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

Describe an important year in your life

: You should say

when it was
what happened in this year
how old you were then
and explain why it is an important year in your life

: Sample Answer

Well, picking an important year was bit header as so many important events took place in different years in my life. However, out of those, I would like to talk about the year 2002 which I consider as one of the most important years in my life

I went to visit my uncle’s house in the year 2000 and stayed there about three weeks. During my visit, I learned a lesson that has changed my perspective of my life and that was probably the most significant turning point in my life. I was 16 years old then

While staying there I went to the sea beach, which was about 5 kilometres away from my uncle’s house, with one of my cousins. We went there without informing our guardians and thought that we would return before the dusk without anyone noticing. While swimming in the sea water, we were enjoying a lot and the big tides of the sea made our experience more enthralling. All of a sudden I noticed that the sands below my feet were no longer presents and at the same time a giant tide hit me. I was quite afraid and was again hit by a giant tide from the reverse direction. That tide took me a long away from the beach and I was really frightened. I am a good swimmer but at that very moment my body froze in terror and I could not move my muscle. I could see the anxious eyes of distant people and for the first time in life I thought that I was going to die. That was an experience I can’t express in words. I had no idea about the time and many things from my childhood were flashing back in my mind. I felt that I was drowning even after my desperate try to survive. Things were becoming blurred and I think I started losing my conscious

I don’t know how long I had been in this state. All of a sudden I felt like some force was pulling me towards him and the next thing I saw were some curious eyes strangely looking at me. I was actually rescued by some local fishermen who were fishing nearby

This event changed me dramatically. I started realising the reality of life and how fragile our life could be. It was a near death experience that taught me the importance of life, our relationship, the necessity of being humble, prudent, responsible and all other good things an ideal human being should possess. This year had a great influence to help me become who I really am and how I feel about being alive. This is a lesson we experience probably once in a lifetime and from that perspective, the year 2000 is very important to me