Shadowing Practice: 69 Advanced Words (C1 + C2) to Get a Band 9 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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today we're going to be looking at the 69 most commonly used words by real band 7 8

and 9 students so that you can improve not just your vocabulary

but massively boost your ielts writing score

and in this video

i'm going to show you what those words are how you can use them in your essays

and how they will help you massively improve your essays at the end as a special bonus

i'll also give you access to all 100 of those sample essays as a little gift from me to you.

So the first word is viable.

This means able to work or succeed.

Synonyms of this word are feasible, workable, or the most common one would be possible.

This is an adjective and common collocations are viable option or viable alternative.

For example, the project is not a viable option without more funding let's look at how our band 7 8

and 9 students use this in their real essays a viable solution is to heavily punish lawbreakers

so in your essays you will often be asked to write about solutions

or alternatives so adding the collocation viable solution viable option viable alternative

will hopefully boost your score the next word is schooling

this means the education you get at school synonyms of this word would be education learning

or training and this is a noun common collocations of this word are primary schooling

and secondary schooling for example good primary schooling is important for a child's future

and if we look at a sentence from the 100 essays in vietnam the average class size is 20 students

which makes it difficult for educators to provide proper schooling for each student.

Education is one of the, if not the most common topic for task two essays.

So a very, very useful word, useful synonym to use in there instead of education, training, things like that.

The next word is renowned.

And this means famous or respected.

Synonyms of this word are well known, famous, and celebrated.

This is an adjective.

And common collocations are renowned expert or renowned for.

Although you could add in athlete, musician, company, many, many different things that are well known and respected.

They are famous for something.

This is very useful for use in examples.

So often in examples, you're going to pick someone very well known or famous that demonstrates the point that you're making.

Here's an example sentence he is a renowned expert in the field of biology

and let's look at how our students use

this in their essay for instance after opening a branch of

apple company in dubai many local graduates were thrilled by the

good news of being accepted to work under this renowned company

so instead of saying famous company they've added renowned the next word is prime

and no it's not a drink made by Logan Paul.

This means the best or most important.

Synonyms are best, top, main, and this word is an adjective.

The most common collocation is prime example, but you could also swap this out for prime advantage,

prime disadvantage, prime solution, prime reason.

Often in your essays, you'll be talking about these things.

So if you want to describe these things as the best

or most important you can add prime before those words an

example sentence is this is a prime example of excellent customer service

and in our essays one student wrote the prime disadvantage is

that these companies use the natural resources of developing nations recklessly

which affects the environment so a very very good topic sentence there talking about advantages and disadvantages

but the great thing about this word like many of the

words on this list is it can be used interchangeably throughout your essays.

The next word is prone, which means likely to do or experience something.

Synonyms are likely, inclined, and susceptible.

This is an adjective and a common collocation is prone to errors.

But it's not just prone to errors.

The collocation will normally be prone to, but you can swap out errors for other things that people are likely to experience.

So an example sentence, children are prone to making mistakes when they are learning.

And in our essays, we have thus people that have a diet based on plants

and seeds are more prone to have a healthier life

because they allow their bodies to focus their energy in its normal processes.

And before you start writing, this student made grammatical errors.

Yes, these are real essays these are real human beings

that make mistakes we're giving you real sentences not polished fake ones

i hope you're enjoying this video on ielts writing

if you want to improve your ielts writing even more

i've developed a free course called ielts essay builder what ielts essay builder does is it gives

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The next word is officials, and this means people in authority or people in the government normally.

Synonyms of this are authorities, leaders, or administrators, and this is a noun.

Common collocations are government officials or public officials.

These are people working in the government.

In our essay, they wrote, in conclusion, I do not support the argument of newspapers publishing the information of government officials.

So task two essays will often talk about the government and government policy.

So it's a very useful word to have.

The next word is output.

And this means the amount produced of something.

Synonyms of this word are production or yield.

And this is a noun.

Common collocations are industrial output or total output.

Sometimes you will be asked to write about companies companies dominate

our lives similarly to the last one where we're talking about governments governments

and companies dominate our lives

and have a huge impact on our lives therefore you will often be asked to write about those things

or write about examples of those things in your task two essays an example sentence the factory's output has increased this year

And from our essays, the main benefits of wearing a uniform are

that it brings uniformity to the workplace and helps to increase the output of companies.

And you could also change that to a company's output or a factory's output.

The next word is intellect, which means the ability to think and understand.

And notice I didn't say memorize.

Memorize isn't really thinking.

So So don't think that you can memorize all of these words and magically improve your intellect.

More on that at the end of the video.

Synonym of this is intelligence and this is a noun.

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Common collocations are his intellect or her intellect or maybe a child's intellect.

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An example sentence is her sharp intellect makes her a great scientist.

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And from her essays, educational programs on television can help a child's intellect.

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Often you will get questions about education, especially about children and how to improve their education,

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improve their intelligence, improve their intellect.

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The next word is incentives, which means things that encourage you to do something.

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For example, if you want a free course,

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I've just given you an incentive.

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Synonyms of this word are motivation, reward, and encouragement.

