📙 Part 2: Describe a difficult decision that you made and had a good result

You should say what the decision was, when you made that decision, why it was difficult to make, and explain how you felt about the good result.

This episode's vocabulary

Decision (noun) – a choice you make after thinking about it. → Taking the IELTS was a difficult decision for him.

Straightforward (adjective) – simple and easy to understand. → It looked like a straightforward task, but it turned out to be complex.

Affair (noun) – a situation or event, often with some complexity. → It seemed like a simple affair, but emotions were involved.

Foolish (adjective) – lacking good sense or judgment. → He felt foolish after giving the wrong advice.

In addition to (phrase) – as well as. → He felt pressure in addition to his usual responsibilities.

Get ready (verb phrase) – to prepare. → She got ready for the test by reviewing vocabulary.

Ultimately (adverb) – in the end; finally. → Ultimately, his hard work paid off.

Achieve (verb) – to reach a goal. → He achieved a Band 9 in the speaking test.

Result (noun) – the outcome of something. → The test result made him very happy.

Include (verb) – to have something as part of a whole. → You should include examples in your speaking answers.

Strategy (noun) – a plan to achieve something. → He learned effective strategies for exam success.

As a whole (phrase) – in general or completely. → He studied the exam as a whole, not just one part.

Destination (noun) – the end goal. → For him, the score was the destination.

Journey (noun) – the process of getting to a goal. → The learning journey taught him a lot.

Proud (adjective) – feeling pleased because of something you've done. → His friends and family were proud of his achievement.

Questions and Answers

Rory: I've had to make a lot of decisions in my life that have been quite difficult. However, the most recent one was my decision to take an IELTS test for myself. I did this just a few days ago. However, even though the test was only a few days ago, I actually made this decision way back at the beginning of the year. I really wanted to know if what I was saying to people in my classes was the right thing, or if there were any areas where I could improve. And so I thought this would be one of the best ways to do that.

It seems like a pretty straightforward affair. However, it's not quite that simple because, of course, I've talked to people for years now about this exam and what I think are the best things to do. And so if I made a mistake, and if I turned out to be wrong, then I would look extremely foolish and people would know that I'd said the wrong things and I would have hurt people's chances of having a better life, in addition to my colleagues not thinking very highly of me. So that's why it's quite important, or it was quite important for me to do well.

In order to make it, I needed to do all of these things to get ready. I had to listen to different videos and join classes, and I asked experts from around the world what the best ways to prepare were. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I achieved what I wanted to. I got a Band 9 for speaking, and I was really happy with that result. However, even though I started with this idea of getting a Band 9, actually, the positive result wasn't just the score. It was also what I learned along the way. I learned about different ways to speak and what I should include in my speaking, as well as my writing, and different strategies to deal with the exam as a whole. So, for me, in this case, it was not only about the destination. It was also about the journey. And I'm really glad that I was able to achieve something positive in terms of both of these things.

And have you talked to other people about this?

Rory: Yes, I most recently told my colleagues as a surprise. But prior to that, I also got help from a lot of my friends and family to get ready. And they're very happy that I achieved what I did, too.

Discussion

Maria: Oh wow, dear listener! Our Rory is getting a Band 9 score for IELTS Speaking! And thiss podcast gives you knowledge on how to achieve Band 9… And Rory got Band 9! What a coincidence! It’s a Band 9 coincidence, on this podcast, amazing.

Rory: It’s a Band 9 coincidence in so many ways! The last 4 months have been some of the most stressful of my life. You see the things I have to go through for this podcast…

Maria: Yes, dear listener, you see? We just give you super quality, wow! So the task asks you to describe a difficult decision. You make decisions, dear listener, and you can start off with: one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made was when I was choosing a university, for example. And this decision had a good result. So you made a difficult decision, and then you had some good results, like, I was successful, I achieved a good result, I had a good result. The story should be in the past, that’s why we’re using past simple, past perfect (if you can) and past continuous. For example, I made a difficult decision while I was choosing a university to go to. And if you’ve made a difficult decision recently, so not so long ago, you can say that the most recent decision I made was tatata. Or recently I’ve made a decision to tatata. So, present perfect, and then you turn to past simple, okay? So I’ve recently made a decision to enter university, tatata, I chose, I went, I saw.

Rory: However, it could also just be talking about your IELTS test. In a way, I’m not just sharing my personal story, but I’m also helping people to cheat a little bit, because the decision to take an IELTS test is quite hard. It’s not only expensive to take the test, it’s also extremely expensive to… well, in my case, book the test, and apply for all of the training, and get the materials together, and then I had to pay for my accommodation as well. This is in the country I live in. For some people, they have to pay lots of money and that’s a really hard thing to do. It's a difficult choice to make. So you can also talk about this in your exam, too.

Maria: Yeah, because many people have to travel to take IELTS. And Rory went to a different city. He booked some accommodation, right? And yeah, lots of people travel to different cities and also to different countries. Because they can't take IELTS in their country. So they have to fly to a different country. Wow, so that's an investment.

Rory: I'm really lucky. I only paid about £100 for my accommodation. And then I stayed one night. But some people have to go for like a week. And they have to fly halfway across the world. I just needed to take a two-hour bus journey.

Maria: Cool, but still, it's going to another city. And what a lovely place Edinburgh is. Rory went to Edinburgh. My favourite city in Scotland, Edinburgh.

Rory: It's the only one you know…

Maria: No, I know Dundee. Dundee, where Rory lives.

Rory: Everything else is a village.

