Vocabulary (Lexical Resource) for the IELTS Exam

Common failure modes

These are the patterns that cause most candidates to lose marks on this topic. Recognising them in advance is half the work.

• !Repeating high-frequency verbs (good, big, important)
• !Wrong collocations ("make a research" instead of "do research")
• !Over-formal or over-academic vocabulary in Speaking
• !Vague abstractions where specific examples are stronger

Study tips

• 1Build word families: 5 derived forms per topic word (analyse/analysis/analyst/analytical/analytically).
• 2Drill 20 academic collocations per day.
• 3Practice replacing 5 high-frequency words per essay (good → beneficial; big → significant; important → crucial).
• 4Read journal articles in your target field — academic vocabulary in context.

Sample IELTS Vocabulary (Lexical Resource) questions

These sample items mirror the format and difficulty of real IELTS questions. Practice with thousands more on the free Koydo question bank.

1. 1

   In IELTS Writing, "An overview of the data shows that the trend is good" — which is the strongest band-7 rewrite?

   • AThe data shows good trends.
   • BAn overview reveals a generally favourable trend across the period.Correct
   • CThe data is good and shows the trend.
   • DIt can be seen that the trend was good.
   Why this answer?

   "Reveals a generally favourable trend" replaces the weak verbs "shows" and "is", upgrades "good" to "favourable", and adds the precise scope ("across the period"). Each upgrade is a Lexical-Resource gain.