IELTS Vocabulary: natural, appropriate

To get a high vocabulary score, you should try to use a good range of vocabulary. However, this doesn't mean that 'strange' or 'difficult' words are the secret to success.

The vocabulary that you use also needs to be natural and appropriate to the style of the essay or report that you are writing. This is the reason why I suggested avoiding words like 'plummet' and 'rocket' in writing task 1. These words are not normally used in academic-style reports (because they exaggerate too much), whereas 'fall' and 'increase significantly' seem much more natural and appropriate.

Comments

[sami]

yesterday test went not well .. i was doing quite well in speaking while practicing at home. but when i should have to perform well in actual speaking test , i got struck in words n ideas... and i was not fluent as much as i was at home. :( i dont know what to do... my speaking band staggering between 6 and 6.5 .. while i need minimum 7..
same is the case with reading module.. please do suggeat me other material then cambridge books... because i have done with these all books so many times so whenever i read them again i always having doubt that i am doin well in this module because may b im familiar with its answers before.. so thats the reason why the actual test becomes more difficult for.me. to find all answers...

writing part had been improved scince i am preparing from simon website....it helped. me alot ..last time i scored 7.5 in this module.. i have done four attempts and in each attempt i had maneged to obtain 7 band in one or two module .. may be its because whenever im improving in my one module , other module suffers.. so thats y im unable to my desired band .....

even though i have acheived 7 in speaking writing readin and listening but in different sitting ..

i dun when i would be able to all these hurdles which are coming in my way to acheiving my goal..

[nee]

hello simon:

i had exam yesterday in london. it was not bad but i was confused in task one. because i dont know that the word of expenditure is singular or plural.

for example i wrote. expenditures for supermarkets and houses were higher in 2011 than 2009.

i have two questions there.

1-what we should use, were or was and why?
2-what we should use there, than or then?
another question

spending in supermarkets was higher in australia

1- what we should use there, was or were?

please answer my questions

[Nazanin Karimaghaei]

Hi nee
Would you please share your writing's topic as well?
Thanks

[nee]

@ nazanin karimaghaei:
task 2

governments should not support students who are studying in universities, because it benefits individuals not all the society .
to what extent do you agree or disagree.

task 1

task 1 was bar graph and shows spending of money in five different categories such as, supermarkets, houses, transport, clothes and maybe education in march 2009 and march 2011 .

[Sonu]

Hi Simon,
I am Sonu,(INDIA)
I just want to clear few things with you.
I have heard may be it is rumors, that IDP is partial while marking and secondly, their latest book-6 is significantly changed than earlier. So will it reflect in actual exam as well?

If yes, then from where can I get relevant practice material with same kind of complicity?

I am going to appear on 6th of September.

[Sonu]

I am sorry.
"difficulty" seems more appropriate than "complicity"

[PB]

Hi Simon,
just want to confirm about word "many fold"

is it single word?
and "s" would be there?

"mobile phone is creating physical problems and magnifying manyfolds."

waiting for your reply on this.
Thanks,

[Jane]

@ Sami

There is a book namely "The Official Cambridge Guide To Ielts" (Pauline Cullen, Amanda French, Vanessa Jakeman). There are lessons and 8 tests in this book. I've improved my reading skill using this one.
The important thing is you need to practice every single exercise in this book before doing the practice tests. Then when you do the the reading tests, make sure you find the synonyms of questions and in the texts themselves. Besides, try to note down and learn all words that appear frequently in these texts. Don't rush on this step, it may take you two or three weeks (depends on your vocabulary)
We are in the same boat. My Ielts score are also up and down around 7.0 on each skill. I hope this message can help you with the reading skill. I've struggle with reading skill 7.0 for long time until I got this book. You may download it somewhere on the internet or buy it.
Also, a bit of reading science articles online everyday to improve vocabulary can help as well. I usually look at the site "www.Cosmozmagazine.com". Hope we could achieve the score we need at the soonest. Cheers

[sami]

thankyou so much jane ....your reply is highly appreciated ... i am now searching for this book ..thanx :)

[H.]

@Nazanin,

Are you Iranian?

kind regards

[nazanin]

@Nee
thank you very much indeed.

@H.
yes,I am Iranian.