IELTS Vocabulary 8+ for iPhone and iPad

Each app contains exercises to help you add 250 words to your active vocabulary in speaking and writing and finally score bands 7 to 8 and above. You learn 250 words, plus their synonyms, and the 250 example sentences to show how the words are used. The words are divided into 25 different topics and each set of words is taught through 10 stages or exercises. Using your phone or iPad, you learn to read, spell, hear, and write the words, as well as use them in a typical IELTS writing or speaking sentence. Purchasing both apps will add 500 words, plus their synonyms, to your IELTS vocabulary. The apps are available from iTunes and the Google Play store. Watch this video to see how the app works.

Working on the IELTS test since 1995 has given me a good working knowledge of all parts of the test as well as the type and level of vocabulary that will feature in the test. Unlike other vocabulary apps, which often simply take vocabulary from the Academic Word List, the words you will learn through my apps are related to topics that are common in IELTS, and are words that candidates struggle to produce at the right time in the test. The recording was made specifically for the apps and is not simply cut and pasted from other resources. Vocabulary can be divided into two categories: the vocabulary you know and can understand when reading and listening, and the vocabulary you are able to actively produce when speaking and listening. The first of these – your receptive or passive vocabulary – is much larger than the second, you active vocabulary. So, when you read, you can understand far more words than you are actively able to produce when speaking and writing. The reality is that the vocabulary you need to be able to produce is quite different to the vocabulary you need to be able to understand. Apps that simply teach vocabulary from the AWL do not help you to make this distinction, and so you are learning words that you will not need to use in the test – words that may help your reading score, but that will not help your writing score. On the technical side, while I provided the exercises, content and ideas used in the app, it was built by skilled technicians, so works seamlessly and makes learning a pleasure. The app is completely self-contained, so once you have downloaded it, you have all of the information you need, including the recordings. You do not need an internet connection to use it, there are no ads, and no need to pay extra once you have it – you simply download it and learn wherever you are!

The teaching system used in the app is based on my own classroom teaching and the way that I used to learn vocabulary as a language student myself. It is based on the idea that you can learn and remember vocabulary best when there is repetition and variety. So, through reading, matching, listening, and writing the words, you are constantly learning and reviewing them, and improving your active vocabulary as well as your accuracy.