Vocabulary
Strategies for all four papers, because nobody knows every word on test day. With a practice exercise.
Every candidate meets words they do not know in IELTS, including candidates who score Band 9. The test is not designed to be taken by people who know every word in it, so the skill being measured is not how large your vocabulary is but what you do at the moment it runs out.
That moment looks different in each paper. In reading you can go back and work the word out. In listening you cannot, and the danger is that one unknown word costs you the next three answers as well. In writing and speaking the problem is reversed: you know the idea and cannot find the word for it, and what you do next either sounds natural or sounds like a candidate in trouble.
Reading
Six things to do, in this order.
Most unknown words in a reading passage are irrelevant to the questions. Before you spend time on a word, check whether any question depends on it. If none does, read on and leave it.
Knowing that a word is a verb rather than a noun, and whether it is positive or negative, is often enough to answer the question. You rarely need the full meaning.
Writers explain difficult words for their readers. Look for a definition after a comma, an example introduced by such as, or a restatement in the next sentence.
Words like however, whereas and unlike tell you the unknown word means roughly the opposite of something you have already understood. That is usually as much as you need.
Prefixes and suffixes carry meaning. Un, dis and mis reverse. Ion, ment and ness make nouns. Able means something can be done. A word you cannot read can often be half read.
Put your guess into the sentence and read it again. If the sentence still makes sense in the argument of the paragraph, your guess is good enough for the exam.
Listening
The recording does not wait, so the rules are different.
The single biggest cause of lost marks in listening is not the missed word, it is the ten seconds spent thinking about it while the next two answers go past. Leave the gap and move.
If you do not know the word, write it as it sounded and come back at the end. English spelling is inconsistent, but a rough attempt gives you something to work with, and a blank gives you nothing.
Completion questions usually tell you what kind of word is needed. If the gap must be a plural noun after a number, you have narrowed the possibilities before you hear anything.
The recording almost never uses the same words as the question. An unfamiliar phrase is often just a restatement of something you already understood, so listen for meaning rather than matching words.
Speakers announce changes of direction. Actually, in fact and sorry, I meant signal that a correction is coming, and corrections are where careless answers are lost.
There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so never leave a blank on the answer sheet. A guess that fits the grammar of the sentence sometimes earns a mark.
Writing and speaking
Here the problem is producing language, not understanding it.
If the word will not come, define the thing instead. The place where you go to renew a passport is longer than the name of the office, but it is accurate English and it keeps you talking.
A general word supported by specifics is not a weakness. A kind of insurance that covers medical costs communicates precisely, and an examiner hears a candidate who can explain.
Adding an English ending to a word from your own language is obvious to an examiner and is marked as an error. A simpler correct word always scores better than an invented one.
In writing you can avoid the word entirely by changing the structure. Nobody reading your answer knows what you originally intended to say, which is an advantage you do not have in speaking.
In speaking, what is the word for it, something like, that kind of thing are all normal English. Used briefly they sound fluent. Used repeatedly they sound like hesitation.
Fluency and coherence is assessed on how you keep going. Long silences and restarted sentences cost more marks than the imperfect word would have done.
Practice
Decisions to make in the test itself.
You are in the test and you have just met a word you have never seen before.
Each question below is a choice about what to do next.
1You meet an unknown word in a reading passage. What is the first thing to check?
Whether any question depends on it. Most unknown words in a passage are irrelevant to the answers, and time spent on them is time taken from questions that do carry marks.
2You read: The scheme was lauded by critics, unlike its predecessor, which was widely condemned. What does lauded mean?
Something positive. Unlike sets up a contrast with condemned, so the unknown word must sit at the opposite end. You do not need the precise meaning to answer the question.
3In listening, you miss a word in question 14. What should you do?
Leave it and move on. The recording continues whatever you do. One missed answer is a mark; staying with it usually costs the two or three answers that follow.
4In speaking, you cannot remember the word for the machine you mean. What is the best response?
Describe what it does. Paraphrasing is a skill the criteria reward. Silence and invented words are both marked down, and changing the topic damages your task response.
5At the end of listening you still have one gap you could not hear. What should be on the answer sheet?
Your best guess. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer in IELTS, so a blank can only score zero while a sensible guess sometimes scores one.
It is worth finding out whether the problem is your vocabulary or your technique, because the two are fixed in completely different ways and on completely different timescales.
The complete IELTS course on IELTStestONLINE has video lessons on every question type, many more exercises like this one, and your own support tutor you can ask when an answer does not make sense. Take a look at the complete course
Strategies for unknown words are quick to learn. Knowing how often they are costing you marks in a full test is harder to see on your own.
IELTStestONLINE keeps every score you get in one place, gives you an estimated band as you work, and assesses your writing and speaking against the four criteria so you can see where you stand before test day. See what full membership includes
Several on every passage, at every band. The passages are taken from real sources and are not written to match a candidate vocabulary list, so meeting unfamiliar words is expected rather than a sign of a problem.
No. Dictionaries are not permitted in any part of the test, which is why guessing from context is a technique worth practising before test day rather than discovering on the day.
No. Marks are added for correct answers and nothing is taken away for incorrect ones, so every question should have an answer on the sheet even when you are unsure.
The opposite. Explaining an idea when the exact word will not come is listed in the criteria as a positive feature, provided you keep going rather than stopping.
Yes, write your best attempt during the recording and correct it at the transfer stage. Spelling counts, but you cannot correct something you did not write down at all.
Full membership
Candidates lose more marks to how they react to an unfamiliar word than to the word itself, and that is the part you can fix in weeks rather than months.
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