Speaking
IELTS vocabulary for describing places earns its keep more often than almost any other topic area. Cue cards regularly ask you to describe a city you have visited, a building you like, a place you go to relax or somewhere you would love to see, and Part 1 asks about your hometown almost every time. The difference between a band six and a band seven answer here is usually adjectives: not more of them, but more precise ones.
Group your vocabulary by what it describes rather than learning a single long list. In the test you will be reaching for a category, not an alphabet.
rugged, mountainous, hilly, lush, barren, sweeping, unspoilt, dramatic, rolling, wooded
peaceful, serene, lively, bustling, sleepy, welcoming, oppressive, run-down, thriving, atmospheric
humid, tropical, arid, sun-drenched, overcast, temperate, bracing, stifling, crisp, changeable
breathtaking, spectacular, underwhelming, cramped, sprawling, packed, deserted, compact, imposing
One strong adjective beats three weak ones. The views were breathtaking is worth more than the views were very very nice, and it takes less time to say, which leaves room for the reason why.
Choose the best word for each gap.
One place I love in New Zealand is Tongariro National Park. You can walk the circuit right around the mountains, staying in huts, and it takes about three days. The views are absolutely .
On a day you can see all the way across to Mount Taranaki in the west.
It can be extremely hot, and yet, as with any environment, the temperature drops incredibly quickly, so you have to go prepared.
At weekends and over holidays it gets crowded, and some nights the huts are absolutely .
Everybody is so , though. I must have said hello a hundred times a day while I was there.
Cue cards about places are all built the same way, so one structure will carry you through any of them. Four moves, roughly thirty seconds each.
Where it is, how you get there, how long it takes, why you first went.
Two or three precise adjectives, one concrete detail nobody else would mention.
A single specific occasion. Narrative is easier to sustain than description.
Why it matters to you, and what would be lost if it changed.
The place I would choose is a stretch of coast about two hours north of the city, which I first went to more or less by accident when a friend needed a lift. It is not dramatic in the way a mountain range is — it is low, windswept and largely empty — but the sand runs for several kilometres and on a weekday in autumn you can walk the whole length and see perhaps four people. I went back last October on my own, mostly to think about a decision I was avoiding, and ended up staying until it got dark. What I value about it is precisely that nothing happens there. Somewhere that unremarkable is unlikely ever to be developed, which is the only reason it has stayed the way it is.
Describe a place you go to relax.
and explain why it relaxes you.
Describe a building you find interesting.
and say why you find it interesting.
Describe a city you have visited.
and say whether you would return.
Describe somewhere quiet you know.
and explain why quiet places matter to you.