What Lexical Resource actually rewards
IELTS Speaking vocabulary is not a list of difficult words. It is the ability to talk about any everyday topic with the precise word, to use some less common and idiomatic language naturally, and to paraphrase smoothly when a word escapes you. Those three things are, almost word for word, the Band 7 Lexical Resource descriptor in the public IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors PDF: "Resource flexibly used to discuss a variety of topics. Some ability to use less common and idiomatic items and an awareness of style and collocation is evident though inappropriacies occur. Effective use of paraphrase as required." This page gives you the material for each of those lines: topic vocabulary for the twelve families that recur in every question cycle, thirty idioms that sound like a person rather than a textbook, linking phrases sorted by what they do, and, just as important, the memorised phrases and fillers that drag a 7 back to a 6. Every example line is written by TalkDrill as teaching material. For how Lexical Resource sits beside the other three criteria, read the band descriptors page first.
| Band | Lexical Resource descriptor (PDF) | What the examiner is listening for (TalkDrill) |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | "Resource sufficient to discuss topics at length. Vocabulary use may be inappropriate but meaning is clear. Generally able to paraphrase successfully." | You never run out of words, but "good", "nice", "very", "a lot" carry too much weight and a word is sometimes the wrong register. |
| 7 | "Resource flexibly used to discuss a variety of topics. Some ability to use less common and idiomatic items and an awareness of style and collocation is evident though inappropriacies occur. Effective use of paraphrase as required." | Topic-specific words appear without strain; a natural idiom or phrasal verb lands once or twice; you talk around a gap without stopping. |
| 8 | "Wide resource, readily and flexibly used to discuss all topics and convey precise meaning. Skilful use of less common and idiomatic items despite occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. Effective use of paraphrase as required." | The exact word most of the time, idiomatic language that fits the moment, and only the odd collocation slip. |
Notice two things. The word "idiomatic" appears at 7 and 8, so idioms are not a trick; they are in the descriptor. And "inappropriacies occur" at 7 means you are allowed to misuse a word now and then. What you cannot do is misuse them so often that it becomes the pattern, which is the Band 6 line.
Topic vocabulary for the 12 recurring families
Part 1 topics, Part 2 cards and Part 3 questions change every cycle, but they are drawn from the same families. Learn words by family and you can use them across three cards instead of one. Each row gives collocations (word pairs that native speakers actually say) rather than single words, because collocation is named in the descriptor and single words are not. The example line shows the words doing work in a sentence; all lines are TalkDrill-written.
| Family | Collocations worth owning | Example line (TalkDrill) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Work and study | a demanding job, a steep learning curve, meet a deadline, juggle work and study, a dead-end job, hands-on experience, a supportive manager, work long hours | "It's a demanding job with a steep learning curve, but my manager is supportive, so I've learnt more in six months than in two years of college." |
| 2. Hometown and home | a close-knit community, a residential area, on the outskirts, a two-bedroom flat, a bit cramped, within walking distance, well connected, a quiet neighbourhood | "We live on the outskirts, in a fairly quiet neighbourhood, but it's well connected, so the city centre is twenty minutes away." |
| 3. Family and friends | an extended family, get on well with, a close friend, drift apart, keep in touch, look up to, a family gathering, a generation gap | "We drifted apart after school, but we've kept in touch, and she's still the person I look up to." |
| 4. Technology and apps | rely heavily on, a time-saver, glued to a screen, a notification, a data plan, user-friendly, go viral, switch off (from work) | "I rely heavily on one banking app; it's user-friendly, but I've started turning notifications off so I'm not glued to the screen." |
| 5. Environment and weather | a heatwave, heavy rain, air quality, a plastic ban, renewable energy, a carbon footprint, cut down on, unpredictable weather | "The weather has become unpredictable; we had a heatwave in March and then heavy rain for a week." |
| 6. Health and food | a balanced diet, home-cooked food, a sedentary lifestyle, cut down on sugar, a sweet tooth, eat out, a staple food, stay in shape | "I've got a sweet tooth, so cutting down on sugar is the hard part; otherwise home-cooked food keeps me in shape." |