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This is a noun, and common collocations are provide incentives or offer incentives.

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So this will often come up when we're talking about education or how companies are run.

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Often we will provide incentives or offer incentives to students, workers, citizens, to try and get them to do something.

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Another way to think about this word is the approach of a carrot and a stick.

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So if you want a donkey to do something, you can beat it with a stick or you can provide an incentive,

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a carrot, to make it go forward.

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An example sentence are the company offers financial incentives to its best workers

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and in our essays many younger people find voting a waste of time

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and therefore if they are given incentives they are more likely to take the time to vote.

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Our next word is irrespective.

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This means without considering something.

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Synonyms are regardless and despite and this is an adverb.

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The most common collocation is irrespective of and then after of will be the thing that you are ignoring or you're disregarding.

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For example, irrespective of the outcome, we must try our best.

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And in our essays, I believe that adult life brings more joy because of life fulfillment, irrespective of more responsibilities.

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So this is very useful when you are balancing two views or considering two views.

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Often you will get questions that ask you to discuss both views.

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So this is very useful in your conclusion when you're giving your opinion.

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She was saying, I believe this thing irrespective of the other side.

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The next word is fundamental.

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No, it's actually fundamental.

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And this means important.

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Synonyms of this word are important, essential, or primary.

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And this is an adjective.

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Common collocations are fundamental principle and fundamental change.

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For example, learning to read is a fundamental skill for children.

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And from our essays, it is the fundamental right of every human being to have their privacy.

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So this is a great way in your essays to convey to the examiner

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that this thing that you're talking about is very, very important.

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You're ranking this as the most important thing at the very, very top.

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So we could talk about the fundamental change that needs to happen, the fundamental reason,

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the fundamental right the fundamental whatever you are talking about to thank you for making

142

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if not enjoy the rest of this free video the next word is disclose which means to make something known.

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Synonyms are reveal, show, and tell.

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This is a verb and the most common collocation is to disclose information.

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For example, a company must disclose any risk to its investors.

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And from our essays, on the other hand, publishing details of private affairs discloses the corruption of politicians and make them accountable.

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So again, you'll often be writing about the government.

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What is the government full of in most countries?

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Corrupt politicians.

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So it's very easy to talk about disclosing them.

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The next word is detrimental, and it means to cause harm or damage.

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Synonyms are harmful, damaging, or just bad.

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This is an adjective, and the most common collocation is detrimental effect.

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For example, smoking has a detrimental effect on health.

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I looked through the essays and the students did use this a lot

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but not many of them used it the most common way

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which is a detrimental effect on health for example

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or a detrimental effect on the environment health the environment

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or just talking about bad effects on many different things you'll often write about those in your essays

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so think about having that in your essay when you're talking about negative or bad things.

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The next word is adolescence.

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And these are young people normally between the ages of 13 and 19, but it differs from person to person.

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And a synonym of this word is teenager.

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This is a noun and you have to be very, very careful with this word.

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Most students use this because often you will be asked to write about children.

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So what they do is they take the word children and just use that as a synonym by inserting adolescence.

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Now, my two little boys, one is three and the other is nine.

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They are children, but they are not adolescents.

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So you must only use this word if you are writing about teenagers going through that stage of life, which is puberty.

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For example, adolescents often experience many changes in their lives.

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And there aren't that many common collocations, so I haven't added any.

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And from our essays, although adolescents are free of responsibilities, adults enjoy their life more because they are free to make their own choices.

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So I think this is a really,

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really good word to think about because you're not just going to memorize these words and insert them randomly into your essays.

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But what you're also not going to do is take words

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that are similar so they're synonyms

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and just replace those words like children adolescents think about the specific meaning of each of these words

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and think about can you actually use them accurately

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and appropriately in your essays we're not telling you just to memorize these words

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and vomit them onto the page the next word is accountable and this means responsible for your actions.

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Synonyms are responsible, answerable, and liable.

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This is an adjective and the most common collocations are accountable to something.

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So to people or to a government or a body, unaccountable for something.

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If you're accountable for something, it's normally your actions.

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For example, managers should be held accountable for their decisions.

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From our essay, this essay strongly disagrees with this view

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because politicians build a public image through such news and they could be held accountable for any wrongdoings.

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I think the student meant to write should be held accountable.

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Again, you'll often be asked to write about people in authority.

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People like government officials, politicians, teachers, or just everybody in general.

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We are all accountable for things that we do.

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And we're normally accountable to people above us or people around us.

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The next word is addressed.

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And this means to fix an issue or fix a problem.

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Synonyms are tackled, deal with, handled, fixed.

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And this is a verb.

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The most common collocations are address a problem or the problem or address an issue or the issue.

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For example, the teacher addressed the issue of bullying in the classroom.

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In that example, we didn't fix the issue.

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It's not the teacher completely resolving the issue of bullying.

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This means to bring it up, to address it, to talk about it in the classroom.

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So just be careful with that slight difference in meaning.

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In our essay, the students said, however, this can easily be addressed by making people aware and also by making new laws.

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So they've used it to say addressed, fixed.

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So you might use this, for example, in problem solution essays, addressing problems in your solutions part of your essay.

