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

Describe a rule you did not like in school

: You should say

what it was
how others thought about this rule
have you ever violated this rule
and explain why you did not like this rule

: Sample Answer

Well, this topic reminds me my school days when things were quite different than they are now. Things were magical, more colourful and in my mind everything was possible. I quite loved my school days and our teachers were very friendly. When some of my neighbours were worried about their kids in schools, my parents, on the contrary, were very contented about their son’s schooling

I loved everything about my school except one thing – attending the cultural programmes arranged by the teachers and class captains on last Thursday of the month. It was mandatory to attend this event every month and I did not like it at all

I mostly hated it because I thought that attending this event should have been optional, not mandatory. If I loved singing, dancing, debating or acting only then I would have felt attracted to such events and in my case, this was not true. I loved listening to music but when I had to sing, I simply loathed it. Same goes for dancing, debating, poem writing, acting in Shakespeare’s play and so on. In my timid and fragile mind, this was kind of torture. Though I feel differently these days about this rule and event and find it quite charming, it was not the case in my school days. Another reason I did not like the rule was because the power the class captains exercised during the event. To illustrate how they used their power I would like to tell you an event. One day I had a disagreement with my class captain and he threatened me that he will have his revenge soon. Two weeks later during the cultural programme he selected me as a volunteer singer in a play without even notifying me. That was quite an embarrassing moment for me

I think others mostly enjoyed this event and rule until they were called to attend the programme in front of the teachers and other students. Some of our classmates have passions in such events and they enjoyed participating and they felt that everybody should attend it. A few students were more attracted to sports and TV shows and they did not like it as far as I recall. I actually violated this rules quite a few times. Once my parents came to meet my math teacher and I went home with them and skipped this programme. In many other occasions, I tried to skip attending this programme and in some cases I was successful

If you ask me whether this was a good rule or not, I would say, this was in fact, a good rule to introduce art, literature and cultural programs to the young students. I learned more about Shakespeare and his work through this programme than reading academic books. Thus it was a good initiative and a good rule as I understand now