| 7. Travel and transport | off the beaten track, a long-haul flight, public transport, rush hour, a round trip, get around, a tourist trap, set off early | "We set off early to avoid rush hour, and the place itself was off the beaten track, so no tourist traps." |
| 8. Media, films and books | a gripping plot, binge-watch, a page-turner, a subtitle, a plot twist, a documentary, a genre, lose track of time | "It's a page-turner; I lost track of time and finished it in two sittings." |
| 9. Shopping and money | a bargain, value for money, splash out, an impulse purchase, set a budget, make ends meet, a brand-conscious person, second-hand | "I set a budget each month, but I splashed out on a second-hand camera last year, which was a bargain." |
| 10. Education and learning | rote learning, a hands-on approach, pick something up, a native speaker, a qualification, drop out, peer pressure, a mentor | "School was mostly rote learning; I picked up coding through a hands-on course with a mentor." |
| 11. Hobbies, sport and free time | take up, give up, unwind, a team sport, a sense of achievement, a hobby that pays off, outdoor activities, catch up with friends | "I took up badminton to unwind, and the sense of achievement when you win a close game is hard to describe." |
| 12. Society, cities and the future | the cost of living, urban sprawl, a sense of community, an ageing population, a work-life balance, automation, in the long run, a mixed blessing | "Automation is a mixed blessing; in the long run it creates jobs, but the cost of living is rising faster than wages right now." |
How to use the table: for each family, say the example line aloud, then build one line of your own about your life with two of the collocations. That is 24 sentences. Record them. Within a week they will come out in a mock without you reaching for them, which is the only kind of vocabulary that scores. The 2026 cue cards page maps each current card to one of these families, and the Part 1 page does the same for the question sets.
30 idioms that sound natural, with example lines
The test for an idiom is simple: would an educated native speaker say it in a conversation with a stranger? Proverbs ("every cloud has a silver lining") fail that test; everyday idioms and phrasal expressions pass it. The thirty below pass. Each comes with a meaning, a TalkDrill example line and the family it suits, so you can place it rather than force it.
| # | Idiom | Meaning | Example line (TalkDrill) | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | in the long run | over a long period | "Renting is cheaper now, but buying works out better in the long run." | Part 3, money, future |
| 2 | on the fence | undecided | "I'm still on the fence about studying abroad." | Part 3 opinions |
| 3 | keep an eye on | watch, monitor | "My parents keep an eye on how much time my brother spends gaming." | Family, technology |
| 4 | a far cry from | very different from | "The city is a far cry from the village I grew up in." | Hometown, change |
| 5 | out of the blue | unexpectedly | "An old school friend messaged me out of the blue last month." | Part 2 stories |
| 6 | once in a blue moon | very rarely | "I eat out once in a blue moon, usually on someone's birthday." | Food, habits |
| 7 | a blessing in disguise | a bad thing that turned out well | "Losing that job was a blessing in disguise; it pushed me to retrain." | Part 2 experiences |
| 8 | hit the ground running | start something well and fast | "The internship let me hit the ground running when the real job began." | Work |
| 9 | cut corners | do something cheaply or badly to save time | "Builders here cut corners, which is why new flats leak in the monsoon." | Cities, Part 3 |
| 10 | go the extra mile | make a special effort | "Good teachers go the extra mile for students who are struggling." | Education, people |
| 11 | food for thought | something worth thinking about | "The documentary gave me food for thought about where my clothes come from." | Media, Part 3 |
| 12 | the tip of the iceberg | a small visible part of a bigger problem | "Traffic is just the tip of the iceberg; the real issue is how the city was planned." | Part 3 problems |
| 13 | take something with a pinch of salt | not believe it completely | "I take online reviews with a pinch of salt." | Technology, shopping |
| 14 | in the same boat | in the same difficult situation | "Everyone in my batch was in the same boat during the placements." | Study, work |
| 15 | a steep learning curve | hard to learn at first | "Driving in Delhi was a steep learning curve." | Skills, work |
| 16 | make ends meet | have just enough money | "My grandparents worked two jobs to make ends meet." | Money, family |