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But it can also be used very flexibly and interchangeably with many different ways of writing essays.

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The next word is affluent, which means having a lot of money.

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Synonyms are wealthy, rich, prosperous, and this is an adjective.

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The most common collocations are an affluent society or an affluent country, but you can also apply this to people.

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In our essays, our student wrote, in addition, not only does a country become more powerful economically,

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but also many residents have an opportunity to become affluent.

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So it is a common essay topic to write about money and people becoming more successful.

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You'll have a lot of people furiously typing success and money are not the same thing.

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It's not politics class or just trying to help you get a higher score

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so you can become more affluent and more successful in your new country.

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That's why you're doing the IELTS test, right?

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The next word is allocate, which means to distribute resources or duties.

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Common synonyms are assign, distribute, and allot.

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This is a verb and the most common collocation is to allocate resources. For example, the manager will allocate resources for the new project

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and in our essays investment banks in Sweden showed a significant increase after

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they decided to allocate at least 40 % of their leading positions to women.

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The next one is a very useful word which is awareness which means knowledge about something.

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Synonyms are knowledge or understanding.

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This is a noun and common collocations are to raise awareness

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but for IELTS essays we often talk about awareness campaigns

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which are campaigns by the government to make people aware of a certain topic.

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For example we need to raise awareness about the dangers of smoking

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and in our essays however encouraging youth participation in politics and awareness campaigns can be possible solutions to tackle these problems.

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So these are very, very useful when talking about solutions to problems.

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Often the best solution will be some kind of awareness campaign.

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Think about campaigns within your own country for smoking or drunk driving or wear seatbelts.

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The next word is bullying, which means repeated aggressive behavior intended to hurt someone.

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Synonyms are harassment, intimidation and abuse.

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This is a noun but it can also be used as a verb to bully someone.

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Common collocations are school bullying and very frequently these days cyber bullying which means to bully someone online normally through social media.

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For example school bullying can seriously affect a child's self -esteem

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and from our essays the main reason behind this is the increase of cyber bullying and hate crimes.

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The next word is burden which means a heavy load or a heavy responsibility.

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Synonyms are load or responsibility, and this is a noun.

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The most common collocations are heavy burden and financial burden.

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For example, the financial burden of college can be overwhelming for some students.

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And from our essays, this is

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because they cannot cope with the financial burden of buying new clothes from stores such as Prada or Gucci.

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Money makes the world go round and a lot of Tastu essays.

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will involve you talking about money financial burdens

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but doesn't have to be about money you could also talk about the burden of being a father

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or a mother for example or the burden of being a husband

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or wife but burden is often referred to negatively

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so don't tell my wife that i said

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that the next word is capabilities which means the ability to do something synonyms are abilities skills, or talents.

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This is a noun and common collocations are their capabilities or its capabilities.

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So you're talking about the ability of a person to do something or a thing to do something.

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For example, the company's technological capabilities are impressive.

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And from our essays, in conclusion, many athletes nowadays use illegal substances to win the competition and exceed their physical capabilities.

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So common topics are technology and health.

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You could easily use capabilities to talk about a company's abilities or software's abilities or AI's abilities.

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But you could also use the word capabilities to talk about someone's physical health and their capabilities.

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Or you could use it for education to talk about the capabilities of students or maybe even teachers.

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We have abilities too.

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Next is a very common word, commonly, which means frequently or usually.

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Synonyms are often, usually, and regularly.

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This is an adverb.

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Common collocations are commonly used.

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For example, this word is commonly used in academic writing and from our essays, for instance, it can be commonly seen in many schools

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that teachers introduce TVs in their lectures to help students understand complicated and difficult subjects.

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So if you're talking about time and how often something happens, use that word.

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Next is consumption, the act of using something.

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Synonyms are use and usage, and this is a noun.

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Common collocations are energy consumption, human consumption, when we eat things or when we use things, and consumption of.

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For example reducing energy consumption can help protect the environment the environment

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and global warming and new technologies for producing energy you will often use this word

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and these collocations and from our essays one student wrote this is

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because animals are reproduced kept in small and uncomfortable places and then killed and sold to supermarkets and butchers for human consumption.

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So if anyone or anything is using something within your essays you could look through it

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and think how could I use the word consumption.

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The next word is competence and this is the ability to do something well.

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Not the ability just to do something but to do something well.

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Synonyms are ability, skill and proficiency.

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This is a noun and common collocations are professional competence

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and competence in something for example her professional competence was evident in her excellent work

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and one student wrote by allocating a certain percent of high

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level positions to women companies would reach a higher competence level

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so often you'll be writing about maybe disadvantaged groups of people for example in this one women

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and you're writing about their competence in things.

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Next is a word many of you already know, I'm sure, which is corruption.

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This means dishonest or illegal behavior by those in power.

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So think about a politician maybe from your local area or your country that dishonestly uses money.

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Synonyms of this word are dishonesty, fraud, and bribery.

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This is a noun and the most common collocation is political corruption.

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For example, the investigation revealed widespread political corruption.

