IELTS Vocabulary: Why is it important?
Of all the skills and techniques you need to do well in the IELTS test, vocabulary is definitely one of the most important. IELTS vocabulary preparation can be overwhelming, but this page will tell you everything you need to know before doing your test.
Vocabulary makes up 25% of your total mark in the Writing and Speaking tests. Not only this but did you know that the Listening and Reading tests are really vocabulary tests too? Take a look at the table below.
The table shows words in the question from an official IELTS reading test on the left and words in the text on the right. It demonstrates how many synonyms are used and therefore, needed to answer the question. All IELTS Reading and Listening tests are like this. In short, if you don’t have a wide-ranging vocabulary you won’t be able to do well on the Listening or Reading tests.
The Correct Way to Learn IELTS Vocabulary
The only way to effectively learn new words and use them properly is by learning them from context, or in other words, from real sources of information. NOT lists.
Below is a 4 step plan to help you increase your range of vocabulary.
- Pick a book, TV show, radio show, podcast or magazine you are interested in. Don’t pick something boring because you will not stick to the plan and you will easily get distracted. People learn more effectively when they enjoy what they are doing.
- Buy a special notebook. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just something that you can write in every day. Read or listen to whatever you have chosen and pick out 15 words you don’t understand. Listen or read and try to guess what they mean from the context. (This step is very important because it will help you remember them.) Note the 15 new words down in your notebook.
- Look up the new words in a dictionary. You can do this online. Beside each word note the meaning, an example sentence or two, collocations, synonyms, antonyms, and pronunciation. You can also draw pictures; whatever will help you remember the word.
- Review the new words after one week, two weeks and then one month. Also, practice using the new words in a sentence.
If you do this five days a week, after a month you will have nearly 100 new words in your notebook. After 6 months you will have at least 500 new words.
The human mind can only effectively remember around 15 new words in a foreign language per day, so any more and you will not learn them properly and make mistakes. This method is the single most powerful way I know for learning vocabulary and lots of my students have been successful with it.
Follow the links below to learn vocabularies
Health Vocabulary
Online Sources of Information
I know that many of you might live in countries with a limited number of good English bookshops. However, there are lots of online sources that you can use. The great thing about using online materials is that you can choose exactly what you want and never get bored.
Below are a few of my favourite websites for reading online and all of them are connected to the most common topics:
You can also keep up to date with current events by reading the news every day. The news always uses relevant vocabulary.
Finally, podcasts are an invaluable and entertaining source of information. Check out my article below on how you can use podcasts to help you improve your English (hint: it also includes a list of my favourites! ❤
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