This IELTS Speaking Part 2 post deals with a topic card named “A difficult choice you had to make in your life”. This is a requested post from one of my students who got this topic card in his recent IELTS exam. I’ve provided a sample answer here with some suggestions and special tips to better on this topic card.
Sample answer:
There are many decisions that I took in my life. Some of them were very good, some were absolutely dumb. Making good decisions is quite a challenging thing and they show a person’s intellect and experience. I would like to thank you for giving me this topic card because I’m going to talk about an important decision which I have taken recently. It was to send my younger brother abroad for higher studies.
I had to make this decision a couple of years ago. It was taken because of an unexpected yet opportune incident that took place in my family. We are four siblings, three brothers, and a sister. I’m the second issue of my parents. My father passed away some years ago and my mother is the only elderly person in my family. As I am one of the earning members of my family, I had to support my family along with my elder brother. Our youngest brother is the jewel of the family. I, my elder brother, and my sister love him like no one in the world. He had successfully completed his A level from a reputed institution here.
Then came the crucial time for us to decide on his future career. We gave him to think over different prospects here and around the world. He was quite shocked to find out he could not decide what to do. He came to me for some assistance. I suggested he look for scholarship programs in the UK, USA, and Canada.
Though it was breaking my heart inside to talk to him about leaving us, I thought it would be the best for his future career. He finally came up with two famous institutes which offered him some very handsome grants with free accommodation and part-time job facilities. We were surprised to see his enthusiasm at the application process and got confirmation that he was getting ready to move abroad. It was really tough for me and my elder brother to convince my mom so that she could give her consent to his going abroad for higher study. She cried a lot and finally gave her permission.
The time I told my brother that all of us agreed about sending him to the US, he became happy. Unfortunately, in my heart, I was crying but didn’t let him know about my feelings. It was hard because, after my father’s death, we looked at him as our child, not as our brother. It is still clear in my mind the time when I saw him off at the airport. I felt like something had been taken away from my life and I was quite emotional about it.
We loved him so much and it was difficult for us to send him away yet we had to give consent for the sake of his better future. Now, he is completing his Honors in Advanced Computer Engineering with record points. This makes me happy because I took the decision which proved to be a mature and good one.
This is the end of the answer.
Special tips:
Think of a range of situations where you had to take some difficult decisions and make a list. Here are a few suggestions which you can think over.
- Going to a foreign land for study or work purpose
- Moving from a known place to somewhere unknown
- Leaving a successful career behind to pursue a dream job or project
- Taking a decision on behalf of family members
- Deciding on behalf of a close friend
Then decide on the topic on which you feel most comfortable to talk about.
Make necessary notes on the topic so that it becomes easy for you to talk with great fluency. Do make a habit of looking at the notes once or twice when you speak.
Hopefully, you can take this post into consideration and take great preparation.