Maria: Yes, that's true. But Edinburgh is amazing. And then you can say that even though it was a difficult decision, I made this choice. Like a contrast, even though it was last week when I decided to do something. Kind of, I made the decision today. Rory decided to take the test. Because he wants his colleagues to think highly of him. He wants his students and colleagues to think highly of Rory. So the preposition is to think highly of somebody.

Rory: I also wanted to be right.

Maria: Absolutely, yes. So you can think highly of your teachers or of your parents. And Rory did well. Because here we talk about some good results. What other synonyms can we use about this good result? So I did really well or I had a good result. Anything else?

Rory: We could talk about positive outcomes.

Maria: And what would be the collocation? What would be the phrase? I had a positive outcome.

Rory: Yeah, or I got the outcome I wanted. I got what I wanted. I got what I deserved, I think.

Maria: I got what I wanted or I got the outcome I wanted. So the result I wanted. And then you can say that I had to do something. I had to prepare. I had to move or I had to, I don't know, learn something new. I had to read a lot of books. So what you had to do… Ultimately. Ultimately, is like finally. Ultimately, everything was successful. I was successful. Or you can say at the end of the day. It's like an idiomatic expression. And at the end of the day, I got what I wanted. It's an idiom, okay?

Rory: It's a fixed expression as well. You can't say at the end of the month. It will not be an idiom then. It would be a real description of time.

Maria: Yes, at the end of the day, always. And then Rory mentioned not only the result, but also the journey. And that's a nice idea to finish off with. So it's not only about the destination. So the result, the aim. But it's also about the journey. About how you achieve this result. So we focus on the aim, but we enjoy the process of achieving this aim. So the same with your difficult decision. You focus on the aim, but it's your journey. The path to this aim is also quite important and should be enjoyable. So you can say that, well, I also enjoyed the journey, the process. So it's not only about the destination, but it's also about the journey. The process of getting this result. And then you can say that I was really satisfied with the result. I was content. I was glad with my results.

Rory: I was over the moon.

Maria: I was over the moon. I was super happy. Okay, like, yeah, Band 9 for speaking. Hey! Dear listener, can you imagine? Our Rory, officially now Band 9. Okay? I got my Band 9 for speaking. Actually, the first time I ever took IELTS, I got Band 9 for speaking.

Rory: Congratulations. That is good.

Maria: Yeah, easy. No problem.

Rory: Are you saying that we have two Band 9 speakers now on our podcast? I think that makes us unique amongst IELTS podcasts.

Maria: Band 9s, I know. Look at us. Oh my god. My Band 9. Rory's Band 9. That's like Band... What is it? Nine plus nine. Nineteen.

Rory: Eighteen! Thank god we're English teachers, not maths teachers.

Maria: Band 18. Dear listener… Yeah. Yes, so I was over the moon. I was super happy.

Rory: But of course, you could talk about any difficult decision. However, this might be a particularly good one. Like I said, the decision to take IELTS is not an easy one, even though it looks like it should be easy, because think of all the resources and time that you've invested in this. And even if you don't know your score yet, you can still talk about a positive result because, in preparing for the exam, you also improve your vocabulary, thanks to the positive backwash of the test. This is the effect that the test has on the teaching and learning that happens to prepare for it. So even if you don't have your score, you can still tell the examiner, even though I don't know what the result is, I still learned a lot. And I think that's a great outcome to have that I can take forward.

Maria: And Rory, what synonyms can I use instead of difficult? Like, I made a difficult decision, or it was hard.

Rory: Well, I said it seemed straightforward, but in fact, it wasn't. So even just saying something seems positive, but in fact, is a good way of contrasting. It's not a single word, though.

Maria: Well, like straightforward that it wasn't simple. So you see, it was difficult and you paraphrase using alternatives. So it wasn't simple, it wasn't straightforward. So it wasn't that simple. I was struggling; if it was difficult for you, I was struggling to make this decision. It was challenging for me to choose between these two universities, for example.

Rory: It was an extremely nerve-wracking experience.

Maria: Absolutely.

Rory: And it was an extremely nerve-wracking experience. Oh my God.

Maria: And Rory, tell me, how did you decide? Really, you woke up and you decided, I need to take IELTS, I want to take IELTS, or I'm taking IELTS. When did it happen?

Rory: This has always been something, even since we started this podcast, that I've wanted to do. However, we've never had the time and we've never had the opportunity, but now I do and I had the opportunity. So why not take it? And the other thing is, in the course of putting everything together for this podcast, I realised that there are a lot of people with a lot of opinions, but they don't often share their test results, which is very interesting, isn't it? But now we can say definitively that we are Band 9 speakers, and we know that we're doing the right thing.

Maria: Yeah, so if something is nerve-wracking, it's like it causes a lot of worry, right? So my waiting was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever experienced, or the IELTS test is one of the most nerve-wracking experiences.

Rory: Even preparing for it, because I had to take practice tests, and when I was doing them, I knew I could only listen one time. So I had to focus so much, and even when I was super focused, I still had some mistakes, and I was like, oh my god, this is gonna be much harder than I thought it was going to be.

Maria: Yeah, you can also talk about other people who helped you. For example, I asked for advice, I asked my friends for advice, I was really grateful to my parents, I was really grateful to my friends who guided me, who helped me, and now I'm over the moon, yeah. All right, dear listeners, so the safest path is to talk about your IELTS test or how you moved house, how you bought a new car, for example, or how you chose a university, but something that you can talk about. Thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you with our Band 9 answers for Speaking part three, making decisions. Bye!

Rory: Bye!

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff:

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi

Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi