Cue Card # 215: When you had to change your opinion

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 215

Describe a time when you had to change your opinion.

You should say:

• when it was
• what your original opinion was
• why you changed the opinion

and explain how you felt about 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:

I don’t really have an opinion about anything around me unless it affects me rather directly and very significantly. But, the opinion, I changed, wasn’t anything like that. In other words, I had to change that opinion, purely because I was presented with enough data and evidence to disprove it. Anyway, here is what actually happened.

Up until a few years ago, I was a rather strong proponent of maintaining a strict 9 am to 5 pm work schedule because I was always under the impression that maintaining such a strict work schedule would make the workers more attuned to their work. I held such a strong opinion because that’s what I had always been taught by the people around me up until then. In fact, I, as a kid, have seen that if my father was ever to return home from his work a bit earlier than his regular arrival schedule, my grandfather would suspiciously ask him why he was returning home so early. Not only that but also, I used to argue frequently with my friends and colleagues to uphold my opinion. So, that’s the kind of environment in which I grew up where arriving home after 5 pm was very much of a norm than an exception.

But, then one day, I attended a seminar where the keynote speaker was none other than the president of the chamber of commerce of my country – a gigantic, honest and successful business figure of my country for whom I only had (and still do) admiration and respect – who nicely explained why a flexible work schedule wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, backed up by some concrete proof and evidence.

After that, I had no other option but to give up my previously-held opinion on a strict work schedule. Initially, accepting the new opinion was very much like a “bitter pill to swallow” for me because I advocated for my old opinion so fiercely and passionately. But, then I also felt a bit relieved to know that some general workers and people like me also have some choices in deciding what type of work schedule suit best for them.