What are IELTS academic words in Writing and Reading 

Academic Word List Training

Most students are confident in writing in their own language but for IELTS, and especially for IELTS essays, the language that students use and select for their writing can be much more challenging. In particular, selecting inappropriate words for a report or essay can create a negative impression in the examiner’s mind of a student’s writing and lead to a lower band score.

What are academic words

A really easy but simple definition of academic words are the accepted words that the IELTS examiner would expect a good writer to select and use in an essay or report. In actual fact academic writing can be regarded as a genre of writing where word forms and tenses are accepted by an academic community as a whole.

I like to think that academic words can be divided into three basic groupings. First of all, there are the high frequency words found in formal or academic writing, followed by low frequency words in formal or academic writing and finally specialist terminology and phrases that only an expert would be able to use or be expected to understand without a dictionary. 

The group of words I encourage you to study are the high-frequency words found in formal writing.

Why use academic words

As I have already mentioned, academic words are the types of words that are expected in academic writing.

In addition to this, using academic words in an IELTS essay can help make your writing appear both more informative, more educated and more authoritative. 

Of course a further important reason for IELTS academic words is the need to distinguish yourself clearly away from the writing of a high school student.

Above all, carefully selecting and using appropriate academic words in your essay will help impress that examiner. It can help demonstrate that you can draw from a wide range of vocabulary and select the appropriate words. 

Not doing this or being unaware of inappropriate words can have a negative effect in the tone of your writing and can affect the meaning. Above all, this can spoil the progression of your essay which is an assessed aspect of your writing.

Words to avoid in academic writing

There are certain words that you should really avoid in IELTS essay writing as well as Task 1 reports. 

Try not to use…’get’…..

Most people get a pay increase yearly. 

People can get a good salary in this profession. 

If a student gets to a lesson late, there should be a penalty. 

Many consumers don’t get climate change. 

Commuters are better off getting the train than using the car. 

Try not to use ‘like’ …..

There are plenty of effective energy saving tips, like switching off lights and having showers instead of baths.

These words are mostly colloquial and informal and will stand out in your writing.

Match the formal sentence with the phrasal verb

Avoid most phrasal verbs such as……get on, take up, get over, get in, get on with

There are literally hundreds of these!

Match the formal sentence with the phrasal verb

Never use slang  such as …… bro, bookies, cash, stuff, workaholic, shopaholic, a pro, veg (vegetable) and avoid using idioms such as …. a blessing in disguise, a piece of cake, on top of the world,  the sky is the limit, better late than never.

Always avoid colloquial speech in your writing such as ………

Don’t use contractions in your essay or Task 1 Report such as……. we’re they’ve I’m, I’ve and they’ve.

Don’t use abbreviations and vague expressions such as ….etc, literally, and so on and such like.

Using any of these can affect the tone of your writing, which will affect the progression throughout your IELTS essay or report.

This doesn’t apply to the General Writing Test. In this test, you might be asked to write an informal letter in which case all of the above might be possibly used in an informal letter.

What words do you need to know for academic reading

Good advice is that you probably need to know more words that you can use in your writing 

In the reading test, in most cases it is possible to read around words that you don’t know by using the context and other information in the reading passage to help you. In fact, most readers do this when they read a new text anyway. 

A good awareness of academic words is certainly helpful in the test, but it is not vital.

How to use academic words in your writing

In writing however, you probably need a good bank of words that you can actively use in your writing. The most effective way of improving in this area is active practice. 

Plenty of textbooks offer good practice gap fills for high-frequency academic words and there are some good online resources too. 

Being able to use the same word in its different word forms is a good way to increase your word bank knowledge, for example, 

import (n) import (v) important (adj) importance (n)

How can I increase my academic word knowledge?

So the three most effective ways to increase your academic word knowledge is through reading widely, focussed practicing writing and completing useful gap fills- practice.

The Conversation is a good source of student friendly academic reading material and can help with topic awareness too and here’s a few online gap fill exercises I have created for my students to use.

My IELTS Academic practice word list

Finally I’ve collected a list of academic word and example sentences that can also be used to improve your level of suitable vocabulary which can be useful for even native speakers of English.

The list is being created step by step.

