IELTS Speaking P.2 Topic: something you bought that was difficult to use at first.

[Maybo]

This is a practice text for the speaking part of the IELTS exam. Please correct it and make it colloquial.

Topic:
Describe something you bought that was difficult to use at first. You should say:(Source)

• what it was
• why you bought it
• how you use it

and explain why it was difficult to use at first.

My response:

I bought an Indesign software eight years ago for my assignment, and the software was very difficult to use. It's a tool that is used for professional publishing design, such as magazines, posters, flyers or all kinds of advertising.

Our teacher wanted us to create a portfolio resembling a magazine. She said using this software could help us get a good impression when the interviewers of a university or a company see our professional design. Our school thought that ordinary students don't know how to use this software so using it makes us look more competitive.

I really didn't like it. However, we were mandated to use this software to complete our assignments. The process was aggravating because even though our teacher taught us how to use it, I still didn't know how to use it. First, I couldn't catch up to her teaching because she spoke too fast. Second, there were so many functions and they were very similar. I mixed them up very often. Sometimes, I accidently pressed a button and everything got mess. I didn't know how to fix it so I needed to redo it. It wasted me a lot of time.

In the end I couldn't stand it anymore, so I signed up for an Indesign course outside my school. It was good that the teacher there guided us through step by step and ensured every students could follow his instructions. It was a complete different experience from school!

 

[Tarheel]

I bought an Indesign software eight years ago for my assignment, and the software was very HARD to use. It's a tool that is used for professional publishing design, such as magazines, posters, flyers or all kinds of advertising.

Our teacher wanted us to create a portfolio resembling a magazine. She said using this software could help us MAKE a good impression when the interviewers of a university or a company see our professional design. Our school thought that ordinary students don't know how to use this software so using it makes us look more competitive.

I really didn't like it. However, we were REQUIRED to use this software to complete our assignments. The process was aggravating because even though our teacher taught us how to use it, I still didn't know how to use it. First, I couldn't catch up to her teaching because she spoke too fast. Second, there were VERY many functions and they were very similar. I mixed them up very often. Sometimes, I accidently pressed THE WRONG button and everything got messY. I didn't know how to fix it so I needed to redo it. It CAUSED me TO WASTE a lot of time.

In the end I couldn't stand it anymore, so I signed up for an Indesign course outside my school. It was good that the teacher there guided us through step by step and ensured every students could follow his instructions. It was a completeLY different experience from school!

I'm glad you got the help you needed.

Teachers need to be patient with their students. After all, if the students already knew that stuff they wouldn't be students. They would be teachers.

 

[teechar]

I bought an Indesign a software package/application called Adobe Indesign eight years ago for my assignment, and the software was I found it very difficult to use at the start. It's a tool that is used for professional publishing design and publishing of , such as magazines, posters, flyers or all kinds of advertising.

Our teacher wanted us to create a portfolio resembling a magazine. She said using this software could help us get make a good impression when the interviewers of in interviews, if applying for a university or a job. company see our professional design.

Our school thought that ordinary students don't know how to use this software so using it makes us look more competitive.

That's poorly expressed. Consider omitting it.

I really didn't like it. However, we were mandated to use this software to complete our assignments. The process was aggravating because even though our teacher taught us how to use it, I still didn't know how to use it.

That's just repetitive. You are expected to present concrete points (specifics) as to why you found it difficult to use.

First, I couldn't catch up to her teaching because she spoke too fast.

That has nothing to do with the software.

Second, there were so many functions and they were very similar. I mixed them up very often. Sometimes, I accidently pressed a button and everything got mess. I didn't know how to fix it so I needed to redo it. It wasted me a lot of time.

That's usable, but it needs to be better phrased.

 

[Maybo]

That's poorly expressed. Consider omitting it.

That's just repetitive. You are expected to present concrete points (specifics) as to why you found it difficult to use.

That has nothing to do with the software.

I couldn’t think of other things to say to last two minutes. Therefore, I talked about some other difficulties I’d encountered when I was learning to use the software.

 

[teechar]

I couldn’t think of other things to say to in the last two minutes.

Do you mean that the above is a transcription of an impromptu speech?
I'd assumed the opposite. I mean, I thought you were writing the material first and then practising saying it.

 

[Maybo]

Do you mean that the above is a transcription of an impromptu speech?
I'd assumed the opposite. I mean, I thought you were writing the material first and then practising saying it.

I meant for ‘the difficult to use’ part, I could only come up with one point but that didn’t last for a two-minute speech so I talked about some other difficulties I’d encountered when I was learning to use the software.

 

[teechar]

I meant for By ‘the difficult to use’ part, I meant I could only come up with one point but that didn’t last for a two-minute speech so I talked about some other difficulties I’d encountered when I was learning to use the software.

OK. I understand.

 

[Maybo]

I tried to make this paragraph better:

Second, there were so many similar functions, and I mixed them up very often. For example, there are two arrows in the app, black and white. The black one is used to move pictures, and the white one is used to reshape pictures. Sometimes, I accidently pressed a wrong arrow, and all images were distorted. I didn't know how to fix it, so I had to redo the whole project. It caused me to waste a lot of time.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please note the correct spelling of "accidentally". If you install an English spell-checker on your browser, it will flag up such errors before you submit your post.

 

[teechar]

Sometimes, I accidentally pressed a the wrong arrow, and all the images were distorted. I didn't know how to fix it, so I had to redo the whole project. It caused me to waste a lot of time.

See above.