The kind of IELTS cue card topics that most students struggle with are the ones that are either abstract or revolve around individual experiences. Many of these topics are subjective and vary from person to person. And one such cue card topic is “Describe An Old Friend You Got In Contact With Again”. Answering a theme like this can be a little difficult because you need to talk about everything in detail, give context, express feelings, and talk about changes over time. Finding this too much? Below are three different samples for this IELTS speaking part 2 topic. Not enough? Discover some follow-up questions and tips as well. So read on!
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IELTS cue cards, or better known as the “long turn”, are the second part of the IELTS speaking section that requires test takers to talk about a topic at length. Test takers are given a candidate task card which has a topic written on it, and they need to talk about it for 1-2 minutes. To complete this section, a total of 3-4 minutes is given, where 1 minute is for preparation.
In a topic like “Describe An Old Friend You Got In Contact With Again”, the examiner will check how well you can narrate a personal story in English. But much more than this, they will also check how clearly and fluently you can organise your thoughts in the language and use the appropriate tense.
To answer the IELTS speaking part 2, you must use the 1-minute preparation time as strategically as you can. Doing this will give you a chance to understand the topic requirement, what you need to speak about, and how you can structure your response.
And to get an 8+ band score, you will have to do more than just answer the topic. You need to give a response that has fluency, coherence, and, most importantly, can show your language skills. For the topic “Describe An Old Friend You Got In Contact With Again”, you should describe things like:
In the IELTS cue card, you will also get a few pointers regarding the topic. You can use these topics to guide your response and understand what you need to talk about. For this topic, you can get the following pointers:
Here is a sample of how your candidate task card for this topic might look:
Now let’s see three sample answers for the topic “Describe An Old Friend You Got In Contact With Again” that you can use for your reference.
This first sample will give you a basic understanding of how you can structure your response. Take a look:
I honestly believe that life has a weird way of bringing old friends back into our lives at the most unexpected moments. Today I would like to talk about a friend that I recently connected back with after more than 6-7 years. It was a pleasant surprise that not only made me connect with an old friend, but it also brought so many memories from my past.
Her name is Alex, and we were really close in high school. But after graduation, we slowly started drifting apart, mainly because we both moved to a new city and had to navigate our adult lives in a strange city.
I have some of the best memories of Alex and me sharing a ride to our school. She has always been cheerful and charismatic. She was the social butterfly of our high school and was liked by almost everyone who knew about her. While I was an introvert who barely had a social life, she, on the other hand, was an extrovert and took part in almost every school activity.
After years of disconnect, we coincidentally bumped into each other at a local festival back in our home city. We both were visiting our parents and decided to attend the event. It was a pleasant surprise when I saw her there with a bunch of our high school friends. We ended up enjoying the festival together and made plans to visit each other once we were back in our work city.
I honestly felt very happy and a bit nostalgic, because meeting her brought so many memories that I shared with her. She had the same warmth and charisma she had in high school, and it felt like we picked up exactly from where we left off.
So yes, reconnecting with an old friend like Alex, whom I was really close to, felt great. It reminded me how bonds you make in school are different from the ones you make as an adult.
In the IELTS speaking section, you will also get scores based on how well you can use a wide range of vocabulary in your response. So in this next sample, we have used different vocabulary words. Check it out:
Since we are on the topic of “Describe an old friend you got in contact with again”, I would like to talk about someone I recently got in touch with again. Connecting with him made me realise that sometimes, even old, meaningful connections can be revived and enjoyed again.
His name is Raj, and we used to live in the same apartment complex. And since we were neighbours, we used to spend a lot of time together and basically grew up together. But his father got a transfer and moved to another city, and since the internet was not easily accessible back then, we ended up losing touch.
I have some really fond memories of him, especially when it comes to us playing together after school. Describing Raj is a bit difficult, because he was a complex person. For the major part of it, he was highly charismatic and thoughtful, but for the other part, he used to love staying by himself.
It is almost coincidental how we met each other again. I was travelling to a new city for a work conference. And in the conference during coffee break, I bumped into Raj. He was just sitting there in a café, and the moment we both saw each other, we both got excited and pleasantly shocked. Once the initial surprise wore off, we ended up talking for hours about how life had changed ever since we were kids. We soon exchanged contact details, and ever since then, we have been in touch.
If I am being honest, meeting him again brought back a flood of emotions and memories that I had forgotten along the way. I didn’t just feel warm meeting him, but also nostalgic and excited. It felt like I was opening up an old treasure or reading an old story that still resonates with me. It also made me think about how some connections and friendships stand still against the passage of time.
So if I have to describe how I felt meeting an old friend, I will say meeting Raj made me extremely nostalgic and happy. I was glad I connected back with someone I shared such fond memories with.