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And our student wrote, for example,

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when details of the lavish spending of the mayor of London while on a vacation were revealed in the sun,

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it promoted questions from many sections of the society, eventually exposing his corruption with the public money.

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Yes, I know that student made a few small grammatical errors.

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Don't go crazy.

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It's not the student's fault.

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Maybe that student had a little bit of corruption in their school

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when they were growing up and they didn't get the attention that you got from your very honest teachers and politicians.

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The next one is a two for one.

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These are both high level words that mean the same thing.

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Downsides and drawbacks.

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These both mean the negative aspects of something.

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Synonyms are disadvantages, negatives.

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These are both nouns and it won't be a surprise

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that students use these as synonyms when they are talking about advantages, disadvantages, essays.

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The most common collocation for downsides are potential downsides.

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So you're talking about something that might be a downside.

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And the most common collocation for drawbacks are major drawbacks.

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For example, the potential downsides of the new policy include increased costs.

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And from our essays, one of the major drawbacks of this method is its high cost.

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Another little trick there, if you get an advantages or disadvantages essay, Very often, an easy disadvantage is to talk about high cost.

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Not always, but does help to have that in your toolkit.

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And the next word is similar, but different.

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And that is deficiency.

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Now, this isn't really a disadvantage.

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This is a lack of something.

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So there is a little bit of it already, but there is a lack of it.

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Synonyms are a lack, a shortage, or an insufficiency.

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This is a noun, and a common collocation is a vitamin deficiency, or deficiency in.

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So you might not have a vitamin deficiency, but you might have a deficiency in something else.

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So you have a deficiency in whatever you have a deficiency of.

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For example, a vitamin deficiency can cause health problems.

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And from our essays, the main disadvantage of the vegetarian diet is that without meat,

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people may have a protein deficiency obviously this can be used for many different topics

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but health is one of the main ones the next one is embrace

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which means to accept something with enthusiasm synonyms are accept welcome

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and adopt this is a verb

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and the most common collocation for our purposes is to embrace change life is basically the story of change

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when you're writing you're going to be writing about life so it's very easy to use this collocation.

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For example, we need to embrace change to stay competitive.

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And from our essays, there are two main benefits of traveling, such as people can gain knowledge and embrace other cultures.

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So not just embracing change, but embracing new things, which is another way of saying change.

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The next one will definitely enhance your writing score, which is enhance.

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This means to improve something.

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Synonyms are improve, boost, increase.

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This is a verb and common collocations are to enhance performance

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but you can substitute out performance for something else or enhanced with a d on the end by enhanced by.

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For example the new software will enhance our performance

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and one of our students wrote for instance many psychologists suggest

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to students who are struggling with social anxiety to take drama lessons as it helps to enhance confidence.

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So enhance performance, enhance confidence.

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Next is a very, very popular one, emissions, which means gases or substances sent out into the air.

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Most commonly for our purposes, carbon dioxide emissions.

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Synonym of this is output and this is a noun.

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Common collocations are carbon emissions or carbon dioxide emissions and reduce emissions.

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For example, reducing carbon emissions is vital to combat climate change.

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And from our essays, the main advantage of having a vegetarian diet is that carbon emissions can be reduced.

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For bonus points, take that sentence.

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How would you improve the vocabulary of that sentence using the words we've already talked about in this video?

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Put it in the comments.

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The next one is a establishments.

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And this is a business or an organization.

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Synonyms are institutions, organizations, and firms.

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This is a noun and the most common collocation, especially for our purposes, writing task two essays, educational establishments.

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So it should come as no surprise that when you are asked about education, you are going to be writing about schools,

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you're going be writing about universities

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so you can use educational establishments instead of school as a synonym for example universities are important educational establishments

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i looked at our students essays and they're using them either incorrectly

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or using it in a completely different context

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and i don't want to confuse anyone

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so i'm not going to show you those the next word is expenditure

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which means money spent on something synonyms are spending costs

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or outlay this is a noun

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and is often associated for task 2 writing with government expenditure

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or public expenditure public expenditure is just another way of saying government expenditure

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because governments use our public money for example government expenditure on health care is increasing

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But you don't have to just use it for government or public expenditure.

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You could talk about company expenditure, but I wouldn't use it for individuals spending money on things.

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It's a little bit inappropriate in that context.

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So what our student did was they said,

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however, the increase in expenditure of organizations and monotony among employees are the main drawbacks of compulsory uniforms.

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So they're talking about corporations, companies spending money on uniforms.

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How exciting.

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Now, you'll certainly exceed your required man score with this next one.

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Exceed.

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This means to go beyond a limit or a standard or a number.

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Synonyms are surpass, go beyond or outdo.

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It is a verb and the common collocations are exceed expectations or exceed a number.

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For example, the team managed to exceed expectations this quarter.

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And in our essays, in conclusion, many athletes nowadays use illegal substances to win the competition and exceed their physical capabilities.

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The next one, I'll just go quickly through it because it's very similar to another word that we used,

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harassment, which is a synonym of a word we already mentioned, which is bullying.

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This means aggressive pressure or intimidation.

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Synonyms are bullying, intimidation, or abuse.

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It is a noun and common collocations are workplace harassment and sexual harassment.

