[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
Topic: Your favourite place
Q. What place do you most like to visit? [Why?]
Answer: I like to visit any naturally beautiful place which is not overcrowded. Last month, I had been to a hilly area which had sparkling emerald lakes, spectacular mountain ranges, beautiful waterfalls and the experience was excellent. I like to enjoy the natural tranquillity and it refreshes my mind and releases my stress.
I also like to visit historically significant locations as they are sensational and bear the history in them.
Alternative answer: I like to visit museums and in particular, the British Museum is my favourite. It has a very rich collection and the whole museum is spectacular.
Q. How often do you visit this place? [Why?]
Answer: Whenever I have a vacation, I try to get to such places and enjoy the scenic beauty. Sometimes I take a long vacation once a year to visit historically significant cities. It is not only refreshing but also stimulating, entertaining and educational. A particular place where I had been to more than once is ‘Greece’.
Alternative answer: I have been to this museum thrice and I would say I would go there again next year. Thus my visit frequency to this museum is once in a year or so for the last few years. The collection of this museum is so overwhelming that I am yet to finish observing all their items on display. On top of that, they add more items to their collection each year.
Q. Why do you like it so much?
Answer: I believe, a naturally beautiful place gives us an opportunity to rediscover ourselves, enjoy the time to the fullest and shed some burden from our mind.
On the contrary, visiting a historically important place is like witnessing history and learning about the world from a different perspective. I love Greece because it is the home to one of the most influential ancient civilizations, and it has a cultural history dating back many centuries.
Alternative answer: The British Museum offers an enriching experience and has over eight million exhibits. The museum takes me back in time to the ancient eras of human development and civilization. The entire museum is devoted to the history and culture of humankind, with exhibits from all continents. I find it highly entertaining, exquisite and educational.
Q. Is it popular with many other people? [Why?]
Answer: I believe a majority of tourists are attracted to such places as it is in our DNA. It’s hard to find someone who does not love being surrounded by nature. City dwellers with a busy and hectic life crave for natural serenity and typically prefer being in a place that is not built with brick and mortar.
Moreover, places with historical value are also loved by many as these places are well-known and offer a great opportunity to witness the past – metaphorically speaking. It is also entertaining and informative. For instance, Greece is a desirable destination with its ancient historical sites, beautiful mountains inland and a stunning stretch of beaches and beautiful islands along the coast.
Alternative answer: This museum is visited by more than 7 million people each year and the number talks for itself. There is hardly any history, arts and museum lover who had not been in London and missed the chance to pay a visit to this museum. I believe it is one of the most famous and most visited museums in the world.
The British Museum is the oldest national public museum in the world and has more than 8 million items in its display. It is a museum that would take the visitor to the past and then take back gradually to the present. Someone with a little interest in human history, ancient civilisation and arts would find it highly relevant and exciting.
Q. Has it changed very much since you first went there? [In what way?]
Answer: I had been to Greece several times and I have not noticed mentionable changes. This could be because the historic sites are still the same and people in Greece still have the same way of life. I could, however, realise that my visits to this place do not have a noticeable gap and this might be another reason I have not noticed many changes except for the more modern buildings and use of technology by people.
Alternative answers: I went to this museum in 2015 for the first time and then again in 2017. Apart from some interior design changes and increased security personnel, I have not noticed a significant change. However, the richness in the collection in British History has been quite visible during my last visit to this place.
[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.]
You should say:
and explain why it was useful to you.
Cue Card Answer:
We live in an era when the internet is one of the driving forces for the whole world and we need to get online every now and then for many different personal and professional reasons. Thus we browse different websites regularly and some sporadically. For this cue card topic, I would like to describe a website that I often use and find extremely useful. Thank you for letting me talk about this website.
The name of this website is TripAdvisor and its full URL is www.tripadvisor.com. This is an American travel and hotel searching website that shows hotel and restaurant reviews, accommodation bookings and other travel-related content. It also includes interactive travel forums that are highly important to deciding a destination and picking a hotel to stay in.
I browsed the website in 2010 for the first time when I was searching for a destination in Europe to spend a week with my husband on a vacation. So naturally, I searched for a great destination in Google and one of the top results was from TripAdvisor. As soon as I spent a few seconds looking at the website, I found that they have remarkably helpful content that could help me determine a destination. However, after spending a few minutes, I was fascinated with the user-generated contents that were written by the real travellers who had been to different places. From that time, I often browse this website to find fabulous locations to travel to and this is a highly recommended website for travellers all around the world.
