IELTS vocabulary: vocabulary lists, exercises and free resources Here we put together lists of topics specific vocabulary the way you can use it in the exam. You'll find detailed explanations and an IELTS vocabulary list to practice and improve your vocabulary. Vocabulary or lexical resource is responsible for 25% of your final grade, in both the speaking and writing sections. Here we have a list of the topics you can expect to find on the exam, we are updating it each week. It's common to be stuck with an IELTS exam score of 6.5 and believe in order to get a band 7 they need to improve their IELTS vocabulary. However, without feedback, evaluation or expert exam help, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which area you need to get help for. How can I improve my vocabulary for IELTS? Constantly build your passive vocabulary word lists by reading and listening. Then move these words into your active vocabulary by actively using them when speaking or writing. To improve faster, when reading, listening or watching English material, try to capture new words in a phrasebook. If you have time add the context too. The next time you write an essay, review it and look for opportunities to add the words from your list into your text. Likewise, when speaking try to incorporate your new vocab into your conversations, don't force them though because it will sound odd! Idioms can be extracted from films and English podcasts, however, I'd recommend audio material because there are no visual clues, making listening a little harder. Active reading is a great habit to develop and a vital exam preparation skill. Active reading is where you circle, underline and mark the text you are reading, so as to ease comprehension. If you want to accelerate your learning, have a look at some tutorials about vocabulary acquisition . This page includes how to use a vocabulary phrase book and flashcards. Take a look at our article that will provide tips and strategies to improve your vocabulary . Vocabulary for IELTS speaking topics 1. Friends and family 2. Food and nutrition 3. Travel and tourism 4. Modern technology 5. Coronavirus vocabulary (new) 6. Pollution and the environment 7. People, personalities and characters 8. Fitness and health 9. School and education 10. Work and careers 11. University and student life 12. Accommodation 13. Books, film and art 14. Climate change 15. Working from home 16. Social media 17. Advertising 18. Fashion and shopping Vocabulary for IELTS writing task IELTS vocabulary for the writing section refers to the academic style and word choice (lexical resource) when writing your essay. Below we have put together tutorials with word lists to help you improve your IELTS score. Vocabulary about climate change (word list included) Vocabulary: the environment (with Ted Talk and list of collocations) Vocabulary: sports topics (with Ted Talk and list of collocations) Vocabulary: globalisation – with Ted Talk presentation Vocabulary about law and order (word list included) Vocabulary: technology Vocabulary: politics with Ted Talk presentation Vocabulary: language and culture – with Ted Talk Vocabulary: health with Ted Talk presentation Vocabulary: education topic with Ted Talk and list of collocations Vocabulary about crime Vocabulary about employment and equal pay Vocabulary about fossil fuels Vocabulary about employment Vocabulary: employment and highly skilled jobs Vocabulary about sport with Ted Talk presentation What is a vocabulary collocation? A collocation is a group of words that has an above average possibility of being found together. Using collocations in your writing and IELTS speaking helps to make your language sound more natural and fluent. This in turn makes your writing flow and helps you get a better scoring essay. What is the best way to learn topic-specific collocations? The best way is to learn topic specific collocations is to look for them being used in context. We in the lists above, extracted collocations from Ted Talks, so you can identify how they are used in context . Using topic specific vocabulary, collocations and words from the academic vocabulary list will help considerably. Below is a free PDF ebook of lexical resource with lots of vocabulary lists and examples to learn new vocabulary for your English language study. If you are still struggling then check out the Jump to Band 7 or it's Free IELTS Course. Click here for a free master list of collocations! Other IELTS vocabulary lessons • • • Synonyms to improve your score in IELTS How to expand your IELTS vocabulary for writing Writing and speaking vocabulary to improving your grammatical range and accuracy • • • IELTS band 8 vocabulary and collocations Common idioms you can use in the IELTS speaking exam Writing task one: informal letter writing phrases Audio tutorial Podcast: Play in new window | Download