| 17 | off the beaten track | away from the usual tourist places | "We found a beach that was completely off the beaten track." | Travel |
| 18 | round the clock | all day and night | "Nurses in that ward work round the clock." | Work, health |
| 19 | be torn between | unable to choose | "I was torn between engineering and design." | Decisions, Part 2 |
| 20 | word of mouth | recommendation by people talking | "The restaurant has no advertising; it grew by word of mouth." | Shopping, food |
| 21 | a breath of fresh air | something pleasantly different | "Our new manager is a breath of fresh air after years of the same routine." | People, work |
| 22 | keep up with | stay at the same level or informed | "It's hard to keep up with the changes in my field." | Technology, work |
| 23 | catch up with | meet and exchange news | "I catch up with my school friends every Diwali." | Friends, free time |
| 24 | break the ice | make people comfortable at the start | "A joke about the heat usually breaks the ice with new clients." | People, work |
| 25 | second nature | so familiar it needs no thought | "After a year of cycling to work it became second nature." | Skills, habits |
| 26 | a mixed blessing | good and bad at the same time | "Working from home is a mixed blessing; no commute, but no off switch." | Part 3 evaluations |
| 27 | on my mind | something I keep thinking about | "The exam has been on my mind for weeks." | Feelings |
| 28 | get a lot out of | benefit from | "I got a lot out of the volunteering, more than the people I was helping, probably." | Experiences |
| 29 | over the moon | extremely happy | "My mother was over the moon when I got the offer." | Part 2 events |
| 30 | at the end of the day | when everything is considered | "At the end of the day, people move cities for work, not for the weather." | Part 3 conclusions |
Three rules for using them. One: never use an idiom you have not heard a native speaker use in a sentence; the 200 idioms and phrases book explains each one with its meaning and where it came from. Two: one idiom per answer at most, and only when it is the shortest way to say the thing. Three: do not announce it. "As the idiom goes, I was over the moon" tells the examiner you learnt it this week. "I was over the moon" is Band 8.
Linking phrases by function
The Fluency and Coherence descriptor at Band 7 asks for "flexible use of spoken discourse markers, connectives and cohesive features". Flexible means you have more than one way to do each job, and spoken means they sound like talk, not an essay. Sort them by function and you will reach for the right one without thinking.
| Function | Spoken phrases that sound natural | Written phrases that sound memorised in speech |
|---|---|---|
| Giving an opinion | I'd say ... / To me, ... / I think ... / If I'm honest, ... / My feeling is ... | In my humble opinion / As far as I am concerned / From my point of view, I personally believe |
| Giving a reason | Mainly because ... / The main thing is ... / Partly because ... / What makes the difference is ... | Due to the fact that / Owing to / The reason behind this is that |
| Giving an example | For instance, ... / Take my cousin, she ... / Like last week, when ... | To illustrate this point / A case in point is / For example (overused as the only option) |
| Adding a point | Another thing is ... / On top of that, ... / And also, ... / Not to mention ... | In addition to this / Additionally / Secondly, thirdly |
| Contrasting | Having said that, ... / On the other hand, ... / Then again, ... / But at the same time ... | Nevertheless / Nonetheless / On the contrary (which means "the opposite is true", not "however") |
| Conceding | I can see why people ... but ... / Fair enough, but ... / That's true up to a point. | While it may be argued that / It cannot be denied that |
| Sequencing a story | To start with ... / Then ... / After a while ... / In the end ... | Firstly, secondly, finally / Subsequently / Last but not least |
| Speculating | I suppose ... / It could be that ... / I imagine ... / Chances are ... | It is highly probable that / One can only assume that |
| Buying a second to think | That's a good question ... (once) / Let me think ... / Well, ... / Hmm, I've never thought about it, but ... | That's a very interesting question (every time) / Well, it is a difficult question to answer |
| Summing up | So, all in all, ... / At the end of the day, ... / Basically it comes down to ... | In a nutshell / To sum up / All things considered |
Use the left column. The right column is not wrong English; it is the wrong register, and the descriptor names "awareness of style" as part of Lexical Resource. A test full of right-column phrases sounds like a candidate reciting; the examiner cannot hear flexibility in a recitation. For the shape of a Part 3 answer that these phrases fit into, see the Part 3 frameworks page.
