IELTS Band 8 Plan Week 5: Precise Vocabulary and Accuracy

This week's sessions

Tick each session when you finish it. Your ticks are saved only in this browser.

Day 1 · 🔤 Vocabulary · about 25 minPrecise vocabularyRead this week's lesson, then do the vocabulary set below. Afterwards, do ten collocation flashcards and note any partner word you didn't know.
Day 2 · ✍️ Writing · about 25 minError-free complex sentencesDo the grammar set below. Then find two sentences in your week 2 essays that have one of the five errors in the lesson, and correct them.
Day 3 · ✍️ Writing · about 35 minEssay 3: precision firstWrite a full essay in 40 minutes. Use no more than two complex structures per paragraph, and choose the precise word over the rare one.
Day 4 · ✍️ Writing · about 25 minProofread with your error logProofread essay 3 three times, once for each of your top three error types, then paste it into the writing checker. Count the sentences that are completely error-free.
Day 5 · ✍️ Writing · about 25 minTask 1 at band 8Write one Task 1 report in 20 minutes: an overview with no numbers and grouped, precise comparisons. Then press Mark my writing and compare with the model.

This week's lesson: precise vocabulary and a majority of error-free sentences

In Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy, the step from 7 to 8 is about control. Band 7 uses some less common vocabulary and complex structures with some flexibility, and error-free sentences are frequent. Band 8 uses a wide range fluently, uses uncommon items skilfully, and the majority of sentences are error-free. Mistakes still happen, but they're occasional, not a pattern.

Vocabulary: precise, not rare

The word that scores is the one that says exactly what you mean.

Reduce is fine. Curb adds the idea of control: measures to curb car use.
Damage is general. Erode means damage slowly: trust in the media has eroded.
Cause is neutral. Fuel means make something grow: low interest rates fuelled demand for housing.

Before you use a less common word, ask: Do I know its collocations and its register? You can curb spending, emissions or use, but not ~~a problem~~. If you're not sure, use the simpler word.

Word form and near-misses

These look small, but they're typical of band 7:

economic (about the economy) and economical (cheap to run)
beneficial to (adjective) and a benefit to (noun)
a rise in prices, not ~~a raise of prices~~
compared with or in comparison with, not ~~in compare with~~

Register

Band 8 writing is formal without being stiff. Avoid both extremes:

Too informal: a lot of, kids, get rid of
Forced: the populace, a plethora of, it is incumbent upon
Natural academic: many, children, eliminate

Grammar: range with control

These structures help when the meaning needs them:

Inversion after a fronted phrase: Only when costs fall will most households switch.
Cleft sentences: What matters most is not the price but the reliability.
Reduced relative clauses: Policies introduced in the last decade have...
Mixed conditionals: If cities had invested in rail earlier, congestion would not be so severe today.

One or two per paragraph is plenty. Accuracy comes first.

The errors that keep good writers at 7.5

Agreement with long subjects: The number of students who apply for these courses has risen.
Dangling participles: ~~Having introduced the tax, sugar consumption fell.~~ → Having introduced the tax, the government saw sugar consumption fall.
Uncountable nouns: research, advice, evidence, knowledge, infrastructure: no -s.
Parallel lists: to reduce costs, improve safety and attract visitors.
Articles in general statements: Governments should..., not ~~The governments should...~~, when you mean governments in general.

Task 1 at band 8

The same control applies to Task 1. A band 8 report presents the key features clearly and supports them with well-chosen data. Group information, compare precisely (almost a third, a fourfold increase), and keep the overview free of numbers.

Your proofreading routine (3 minutes)

Open your error log and find your top three error types. Read your writing three times quickly, once for each type. This is faster and catches more than one slow read for everything.

This week

Do the vocabulary and grammar sets, write one essay and one Task 1 report, and proofread both with your top three error types.

Practice for this week

Precise vocabulary

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Error-free complex sentences

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Weekly check: Writing practice 2

Both tasks in 60 minutes, leaving 3 minutes to proofread for your top three error types.