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So bullying is normally associated with school, whereas harassment is normally more associated with the workplace and society in general,

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although bullying can occur anywhere.

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For example, the company has policies to prevent workplace harassment.

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And in our essays, for instance, in 2016,

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many supporters of Donald Trump lost their trust in him after newspapers uncovered the story of the sexual harassment allegations against him.

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Just be very careful with this word

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because often I hear IELTS students talking about harassment in terms of things that are difficult.

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So I have real emails from students talking about the IELTS test harassing them

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or us harassing them because we've given them low scores because they're not very good at writing.

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That's not harassment.

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That's just, your life is difficult because you're not very good at something normally because you're lazy.

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And the next one is more a linking word, which doesn't come under your vocabulary score.

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It comes under your cohesion and coherence score.

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But I'll mention it because it is a useful word to know

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and it could help you improve your coherence and cohesion score.

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And that word is hence.

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And it basically means for this reason or therefore synonyms are therefore thus

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and so we would use

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so more in informal speaking than academic writing this is an adverb

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and a common collocation is hence the need

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or hence the need for for example the project is behind schedule hence the need for extra workers

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and you can also use

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it at the beginning of a sentence instead of therefore just

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like our student did hence the more sports facilities will be

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available to the public the more people could do sports

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and thus stay healthy so they've used two different synonyms of therefore hence

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and thus within the same sentence

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but remember the most important thing for linking words is not

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that you show a wide variety of them it's

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that they are accurate and appropriate so

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if you're unsure about linking words don't memorize 50 of them

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and just shove them into your essay and hope for the best.

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It's better to repeat a simple word that is correct than change it to something that is wrong.

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And the next word is informative and this means to provide useful information.

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Synonyms are educational, enlightening and instructive.

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This is an adjective and is normally used within educational contexts to describe programs

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or courses or tv shows or documentaries things like that

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so an example sentence would be the lecture was very informative

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and helped me understand the topic better from our essays kids who watch informative

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and educational shows learn to solve problems

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and develop strong mental math skills the next word is infrastructure this means the basic systems

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and structures needed for a society or organization.

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A synonym of this word is a system, and this is a noun.

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Common collocations are transport infrastructure and infrastructure projects.

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An example sentence is, good transport infrastructure is essential for economic growth.

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And from our essays, in conclusion,

444

the advantages of the prioritizing economic growth above all other concerns are improved quality of life of people and good infrastructure.

445

The next word is insights.

446

This means the understanding or knowledge about something.

447

Synonyms are understandings, perceptions, and intuition.

448

This is a noun, and common collocations are valuable insights and provide insights into.

449

For example, the survey provided valuable insights into customer preferences.

450

And from our essays, lessons at school can provide children with valuable insights into being good members of society.

451

The next word is insufficient which means not enough often related to money or resources.

452

Synonyms are inadequate, lacking and deficient.

453

This is an adjective and the most common collocation is insufficient funds or insufficient resources.

454

For example the project was cancelled due to insufficient funds

455

and from our essays the main downsides are higher costs of living for most and insufficient support for or the poorest.

456

The next word is innate, and this means existing from birth or is natural.

457

For example, the ability to breathe is innate.

458

Synonyms are inborn, inherent, and natural.

459

This is an adjective, and the most common collocation is innate ability.

460

For example, she has an innate ability to learn languages quickly.

461

And from her essays, a person can only reach the highest level in the profession if they combine their innate ability

462

with hard work often you will get questions

463

that will ask things like does hard work lead to success

464

or is it only people who are born with certain talents

465

that are successful

466

so you can use this word innate the next word is inappropriate no it is actually inappropriate

467

and this means not suitable

468

or proper it's just a very very formal way of saying something is bad

469

or not right synonyms are unsuitable improper and unfit this is an adjective

470

and the most common collocation is inappropriate behavior

471

this is often used to describe someone doing something their behavior

472

is bad inappropriate for example his inappropriate behavior at the meeting was not acceptable

473

and from our essays on the other hand employees who always wear uniforms might end up wearing inappropriate clothes for their work.

474

The next high level word is merit and this means the quality of being good or worthy.

475

Synonyms include worth, value and excellence.

476

This is a noun and common collocations are academic merit or on merit.

477

A good way to remember this word is not what the word means, it's what it doesn't mean, the opposite of that word.

478

I'm sure you know someone who got a job

479

or a position in a company because they are the idiot nephew or the daughter of the owner of the company.

480

That is not based on merit.

481

That is based on who they are.

482

An example sentence is scholarships are often given based on academic merit.

483

So you deserve to get a scholarship because of how smart you are.

484

And in our essays, this essay completely disagrees with the statement because selecting employees should be based on merit,

485

their worth, their value, how good they are at the job.

486

So it can be used in the academic context, but it can also be used in a more formal, professional context as well.

487

The next word is one of my favorite words in the whole world, it is mediocre.

488

And this means not very good, pretty average.

489

Synonyms include average, ordinary, and so -so if you want to talk about it informally.

490

This is an adjective and there aren't many common collocations for this

491

but a good way to remember it is it's one of the most horrible things that you could ever say to anyone.

492

I'm a very popular person on YouTube so I get horrible things said to me every day in the comments.

493

If somebody says that I'm terrible or useless or the worst teacher

494

that has ever existed on the internet I don't really worry if somebody says that.

495

But if somebody calls me mediocre, that's horrible to say that to someone.

496

You're the same as everyone else.

497

An example sentence is, his performance was mediocre, not meeting expectations.

498

And from our essays, for example, the world is filled with many star athletes who started off as mediocre in the beginning,

499

but they challenge and push themselves to their limit, which ultimately helped them to attain the greatest version of themselves.

500

So if you want to really, really annoy me, and upset me, just write this video as mediocre in the comments.

501

The next one is the opposite of mediocre.

502

It is notable and this means worthy of attention or important.

503

Synonyms are remarkable, significant or noteworthy.

504

This is an adjective and common collocations are a notable achievement if you're talking about

505

some achievement that somebody has made or some kind of scientific discovery

506

or technological advancement notable exception so

507

if you're talking about i believe this this this this

508

and then you want to talk about a counter argument

509

or another side to the point

510

that you're making you could say a notable exception is

511

and a notable example so you're going to be giving at least two examples in your essays

512

so you could write a notable example here's an example sentence her notable achievements in science earned her several awards.

513

And in her essay, in conclusion, although well -known individuals earn big amounts of money from sponsors,

514

notable people's lives will be in danger because evil -minded people will harm them.

515

Next one is a very useful word, numerous, which means many in number.

516

Synonyms include many, several, various, and this is an adjective.

517

Common collocations are numerous times.

518

For example, she has traveled to Paris numerous times

519

and in her essay the majority of the chief positions in business organizations are occupied by males despite the fact

520

that more than half of the workforce in numerous developed nations is made up of women.

521

So when you are using this you might use it in your explanations or your examples.

522

When you're explaining something you can say that this has happened numerous times

523

or there are numerous examples of this happening you don't have to do

524

that for every essay just have it in your toolkit the

525

next word is peers peers are people of the same age

526

so for example my son's peers are nine -year -olds

527

or people that normally do the same job

528

and are at the same level they have the same status synonyms include equals colleagues

529

and contemporaries this is a noun and common collocations are peer pressure and their peers.

530

So we will often use this word when we are comparing people within the same group together.

531

For example, adolescents often face peer pressure from their peers to conform to group norms.

532

And in her essay, for instance, several studies have shown that kids are more likely to outperform their peers on tests when they watch educational shows.

533

Very, very useful for comparing, for explaining, for giving examples.

534

The next word is extremely useful

535

because it can be used to describe pretty much anything and can be used as a synonym for so many different things.

536

And it is one of the most mispronounced words in the English language.

537

Let's see how I do with it, phenomenon.

538

This means something that happens or exists, especially something unusual or interesting.

539

Synonyms include event, occurrence, and happening.

540

This is a noun, and common collocations are natural phenomenon.

541

You could use natural phenomenon to describe global warming, for example.

542

Or a social phenomenon.

543

So something that people have started to do, or you go to a new country and you're like, oh, that's an interesting social phenomenon.

544

A thing that is happening that I've never noticed before.

545

For example, I recently traveled to a country where every restaurant you go to,

546

parents would give their children iPads and phones and allow them to play music and games at full blast.

547

It's like, that's an interesting phenomenon.

548

It also allows you to be diplomatic and polite.

549

So an example sentence, the northern lights are a natural phenomenon that attracts many visitors.

550

It is a thing in the sky that is natural, a natural phenomenon.

551

In our essays, this phenomenon may result in younger people being apathetic towards politics

552

and election results that do not reflect public opinion.

553

So you could use this in your introduction, you could use this in topic sentences, you could use this in explanations,

554

and you could use this in your conclusion.

555

If you are really stuck for a synonym, maybe you have repeated the word a few times and you're like,

556

how do I change this? you could say this phenomenon but make sure it is a phenomenon.

557

The next word is proportion which means a part of a whole or a percentage.

558

So if you're talking about a percentage of something you could use proportion.

559

Synonyms are part, portion or fraction and this is a noun and common collocations are large proportion or small proportion.

560

For example a large proportion of the population supports the new law

561

and from our essays some believe

562

that a certain proportion of these vacancies should be allocated to females

563

this is also very useful for task one academic

564

if you're doing the academic module the next word is revenue

565

and this means income from business

566

or government activities in the form of tax that's how governments make money synonyms are income earnings

567

and profits although be very careful because revenue and profits are two very very different things.

568

If you've ever run a business, You should know that.

569

Word type is a noun, and common collocations are annual revenue, revenue from, so revenue from taxes, revenue from IELTS VIP courses,

570

if we're lucky, and tax revenue.

571

Example sentence, the company's annual revenue has grown steadily.

572

And from our essay, this is because with economic progress, states generate lots of revenue,

573

which can be used to provide high quality services, such as free education.

574

So often you will get questions asking about government services.

575

Education is often a government service, depending on which country you live in.

576

Health is sometimes a government service, not if you live in America.