The phrases that sound memorised, and cost marks
Examiners in India hear the same coaching-centre phrases many times a day. They do not break the band on their own, but they do three things against you: they signal rehearsal, which makes the examiner listen harder for memorised chunks elsewhere; they are usually in essay register, which is an inappropriacy of style; and they waste seconds that could have carried content. Here is the list we would retire tonight, with what to say instead. The replacements are TalkDrill's.
| Retire this | Why it hurts | Say this instead |
|---|---|---|
| "In this day and age" / "In the modern era" / "Nowadays, with the development of technology" | Essay openers; the examiner knows the next sentence is memorised. | "These days" or "Now", or simply start with the point. |
| "a double-edged sword" / "every coin has two sides" / "every cloud has a silver lining" | Proverbs; native speakers rarely say them, and they are the most over-taught lines in Indian coaching. | "It cuts both ways" / "a mixed blessing" / "there was an upside". |
| "That's a very interesting question" (every question) | A stalling phrase that becomes a tic; the Band 5 line names "overuse of certain discourse markers". | Use it once if the question really is unusual; otherwise "Hmm, let me think" or just start. |
| "It goes without saying that ..." | If it goes without saying, do not say it; also written register. | "Obviously ..." or drop it. |
| "Last but not least" | Written sequencing; nobody says it at a dinner table. | "And the other thing is ..." |
| "I would like to share my opinion on this" / "Let me tell you about ..." | Announces the answer instead of giving it; costs five seconds of your two minutes. | Start with the answer. |
| "a hot potato" / "raining cats and dogs" / "the apple of my eye" / "a couch potato" | Dated or children's-book idioms; they read as a list learnt for the test. | "a sensitive issue" / "pouring" / "my favourite person" / "I'm pretty lazy at weekends". |
| "burn the midnight oil" / "kill two birds with one stone" | Over-used in coaching material to the point of parody. | "stay up late working" / "do both at once". |
| "to be very frank" / "to be honest with you" (as every opener) | Implies you were not being honest before; as a tic it is a filler. | Use once, when you are about to say something surprising. |
| Memorised Part 1 self-introductions ("Myself Rahul, I belong to ...") | Not asked for; the frame has no slot for it; "myself" as a subject is an error. | Answer the question that was asked. |
The test for any phrase: have you heard it in a film, a podcast or a real conversation with a native speaker in the last month? If the only place you have met it is an IELTS book, leave it in the book. The Band 8 guide explains why examiners can hear a memorised chunk within a few words: the rhythm changes and the voice speeds up.
The filler audit: actually, basically, only, na
Fillers are the quiet reason many Indian candidates sit at Band 6 in Fluency and Coherence. The Band 6 descriptor says markers are used "though not always appropriately"; the Band 5 descriptor names "overuse". Indian English has a small set that the examiner hears as exactly this. Record a two-minute Part 2 answer and count each of these on playback. The targets are TalkDrill's.
| Filler | Where it comes from | Count per 2 minutes: fine / costly | Replace with |
|---|---|---|---|
| "actually" to open an answer | Hindi "asal mein", Punjabi "asl vich" | 0 to 1 / 3 or more | Nothing; or "well," once |
| "basically" before a reason | Coaching habit | 0 to 1 / 3 or more | "mainly because", "the main thing is" |
| "only" as emphasis ("I like tea only", "in Ludhiana only") | Hindi "hi", Punjabi "hi", Tamil "thaan" | 0 / any | Stress the word with your voice: "I like TEA", "right there in Ludhiana" |
| "means" / "I mean to say" as a connector | Hindi "matlab" | 0 to 1 / 2 or more | "what I mean is", "in other words" |
| "na" / "isn't it" / "no?" as a tag | Hindi "na", Malayalam "alle", Tamil "illa" | 0 / any | Proper tags ("doesn't it?") or none |
| "like" between every phrase | English-medium school habit | 0 to 2 / 5 or more | A short silent pause |
| "you know" / "I think so" at the end | Hesitation marker | 0 to 1 / 3 or more | Finish the sentence and stop |
| "and all" / "and everything" to close a list | Hindi "vagairah", "sab" | 0 / any | "and so on", or name a third item |
The replacement for most fillers is silence. A half-second pause before a reason sounds like thought; "basically" sounds like a search. The hardest one is "only", because it is doing grammatical work in your first language; the fix is to move the emphasis into your voice, which also helps the Pronunciation criterion's "stress and intonation" line. Your first-language page (Punjabi and Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil, Vietnamese, Arabic and Tagalog) lists the fillers specific to your mother tongue.