A:

Access (noun: to be able to enter, reach, approach something)

Access (verb: the ability or right to enter, reach approach something)

Accurate (adj: precise of exact, free from error)

Acquire (verb: to obtain or come into possession of something, to accumulate)

Achieve (verb: to accomplish, to reach a certain standard)

Analyse  (verb: to look at something closely, examine in detail)

Aspect (noun: a part of element of something)

Assist (verb: to help or aid someone)

Assistance (noun: to provide help or aid)

Available (adj: free to help someone, present or in stock)

Aware (adj: have knowledge of something, conscious of something, surroundings)

Area – areas

Assessment – assess, assessable, assessed, assesses, assessing, assessments, reassess, reassessed, reassessing, reassessment, unassessed

Assume – assumed, assumes, assuming, assumption, assumptions

Authority – authoritative, authorities

Available – availability, unavailable

B:

Benefit (verb: to receive an advantage or profit from something)

Benefit (noun: a payment by a government or insurance company / an advantage or profit gained from something ) 

Benign (adj: gently, kindly )

Benefit – beneficial, beneficiary, beneficiaries, benefited, benefiting, benefits

C:

Concept – conception, concepts, conceptual, conceptualisation, conceptualise, conceptualised, conceptualises, conceptualising, conceptually

Consistent – consist, consisted, consistency, consistently, consisting, consists, inconsistencies, inconsistency, inconsistent

Constitutional – constituencies, constituency, constituent, constituents, constitute, constituted, constitutes, constituting, constitution, constitutions, constitutionally, constitutive, unconstitutional

Context – contexts, contextual, contextualise, contextualised, contextualising decontextualised,

Contract – contracted, contracting, contractor, contractors, contracts

Create – created, creates, creating, creation, creations, creative, creatively, creativity, creator, creators, recreate, recreated, recreates, recreating

Comment (on), Compensate (for), Component, Concentrate (on,) Consequence, Consist (of),Constant, Construct, Construction, Contribute, Convert (into), Correspond ( with/to), Crucial, Comment (on), Compensate (for), Consist (of), Constant, Construct, Construction, Contribute, Convert (into),Correspond ( with/to), Crucial,

D:

Data

Definition – definable, define, defined, defines, defining, definitions, redefine, redefined, redefines, redefining, undefined

Derived – derivation, derivations, derivative, derivatives, derive, derives, deriving

Distribution – distribute, distributed, distributing, distributional, distributions, distributive, distributor, distributors, redistribute, redistributed, redistributes, redistributing, redistribution

Define (as), Demonstrate, Design, Disposal, Distance, Distinct

E:

Economic – economical, economically, economics, economies, economist, economists, economy, uneconomical

Environment – environmental, environmentalist, environmentalists, environmentally, environments

Established – disestablish, disestablished, disestablishes, disestablishing, disestablishment, establish, establishes, establishing, establishment, establishments

Estimate – estimated, estimates, estimating, estimation, estimations, over-estimate, overestimate, overestimated, overestimates, overestimating, underestimate, underestimated, underestimates, underestimating

Evidence – evidenced, evident, evidential, evidently

Export – exported, exporter, exporters, exporting, exports

Emphasise, Erode, Error, Exclude, Extract

F:

Factors – factor, factored, factoring

Financial – finance, financed, finances, financially, financier, financiers, financing

Formula – formulae, formulas, formulate, formulated, formulating, formulation, formulations, reformulate, reformulated, reformulating, reformulation, reformulations

Function – functional, functionally, functioned, functioning, functions

Flexible

I:

Identified – identifiable, identification, identifies, identify, identifying, identities, identity, unidentifiable

Income – incomes

Indicate – indicated, indicates, indicating, indication, indications, indicative, indicator, indicators

Individual – individualised, individuality, individualism, individualist, individualists, individualistic, individually, individuals

Interpretation – interpret, interpretations, interpretative, interpreted, interpreting, interpretive, interprets misinterpret, misinterpretation, misinterpretations, misinterpreted, misinterpreting, misinterprets,

Involved – involve, involvement, involves, involving, uninvolved

Issues – issue, issued, issuing

Identification (noun:)

Identify (verb:)

Indicate (verb:)

Indication (noun:)

Indication (of)

Interpretation (noun:)

Import (verb:)

Import (noun: 

Important (adj:)

Importance (noun:)

Item (noun:)

Labour – laboured, labouring, labours

Legal – illegal, illegality, illegally, legality, legally

Legislation – legislate, legislated, legislates, legislating, legislative, legislator, legislators, legislature

Legislation, Location, Logical

Major – majorities, majority

Method – methodical, methodological, methodologies, methodology, methods

Majority, Maximise ,Minimise, Monitor

Occur –  occurred, occurrence, occurrences, occurring, occurs reoccur, reoccurred, reoccurring, reoccurs

Percent – per cent, percentage, percentages

Period – periodic, periodical, periodically, periodicals, periods

Policy – policies

Principle – principled, principles, unprincipled

Procedure – procedural, procedures, proceed, proceeded, proceeding, proceedings, proceeds

Process – processed, processes, processing

Required – require, requirement, requirements, requires, requiring

Research – researched, researcher, researchers, researches, researching

Response – respond, responded, respondent, respondents, responding, responds, responses, responsive, responsiveness, unresponsive

Role – roles

Relevant, Reliable, Require, Requirement, Resource, Respond, Retain, Role

Section – sectioned, sectioning, sections

Sector – sectors

Significant – insignificant, insignificantly, significance, significantly, signified, signifies, signify, signifying

