Describe a time when you forgot something important: IELTS Cue Card Sample 114

Sample Answer 1

Well, I would like to talk about a recent interesting incident. It so happened that I had my final exam on January 24th. I had to travel almost 20km to appear for my math exam.

In my head, I had kept everything in my bag and was ready to take on the examination. However, upon reaching the examination hall, I was dumbstruck when I explored my bag. I realised that I had left the pouch in the home.

It was imperative as it had all of my stationery in it. I had neatly placed everything essential in that pouch, right from pens to pencils, scale, erasers, compass, and everything else. Now, I was sitting on the bench, utterly clueless about what to do next. On a typical day, I would have managed without it as I could have asked my classmates for a pen and other things. However, that day, I was already stressed regarding the final exam. On top of that, this blunder created a messier situation.

Initially, I was angry with myself. But, since there was no time to go back home and no other way to get it. I went to the invigilator and told him everything like a scared cat. Fortunately, he was kind enough to arrange the stationery, and I completed my exam calmly.

Sample Answer 2

My memory is like a sieve and has let me down many times. But there is one incident that happened when I was in school, which made me go crazy. 

I always travelled on the school bus. It was exam time then. I was tense and nervous, even though I was thorough. I reached the bus stop was waiting for the bus to arrive. Since it was the Maths exam, I carried my geometry case and checked it over a hundred times. The bus arrived on time, and I found a seat near the window and rechecked if I had the geometry box with me. Soon, my friend came, and we were discussing questions. On reaching school, we got down and headed towards the exam hall.

I had totally forgotten about the geometry case. Only upon receiving the question paper, did I realise the need for it. I searched frantically, but in vain. I had left it on the bus. 

I informed the teacher. She was annoyed but let me share the stationery with another student. I had to wait for the student to complete the questions that involved protractors and compasses and then take it from her. I lost quite a lot of time and in my hurry to finish, did not care for the correctness of the answer. 

After this incident, I realised that forgetfulness is not a joke. Henceforth, I decided to be more careful.

Sample Audio

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

Vocabulary

• Incident: an individual occurrence or an event. 
  Eg: Although I was 4 years old, I clearly remember that incident which happened in 2004. 
• Nervous: easily agitated or alarmed
  Eg: When the police questioned him, he became nervous and didn’t answer anything. 
• Recheck: an act of checking or verifying again
  Eg: After completing the exam paper, I rechecked it. 
• Headed: going in a particular direction 
  Eg: Pooja headed to the park. 
• Realize: become fully aware of (something) as a fact; understand clearly. 
  Eg: Rose realized her mistake and asked for forgiveness. 
• Frantically: in a hurried, excited, or disorganized manner 
  Eg: As I was late to the exam, I rushed to the exam hall, frantically. 
• Annoyed: slightly angry or irritated 
  Eg: Since her best friend didn’t attend her birthday party, Rose was annoyed with her. 
• Forgetfulness: lapse of memory. 
  Eg: forgetfulness is the inability to remember things. 

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