Paraphrase and collocation: the Band 7 skills nobody drills
Two lines in the descriptor decide more Band 7s than any idiom list: "effective use of paraphrase as required" and "an awareness of style and collocation". Both can be drilled.
Paraphrase: talk around the gap without stopping
When a word escapes you, the Band 6 candidate stops and searches; the Band 7 candidate describes. Four frames, each said at normal speed: "the thing you use to ..." (function), "a kind of ..." (category), "it's like a ... but ..." (comparison), "I don't know the English word, but it's what you ... when ..." (situation). Example (TalkDrill): you forget "pressure cooker". Band 6: "we cook dal in a ... a ... (four seconds) ... cooker." Band 7: "we cook dal in a kind of sealed pot that cooks things fast, a pressure cooker, that's it." The second version is longer, contains a relative clause and never breaks rhythm; the examiner hears paraphrase as a strength, not a gap.
Collocation: the pairs that make you sound precise
Collocation is which words go together. "Heavy rain" not "strong rain", "make a mistake" not "do a mistake", "a high salary" not "a big salary", "do homework" not "make homework", "strong tea" not "powerful tea". Learn collocations as units: the topic table above is built from them. A quick drill: pick any noun from your Part 2 card and say three verbs and three adjectives that go with it before you start the minute. "Journey: take, plan, break (a journey); long, tiring, memorable." Those six words are now in your working memory for the talk.
One Part 2 opening, two ways (TalkDrill-written)
Band 6 vocabulary: "I want to talk about a very good teacher. She was very nice and very helpful. She taught me maths in class ten and she was very good at teaching. Because of her I got good marks."
Band 7 to 8 vocabulary, same content: "The teacher I'd like to talk about is Mrs Kaur, who taught me maths in class ten. She had a knack for explaining things three different ways until one of them clicked, and she went the extra mile with students who were struggling, which included me. I owe my marks in that subject to her patience more than my talent."
What changed: "very good, very nice, very helpful" became "had a knack for", "clicked", "went the extra mile", "owe ... to". Nothing rare; everything precise and in register. Four collocations, one everyday idiom, no proverb.
How to make new words come out of your mouth
Vocabulary you can recognise is not vocabulary you can speak. The gap closes only through repetition out loud under light pressure. A route:
- Pick one family a day from the table above. Say the example line, then two lines of your own. Record them on your phone.
- Run a Part 2 card from that family on TalkDrill IELTS Speaking practice; the AI scores Lexical Resource separately, so you can see whether the new words appeared and whether they fitted.
- Count fillers on playback with the audit table. Pick one filler a week to retire; do not try to drop all of them at once, because you will replace them with silence in the wrong places.
- Read aloud for rhythm. The read-aloud practice passages put collocations into stress-timed sentences, which trains the Pronunciation criterion at the same time.
- Swap one idiom in per week. Not more. By test day you will have six to eight you own, which is all a Band 8 test needs.
- Check yourself against the descriptors with the self-rating table on the band descriptors page, and run the full free practice test once a week.
The official sample questions on ielts.org are the right raw material for all of this; our IELTS Speaking questions and answers book adds model answers written at Band 7 and 8 with the collocations marked. Everything else on this module, from the IELTS Speaking hub, assumes you have this page's vocabulary habits in place.