Similar – dissimilar, similarities, similarity, similarly

Source – sourced, sources, sourcing

Specific – specifically, specification, specifications, specificity, specifics

Structure – restructure, restructured, restructures, restructuring, structural, structurally, structured, structures, structuring, unstructured

Theory – theoretical, theoretically, theories, theorist, theorists

Variables – invariable, invariably, variability, variable, variably, variance, variant, variants, variation, variations, varied, varies, vary, varying

Academic Word List 2

Achieve – achievable, achieved, achievement, achievements, achieves, achieving

Acquisition – acquire, acquired, acquires, acquiring, acquisitions

Administration – administrate, administrates administrations, administrative, administratively, administrator, administrators

Affect – affected, affecting, affective, affectively, affects, unaffected

Appropriate – appropriacy, appropriately, appropriateness, inappropriacy, inappropriate, inappropriately

Aspect – aspects

Assistance – assist, assistant, assistants, assisted, assisting, assists, unassisted

Categories – category, categorisation, categorise, categorised, categorises, categorising, categorizing

Chapter – chapters

Cite – citations

Commission – commissioned, commissioner, commissioners, commissioning, commissions

Community – communities

Complex – complexities, complexity

Computer – compute, computation, computational, computations, computable, computed, computerised, computers, computing

Conclusion – conclude, concluded, concludes, concluding, conclusions, conclusive, conclusively inconclusive, inconclusively

Conduct – conducted, conducting, conducts

Consequences – consequent, consequence, consequently

Construction – construct, constructed, constructing, constructions, constructive, constructs reconstruct, reconstructed, reconstructing, reconstruction, reconstructs

Consumer – consume, consumed, consumers, consumes, consuming, consumption

Credit – credited, crediting, creditor, creditors, credits

Cultural – culture, culturally, cultured, cultures, uncultured

Design – designed, designer, designers, designing, designs

Distinction – distinct, distinctions, distinctive, distinctively, distinctly, indistinct, indistinctly

Elements – element

Equation – equate, equated, equates, equating, equations

Evaluation – evaluate, evaluated, evaluates, evaluating, evaluations, evaluative, re-evaluate, re-evaluated, re-evaluates, re-evaluating, re-evaluation

Features – feature, featured, featuring

Final – finalise, finalised, finalises, finalising, finality, finally, finals

Focus – focused, focuses, focusing, refocus, refocused, refocuses, refocusing

Impact – impacted, impacting, impacts

Injury – injure, injured, injures, injuries, injuring, uninjured

Institute – instituted, institutes, instituting, institution, institutional, institutionalise, institutionalised, institutionalises, institutionalising, institutionally, institutions

Investment – invest, invested, investing, investments, investor, investors, invests reinvest, reinvested, reinvesting, reinvestment, reinvests

Items – item, itemisation, itemise, itemised, itemises, itemising

Journal – journals

Maintenance – maintain, maintained, maintaining, maintains

Normal – normalisation, normalise, normalised, normalises, normalising, normality, normally abnormal, abnormally,

Obtained – obtain, obtainable, obtaining, obtains, unobtainable

Obtain, Obvious, Occur, Option

Participation – participate, participant, participants, participated, participates, participating, participatory

Perceived – perceive, perceives, perceiving, perception, perceptions

Positive – positively

Potential – potentially

Previous – previously

Primary – primarily

Purchase – purchased, purchaser, purchasers, purchases, purchasing

Participate, Participation, Period, Precise, Predictable, Prohibited, Proportion, Prospect, Psychological, Purchase, Pursue

Range – ranged, ranges, ranging

Regulations – regulate, regulated, regulates, regulating, regulation, regulator, regulators, regulatory, deregulated, deregulates, deregulating, deregulation, unregulated

Relevant – irrelevance, irrelevant, relevance

Resident – reside, resided, residence, residential, residents, resides, residing

Resources – resource, resourced, resourceful, resourcing unresourceful, under-resourced

Restricted – restrict, restricting, restriction, restrictions, restrictive, restrictively, restricts, unrestricted, unrestrictive

Security – secure, insecure, insecurities, insecurity, secured, securely, secures, securing, securities

Sought – seek, seeking, seeks

Select – selected, selecting, selection, selections, selective, selectively, selector, selectors, selects

Site – sites, situation, situational, situated

Survey – surveyed, surveying, surveys

Sector, Secure, Select, Significant, Source, Status, Structure, Substitute, Symbolise

Text – texts, textual

Traditional – texts, textual

Transfer – transferable, transference, transferred, transferring, transfers

Task, Technique, Topical, Transform, Transformation, Trend

Vary, Variation, Veritable, Visible

Prepared by IELTS-Jonathan for free distribution.

IELTS-JONATHAN-WORD-LIST-IELTS

I hope this post helps ‘even the native’ speakers taking the IELTS Exam.