Improving your vocabulary is the single most important way to improve your IELTS score.
But where to start?
The best way to learn vocabulary is through discovering it in appropriate contexts (like Reading and Listening texts).
In this lesson, you’ll learn
- which words you need to learn
- how to learn them
- how to use them in IELTS
1. Focus on the main IELTS vocabulary topics
In my Vocabulary Booster Course, I group the common IELTS topics into 4 main areas:
- The Environment – nature, wildlife, farming, pollution, recycling, water and tourism
- The Man-Made Environment – Buildings, Cities, Housing, Development, Civilisations, Crime and Transport
- Life – Time, Leisure, Finance, Gender, Family, Health, Happiness and Personality
- Learning – Education, Languages, the Arts, Technology, Research, Inventions and The Future
Try to organise your notebook so that you have pages for each topic.
Then, every time you do a reading or listening related to the topic, you can add relevant words.
This is a good way of memorising and recycling words that frequently come up in IELTS, so it improves. your PASSIVE knowledge and you will understand more.
2. Read the Listening and Reading texts in detail
Every time you do a practice test, go back through it and analyse it in detail for vocabulary.
Choose 8-10 key words and then do some research.
Check
- the definitions
- pronunciation
- form (noun, verb etc)
- grammar (countable, irregular etc)
Doing this regularly will help you retain new words by recycling them in different contexts.
See below for an example of how I do this in the Vocabulary Booster course.
You can find the wordlist on Day 8 in the 28-Day Planner looks like:
3. Use reliable lists
I have seen a lot of terrible “IELTS Vocabulary Lists” online, so I don’t recommend that you learn from lists that you randomly find on websites.
However, there are some researched and reliable lists that you can use as a starting point, for example the Academic Word List and the General Service List.
- Learn more about these lists in this lesson.
- Find my list of Vocabulary Resources here.
- Get my free 28-Day Planner, where I list these topics and give you some essential key words that you need to know.
Example IELTS Vocabulary topic: ARCHITECTURE
- to construct (vb) = to build
- construction = a building (nC), building (nU)
- to demolish (vb) = to destroy
- demolition (n) = destruction
- to renovate (vb) = to restore
- renovation (n) = restoration
- residents/residential
- citizens/inhabitants
- close-knit community
- affordable housing
4. Write new vocabulary in full sentences
Try to write the sentences as you might use them in the test.
Here are some that I pulled out of various parts of the test:
- to construct (vb) = to build; construction (n) = a building
[Task 1 Writing] ‘The construction of private housing has tripled in urban areas and nearly doubled in rural areas.’
to demolish/demolition = to destroy, pull down a building
[Task 1 Writing] “The house was demolished to make way for the shopping centre.”
to renovate/ renovation – restore (something old, especially a building) to a good state of repair.
[Listening test] “The disused factory has been renovated and turned into a theatre.”
citizens/inhabitants/residents = the people who live in a place
a residential area = an area which is occupied by private houses
[Speaking Test] ‘There are strict laws against building factories near residential areas.’
a close-knit community — whether a village or a city neighbourhood — is a place where people know their neighbours and look after them.
[Task 2 Writing] ‘One of the benefits of living in a rural area is the close-knit community’.
affordable housing – housing units that are affordable by that section of society whose income is below the median household income.
[Task 2 Writing] ‘The lack of affordable housing is a major drawback of living in a city.’
In my Vocab Course I group the IELTS practice under the topics so it’s easier to review:
- Reading – How the pyramids were built (Academic), The Iron Bridge (General Training)
- Listening – The Underground House, Designing a Concert Hall, Changes to Barford Town
- Speaking – Part 1: Describe the place where you live Part 2: Describe a building you find interesting Part 3: What are the advantages of living in a big city?
- Academic Writing Task 1: Describe changes to a town or building
- General Training Writing Task 1: Write a letter to a historic place you visited
- Writing Task 2: In what ways is migration to large cities affecting society?
5. Activate and review the new words
An easy way to review your 10 words a day is to create your own flashcards in apps like ‘Quizlet’ and ‘Anki’.
Here is one example from Day 9 of my Vocabulary Course (Buildings).
My 28-Day IELTS Vocabulary Booster Course has helped hundreds of my students get over their 6.5 plateau.
It gives you ideas, lists, practice, quizzes, videos and tests, Speaking and Writing practice and models for EVERY IELTS topic (see the ebook below).
Get the full Vocabulary Course in the Members Academy.
