Describe a time when you had a problem with a piece of technology
Try the card on the exam timer first, then read the band-8 sample answer and the Part 3 questions that follow it.
Practice it like the exam
Describe a time when you had a problem with a piece of technology.
You should say:
- what the technology was
- what went wrong
- how you dealt with the problem
and explain how you felt about the situation.
Ready
1 minute to prepare, then 2 minutes to speak. It switches on its own.
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Band 8 sample answer
256 words · about 2 minutes at a natural pace · Phrases from the vocabulary list are highlighted.
I'd like to talk about the time my laptop stopped working just before I had to submit my final university project. It was two days before the deadline, and I'd been working on the document for weeks, so it was almost finished.
I sat down in the evening, switched on the laptop and saw a blue screen with an error message. I tried restarting it several times, but the problem didn't go away. For a moment, I simply stared at it in disbelief. I knew that I hadn't saved a copy of my project anywhere else, which was a foolish mistake, and I started to panic.
After a few minutes, I calmed down and thought of a plan. First, I looked up the error code on my phone and found a few suggestions on a technical forum, but none of them worked. Then I called my friend Jasur, who studies computer science, and he came over the next morning. He took the hard drive out of my laptop and connected it to his computer, and, to my huge relief, he managed to recover all my files. I submitted the project with only a few hours to spare.
At the time, I felt very stressed and angry with myself. I'd always thought technology was reliable, but this showed me how fragile it can be. Since then, I back up everything to an online storage service every week. I'm much more careful now, and I'm also thankful that I have friends who are more tech-savvy than I am.
What to notice
- It takes the points on the card in order, so the examiner can follow it.
- Each point gets a specific detail or a short story, which is what keeps a talk going for two minutes.
- The "explain" line at the end gets the most time, because that is where you give an opinion and show your range of language.
We wrote this answer for practice; it does not come from IELTS. Take its structure and phrases and tell your own story, because examiners notice memorised answers.
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Useful vocabulary
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| crash | to suddenly stop working |
| back up files | to save copies of data |
| technical glitch | a small fault in a system |
| reboot | to restart a device |
| tech-savvy | good at using technology |
| customer support | a service that helps with problems |
Plan it in one minute
Choose what to talk about in the first ten seconds, then write two or three key words for each point. Full sentences take too long to write and to read back.
Who or what you could talk about
- A laptop failing before an important deadline
- An online exam or video call that disconnected
- A phone that broke or was lost with all its data
How to spend the two minutes
- 25 swhat the technology was
- 25 swhat went wrong
- 25 show you dealt with the problem
- 45 sand explain how you felt about the situation.
Part 3 questions
In the exam these come straight after your talk, on the wider subject: Dependence on technology. Answer each in 3–4 sentences, with your view, a reason and an example.
- Are people too dependent on technology?
- What would happen if the internet stopped working for a week?
- Do older people struggle more with technology than younger people?
- Should schools teach students how to fix basic technical problems?
- How has technology changed the way we work?
- Is technology making life simpler or more complicated?
Keep practicing
More cue cards: Experiences
- Describe something you did for the first time that you will always remember
- Describe a time when you received good news
- Describe a time when you felt extremely tired
- Describe a time when you taught someone how to do something
- Describe a time when you tried a new kind of food
- Describe a time when you got lost
Part 1 topics on the same subject
Frequently asked questions
How should I describe an experience in an IELTS cue card?
Tell it as a story in the past: set the scene (when, where, who), what happened, how it ended. Then explain what you felt or learned. Past tenses used accurately are part of what the examiner is listening for.
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