Very often during the IELTS Speaking exam you will be asked to talk about a moment of your life when you felt happy, for example a wedding, a party, a graduation ceremony, a festival, a holiday, a trip etc.
I was very happy when I graduated from high school.
When I visited Dubai for the first time, I was so happy.
The wedding ceremony was perfect. Everybody was so happy, especially the bride and the groom.
Not only I, but also my family was happy with my exam result.
I was so happy that we finally met.
These sentences are correct, but they are nothing special and almost everyone would say them.
Instead of using "happy" all the time, you can use stronger adjectives, which will add more variety to your speaking and will help you to get a better score.
I was really ecstatic when I graduated from high school.
When I visited Dubai for the first time, I was thrilled.
The wedding ceremony was perfect. Everybody was so exited, especially the bride and the groom.
Not only I, but also my family was satisfied with my exam result.
I was so glad that we finally met.
NB. Because these adjectives are stronger than HAPPY, better use them with really or absolutely instead of very.
really excited, absolutely ecstatic, really glad, absolutely thrilled
We all know what the meaning of happy is and if you ask somebody what it is, they would probably tell you "Happy is happy. That's it."
However, the adjective can reflect two emotions which might look identical, but in fact are a little bit different.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary HAPPY means:
1. experiencing pleasure, satisfaction, or delight
I was so HAPPY when I finally graduated from school.
Synonyms of this meaning are: joyous, excited, thrilled, ecstatic
or
2. feeling that one's needs or desires have been met.
My parents were HAPPY with my exam results.
Synonyms of this meaning are: glad, pleased, contented, satisfied
I would also like to share an illustration with few idioms about happiness, published by Kaplan. Their website can help you to improve your English or let's say to be THRILLED about learning English and SATISFIED with the result.
Here are some examples of how to use these idioms:
I cannot tell you how excited I was, I was on the top of the world.
The present was not expensive or big, but I felt so good. I was on cloud nine.
It was such a great party. We had a whale of a time.
When I got the scholarship I was over the moon. It was one of my dreams.
It was not a big deal, but I felt happy as a clam and couldn't stop smiling.
When my husband-to-be proposed to me I was in seventh heaven.
Now try the quiz to check if you've learned how to use the HAPPY adjectives and idioms. Good luck. I hope it would be a joyous experience.