Developing IELTS vocabulary

Most IELTS aspirants find learning and using new vocabulary a huge challenge. If not done correctly, it can truly be quite tedious. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be so. In fact, enhancing vocabulary can be fun, easy and entertaining. IELTS vocabulary, in particular, is quite enjoyable and comes in handy even after your exam. It can be used in everyday communication too.

Getting Started:

To begin with, it is a good idea to divide IELTS writing and speaking topics in different categories. For example, some common categories would be environment and pollution, family and friends, travel and tourism, education, etc. Once you have a list of categories in place, you can list out a few words for each category. This means, under environment and pollution, you could have words like toxins, pollutants, contamination, exhaust, fumes and a couple of expressions like carbon foot print, global warming, ecological balance, use and throw culture, materialistic society, etc. This will help you use topic related vocabulary with great ease and enhance your score.

Using reading and Listening Assignments:

You can also get a lot of ideas from your reading and listening assignments. It would be wise to shortlist some interesting words and phrases from your reading passages and note them down as part of your vocabulary for each category. This is a very helpful trick that enables you to understand the reading text better and builds your vocabulary. Sometimes, your writing topic may be related to one of your reading passages too. You can always get new ideas and use them to your advantage.

Revision:

Once your vocabulary lists are ready, start revising them. You can begin by reading these lists every day and making topic wise sentences with the words that you can recall. Not only will this help you memorize the new words but will also help you get comfortable in using them in the right context. You can create fun games to play with these words to. There are several sites where you can create and play word games. This is a great way to revise your vocabulary.

Following some of these practices will make strengthening your vocabulary a breeze and you will see yourself smiling through the whole process.

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Listening

The IELTS Listening test consists of four recordings (four parts) from native English speakers with ten (10) questions in each recording (part).

Recording 1: an everyday social conversation between two people

Recording 2: a monologue set in an everyday social context

Recording 3: an educational conversation with upto four people

Recording 4: a monologue on an academic subject

Listening test scores will be based on your ability to understand the main ideas,
factual information, opinions, attitude and purpose of the speaker and your ability
to follow the development of ideas.

No. of questions: 40 Marks:

each question is worth one (1) mark

Total time: 30 minutes (+ 2 minutes review time )

Speaking

The IELTS Speaking test assesses your pronunciation, grammar, accuracy, fluency and lexical resources while speaking English. There are three (3) parts to this test, with each part fulfilling a specific function in terms of task input, interaction pattern and the test taker’s output.

Part 1: Introduction & Interview This part includes general questions about the test taker like residence, work,family, interests, etc.

Part 2: Long Run Cue cards are shared on a particular topic and one (1) minute will be given to prepare to speak for upto two (2) minutes on the topic.

Part 3: Discussion This part gives you the opportunity to discuss the topic from the cue card in further detail, in a more general and abstract way

Total time: 11-14 minutes

Reading

The IELTS Reading test is designed to test a wide range of reading skills including reading for skimming, details, gist, understanding arguments and writer’s opinions,attitude and purpose

IELTS Academic Reading – It includes three (3) reading passages (with a variety of questions) ranging from descriptive and factual to discursive and analytical. These passages are of general interest dealing with interesting and recognizably appropriate issues, with at least one passage containing a detailed logical argument

Note: The reading texts may contain non-verbal materials as well like graphs, diagrams or illustrations.

IELTS General Reading – It includes three (3) daily passages (with 2-3 short texts in the first passage, 2 texts in the second passage and 1 long text in the third passage), based on an English-speaking environment, from notices, newspapers, magazines or advertisements.

Reading passage 1: texts based on social survival, like advertisements, notices and timetables

Reading passage 2: texts based on workplace survival, like contracts, job descriptions, staff development & training material

Reading passage 3: texts based on general reading, involving more extended prose and a complex structure.

No. of questions: 40

Marks: each question is worth one (1) mark

Total time: 60 minutes (no additional transfer time)

Note: Please note that the question types in the Listening & Reading sections can include multiple choice answers, true or false answers, matching information/headings or sentence, table & flow-chart completion.

Listening

The IELTS Listening test consists of four recordings (four parts) from native English speakers with ten (10) questions in each recording (part).

Recording 1: an everyday social conversation between two people

Recording 2: a monologue set in an everyday social context

Recording 3: an educational conversation with upto four people

Recording 4: a monologue on an academic subject

Listening test scores will be based on your ability to understand the main ideas,
factual information, opinions, attitude and purpose of the speaker and your ability
to follow the development of ideas.

No. of questions: 40 Marks:

each question is worth one (1) mark

Total time: 30 minutes (+10 minutes transfer time)