Describe something you have achieved and you are proud of. v.1

Describe something you have achieved and you are proud of. You should say: what you have achieved when you have achieved it what was difficult about it and explain why you are proud of this achievement. [You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish. ] Model Answer 1: A few months ago I took part in a photography competition organized by a local museum and won the second title. I consider it a fabulous achievement and I am genuinely proud of this accomplishment. When I saw my photo in a daily newspaper as one of the winners, I was very exhilarated. Many of my relatives and friends congratulated me for the achievement and I am fortunate to have the chance to talk about it. I must thank you for that. I am not a professional shutterbug. I finished a basic course in photography two years ago. I still consider myself a learner, and this achievement is highly encouraging for me to go further. There were more than seven hundred contestants and being second in the final stage was not easy. The competition was announced in a local newspaper with the rules and policies to submit both digital and printed versions of the photos and I selected three best shots of mine and submitted those to the organizers. The photograph that won me the second prize depicted an old woman anxiously waiting at the station for someone to arrive. It perfectly blended her red dress and yellow hat with the station’s red and white colour. A glimpse of the approaching train was visible at a far distant. I took this snapshot in 2015 and had long revered it as one of my best works as an amateur photographer. The second prize brought me 700 dollars and a silver crest along with a certificate. The prize money was not significant, but from an inspirational point of view, this was priceless. It definitely boosted my motivation to continue my work, which I was often confused about and made me renowned to the contemporary aspiring photographers. I have every valid reason to be proud of this achievement, I guess.     Sample Answer 2: I am not sure if quitting smoking should be counted as a big achievement but to me, it was the supreme triumph in the past few years in my life. I would like to thank you for this nice cue card topic and the time you have allowed me to talk about one of my feats that I feel very proud of. I can't be sure how it started but in the third semester of my university, I found myself smoking cigarettes and without even noticing, this became a habit I could not leave behind. Initially, it was just curiosity and fun, but not after a few months when I was already a regular smoker. However, last year I finally stopped smoking as it was my only new year resolution and I feel great about it. To be more precise, I quit smoking on the 31st night in 2018. I have tried to quit smoking several times in the past 3 years and it was not easy. It was both a physical and psychological challenge to which I yielded and finally started this heinous habit again. But it was not the case on the 31st night in 2018. My determination helped me overcome this and achieve something I have failed several other times in my life. Smoking is a silent killer and a habit that no one should be in. The first time I tried to quit smoking was the time I realized how difficult it was. It was like iterating in a circle that does not close! The urge to puff a few more times never ended and I was feeling the lack of stamina when playing football or table tennis. I was quite determined, however, to get back to the stage when smoking was not a part of my life. Luckily I am without it for the last few months. This is, in fact, is one of the biggest achievements of my life. Model Answer 3:   I have always disliked being an “overweight” person, not only because it affects our health negatively, but also because it makes us look “out of shape”. But, that’s exactly what happened to me a few years ago, and I needed to get back in “shape” again by hook or by crook. So, I started to put a break on my eating habit by giving up on carbohydrate and meats- especially the “red meats” like beef and mutton. I controlled my diet like this for some times, but nothing really changed as far my body weight was concerned. To be honest, it wasn’t really easy to remain “starved” of the “good and tasty food” which I loved eating for such a long time previously. Anyway, seeing no reduction in body weight, I decided to walk for at least two hours every day. But, maintaining that routine walk wasn’t very easy either because I was short on time due to my rather busy work schedule. But, I promised to myself that I needed to lose my weight significantly in the next six months no matter how difficult it really was. To achieve my goal of “losing weight”, I even started to eat some fruits, which I had always avoided eating, in order bring some much-needed energy in me to carry on with the routine walk. Finally, after some tiring efforts of about 4 months, I started noticing that I was close to achieving my goal of losing weight. Anyway, I feel really proud of this achievement mainly because many of my friends and relatives had told me that I wouldn’t be able to lose my weight because I loved eating too much, and I was too lazy to do any physical work out for a long period of time. I feel proud of this achievement also because even though I really struggled to maintain my routine walk and food habit for almost six months, I managed to do everything on time and enjoy my life without much trouble which was even surprising for a lazy guy like myself!   Your readiness to describe something you have achieved and you are proud of would help you talk about the following topics also: 1. Describe a success in your life. 2. Describe something you used to do but no longer do. 3. Describe an important event in your life. 4. Describe something you would want to achieve in the near future.