IELTS Vocabulary: Why is it important?

The IELTS exam comprises two types: IELTS General and IELTS Academic that further are divided into 4 modules Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. The reading and listening modules have a straightforward format wherein the reading module you have to read through the passage and find the answers to the given questions and in the listening module, you have to listen to the audio to deduce the correct answers from that. Although you need to have a fair knowledge of synonyms so that you can get to the correct answer in these modules. But in the speaking and writing sections, the answers to the questions are subjective where grammar and vocabulary play a very crucial role.

Let’s take the writing module first. In the general writing Task 1 which is a Letter writing task (formal/ semi-formal/ informal), you will be presented with a situation of any type from the daily life (job application, product complaint, inviting a friend, requesting or complaining a warden or landlord, apology, etc.) on the basis of which you need to write a letter requesting some information or explaining a situation and that needs to be written in 150 words within 20 mins. On the other hand, Task 1 of academic writing is a report writing task where you have to summarise the given information in the form of a diagram, chart, bar graph, etc. And Task 2 of both Academic and General IELTS is an essay writing task in which you will be given a point of view or an issue for which you will have to write your response giving your argument or solution to the issue with supporting examples. It is to be written in a minimum of 250 words within 40 minutes. Since writing module requires a lot of written expressions so robust vocabulary plays an important role in IELTS Preparation. Effective usage of strong words can add a lot of value to the written content and for that, you need to know a lot of linking words that can bridge the various clauses, sentences, phrases and make them more meaningful. Besides transition or linking words, make use of synonyms and academic vocabulary. It can fetch you a good score.

In the speaking module too, the good vocabulary used while speaking to the examiner plays a crucial role by making your speech look more impressive and powerful. IELTS exam is all about the English language and the usage of the relevant words in the appropriate places. You should make use of a wide range of lexicon as that can add more value to the spoken content. But inappropriate use of any word can put you in a tough spot, so always make sure you know the meaning of a word and how to use it correctly. For practice you can frame many sentences with a word, it will give you more fluency while using the word. An examiner evaluates the language on a few basic parameters such as correct use of grammar, vocabulary relevant to the content, etc. So it’s imperative to learn new words and that can be done by reading a lot of books, journals, magazines, and jot down all the new words you come across.

The level of IELTS English is higher than the average daily conversational English, so make sure to learn all sorts of words that are related to the IELTS exam such as Idioms, phrases, clauses, transition words, etc. all these will enable you to weave together a meaningful speech or writing. There are zillion words that you can learn from but you can not mug up each and everyone, so the best would be to organize the words in different categories such as education, health, social, technology, science, history, nature, work, etc. and list a few words in each category. In that way, it will be easy for you to learn every type of word and utilize them in your speaking and writing modules of the IELTS exam.

Let us see what kind of vocabulary is used in the IELTS exam and lets us try to categorize them.

The lists given above are well categorized. You can add words like these to your list and keep reviewing them each day and put them to practice so that the words start coming naturally to you and you will be more fluent with the new vocabulary.