An occasion a home appliance broke down – IELTS Band 8 Sample

Sample Answer 1

I still remember the time when my desktop PC stopped working. It was a rainy day and I could hear thunderclaps. Unfortunately, the electricity was already gone and I had forgotten to plug it off. So, after some time, when the rain stopped and the clouds cleared, I tried to turn it back on and it wasn’t powering up. I began to panic as my PC held many of my most important documents.

In the beginning, I tried everything I could to turn it on, but to my disappointment, everything failed. As this PC was assembled by my brother, who has currently settled abroad, I tried to call him for help. Over the phone, he helped me reassemble it but to no effect. Finally, I was forced to take it to the service centre in town.

At the service centre I visited with my uncle, they warned us about the danger that may happen to the home appliances, especially computer systems, when they are not plugged out at the time of severe rain and thunderstorms. They found some issues with the motherboard that need to be changed. So we ordered a new one online and delivered it to them. Eventually, they were able to fix the issue and were successful in turning it on. But it took weeks to resolve the issue. The mental stress I faced during those times was indescribable. This incident has opened my eyes and I am careful to do the right thing whenever such a day strikes again.

Sample Answer 2

I’m going to talk about one time when my washing machine stopped working. It was a few months ago. So, the machine had been working very well for almost 10 years; that was the first time that there was any problem with it.

Normally I just put my clothes in, pour some washing liquid and fabric softener, turn the machine on and leave it there for two hours. But this time when I came back to take the clothes out, I realized that they were still dry, unwashed.

I immediately called the company, and they sent a mechanic over in an hour. After examining the machine, he concluded that there wasn’t really any big problem; it was just that the filter bag was full of small rubbish like toothpicks and fabric accumulated over the years.

He patiently showed me how to take the bag out, wash it, then put it back in. The washing machine worked again perfectly. I gave him a five-star rating for this.

Sample Audio

Click on the audio to listen to the sample answer above. Pay attention to the intonation and pronunciation of the words

Vocabulary

• Softener: a substance or device that softens something, especially a fabric softener
  Eg: This is a good fabric softener for woolen clothes.
• Mechanic: a skilled worker who repairs and maintains vehicle engines and other machinery 
  Eg: A car mechanic came over to our house. 
• Accumulate: to collect a large number of things over a long period of time 
  Eg: Over the years, he accumulated a lot of wealth. 

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