Part 2 — Long turnQ3/2026Difficulty 4/5

Describe an important decision you made

IELTS Speaking questions reported by recent test-takers, compiled each quarter. Cambridge does not publish the active list, so this is a compilation of reports, not official material.

Questions

Question 160s to prepare · 120s to speak

Describe an important decision you made. You should say: • what the decision was • what the options were • how long it took to decide • and explain why it was important

Model answer

Written by 8020 teachers. Do not memorise it — take the structure and the way ideas are developed, then speak about your own life.

The decision I want to talk about is turning down a job offer about a year ago. The situation was this: I was working at a small company, decent team, but the pay was low and there was nowhere to move up. Then a much bigger company offered me a role with roughly forty per cent more money. So the options were fairly clear on paper — stay somewhere comfortable with no path forward, or take significantly more money at a place I knew nothing about. Everyone I asked said take it, which, looking back, is partly why I hesitated. It took me about three weeks to decide, which is long for me. What changed things was a conversation with someone who'd worked there. He didn't warn me off exactly, but he said the team I'd be joining had had three managers in two years. That detail told me more than the salary figure did. Why was it difficult? Because there was no way to be right. Both options had a real cost, and I couldn't test either one first. And I'll be honest, part of the difficulty was that saying no to more money makes you look ungrateful, or unambitious. In the end I stayed, and six months later my own company restructured and I got the promotion that didn't exist before. That's partly luck, and I try to remember that — the decision was reasonable, but the outcome was not guaranteed.

Vocabulary you can use today

turn down an offer
từ chối một lời mời làm việc
nowhere to move up
không có đường thăng tiến
clear on paper
rõ ràng trên giấy tờ — hàm ý thực tế phức tạp hơn
warn someone off
cảnh báo ai đừng làm gì
there was no way to be right
không có phương án nào chắc đúng
the outcome was not guaranteed
kết quả không phải điều chắc chắn

Common traps for Vietnamese speakers

Đề "quyết định khó" là chỗ dễ nói hay nhất, vì nó có sẵn cấu trúc: bối cảnh → các lựa chọn → điều làm bạn nghiêng → vì sao khó. Phần "vì sao khó" phải là khó THẬT, không phải khó giả. "Cả hai đều có cái giá và tôi không thử trước được" là khó thật. "Tôi phải suy nghĩ nhiều" thì không. Câu cuối trong bài mẫu tách QUYẾT ĐỊNH khỏi KẾT QUẢ — thừa nhận có phần may mắn. Đó là kiểu suy nghĩ band 7.5+ và không cần từ vựng khó nào.

âm cuối /d/ trong offered, hesitated, restructured/θ/ trong three, three weeks, month/f/ trong forty, offer — không thành /p/âm cuối /t/ trong wasn't, couldn't, didn't

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