Lexical Resource 8 A score of 8 will awarded if the candidate shows:
A wide vocabulary range – enough for all topics.
Vocabulary is used to give precise and exact meanings.
Use a range of uncommon words and idioms correctly.
Explain ideas using uncommon vocabulary.
In many ways the score of 8 is similar to 7. The main difference is the amount of
uncommon vocabulary and idiomatic language. Problems with Lexical Resource Generally speaking, the most common problem in this section is the overuse of
common words: ―Beijing is a big city.‖ In this example, the word ―big‖ is an example of
very basic vocabulary.
The candidate could have chosen any word to describe Beijing but chose to produce
an example of a very basic adjective.
In contrast, “sprawling, cosmopolitan, politically-important, fast-developing,
Mat Clark – IELTS Speaking
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colossal” are examples of uncommon vocabulary and would have a positive effect on the
candidate's ―Vocabulary‖ score.
Candidates often neglect this area because they focus too much on the answer to the
question.
There is a section later in this book on vocabulary building.