Lexical resource: vocabulary

Lexical resource means vocabulary: how wide your range is, and how accurately and suitably you use it for the task.

What examiners look at

According to the official criteria document, read on 12 November 2026:

• the range of general words, for example using synonyms to avoid repetition,
• whether the vocabulary is adequate and appropriate, including topic-specific words,
• precision of word choice,
• control of collocations, idiomatic expressions and sophisticated phrasing,
• how many errors there are in spelling and word formation, and how much they affect communication.

Precision beats rarity

The criteria reward the right word, not the longest. Vague: "Pollution is a big problem and has bad effects." Precise: "Air pollution damages health and shortens lives." Simple words, exact meaning.

Learners often replace an ordinary word with a rare one from a list. If the rare word does not quite fit, the sentence gets worse. "The government should ameliorate the roads" is odd; "improve" or "repair" is right.

Collocation

Collocations are words that go together naturally. We "make a decision", "take a risk", "do research", "heavy rain", "strong wind". Errors here are common in learners from India because the mother tongue pairs words differently.

Avoiding repetition

Repeating the key word of the question in every sentence looks limited. Use synonyms and related forms, but only true ones. For "children": young people, pupils, the young. For "increase": rise, grow, climb; as nouns, a rise, growth. "Kids" is too informal for an essay.

Word formation

One root gives several words: economy, economic, economical, economically, economist. Choosing the wrong form is counted as an error. "Economic growth" is about the economy; an "economical car" saves money. Learn words in families.

Spelling

The criterion counts spelling errors by how many there are and how far they get in the way. British or American spelling is fine; keep to one. Words often misspelt: environment, government, necessary, definitely, separate, accommodation, occurred, beginning, believe, their and there.

Tone

An essay and a formal letter need a neutral, fairly formal vocabulary: no slang, no contractions in very formal letters, no text-message forms. An informal letter to a friend, in General Training, should sound friendly; stiff formal words there are just as unsuitable.

Building vocabulary that you can use

1. Collect words by topic: education, environment, health, technology, work, cities.
2. Write each new word in a phrase, not alone: "raise awareness of", not just "awareness".
3. Use it in a sentence of your own the same day.
4. When you get an essay back, list the words you repeated and find two alternatives for each.

Next

Grammatical range and accuracy All writing pages

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