When I first used this website, it basically contained lists of popular destinations based on country, region and continent. The travel forum was a great section that was helpful to me. Besides, it had a hotel and restaurant reservation option that many travellers really look for. Over the time this website has evolved and now it has comprehensive reviews on flights, hotels, cruises and restaurants all over the world and it offers options to make a reservation on hotels, flights and guided-tours. From finding a great destination to booking the flight, from choosing a budget-friendly hotel to getting back home safely, this website is a one-stop solution. They often offer special blog posts that inspire travellers to discover new parts of the world. I love their flight and accommodation search options and special discounts they offer.
I believe this website is an all-embracing source of information and a way to finalise a tour for any traveller from any part of the world. I like it because it offers personalized advice from friends and travel experts I trust, let me easily find hotels within my budget, inform me about the things to do & restaurants that are right for me and I consider it the single source for any travel-related information for a traveller like me. So this website has always been (and still is) useful to me to a great extent.
Discussion topics: The internet and communication
Q. What effect has the internet had on the way people generally communicate with each other?
Answer: I believe the internet has revolutionised the way people communicate with each other both in personal and professional arenas. We have SMS and chatting platforms that have replaced the pagers and we hardly write letters to our relatives as we have a better alternative called email. We are connected with our friends and relatives via social media platforms and making a video call is just a few clicks away. Office communications, on the other hand, are mostly done using emails and application like Skype or similar apps. The communication with others in this modern era is faster and less expensive than the past.
However, the apathy to socialise in real life is often attributed to the overreliance on the internet and seen as a negative trend by many.
Q. Why do you think the internet is being used more and more for communication?
Answer: The reasons are obvious. We do not need to write a letter and then post it only to wait a few days for its recipient to read it. We have emails and we can send an email that the reader receives instantly and the process virtually costs nothing. So people have naturally accepted the more convenient, less expensive and the fastest mean of communication method available. Moreover, the internet allows us to get connected with people no matter the distance and social networking sites enable us to get updates of people we care about instantaneously. For all the conveniences and the widespread availability of the internet, we love digital communication more than the conventional way of getting in touch with others.
Q. How reliable do you think information from the internet is? Why? What about the news on the internet?
Answer: I believe the authenticity of information depends on the source of it. So the reliability of information should be judged based on the provider. For instance, if I find a piece of information which is supplied by Wikipedia or BBC, I would believe it. But if this same information is provided by a spammy looking website, I would not rely on it until I verify it from a more trustworthy source. I guess false information is all around us and they are made available for political, personal or some other gains by some miscreants. They also exist due to the fact that anyone can build a website and provide information that is not always accurate.
Overall, plenty of fake and fabricated news is available online and they are often so widespread that they pop up now and then in front of us. They have a pattern and it is a regret that many of us rely on these sources without judging their authenticity. As a rule of thumb, we should read and share news from mainstream websites that are known for their quality, credibility and authenticity.
Discussion topics: The internet and shopping
Q. Why do you think some people use the internet for shopping? Why doesn’t everyone use it in this way?
Answer: Online shopping is a relatively new trend and offers a convenient way of choosing and purchasing products. It saves our valuable time, offers special discounts and a shopper can get the product staying at home. Personally, I often rely on the internet for shopping as online shops have a huge collection, let me compare prices and offer home delivery.
I believe some people still prefer to touch and feel a product before deciding to buy it. So they avoid online shopping. Many others who hardly use the computer and the internet, naturally bypass online shopping.
Q. What kinds of things are easy to buy and sell online? Can you give me some examples?
Answer: Global trends show that virtually every product is available online. Be it a car, property or simply a showpiece or a book, you can buy it online. The same goes for the online merchants who can sell their home-made cookies, customised t-shirts, used cars, electronic goods and so on without a brick and mortar shop.
The online shopping giants like Amazon, eBay and Alibaba are a few examples of how diverse the range of online products could be.
In my country, fashion wear, electronics goods, flowers, household items, furniture, electronic books, and different gadgets are common online merchandise. However, the products that we can buy or sell online can be sometimes surprisingly uncommon. Stamps, coins, groceries, innerwear, wooden sunglasses and paper-bags are few examples of such less common online products available for sale.
Q. Do you think shopping on the internet will be more or less popular in the future? Why?
Answer: I believe it will be highly popular in the future and will replace the traditional shopping trend to a great extent. To cite an example, more than 1.66 billion people worldwide purchased goods online in 2017 and it is projected that the number will double within the next three years.
From my personal experience, I can say that the percentage of the global population with internet access is increasing rapidly than ever before. This new segment would surely get connected to the online shopping trend making online shopping transaction a daily activity. Plastic money, virtual currency and online payment method like PayPal would further enhance the trend.
This post was last modified on 11th April 2019 12:37 pm