught me to become friendly to everybody. I also think that he could easily be a “role model” for many people around us who are never satisfied or happy with their lives.
Some more idea generation for this topic:
1) I should perhaps mention many people whose contributions have made me the person I am today, but none of them would be remotely as important and as influential as my mother would be. She is the most noteworthy person in my life who has taught me about life and how to navigate through this complex maze of life. I would always be grateful to her for making me strong and suitable to sustain in this world. And not to mention, giving birth to me alone makes her a very special person in my life. But she has done more than that, she moulded me into a good yet strong person. She is my best teacher in life.
2) My sister, who has never let me feel the hollowness and horror of not having my mother, is the most noteworthy person in my life. Why? Because she taught me to talk, read, fight against the odds in life, be honest, and understand life to lead a better and more meaningful life. She should have been busy with her life, instead, she decided to guide me and never let me feel the absence of my mother.
3) My math teacher, who made me curious about the amazing world of mathematics and numbers, is a very influential person in my life. I was a mediocre student, but he had faith in me, and he devoted many hours to teaching me math. I want to be a great mathematician in life, and thanks to this fabulous teacher for instilling the dream in me.
4) My father passed away when I was just 12 years old. That was the gloomiest moment in my life, and life will never be the same after this event. But when it comes to remembering my father and his teachings, I will always be proud of having him in my life. He was and will always be the most influential and significant person in my life.
5) My friend Harry has a prominent role in my life, and his selfless acts helped me overcome some of the most difficult moments in my life. As a young college student, I was struggling academically and financially. I was staying far away from home and had very few close people to share my conditions. But Harry was there to help me with money, time, mentorship, friendship and guidance. Thanks to his outstanding contributions and prominent influence, I could graduate from college with good grades and not get stuck in the valley of depression.
6) The very first day Mrs Penny took our literature class, she talked to a great length about the importance of reading books. She was such a great orator and thanks to her enchanting lectures, I realised that I had been lagging far away when it came to reading books – not just academics but other books. Now I am a voracious reader of different genres and subjects, and the credit goes to my high school teacher Mrs Peeny who had been quite influential to me in this regard.
7) The very first day I met Mr Albert, a general physician, at his chamber, he told me that to live a healthy life, I would have to take care of two important aspects – my diet and exercise. Of course, as a young student, I did not understand the gravity of this talk. But a year later, when I was hospitalised for severe abdominal pain and fever, I met him again. Being a friend of my uncle, Mr Albert, spent a considerable amount of time with me in the hospital as he was looking after me, he told me the importance of diet and exercise once again. This time I listened and followed his advice. Now I understand how influential a decision that was and how noteworthy a person he will always be in my life. He helped me choose a path to live a healthy life and for that, I will be always grateful to this great doctor.
It’s good writing but I feel it is too shallow and it’s the same idea over and over again ‘what my father taught me…’.
Haha, funny.
When someone talks about a person he/she likes, loves or admire, he/she often exaggerates to some extent, and to others, it might seem silly sometimes. But the speaker speaks passionately. This is what I think has happened here and if you can produce a speaking answer like this, no matter how silly you think it is, you are going to get a band score more than you wish for!