IELTS marks vocabulary through Lexical Resource - one of four equally weighted criteria in Writing and Speaking, so roughly a quarter of each score. Band 7 is not about “difficult words” but about correct collocations, precise word choice and paraphrase. Below: what the official criterion asks for, the topics that come up most and how to make new words stick.
What Lexical Resource is and how much it counts
Writing has four criteria: Task Achievement / Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy. ielts.org states they are weighted equally. Speaking also has Lexical Resource as one of its four criteria.
Vocabulary decides Listening and Reading too: the question uses one word, the audio or text uses a synonym. Miss the paraphrase and you miss the answer.
Band 6 vs band 7 (the official criterion)
Source: IELTS Writing and Speaking band descriptors (public version, May 2023). The band 6 descriptor notes that a writer who takes risks with a wider range will also make more errors - which does not lift the band.
| Band 6 | Band 7 | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing | Resource “generally adequate” for the task; may lack precision | Resource allows “some flexibility and precision”; some less common items, awareness of style and collocation |
| Speaking | Enough to discuss topics at length; generally paraphrases successfully | Used flexibly across topics; some idiomatic items, collocation, effective paraphrase |
| Errors | Some spelling and word-formation errors that do not impede communication | Only a few such errors |
Common topics and collocations
| Topic | Useful collocations |
|---|---|
| Education | acquire skills, compulsory education, academic performance, tuition fees |
| Environment | carbon emissions, renewable energy, tackle pollution, endangered species |
| Technology | rely heavily on, digital literacy, remote work, invade privacy |
| Health | a sedentary lifestyle, balanced diet, mental well-being, life expectancy |
| Work | job satisfaction, career prospects, work-life balance, gain experience |
| Cities | urban sprawl, traffic congestion, public amenities, affordable housing |
| Media | news coverage, spread misinformation, target audience, social media platforms |
| Crime | commit a crime, deter offenders, a custodial sentence, crime rate |
How to learn words so they stick
- Learn chunks, not single words: “make a decision”, “have a significant impact on”.
- Write your own IELTS-style example for each chunk: “Governments should invest in renewable energy.”
- Spaced repetition: review a new item after 1, 3, 7 and 21 days. Trylab’s mistake notebook works on the same idea.
- A little every day: 10-15 new chunks plus review beats 100 words in one evening.
- Use it actively: put each new item into an essay or a Speaking answer within a week, or it stays passive.
- Mine what you read and hear: Reading passages and Listening transcripts are a ready-made IELTS word list.
Paraphrase: the hidden key to Listening and Reading
When you review a mock-test mistake, write down how the question’s word appeared in the text. After a few weeks this list of pairs becomes your most useful glossary.
| In the question | In the text or audio |
|---|---|
| cheap | inexpensive, doesn’t cost much, affordable |
| children | young people, kids, the younger generation |
| increase | rise, grow, go up, climb |
| important | essential, crucial, of great significance |
| problem | issue, challenge, drawback |
Mistakes that lower your band
- Memorised “big words” used out of place: “plethora” or “myriad” without precise meaning hurt precision.
- Wrong collocations: “make a mistake”, not “do a mistake”; “heavy rain”, not “strong rain”.
- Informal words in Writing: replace “kids”, “stuff”, “a lot of” with “children”, a precise noun, “a large number of”.
- Idioms in essays: “it’s raining cats and dogs” can work in Speaking, not in an academic essay.
- Word-formation errors: “economic” vs “economical”, “effect” vs “affect”.
- Repeating one word: “people” ten times - use synonyms or pronouns.
A weekly routine
| Day | Task |
|---|---|
| Monday | Collect 10-15 new chunks from one Reading passage |
| Tuesday | Use them in one Task 2 essay |
| Wednesday | Paraphrase pairs from a Listening transcript |
| Thursday | Speaking: record 3 Part 1 answers and 1 Part 2 talk with the new items |
| Friday | Weekly review: hide the words and make example sentences |
| Saturday | A full mock or one section, then review the mistakes |
Frequently asked questions
- How many words do I need for IELTS? There is no official number: IELTS rates how you use words, not how many you know - precision, collocation and paraphrase.
- Should I memorise academic word lists? They help, but only with example sentences and topics - a bare list does little in the exam.
- Should I use idioms in Speaking? The band 7 descriptor mentions “some ability to use less common and idiomatic items”: natural, well-placed idioms help, forced ones hurt.
- British or American vocabulary? Both are accepted - just keep your spelling consistent.