577

But a lot of questions can be boiled down to, should the government provide this service or is the government providing a good enough service?

578

And you can talk about revenue coming in from different things and how revenue is being spent.

579

The next word is resent, and this means to feel angry or bitter about something.

580

Synonyms are begrudge, disliked, or be annoyed by.

581

And this is a verb, and common collocations are resent the implication or resent the fact.

582

For example, he began to resent the implication that he was not working hard enough.

583

And from our essay, parents should encourage their children to stay at home more rather than force them

584

so that their children will not resent them.

585

So it's a very easy way to talk about things that people dislike.

586

For example, I really resent the fact that I picked

587

so many of these words and I didn't think it was going to take this long to make this video.

588

The next word is sector, which means parts or divisions of a larger group or area.

589

Synonyms are divisions, segments or areas.

590

This is a noun and common collocations are the public sector.

591

The public sector means you work in the government the private sector, those people who actually do all the work,

592

means that you work not for the government, for real businesses.

593

And then we have the voluntary sector, people who volunteer their time.

594

They don't work for the government.

595

They don't work for real businesses.

596

They work for charities.

597

For example, the public sector employs many people in healthcare and education.

598

And from her essays, others think that they have to only study something useful for their future.

599

For example, those related to science and technology sectors.

600

The next word is workforce, and this means all the people who work in a company or country.

601

Synonyms are staff, employees, and labor force.

602

This is a noun, and a common collocation is a skilled workforce.

603

For example, a skilled workforce is key to a company's success, and from our essay, one benefit of multinational companies is

604

that they employ a large workforce the next word is gifted

605

and this means having a special talent or ability synonyms are talented skilled

606

and exceptional this is an adjective and the common collocation is a gifted child

607

or gifted children you will often use this

608

when talking about education not every essay about education but if you are talking about exceptional gifted children, you can use this word.

609

For example, the school has programs for gifted children in the arts and sciences.

610

And from our essay, children who are gifted with a particular inborn talent often achieve their goal early in their lives.

611

You could also use one of the other high -level words we mentioned in this video,

612

innate, to talk about people who are born with a particular gift.

613

The next word is nutritional, which means relating to the nutrients in food.

614

Synonyms are dietary, nutritious and nourishing.

615

This is an adjective and common collocations are nutritional value and nutritional deficiencies.

616

For example it is important to consider the nutritional value of your diet

617

and from our essays one disadvantage is that vegetarian diets may cause nutritional deficiencies.

618

One of the most common task two topics is health and it is very easy to connect health with our nutrition, our eating habits.

619

So very important word to know.

620

The next word is thrive, which means to grow or develop well.

621

Synonyms include flourish, prosper, and succeed.

622

This is a verb and a common collocation for this word is to thrive in.

623

For example, children thrive in a loving and supporting environment.

624

And from our essays, for this reason, I believe that some inborn qualities play a crucial part for people to thrive in some areas like music

625

or sports so if you think about the area or the context

626

that that person or

627

that thing is thriving in is succeeding in is prospering in then you can use thrive in

628

that area and it's not just people companies can thrive animals can thrive lots of different things can thrive

629

and the next word you might not think is a high level word

630

and it is unsafe you might think that this is a low level word

631

because you know it you know how to use it

632

and it is quite a short common word but

633

if you go to cambridgedictionary .org online pop in unsafe you'll see

634

that this is a c1 word that's a very very useful point to make

635

because many of you think that high level words are these big unknowable unusable words that you've never heard before

636

That's often not the case.

637

Often you know way more C1 and C2 words than you realize.

638

This word means not safe or dangerous.

639

Synonyms include dangerous, risky, or hazardous.

640

This is an adjective and a very common collocation are unsafe conditions.

641

For example, the building was evacuated due to unsafe conditions.

642

And from our essay, the second reason behind the negativity of being a star is

643

that it creates an unsafe environment that may endanger the star's mental health.

644

So unsafe conditions, unsafe environment, when you're talking about dangerous things, often that will come up in task two.

645

And a very, very appropriate word for our last word,

646

unwind, because I'm definitely going to have to unwind after reading out so many of these words.

647

And this means to relax after work or some kind of tension.

648

Synonyms include relax, rest, or de -stress.

649

This is a verb, and common collocations are unwind after.

650

For example, it is important to unwind after a long day at work, like reading lots and lots and lots and lots of words and definitions.

651

From our essays, this essay believes that television can do both as it helps people to unwind,

652

but it also presents complicated information in an easily digestible form.

653

So now that you know what those words are, I want you now to think about why are you watching this video.

654

You're not watching this video to boost your vocabulary.

655

You're watching this video to get the IELTS score that you need.

656

And let me tell you the worst thing that you could do right now.

657

If you want to improve your IELTS writing score, the worst thing you can do is take those words

658

and try and insert as many of those words as possible into your essay.

659

And I want to prove that to you using data

660

and a really cool software tool that you can use to analyze your own essays.

