Vocabulary
Thirty academic words that separate a band 6.0 script from a band 7.5 one. With pronunciation, a video quiz and a practice exercise.
Most candidates who stall at band 6.0 are not short of words. They understand vocabulary like this perfectly well when they read it, and then write the same handful of simple words in every paragraph. Lexical Resource is a quarter of the writing score, and that gap between recognising a word and reaching for it under time is where the quarter is lost.
None of the thirty words below are rare or showy. They are ordinary academic English, the kind that appears in Task 2 essays about health, technology, the environment and work. Each one is given with its stress pattern, its pronunciation, a plain meaning and a sentence showing how it is actually used.
Video
Seven seconds per word to choose from four definitions. Chapters let you jump to any word.
Pause after each word and say it aloud using the stress shown in capitals, then write your own sentence before the answer appears.
The words
Six groups of five. Take one group at a time rather than the whole page.
mitigate MIT·i·gate /ˈmɪtɪɡeɪt/ verbto make something less harmful.Planting trees can mitigate the effects of climate change.
alleviate al·LEV·i·ate /əˈliːvieɪt/ verbto make suffering less severe.Aid agencies are working to alleviate hunger in the region.
exacerbate ex·AC·er·bate /ɪɡˈzæsəbeɪt/ verbto make something worse.Cutting the budget would only exacerbate the problem.
deteriorate de·TE·ri·o·rate /dɪˈtɪəriəreɪt/ verbto become worse over time.Air quality has deteriorated sharply since 2010.
offset off·SET /ˌɒfˈset/ verbto balance out an effect.Airlines plant trees to offset their carbon emissions.
ubiquitous u·BIQ·ui·tous /juːˈbɪkwɪtəs/ adjectivefound everywhere.Mobile phones are now ubiquitous, even in remote villages.
prevalent PREV·a·lent /ˈprevələnt/ adjectivecommon and widespread.Obesity is more prevalent in cities than in rural areas.
proliferate pro·LIF·er·ate /prəˈlɪfəreɪt/ verbto increase rapidly in number.Online courses have proliferated since the pandemic.
stagnant STAG·nant /ˈstæɡnənt/ adjectivenot growing or developing.Wages have remained stagnant for almost a decade.
finite FI·nite /ˈfaɪnaɪt/ adjectivelimited in amount.Fossil fuels are a finite resource.
substantiate sub·STAN·ti·ate /səbˈstænʃieɪt/ verbto support with evidence.The researchers could not substantiate their claims.
plausible PLAU·si·ble /ˈplɔːzəbl/ adjectiveseeming reasonable or likely.His explanation sounded plausible, but the data disagreed.
compelling com·PEL·ling /kəmˈpelɪŋ/ adjectiveconvincing and hard to ignore.The lawyer presented a compelling argument to the jury.
scrutiny SCRU·ti·ny /ˈskruːtəni/ nouncareful examination.The proposal came under close scrutiny from the council.
contentious con·TEN·tious /kənˈtenʃəs/ adjectivelikely to cause disagreement.Immigration remains a contentious issue in the election.
detrimental det·ri·MEN·tal /ˌdetrɪˈmentl/ adjectivecausing harm.A lack of sleep is detrimental to academic performance.
inherent in·HER·ent /ɪnˈhɪərənt/ adjectiveexisting as a natural part of something.There are inherent risks in any long-term investment.
curb CURB /kɜːb/ verbto limit or control something.The city introduced charges to curb traffic in the centre.
deter de·TER /dɪˈtɜː/ verbto discourage someone from acting.Higher fines are intended to deter dangerous driving.
mandatory MAN·da·to·ry /ˈmændətəri/ adjectiverequired by rule or law.Helmets are mandatory on all construction sites.
lucrative LU·cra·tive /ˈluːkrətɪv/ adjectiveproducing a lot of money.Tourism has become a lucrative industry for the island.
viable VI·a·ble /ˈvaɪəbl/ adjectiveable to work successfully.Solar power is now a viable option for most households.
incentive in·CEN·tive /ɪnˈsentɪv/ nounsomething that encourages action.Tax breaks give companies an incentive to invest locally.
tangible TAN·gi·ble /ˈtændʒəbl/ adjectivereal and clearly noticeable.The scheme has produced tangible benefits for residents.
cumulative CU·mu·la·tive /ˈkjuːmjələtɪv/ adjectiveincreasing with each addition.The cumulative effect of these small changes was significant.
