The cue card
Describe a problem you had to solve.
You should say:
- what the problem was
- when it happened
- how you solved it
and explain how you felt after you had solved it.
You have one minute to make notes, then speak for one to two minutes.
Band 8–9 sample answer
Written by Abroadway as a model of natural, high-band speaking (not an official IELTS sample).
I'd like to describe a problem I had to deal with when I moved to Kuala Lumpur to start a foundation course, roughly two years ago. Before leaving home, I'd arranged to rent a room in a shared flat near the campus through an online listing, and I'd even paid a deposit. Then, just two days before my flight, the landlord sent me a brief message saying the room was no longer available, and after that he stopped replying altogether. So the problem was fairly serious: I was about to arrive in a foreign city where I knew nobody, with nowhere to live and a good part of my budget already gone.
My first reaction, I'll admit, was to panic, but my father reminded me that panicking wouldn't find me a room, so I tried to tackle it step by step. The first thing I did was email the university's international student office and explain the situation. To my relief, they replied within a day and offered me a temporary place in a student hostel for two weeks, which bought me some time. Once I'd arrived, I joined a few online groups for international students, and I discovered that two second-year students from Bangladesh were looking for a third flatmate.
I went to see the flat in person, read the contract carefully this time, and moved in before my hostel stay ran out. As for the deposit, I reported the listing to the website, and although I only got part of the money back, it was better than nothing. After it was all sorted out, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief, but also a quiet pride, because it was the first time I'd solved a major problem without my parents being there in person. It taught me to stay calm, to ask for help early and, of course, never to send money to a stranger without proper checks.
Useful phrases from this answer
- to my relief
- which made me feel happy because a worry was removed
- bought me some time
- gave me extra time before I had to act
- better than nothing
- not ideal, but still useful
- an overwhelming sense of relief
- a very strong feeling that a worry is finally over
- a fresh perspective
- a new and different way of looking at something
- comes down to
- mainly depends on
- in isolation
- separately, without being connected to other things
Part 3 follow-up questions and answers
What kinds of problems do young people often face today?
I'd say one of the biggest is pressure, both academic and financial. Young people are expected to get excellent grades, compete for a limited number of university places and then find a decent job in a very crowded market, which can be extremely stressful. In countries like Bangladesh, many also feel responsible for supporting their families. Another growing problem is related to social media, because constant comparison with the carefully edited lives of others can damage self-esteem and lead to anxiety. And in big cities, the cost of living, particularly housing, makes it hard for young people to become independent. So many of their problems are less visible than in the past, but no less real.
Is it better to solve problems alone or to ask others for help?
I think it depends largely on the type of problem. For relatively minor, everyday issues, trying to solve them yourself is valuable, because it builds confidence and independence. If you always turn to someone else, you never develop those skills. However, with more complex or serious problems, refusing to ask for help can be a mistake, and it's often driven by pride. Other people may have experience, knowledge or a fresh perspective that you simply don't have. My own view is that the best approach is usually to attempt the problem yourself first, so that you understand it properly, and then to seek advice if you're stuck, rather than struggling on unnecessarily.
Why are some people better at solving problems than others?
Partly, I think, it comes down to personality. Some people stay calm under pressure while others panic, and a calm mind is obviously better at thinking clearly. Experience matters too: someone who has faced many difficulties, perhaps because they had to become independent early, will have built up a range of strategies to draw on. Education plays a role as well, since people who were encouraged to ask questions and think for themselves as children tend to approach problems more flexibly than those who were mainly taught to memorise. Finally, good problem-solvers are usually willing to accept that their first idea might be wrong, which makes them more open to alternatives.
Should schools teach problem-solving as a separate subject?
I'm not entirely convinced it needs to be a separate subject, although I strongly agree that it should be taught. My concern is that problem-solving taught in isolation might become rather abstract, just another set of techniques to memorise for an exam. I'd argue it's more effective when it's built into existing subjects. In science, students could design their own experiments; in maths, they could tackle real-life problems instead of simply repeating formulas; and project work in any subject can involve planning, teamwork and dealing with setbacks. That said, a short dedicated course could be useful for introducing basic strategies, as long as students then apply them across the curriculum.
What are the biggest problems that large cities will face in the future?
I suspect housing and climate will be the two most serious challenges. As more people move from rural areas into cities in search of work, the demand for affordable housing will keep rising, and if it isn't met, informal settlements will grow, along with problems related to sanitation and health. At the same time, climate change is likely to make extreme heat, flooding and water shortages more common, and low-lying cities such as Dhaka could be particularly vulnerable. Traffic and air pollution will probably remain major issues as well. I'd argue that cities which start planning for these problems now will cope far better than those that wait until a crisis arrives.
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