IELTS Speaking Topics Part 2
Talk about a time when you had to make a difficult choice.
You should say:- Why was it difficult?
- What and whom did it involve?
- What was the outcome of the choice you made?
IELTS Speaking Topics Talk about a difficult decision you had to make
When I was growing up my parents were having problems in their relationship and for a couple of years things were not good at home; the atmosphere was terrible and they seemed to be constantly fighting with each other. My sister and I were very worried at the time that our parents would end up separating – which they did eventually.
That was a really difficult time in life because so many things changed, but as often happens, there was a positive side to this also – our parents actually became happier people when they were not actually living together. They were like different people all of a sudden, happier and more carefree, but still our parents.
Anyway, as things changed, one of the difficult things we had to decide was where to live. My sister and I were both old enough to have a say in this, so we had to choose between living with our mother or with our father. This was not easy, and we both spent a long time discussing it with each other and trying to decide which was the best option for everybody. We tried to take into account everybody’s feelings, practical aspects of where we would live, and also what we had planned for the future. But it was also a highly emotional time for everybody which didn’t make the decision any easier.
In the end we both decided to stay with our mother because we felt that she needed our support more than our father. And one of the main factors that helped us make the final decision was the fact that I had plans to study abroad, which would have meant that our mother would’ve been all alone if we had decided to move in with our father. So we decided it wasn’t worth all the upheaval – and chose to remain with our mother.
As for consequences, it meant that we didn’t see as much of our father as we had in the past, but at least when we did the atmosphere was much better and we were glad that they had stopped fighting with each other all the time. So that was a time when I had to make a difficult choice.
IELTS Speaking Topics Part 3
Difficult Choice Questions
Looking back, would you have made the same choice now?
Yes I think so. It was the best decision to make at that time and I believe that it worked out well for everyone involved. Maybe it wasn’t a perfect situation, but you know difficult things happen in life and you have to make the best of a bad situation sometimes. That’s basically what we did.
Maybe if we had chosen to go and live with our father the outcome would have been very different – of course, it could have worked out well, too. We’ll never know, will we?
All I can say is that my family still talks to each other – my sister and I have a good relationship with both our parents and that’s the most important thing – so, yes I would definitely make the same decision again today if I was in the same circumstances.
IELTS Speaking Topics Difficult Choices
IELTS Speaking Test Part 3 Discussion Questions
Who do you think has a harder time making decisions, children or adults? Why?
That would definitely be adults – children are much more intuitive and tend to decide very quickly about things. Children don’t consider all the same factors that adults do when they are trying to make a difficult decision. Children follow their ‘gut’ more – they feel that something is good or bad rather than analyzing it from all angles.
And probably the biggest difference is that children, in general, have very little concept of failure, as opposed to adults who may have experienced it and generally fear failure – and this is what stops many people from trying new things - because they are afraid of failing.
The thinking process of children is much simpler, as they have much less life experience to base any decisions on. Most adults tend to overcomplicate even simple decisions. which are not so difficult to make.
Do you mostly have a hard time making decisions on your own?
No, quite the opposite, I make decisions quite quickly and easily. I know it might sound a bit crazy but sometimes if I’m not sure about something and I want to think it through – I have a conversation with myself - you know - I tell myself one side of the argument, for example, the advantages of choice A, and then choice B. And then I’ll discuss the points quickly with myself - it sounds weird, but it actually works – just like having a conversation with your friend to try and clarify your thoughts.
I don’t analyze decisions too much. If the decision is to do something or not to do something, for example, if I want to do it – I will, and suffer any consequences. And if I don’t want to do it – I won’t, and I don’t care what other people tell me or think about my decision. It’s like, the decision is over – move on to the next thing in life. It will either work out or not.
What are some examples in everyday life when people have to make hard choices?
Mmm, well, there are so many. For example, some people have to choose whether or not to work late and sacrifice time with their family. Or maybe a person has to decide whether to lie or not to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
Then there are parenting decisions – it may be tough to tell your teenage son or daughter that they can’t do something that they really want to do – and it may be the right decision for them. But they might not appreciate it at the time, and it can cause a lot of friction and upset.
Basically, life is full of hard choices; whether to go to university or not, get married or not, take a new job opportunity or stay where you are, or move to another country. Maybe we don’t have to make tough decisions every day, but these types of decisions are taken every day by thousands of people all over the world. For some, it will be tougher than for others – depending on the options they have to choose between.
Choosing between money and freedom, what do you think most people from your country would choose? Why?
With enough money, you can eliminate the need to work to support yourself. Once you are free from the restraints of working in the same place every day – you can choose where to live, how you spend your time, with who, and how you spend your money.
Obviously, we’re assuming that you have enough money to choose to do whatever you want. For example, the amount of money you would receive if you won the lottery or something similar. If you were smart, you would never have to worry about money ever again in your life.
With sufficient money, there are few limits to what you can do. But freedom on its own is somewhat limited unless you have enough money to really enjoy it. So, most people would probably choose to have money because with it comes freedom from what most people hate; the drudgery of day-to-day life. People hate always having to work to earn and never having enough money for what they would really like to do in life.
Ten years from now, do you think people will have easier or harder decisions to make?
Okay, so who can predict the future, right? But I guess that probably most people will face more or less the same types of decisions as they do today. The decisions won’t be any easier or harder – simply different.
For example, most of the hard decisions people make nowadays are difficult because they impact their lives. And in some cases can have serious consequences; either good or bad ones. But in the future it’s still going to be the case that people have to decide what they want to do in life, the kind of work they like, choose a career, find a job, fall in love, get married (or not), maybe start a family and then make lots of decisions regarding their children.
What might change is some of the options that people will be faced with. Maybe there will be options that don’t even exist at the moment. For example, just think if going to work on a different planet became possible in the next ten years – that would be a new decision that people would make. But it’s basically about where you work, similar to choosing to work in another city or country, as people do at the moment.
The way technology is becoming more and more integrated into daily life, though, its more probable that people will be faced with the decision of whether or not to allow microchip or nanotech devices to be implanted in their bodies – but again, it’s just a personal choice and we make those all the time now.
So, the options might be different – not easier or harder - just different. I’m sure that in the future there will be some people who are good at making decisions and others who agonize over every little choice.