inevitable in·EV·it·a·ble /ɪnˈevɪtəbl/ adjectivecertain to happen.Some disruption is inevitable while the road is closed.
arduous AR·du·ous /ˈɑːdjuəs/ adjectiveneeding a great deal of effort.The journey across the desert was long and arduous.
sceptical SCEP·ti·cal /ˈskeptɪkl/ adjectivedoubtful that something is true.Economists remain sceptical about the growth forecast.
ambiguous am·BIG·u·ous /æmˈbɪɡjuəs/ adjectivehaving more than one possible meaning.The wording of the contract was deliberately ambiguous.
underpin un·der·PIN /ˌʌndəˈpɪn/ verbto form the basis of something.Strong research underpins the government's new policy.
Method
Six things that decide whether a word you have learned actually earns anything.
Mitigate, mitigation, mitigating. Prevalent, prevalence. Five forms take barely longer than one, and they let you rewrite a sentence instead of repeating it.
You mitigate the effects of something, come under close scrutiny, face inherent risks and curb a rise. Wrong pairings are noticed even when every individual word is real.
Exacerbate takes an object, so something exacerbates a problem. Deteriorate does not, so a thing simply deteriorates. Getting this wrong is a grammar error as well as a vocabulary one.
One precise word placed well is worth more than three ambitious ones crowded into a sentence. Examiners read strings of impressive words as memorised, and precision is what the band descriptor asks for.
These words are worth the same marks in speaking, but only if they come out cleanly. The stress pattern matters more than the individual sounds, which is why it is capitalised above.
Put each word into a sentence about your own country, your own work or your own opinion. A word learned that way survives test-day pressure; a word learned from a list often does not.
Practice
Choose the word that fits each sentence.
The video asked you to match a word to a meaning. This asks the harder question: which word fits this sentence?
Read the whole sentence first. Every option is a real word from the list above, and more than one will often nearly fit.
1Planting trees can ______ the effects of climate change.
Mitigate. Exacerbate is its opposite: it makes a problem worse. Substantiate is about evidence, and underpin is about support.
2Obesity is more ______ in cities than in rural areas.
Prevalent. Prevalent describes how widely something occurs. Inevitable means certain to happen, which is a different claim entirely.
3The proposal came under close ______ from the council.
Scrutiny. Scrutiny is close examination. An incentive is something that encourages an action, so it cannot come under close examination.
4A lack of sleep is ______ to academic performance.
Detrimental. Detrimental means causing harm. Compelling means convincing, and is used about arguments rather than effects on health.
5Solar power is now a ______ option for most households.
Viable. Viable means it can work in practice. Plausible means it sounds reasonable, which is about believability, not workability.
6The researchers could not ______ their claims.
Substantiate. Substantiate means to support with evidence. Deter and curb are both about stopping or limiting something.
7Cutting the budget would only ______ the problem.
Exacerbate. Exacerbate is transitive and takes an object: it makes something else worse. Deteriorate is intransitive, so a thing deteriorates by itself.
8Mobile phones are now ______, even in remote villages.
Ubiquitous. Ubiquitous means found everywhere. Mandatory means required by law, which says nothing about how widespread something is.
That is what separates recognising vocabulary from using it. Two words can share a definition and still be wrong in the same sentence, and it is very hard to catch in your own writing because each word looks correct on its own.
The complete IELTS course on IELTStestONLINE has many more exercises like this one, video lessons on every question type, and a support tutor you can ask when an answer does not make sense. Take a look at the complete course
Choosing the right word from four options is not the same as producing it accurately under time in an essay.
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 know where you stand before test day. See what full membership includes
There is no fixed number. Lexical Resource rewards using a reasonable range of vocabulary flexibly and precisely, so thirty words you can use accurately are worth far more than three hundred you only recognise.
Only if you use them correctly. Lexical Resource assesses precision as well as range, so an ambitious word used slightly wrongly scores lower than a simple word used well.
Both. These are general academic words rather than subject-specific ones, and they work in Task 2 essays and in Speaking Part 3 for either version of the test.
For writing, no. For speaking, yes, because a mispronounced word can be misheard as a different word or missed altogether. The stress pattern matters more than individual sounds.
Write your own instead. A word learned inside a sentence about your own life or your own opinions is remembered far better than one copied from a list.
Take one group of five at a time over a week or two. Learning five properly, then testing yourself again a few days later, beats reading all thirty once.
Full membership
Technique takes most candidates to about band 6.5. Past that, the limit is usually the range of language you can use accurately, and knowing where you stand is the first step.
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