IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 13
Describe an important decision/choice that you made in your life.
You should say:
- what the decision was
- when you took the decision
- whether it was a good choice/ decision
and explain why it was an important decision or choice for you.
[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:
At a tender age of 17, deciding on a course of life in order to pursue a successful career path is not an easy task. The task gets even more challenging when thousand(s) of candidates are competing for the same job or spot. So, when my parents asked me, after passing my higher secondary school almost a decade ago, whether I wanted to attend a medical college or an engineering college, I found myself between a rock and hard place.
After all, securing a spot at either type of the colleges and getting a degree was no less challenging than landing on the moon unless one is really passionate about his/her studies. Besides, I didn’t like to see myself behaving like a robotic person with no or very little human emotion in my personal and professional life (no pun intended). But, I had to make a judgment call – a choice that didn’t quite sit well with the expectation of my parents. I decided to study business administration instead of becoming a medical doctor or an engineer. So, anyway, was it a good decision made by a 17 years old person?
Now that I look back almost 10 years after making that choice, I feel that it was a life-changing decision for me as it helped me to become the person I am today. I have nothing against medical or engineering education, but I was never really into crunching numbers or dissecting a human corpse at a lab in the middle of the night while the rest of the world was busy sleeping. I guess, one could say that I was a bit lazy to get out of my comfort zone in order to serve humanity by becoming a doctor or scientist, but that didn’t exactly prevent me from securing a position at the top of my class as a business administration and management student.
I believe it was one of the most significant decisions I have ever made in my life. As a result, I passed my 4-year honours degree course with distinction, allowing me the opportunities to work for some of the most prestigious corporations and companies in my country during and after my studies. Would I be able to gain such prestigious and life-changing experience had I studied at a medical or engineering college, given my reluctance to study science and technology? I doubt it.