Cue Card # 198: Describe something that surprised you

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 198

Describe something that surprised you.

You should say:

• what it was
• when it happened
• how you found about it

and explain why it surprised you so much.

[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:

I am not too sure if I get surprised that easily now, but that’s exactly what the case was when I was growing up as a child about 15 years ago.

At that time, if my memory serves me properly, I was either a 5th-grade student, or I had just started my 6th grade, and I just loved playing with cute, little animals. In fact, I adored them so much that at one point, I even wanted to keep cats and rabbits as my pet at home, but my father was so opposed to that idea that he even told me one day to have my own place and live there with whatever pets I used to love back then.

But, I still kept requesting him to allow me to keep some pets at our home, but his only response was “no”. But, then, at one point, knowing that my father was never going to entertain my request, I just chose to stop requesting him any further for the next 6 months or so. After all, he was such an unbending and unyielding personality that one had to be really a fool to believe that he was going to change his heart unless it was absolutely necessary!

But, then one morning during the weekend, I woke up after hearing some noises outside of our house. So, I went outside to see what had really happened, and to my utter surprise, I noticed that my father, mother and two elder sisters were playing with a twin set of rabbits! Initially, I thought that since I was not fully awake, I was seeing “strange” things. So, I rubbed my eyes really hard to help myself fully wake up, but things were still the same as I saw my father petting those rabbits with utmost care!

Anyway, seeing my father petting those rabbits was one of the most surprising things I could ever expect to see, not only because he had a terrible dislike for any kind of ‘animals’, but also because I found him changing his mind or opinion on something for the first time!