661

And I'm going to take the essays from here, IELTS 18,

662

and I'm going to show you just how many banned 789C1C2 words they actually use in their essays

663

that have been produced by Cambridge examiners so

664

if we have a look here what I've done is I've used

665

this amazing tool called text inspector text inspector does a lot of different things

666

but one of the things

667

that it does is you can add in a bunch of text

668

so I've taken the 100 essays from our band 7 8

669

and 9 students and what it will do is it will analyze all of the words

670

and categorize the words into a1 a2 b1 b2 c1 c2

671

and this was the tool i also used to actually get the words

672

so for example here's a list of all the c1 words here's all a list of all the c2 words

673

but the really really interesting thing about this data is

674

that out of all the words used only 3 .2 percent of the words are C2

675

and only 6 .04 % of the words are C1.

676

What does that tell you?

677

More than 90 % of the words used in those bands seven, eight and nine essays are A1, A2, B1, B2.

678

Now many of you might be thinking Chris you're famous for telling people to simplify their language

679

and not include too many high -level words.

680

Maybe your students, this is what their essays look like, but real band 7, 8, and 9 essays don't actually look like that.

681

So what I've done is I've taken three essays from this book, Cambridge 18.

682

These are essays that have been produced by very high -level examiners

683

and put into their book so let's see what their essays look like.

684

1 .31 % of their words were C2.

685

3 .67 % of their words were C1.

686

Around 95 % of their words are A1,

687

A2, B1, B2 and the majority of their words are A1 and A2, more than half.

688

And this isn't just IELTS essays.

689

You can take any great writing.

690

I've taken George Orwell essays, who is probably the greatest writer of the 20th century, and the graph looks like this.

691

I've taken academic journal articles from my university days.

692

I've taken the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, probably.

693

the best writing of any newspapers, it looks like this.

694

So when you go on to your social media accounts, you go on to Instagram, you go on to TikTok,

695

and some guy is giving you a list of C1

696

and C2 words and telling you that your essays are not good enough if your essays aren't packed full of these words,

697

just ask yourself a question.

698

Who do you think knows more?

699

The person that runs the most successful online IELTS course in the world,

700

Cambridge examiners, George Orwell, the people who write articles for the Financial Times in the Wall Street Journal,

701

or some clown on TikTok or Instagram.

702

So you're probably thinking now, well, what do I do now?

703

You've given me this list of high -level words.

704

How am I actually going to use them in my essay to improve my score?

705

Am I saying not to use c1

706

and c2 words no what i'm saying is you should be using all levels of words accurately and appropriately

707

if you want to know more about how to do this

708

this video will go into more detail on how to use not just higher level vocabulary

709

but lower level vocabulary correctly in your essays and

710

if you want those 100 band 7 8

711

and 9 sample essays just go to google

712

and type in ielts advantage 100 sample essays and Google will show you where they are

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “69 Advanced Words (C1 + C2) to Get a Band 9”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, essay, example, synonym, common. This video has 712 sentences and 8700 words to shadow. The speech runs for 56:39. The speaker talks at a natural 154 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
essay noun	/ˈɛs.eɪ/	A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject.
noun noun	/naʊn/	A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea…
phenomenon noun	/fəˈnɒm.ɪ.nən/	A thing or being, event or process, perceptible through senses; or a fact or occurrence thereof.
bullying noun	/ˈbʊ.li.ɪŋ/	An act of intimidating a person to do something, especially such repeated coercion.
deficiency noun	/dɪˈfɪʃənsi/	Inadequacy or incompleteness.
fundamental adjective	/ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/	Related to a foundation, base, or basis; serving as a foundation.
capability noun	/ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/	The power or ability to generate an outcome.
verb noun	/vɝb/	A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
disadvantage noun	/ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/	A weakness or undesirable characteristic; con; drawback.
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
enhance verb	/ɪnˈhæns/	To augment or make something greater.
harassment noun	/həˈɹæsmənt/	Persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress.
incentive noun	/ɪnˈsɛntɪv/	Something that motivates, rouses, or encourages.
accountable adjective	/əˈkaʊntəbl̩/	Obliged, when called upon, to answer (for one’s deeds); answerable.
expenditure noun	/ɛkˈspɛndɪt͡ʃə/	Act of expending or paying out.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come under verb	To come underneath (something).
look through verb	To take a view of the contents of; search in, either with the eyes or by hand.
come up verb	To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
get back to verb	Return to (an activity)
go round verb	To physically swirl or rotate.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
grow up verb	To mature and become an adult.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

I've just given you an incentive.
If you're accountable for something, it's normally your actions.
In that example, we didn't fix the issue.
What does that tell you?
Who do you think knows more?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	they've added · i've developed · has increased
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be asked · is renowned · are renowned
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	prone, which means · intellect, which means · incentives, which means

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 117 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thrive /θɹajv/, athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, worthy /ˈwɝ.ði/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: deficiency /dɪˈfɪʃənsi/, conclusion /kənˈkluːʒən/, consumption /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/, emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/, corruption /kəˈɹʌpʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: phenomenon /fəˈnɒm.ɪ.nən/, deficiency /dɪˈfɪʃənsi/, fundamental /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/, capability /ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/, disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like essay, noun, phenomenon.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 69 Advanced Words (C1 + C2) to Get a Band 9 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?