Describe a time when the electricity suddenly went out in your home
The cue card
Describe a time when the electricity suddenly went out in your home.
- You should say: when it happened
- You should say: how long it lasted
- You should say: what you did
- You should say: and explain how you felt
How to answer it
A narrative card with built-in tension, so tell it as a small story: what you were in the middle of when it went, the noise the fridge stopped making, who found the torch. The 'what you did' bullet deserves the most time. Resist jumping early into the Part 3 material about the grid — that discussion is coming and repeating yourself costs you.
What moves the band
- Power-cut lexis: the power went out, we were plunged into darkness, it came back on, a blackout, candles everywhere.
- Use past continuous for the interruption: I was halfway through cooking when everything went dark.
- For Part 3, dependence is the interesting angle — name what actually fails first (payments, lifts, water pumps), not just lights.
Part 3 questions reported with it
Part 3 follows the topic of the cue card, so these are the discussion questions the same candidates were asked next.
- How dependent are people on electricity?
- What would modern life be like without electricity?
- Should governments invest more in renewable energy?
These are candidate recalls. These are questions reported by test-takers after their exams, not official or leaked IELTS material. Wording varies by test version, location and memory. Use them for timed practice — never as a prediction of what you will be asked.
Practise these next
Know the number. Now move it.
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