Cue Card # 73: An unexpected achievement you have had

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 73

Describe an unexpected achievement you have had.

You should say:

• when it was
• what achievement it was
• how it affected your life

and explain how you felt about this unexpected achievement.

[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:

Thank you for offering me the opportunity to talk about this interesting topic. After all, being an “under-achiever”, I think that getting an opportunity to talk about an “unexpected achievement”, would lift my spirit again.

It was more than 8 years ago when I was still a college student, I used to work as a part-time “salesperson” at one of my country’s biggest retail shoe shop. It was a challenging job considering the fact that I needed to attend at least 50/60 customers per day, coupled with the fact that I also needed to work as a “stocking” person, organizing shoe boxes, at the end of my “work shift”. Honestly speaking, I didn’t exactly expect much from my part-time job as I was just happy with the fact that it, at least, allowed me enough time to attend the classes and take the exams while also paying me some “pocket money” for my efforts. I had continued my work at that shoe store like this for about a year or so until one day, my general manager called me in his office and started to tell me about important store-related issues. After that brief discussion, my general offered me to work as an “assistant manager” for the store, after appreciating my hard works and efforts.

Initially, I thought that he was joking with me because the offer was totally unexpected for me. But, later on, this unexpected achievement worked as a huge confidence-booster for me which I carried in the subsequent years with me, as a real “inspiration”, in order to excel in my professional life.

Anyway, initially, I felt that I didn’t exactly deserve the new position because there were other better and more worthy candidates for the position. I also felt a bit nervous in the beginning because I never really thought that I would be able to handle the stress and responsibilities of the senior position. But, I also told to myself that I might have failed in realizing my true potentials, but my general manager didn’t, which was indeed gratifying.