Cue Card # 133: Describe a competition you took part in

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 133

Describe a competition (e.g. TV, college/work or sports competition) that you took part in.

You should say:

• what kind of competition it was and how you found out about it
• what you had to do
• what the prizes were

and explain why you chose to take part in this competition.

[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:

As a college student, I wasn’t exactly very much competitive minded. But, there once was an essay writing competition in which I took part about 10 years ago, and today, I would like to share that story with you.

I came to know about this essay writing competition from one of the top daily newspapers of my country, which organized this competition in order to encourage young college students like me to write poetries – poetries in English, that is. This newspaper had organized such competitions before, even though, I never really took an interest in taking part in those competitions. But, this time around, I decided to take part in the competition because some really nice prizes were to be awarded to the winners of the competition.

The prizes included expensive cameras, tickets to visit one of the most beautiful tourist spots in my country, and some nice books. By the way, I was aiming for a camera because I had always wanted to own a camera since my childhood. Anyway, the essay writing competition was on the life and works of a renowned American poet called Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and since I had no idea about the life of this gentleman, I ran to our local public library to get some information about him. I even talked to a few senior brothers, studying literature at the university, to learn about this great American poet. Finally, I wrote the essay as best as I could, and when the time for the award announcement arrived, to my pleasant surprise, I did get a Camera! Not to mention, I was so happy to win a Camera that I informed all of my friends and relatives about my achievement!

Anyway, I chose to take part in this competition, mainly because I wanted to have a camera of my own. Besides, I took part in this competition because I also wanted to boost my confidence and thus become more competitive in life.