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

Describe a time when you got into trouble

: You should say

what it was
how you got into it
how you handled it
and explain how you felt about it

: Sample Answer

Well, getting into trouble and then surviving from the trouble is a basic human characteristic. I usually avoid chaos or trouble and that’s why I do not have to face a lot of them. However, I was in a great trouble when I was 11 years old and this event still gives me the nightmare

It was probably 1999 when I went to visit my grandparents in (…village name…) with my parents. It was a very remote area and we had to travel for more than 11 hours to reach there. I lived with my parents in (…town/ city name…) but most of my uncles and their families lived in the village. As this was a joint family, I had so many cousins and I loved to visit this countryside for that. My parents were busy on a hot summer day during our stay there and I got the chance the play with my cousins. We played several games and got quite tired and then all of a sudden one of my cousins proposed that we should all go to the river and swim. I was bit confused as I did not know how to swim. However, one of my cousins convinced me that I should always stay near them and should not try to go further in the river by any means

We did not inform anyone and four of us walked for about 20 minutes to reach the river bank. It was a summer noon and the river looked very placid to me. I went down the river and was trying to stay as near to the land as possible. However, my cousins were all swimming and were having fun. I do not know how but all of a sudden I felt that I was in deep water and two of my cousins were trying to pull me back. I remember that I was struggling a lot to get closer to them but the sudden waves were forcing me far deeper. That time I was quite frightened and was shouting for help. Two of my cousins went to get some help and luckily two adults came for the rescue

I would say these two good-natured unknown people saved my life that day. I was too young and too intimidated to handle the situation myself. I would say I got lucky that day

It’s quite tough to explain how I actually felt that day. I was frightened and was completely taken aback by the surprise trouble. It was surely a near death experience and even though I am a good swimmer now, I remain very cautious whenever I get into the water