How to use IELTS vocabulary accurately when describing data.Updated: July 2023
In IELTS writing task 1, vocabulary accounts for 25% of your marks. Being able to use a wide variety of vocabulary accurately will help your score. I did a post on this before about using specific vocabulary in the academic task 1 writing section click here to see that post.
Accurate use of collocations will help you get a high score.Updated: April 19th 2022
Some of the most important vocabulary needed for IELTS writing are collocations. These are needed for a higher score. Collocations are 2 or 3 words that commonly go together and sound just right to a native speaker. For some tips on building your vocabulary take a look at this blog post here. If you do not know how to use collocations, they will sound or look ‘wrong’ to a native speaker.
For example, ‘use money‘ sounds strange if you go shopping. The correct word is to ‘spend money‘, or if someone speaks in a loud way I can’t say he has a ‘big voice‘ I need to say he has a ‘loud voice’. Or maybe he has a ‘big mouth‘ to describe him as arrogant, not a ‘large mouth‘. When I want to relax in the evening I wouldn’t ‘look at a movie‘ I would ‘watch a movie‘…. and so on…