Vocabulary
The words that come up whenever the topic is the internet, devices or automation. With a practice exercise.
IELTS vocabulary for technology is worth preparing early, because technology now appears in Task 2 essays more often than almost any other subject. It also runs through the speaking test, where candidates are asked about phones, social media and how they keep in touch.
The words below are grouped the way examiners would expect you to use them. Learning ten at a time and putting each one into a sentence about your own life works far better than reading the whole list once.
The words
Six groups. Learn one group at a time rather than the whole page.
A device — any piece of equipment such as a phone, tablet or laptop.
A gadget — a small device, often more novel than necessary.
Wearable technology — devices worn on the body, such as fitness trackers.
Obsolete — no longer used because something better exists.
To upgrade — to replace something with a newer version.
Broadband — a high-speed internet connection.
Bandwidth — how much data a connection can carry.
Connectivity — the ability to connect to a network.
The digital divide — the gap between those with internet access and those without.
To be offline — not connected, by choice or otherwise.
Technology is uncountable in almost every IELTS context. Write technology has changed our lives, never technologies have unless you mean several distinct types.
Information, research, software, hardware and equipment are uncountable too, so no plural and no a. Say a piece of equipment or a piece of software.
A platform — a service such as a social media site or app store.
Screen time — the hours spent looking at a device.
An algorithm — the set of rules deciding what a site shows you.
Targeted advertising — adverts chosen using your own data.
To go viral — to spread very quickly online.
Data privacy — control over who holds information about you.
Cybercrime — crime committed using computers or networks.
Hacking — gaining access to a system without permission.
Identity theft — using someone’s personal details to pretend to be them.
Encryption — coding data so that only the intended reader can open it.
Automation — machines doing work previously done by people.
Artificial intelligence — systems that perform tasks needing human judgement.
To displace workers — to remove the need for their jobs.
Innovation — the introduction of new methods or products.
Cutting-edge — the most advanced available.
Method
Six ways these words earn marks rather than just filling space.
Connectivity is more precise than internet things, and the digital divide says in three words what would otherwise take a sentence.
Innovate, innovation, innovative, innovator. Being able to move between forms lets you rewrite a sentence rather than repeating it.
You browse the internet, download an app, back up your data, log in to an account and keep up with new technology. Wrong pairings are noticed even when both words are real.
Technology, software, hardware, information and research take a singular verb and no plural. This single point causes more errors on this topic than any vocabulary gap.
Has technology made us less social? Should children have smartphones? Will machines replace human workers? These recur, and the vocabulary above answers all three.
A term such as encryption used in the wrong place lowers your band. If you are not certain of the meaning, use a simpler word you are sure of.
Practice
Choose the word that fits each sentence.
Read the whole sentence before you choose. Several options will be real words, and often more than one will nearly fit.
The test is precision: which word means exactly what the sentence needs?
1The gap between people with internet access and those without is called the ______.
Digital divide. It usually describes differences between rich and poor countries, or between urban and rural areas within one country. The wealth gap is about income rather than access.
2Choose the correct sentence.
Technology has changed. Technology is uncountable here, so it takes a singular verb and no article. Technologies is only correct when you mean several separate types, which is rare in an essay.
3Equipment that is no longer used because something better exists is ______.
Obsolete. Offline just means not connected at the moment, and it says nothing about whether the device is still useful.
4Using someone’s personal details to pretend to be them is called ______.
Identity theft. Hacking is how the details are often obtained, but it describes breaking into a system rather than what is done with the information afterwards.
5You ______ an app, and you should regularly ______ your data.
Download / back up. You download from a service to your device and upload in the other direction. To back up means to keep a second copy in case the first is lost.
6Machines carrying out work previously done by people is known as ______.
Automation. Innovation is broader and simply means introducing something new, which may or may not replace any human worker.
That is a collocation problem rather than a vocabulary one, and it is very hard to spot in your own writing because every word looks correct on its own.
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
Recognising a word in a multiple choice is not the same as producing it accurately under time in an essay.
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Very. It is now one of the most frequent Task 2 subjects, and it also appears in speaking Parts 1 and 3 through questions about phones, social media and keeping in touch.
Uncountable in almost every IELTS context, so it takes a singular verb and no article. Use technologies only when you genuinely mean several distinct types.
No. Precision matters more than difficulty, and an essay built from clear everyday words used accurately scores higher than one padded with terms you are unsure of.
Write the full form the first time, with the abbreviation in brackets after it, then use the short form. That is normal academic practice and avoids any doubt.
Learn ten words at a time, and write your own sentence for each. Long lists learned quickly are forgotten quickly, and words become confused with each other.
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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