IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 6
Describe a feature of your personal character.
You should say:
- what it is
- whether it is a positive or negative feature
- if it a common feature among others
and explain why you like or dislike it.
[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:
Introduction:
I believe that personality traits reflect people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and that is why others around me would be better judges of the features of my personality than me. However, I will still go ahead and try to talk about a feature of my character that I am aware of.
What it is:
I am an optimistic person, and it makes me a bit different from many of my friends who are either very practical or on the pessimistic side. I can see the positive side of every event and hope that something good is going to happen even though there is a chance that something may go wrong.
Whether it is a positive or negative feature:
Very practical and pessimistic people might disagree, but I see it as a positive feature. I did not have a very pleasant childhood as I lost both my parents when I was just 9 years old. I grew up in a tough neighbourhood, and my grandmother was my sole guardian. So being optimistic and still finding the positive sides of the world was a survival skill for me. Now I realise that the world has more good people and good things than evil. I firmly believe that how we see the world makes a big difference, and I have found that being optimistic has turned my life for the better.
If it is a common feature among others:
Well, that’s a bit tough to answer, but, I believe that around 10% of people are pessimistic while another 10% are optimistic. The rest of the 80% maintain a good balance of being both pessimistic and optimistic based on the situation. This is just my opinion and I could be wrong though!
And explain why you like or dislike it:
I like this feature of my character because it helps me stay calm even in a situation when I should be anxious. It also helps me have “hope” in life in every situation. My life would have been much worse had I been thinking about all the bad things that had happened to me or could happen to me.
Model Answer 2:
I’d like to appreciate the opportunity you have given me to talk about a feature of my personality. I think it’s a bit difficult to talk about such a feature as I find it a double-edged sword! If I say something very nice, it might sound like I’m showing off. On the contrary, if I criticise myself too much, it would be like I am trying to be more modest than necessary. Well! I will try.
I am dedicated to everything I like and enjoy. If I like a particular subject, I invest a great deal of commitment to truly learn and grasp it. If I admire a task assigned to me, I totally devote myself to this task and work till I finish it with perfection.
You might ask what I do if something is important but I don’t like it at all! Well, in that case, I do not neglect the responsibility, but I do not feel the passion to complete it or attain excellence. Nevertheless, I do it anyway.
I would say that this has been proven to be a positive feature so far for me. Due to my complete dedication to the things I love, I have achieved many breakthroughs in my life. To illustrate an example, I got admitted to NIIT, a computer training centre, during high school. My father wanted me to learn the basics of computers, and after getting admitted to this institution, I found that computers are very interesting and offer so much more than I could imagine doing. I totally committed myself to learning as much as I could. Sometimes, I spent more than 8 hours a day in front of a computer to learn about it. Within a year, I become an advanced computer user and learnt to write programming codes in C and C++. I had been able to create a small software in the next few months and that was a great achievement, I guess.
I would not say that this is a rare feature. People excel in areas that they feel passionate about and dedicate time to achieve success. I am like many others in this regard and can dedicate myself to things I feel enthusiastic about.
I like this feature in me. This is a quality that drives me to learn something more dedicatedly and do something extraordinary by pushing myself beyond my comfort zone. Once I relish something, I try to excel in it. Thus, so far I have acquired some skills that have already been proven to be very handy. I believe that all of us have hidden potential and to bring out the best, one must have a solid plan and work really hard to achieve it. Dedication to my work often helps me meet tough deadlines. I am really proud to have this feature in my character.
Here we will attempt to list a few common features of our personal characters. If you think that the list contains one of your characteristics (which we believe will do) feel free to choose it and then enhance the answer to get a good band score for this cue card/ candidate task card topic.
A) Value and Moral character traits:
Loyalty:
Devotion:
Kindness:
Integrity:
Honesty:
Sincerity:
Patience:
Open-minded:
Self-control:
Truthfulness:
Cooperation:
Optimism:
Compassion:
Humbleness:
B) Physical and Emotional Character traits:
Joyfulness/Melancholy:
Tireless:
Gentle/Wild:
Patriotic:
Imaginative/Practical:
Dainty:
Cleanliness:
C) Personality Character traits:
Thoughtfulness:
Agreeable/Disagreeable:
Daring:
Bravery/Courage:
Helpfulness:
Humorous:
Wittiness:
Curiosity:
Bossy:
Fun-loving:
Adventurous:
Boldness:
Charismatics:
Enthusiastic: