Free IELTS study resources
300+ short, practical vocabulary, grammar, and strategy guides for Reading, Listening, Writing, and Speaking — not another question bank.
IELTS vocabulary: Education
Education essays are graded partly on whether a candidate can name a specific mechanism — a teaching method, a funding structure, an outcome — rather than repeating "a good education" as if it were self-explanatory. Here's the vocabulary that gets you there.
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Health
Health topics reward candidates who can distinguish a cause from a system failure from an outcome, instead of collapsing everything into "unhealthy" and "the healthcare system." Here's the vocabulary that makes that distinction possible.
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment essays often collapse into a single question — punish or rehabilitate — without the vocabulary to explain why either approach actually works or fails. Here's the fuller set: causes, justice models, evidence, and the pairs candidates mix up.
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Work and Employment
Work essays default to "job satisfaction" and "good pay" as if those were the only two variables in employment. Here's the vocabulary for labour-market change, workplace structure, and the confusions that flatten an otherwise strong argument.
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Family and Relationships
Family topics look easy because everyone has personal experience of them — which is exactly why answers default to "close" and "supportive" instead of naming the structural changes actually reshaping family life. Here's the vocabulary for that.
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Media and Advertising
Media essays reward candidates who can distinguish who is producing content, why, and with what incentive — rather than treating "the media" as a single actor. Here's the vocabulary for platforms, persuasion, and the confusions that blur an argument.
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Government and Society
Government and Society prompts punish vague appeals to "the government should do more" — here's the vocabulary for naming which mechanism, which actor, and which trade-off an argument is actually about.
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: City Life and Urbanisation
Urban topics need vocabulary that distinguishes growth from density from sprawl — three genuinely different phenomena candidates routinely collapse into a single vague claim about cities getting "bigger" or "more crowded."
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Tourism and Travel
Tourism essays default to "tourism is good for the economy but bad for the environment" without the vocabulary to say exactly how, or for whom. Here's the fuller set — economics, impact, management, and the confusions worth untangling.
12 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Food and Diet
Fast food, obesity, and food policy are frequent Task 2 essay topics, and Part 3 often follows a Part 2 cue card about a meal or cooking tradition — here is the full vocabulary set, from production to health outcomes, that replaces "healthy" and "junk food" with something an examiner actually credits.
13 min readSpeakingIELTS vocabulary: Sports and Leisure
Sport is one of the most frequent Speaking topics and an occasional Task 2 one, and most candidates never get past "exercise is good for you" — here is the vocabulary for participation, competition, and leisure that actually demonstrates range.
12 min readSpeakingIELTS vocabulary: Art and Culture
Whether public money should fund the arts, and how cultures change under global influence, are recurring Task 2 and Part 3 questions — here is the vocabulary for discussing heritage, funding, and creative value beyond "art is important for culture."
13 min readSpeakingIELTS vocabulary: Space and Science
Space exploration and scientific funding are a less common but increasingly frequent Task 2 and Part 3 topic, and most responses stall at "science is important" — here is the vocabulary for discussing research, risk, and public value with actual precision.
12 min readSpeakingIELTS vocabulary: Transport
Traffic congestion and public transport investment are recurring Task 2 topics, and Part 3 often extends a Part 2 cue card about a journey or commute — here is the vocabulary for discussing movement, infrastructure, and logistics beyond "traffic is bad."
13 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Housing
Housing affordability and homelessness are consistently tested Task 2 topics, and General Training letters sometimes address a specific housing problem directly — here is the vocabulary for discussing dwellings, tenure, and policy with real precision.
13 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Money and the Economy
Inequality, taxation, and inflation are among the most frequently tested Task 2 topics, and most essays never get past "the rich are getting richer" — here is the vocabulary for discussing economic mechanisms with the precision a Band 7+ script needs.
14 min readSpeakingIELTS vocabulary: Social Media
Few topics appear as often across both Task 2 and Speaking as social media, and almost every response stalls at "it has advantages and disadvantages" — here is the vocabulary for discussing platforms, algorithms, and online behaviour with genuine specificity.
13 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is a common Task 1 chart topic and a Task 2 discussion point in its own right, distinct from environment essays generally — here is the vocabulary for discussing energy sources, the transition away from fossil fuels, and the technical trade-offs involved, at genuine band level.
13 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Population and Demographics
Ageing populations and declining birth rates are common Task 1 and Task 2 topics, and most essays never move past "there are more old people now" — here is the vocabulary for describing demographic change and its consequences with real precision.
13 min readWritingIELTS vocabulary: Immigration
Immigration is a recurring, often sensitive Task 2 topic where candidates default to "immigrants" and "a lot of countries" for an entire essay. Here's the full vocabulary set — movement, integration, economic effects, and the confusions that cost marks — for discussing it precisely and even-handedly.
13 min read