How to Improve your IELTS Vocabulary?
IELTS may not have a particular vocabulary test, but it is used to assess the other abilities in the examination. We need to use many words with correct pronunciation and spellings while trying to read, listen, write, and speak. And when it comes to speaking and writing, about 20 – 30 percent points are dependent on the vocabulary significantly. This is enough for you to start practicing a rich vocabulary, which will help you to increase the band score.
Ways to improve your IELTS Vocabulary
Here are the various ways which will be helpful to improve your vocabulary for IELTS:
1. Check words you don’t understand
Many will advise you to read books, newspapers, and watch T.V shows to develop new vocabulary, but at the same time is highly important to search for the words which you don’t know. Many people have the habit of leaving complicated and new vocabulary that will not be needed in our daily life or examination. So make a habit of searching words which you don’t know about.
2. Notebook of Vocabulary
Using a notebook to write down all the new words and their definitions might seem a little old-fashioned, but it can help you better understand those words. More than that, you can also use the book to study the written words when the exam is close, which is a much better choice to find tools right before the exam with new terms.
3. Practice but don’t overestimate
When you come with a notebook or discover an app for learning new words, the one thing is that which you have left to do is practice the word in everyday life. You can take on any subject or question recently asked in the exam in case of speaking ability. And then try to speak using the vocabulary you’ve just learned about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes. First, we need to make sure we don’t overestimate sentences while writing because we can use a simple yet complex word.
And the most crucial thing is not to focus too much on a single word, trying to find hundreds of similar sentences in the example. Well, doing that could only waste your time; if you really want to learn, then practice the word a couple of times that would be enough.
4. Try to Use vocabulary apps
We all own mobile, and lots of applications are on the play store, an online app store that can help us to enhance our language. For example, I suggest you take advantage of the Magoosh vocabulary builder app that not only has word knowledge or understanding, but it also includes exercises, definitions, synonyms, which can be really helpful for you.
5. Using YouTube for knowledge
We are using YouTube for entertainment, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that there are lots of channels on the web which help in improving English skills. And every channel always talks about many words, and they speak about how a word is spoken, along with examples in a phrase or sentence.
Learning 2000 richest words of vocabulary isn’t easy to do and you could end up forgetting those words. If you memorize words, it may not carry much meaning at the end if you are not able to use them properly while speaking or writing. The vocabulary apps will be helpful for you to memorize those words.
Reading is the perfect method for learning new words, and it can also help you enhance your IELTS reading module skills. You can subscribe online or offline to a regular or weekly newspaper, and have the habit of reading papers regularly.
While reading articles, underline the words which you don’t know or note carefully if you come to learn about using a word in a different manner. Then search the meaning of word in your dictionary, and write it down in your notebook. Learn the noted words and revise them once or two times a week.
7. Always keep a dictionary
To keep a small pocket-sized dictionary with you is a trendy method of learning vocabulary. If you’ve never spent the time learning new words like this, you can now grow the habit.
There are two ways to know words through your dictionary. First, any time you come across a new phrase, you can refer it and test its definition in the dictionary. Furthermore, from the first to the last page of your dictionary, you will start learning the words in sequence.
8. Listen to Audios & Watch Videos
The best method to learn about the use of a new term is by listening to it being used by others. You can watch television programs, news channels, movies, videos from YouTube, group conversations, news shows, etc. You can listen to audios like podcasts, songs, radio channels, etc. One other thing is that you should choose to watch or listen to the stuff which you find exciting so you won’t get bored and avoid learning vocabulary on your plan.
The concept behind this solution is that you are introduced to new vocabulary and, in this way, you are learning faster. Whether watching videos or listening to any audios, pay close attention to the words and how it is used. Watching video stuff online is also a great idea where you can stop to learn at your speed, or replay the videos. You can begin by listening to videos that have subtitles. It will help you to enhance your comprehension and also listening skills.
9. Using Phrases & Connectives
It would be effective to use idiomatic language and sentence connectors when you speak on a subject. You should use connectives in academic writing task 1, while idioms can be avoided, and they’re used for informal writing. And therefore, students who appear in IELTS General Training can use them when writing a letter. So make sure that you use them when necessary and don’t over-include them unnecessarily.
We have already discussed how to improve your IELTS vocabulary and ways to improve your IELTS vocabulary, which will help to improve your pronunciation and grammatical mistakes. We hope that you must be satisfied with what we have explained.
For more information, read our IELTS Preparation Tips !
