Describe a Person You Admire: IELTS Cue Card with Band 8 Sample Answer

The person I’d like to talk about is my aunt Leila, my mother’s younger sister, who works as a nurse. She’s in her early fifties now, and I’ve admired her for as long as I can remember.

I got to know her really well when I was about fourteen, because she lived with my family for a couple of years while her flat was being renovated. Back then she was working night shifts at the local hospital, and I remember her coming home exhausted at seven in the morning, yet she still found time to help me with my biology homework.

What really stands out, though, is what she did in her forties. Most people at that age are settling into a routine, but she decided to go back to university and get a degree in nursing management, while still working full time. It took her four years of late nights and weekends, and now she’s in charge of an entire ward with around thirty staff.

I suppose I admire her for two main reasons. First, she stays remarkably calm under pressure; I’ve never once heard her complain, even during the pandemic, when she was working twelve-hour shifts. Second, she showed me that it’s never too late to change direction. Whenever I feel I’ve fallen behind my friends, I think of her and it puts things into perspective. If I can be even half as determined as she is, I’ll be happy.

Useful language:for as long as I can rememberwhat really stands outsettling into a routinein charge ofremarkably calm under pressurechange directionputs things into perspective

I’d say young people tend to admire people they see online, like influencers, athletes and entrepreneurs, partly because social media makes these people feel very accessible. The downside is that they often admire the lifestyle rather than the effort behind it. That said, I think there’s a growing respect for people who are open about their struggles, such as athletes who talk about mental health, which is a positive shift.

Useful language:tend to admirefeel very accessiblea positive shift

Absolutely. Children learn far more by watching than by being told, so a good role model shows them what hard work or kindness actually looks like in practice. Ideally, those role models should be people they know personally, like parents or teachers, rather than celebrities, because they can see the whole picture, including the failures and how someone recovers from them.

Useful language:in practicesee the whole picture

To some extent, yes. Whether they like it or not, celebrities have a huge influence, especially on teenagers, so their behaviour is copied. On the other hand, they’re only human, and it seems unfair to expect perfection. I think the real responsibility lies with parents and schools to teach children to think critically about the people they follow.

Useful language:to some extentthe real responsibility lies with

In the past, people mostly admired figures from their own community, like a respected doctor or a teacher, or national heroes they read about in books. Nowadays, thanks to the internet, admiration is much more global and much more short-lived; someone can become famous overnight and be forgotten a month later. So I’d say the people we admire have become more diverse, but the admiration itself is less deep.

Useful language:short-livedbecome famous overnightmore diverse