This class looks at what type of vocabulary you should be using in your IELTS writing exam. There are a few things to pay attention to with vocabulary for the IELTS: paraphrasing the question, using a wide range of vocabulary and using specific vocabulary.

Paraphrasing the question

The first sentence of your essay isn’t just a chance to make a good first impression generally. It’s your chance to make a good impression about your vocabulary. Every IELTS part two question will have a bit of background information that you should paraphrase in your first sentence. What this means is that you repeat the idea without repeating the words. This is a perfect opportunity to show off that you understand the question and know different words to describe it. For example, if the question says:

As translation software is getting quicker and more accurate, it is becoming a waste of time to learn a second language.

We can express this idea using different language in our paraphrase. Have a look at this list of words and think of alternative words you could use for them.

• Software
• Quicker
• More accurate
• Waste of time
• Second language

You might have something like:

• Software: applications, apps, programs
• Quicker: more rapid, faster.
• More accurate: more exact, more correct, more skilful.
• Waste of time: unnecessary task, wasted effort.
• Second language: foreign language, additional language.

Together, our paraphrased sentence might look like this:

As translation apps get faster and more exact, learning an additional language is increasingly becoming a wasted effort.

Vocabulary range and accuracy

Once you’re past the first sentence, you want to be looking for two things in your vocabulary: range and accuracy. Range is all about using more than just the basic word for something. For example, if you describe everything as ‘good’ that won’t impress your examiner much. This also means you should try and avoid repeating the same word over and over again. It’s hard to say exactly how often too often is because some words don’t have many alternatives and may need to be used multiple times. The best thing to do is just to try to mix things up as much as you can.

Having specific vocabulary goes along with range. When we are increasing our range, we want to be increasing it to improve how specific our vocabulary is. We said above that calling everything ‘good’ won’t impress examiners. However, what if we used ‘excellent’ instead of ‘good’? Excellent doesn’t really carry much more meaning than ‘good’ does. Now, let’s imagine we use a word like ‘exciting’, ‘relaxing’ or ‘satisfying’. All of these are much more specific than ‘good’ and give the reader more information.

Of all the ways you can improve your IELTS score, improving your vocabulary is probably the most gradual. This is because there are so many words in the English language and so many topics your IELTS essay could be on. That said, it is possible to improve your IELTS vocabulary score. This is a process for checking your own IELTS writing. It will help you identify problems with your IELTS vocabulary and increase your vocabulary where you need to expand it.

1. Check your paraphrase of the question. Are you using the same words as the question?
2. Check to see if you have overused certain weak points
3. Go through and draw a circle around all the words you’re proud of because you think they’re very specific.
4. Underline all of the words you think are non-specific.
5. Go through your nonspecific words and try and upgrade them. If you can’t think of a better word, check a thesaurus.