Start the weekly check

When you finish, come back to your plan home: your dashboard updates with the new score.

Answers, explanations and transcripts

Finish the test first, then open each section to check your answers. Every answer has an explanation.

Precise vocabulary

Answer key (8 answers)

#	Question	Answer	Why
1	Which sentence uses 'curb' correctly?	The government introduced measures to curb emissions from heavy industry.	You curb something that can be limited or controlled: emissions, spending, use. 'Curb a problem' isn't natural, and curb isn't used without an object.
2	'Hybrid cars are more ______ to run than petrol cars.' Which word fits?	economical	Economical = cheap to run or use. Economic = connected with the economy (economic growth). Mixing them up is a typical band 7 word-form error.
3	'Repeated scandals have gradually ______ public trust in the institution.' Which verb is most precise?	eroded	Erode means to damage slowly over time, which matches 'gradually'. Destroyed is too strong and doesn't fit 'gradually' well, 'reduced down' is redundant, and 'lowered trust' is a weak collocation.
4	Which sentence is best for a Task 2 essay?	Many children now spend more time online than is good for them.	C is formal, natural and precise. A is too informal, B is forced and unnatural (a sign of thesaurus vocabulary, not skill), and D has an agreement error.
5	Which collocation is natural?	a heated debate	'A heated debate' is the standard collocation. 'A burning issue' is natural, but 'a burning debate' isn't.
6	'The new metro line has ______ development in the surrounding suburbs.' Which verb shows that the line made development grow?	fuelled	Fuel = cause something to grow or increase. Affected is accurate but vague: it doesn't say in which direction.
7	Which sentence uses a less common expression skilfully?	Online learning is a double-edged sword: it widens access but demands far more self-discipline.	A uses one idiom that fits exactly and then explains it. B and C force idioms that don't fit the meaning or the register, and D is confused. Band 8 needs uncommon items used skilfully, not as many as possible.
8	Which sentence is correct?	There has been a sharp rise in the price of housing.	A rise in (or an increase in) something. 'Raise' is mainly a verb (raise prices); as a noun it usually means a pay increase in American English.

Error-free complex sentences

Answer key (8 answers)

#	Question	Answer	Why
9	Which sentence is error-free?	The number of students who apply for engineering courses has risen.	The subject is 'the number', which is singular, so it takes has. The long phrase in between ('of students who apply…') is a common trap.
10	Which sentence is error-free?	Having introduced the sugar tax, the government saw consumption of soft drinks fall.	The subject of a participle clause must be the subject of the main clause. In A, it sounds as if consumption introduced the tax (a dangling participle).
11	Which sentence uses inversion correctly?	Only when public transport becomes reliable will people leave their cars at home.	After 'Only when + clause' at the start, the main clause is inverted: will people leave. The 'when' clause itself isn't inverted (D), and it uses a present tense, not will (C).
12	Which sentence is error-free?	Recent research provides strong evidence that sleep affects memory.	Research and evidence are uncountable: no -s and no 'a'. Research takes a singular verb, and affect is the verb (effect is usually the noun).
13	Which sentence is error-free?	The scheme aims to reduce congestion, improve air quality and attract visitors to the centre.	Items in a list need the same form (parallelism): to reduce…, improve… and attract….
14	Which cleft sentence is correct?	What concerns many residents is not the cost of the project but its effect on traffic.	'What + clause + is…' is the pattern. In B and D, 'it' is an extra subject, and C needs 'that' instead of 'what'.
15	Which mixed conditional is correct?	If the city had invested in rail twenty years ago, congestion would not be so severe today.	Past condition (had invested), present result (would not be… today). C is the tempting error: 'would not have been' is a past result, which clashes with 'today'.
16	Which sentence is error-free?	Governments should do more to protect the environment.	For a general statement about governments, use the plural with no article. 'The environment' (the natural world) needs 'the'. Article errors like these are among the most common repeated errors at band 7.

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