This last sample for the “Describe An Old Friend You Got In Contact With Again” will help you understand how an 8+ band score response should be.
Today, I would really like to talk about an old friend that I unexpectedly connected with again after almost 6 years of disconnection. That feeling and experience of meeting him again was really nostalgic and even more full of gratitude.
His name is Daksh, and we used to be classmates back in High School. He was the kind of person who always knew how to make someone feel special and comfortable around him. Even though he was not the loudest, he could always be the centre of attraction. I think it was mostly because of his warmth, humour, and quiet confidence.
He is extremely magnetic, calm, grounded, and much more than that, he is highly intelligent, both mentally and emotionally. Back in school, he was my go-to person for almost everything; there was nothing he could not help me with. I always admired how he never judged anyone and made them feel understood.
It was totally unexpected how I met him again. A few years ago, I was invited to a wedding, and as fate would have it, Daksh was also there. It turned out that he was a distant cousin of the groom. At first, I was not sure if it was really him, but I soon recognised him and we instantly greeted each other. We spent most of the evening together and laughed at our old inside jokes.
Meeting him at the wedding felt extremely surreal, almost nostalgic. It brought back so many cherished memories of our high school that I ended up missing that phase of our lives. I also felt a bit of regret for letting a friendship like that fade away, but more than anything, I was extremely grateful for this second chance.
So yes, getting back in touch with Daksh was a heart-warming experience. It made me realise how you can still start from where you left off with some friends and how some things never really change.
As mentioned above, in the IELTS speaking section, you will also be evaluated based on your range of vocabulary for IELTS. Below is a list of all the words, along with their meaning, that we have used in the samples above.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Navigate | To find your way or manage through something |
| Charismatic | Having a special charm that attracts people |
| Introvert | A shy or quiet person who prefers being alone |
| Extrovert | A sociable and outgoing person |
| Nostalgic | Feeling happy and sad when thinking about the past |
| Revived | Brought back to life or made active again |
| Accessible | Easy to reach or use |
| Complex | Made of many different parts; not simple |
| Coincidental | Happening by chance without planning |
| Pleasantly | In a nice and enjoyable way |
| Wore off | Gradually disappeared or became less strong |
| Resonates | To have a special meaning or effect |
| Passage of time | The way time moves forward |
| Gratitude | Feeling thankful |
| Magnetic | Very attractive or charming |
| Grounded | Sensible and practical; emotionally stable |
| Surreal | Strange or dreamlike, not quite real |
| Cherished | Loved and valued very much |
Once you are done with the IELTS speaking part 2, the examiner will ask you a few follow-up questions regarding the same topic. This will be part 3 of the speaking section and is aimed at assessing your ability to speak in English in detail and on complex topics.
For the topic “Describe An Old Friend You Got In Contact With Again”, you can get these types of follow-up questions. Check them out:
1. What was it like growing up in our hometown?
I come from a small town that has a close community, and because of this very reason, I loved growing up in my hometown. What I loved the most was how everyone was so friendly and caring. There were times when I used to spend hours playing with my friends at the park just outside my house. But more than anything, I loved it because it was much slower than the big city I currently live in.
2. What qualities do you think are most important in a true friend?
I think the answer to this very much depends on the person. For me, the most important quality that I look for is loyalty, honesty, and empathy and other than this, everything is manageable for me. I believe it is really important to have a friend who stands by you through good and bad times and always tells you the truth, no matter how difficult it can be.
3. Why do you think people lose touch with old friends?
I think there are multiple reasons why people end up losing connection with old friends, but as far as I'm concerned, the most common one is changes in life and responsibilities. When you move to a new city or have a demanding career, life ends up being a little busy and difficult to navigate. And because of this, along the way, you end up losing touch with your friends.
4. How has technology changed the way people stay in touch?
When I was a kid, we didn’t have easy access to technology, and because of that, we ended up losing connection with a lot of our friends. But now with its advancement, it has gotten much easier to stay in touch and know what's going on in each other's lives, no matter where we are in the world. So yes, I think technology has brought us really close.
5. Has the relationship with this old friend changed since you reconnected?
My relationship with him/her has evolved a lot since we connected. We were kids back then, but now, as two adults, our relationship has become more mature and has gone far beyond just childhood nostalgia. We communicate more regularly and even collaborate on projects together. It feels like our bond has grown stronger and more mature over time.
If you are also struggling with this section and don’t know how to excel in a personal topic like this. Below are a few tips that you can use:
Summing up, to get the band score of 8+ on a topic like “Describe An Old Friend You Got In Contact With Again”, it is really important that you learn how to organise your thoughts and understand what the topic requires you to talk about. Additionally, you can also take online IELTS Classes from Gradding to take your preparation to the next level. At Gradding, you will get expert help from certified trainers who will give you personalised assistance whenever you need.
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