# What Is Lexical Resource in IELTS? Meaning, Bands and How to Improve > Lexical Resource is IELTS's vocabulary criterion in Writing and Speaking. See what it measures, how bands differ and how to improve it. Source: https://toey.app/en/blog/what-is-lexical-resource-in-ielts-meaning-bands Published: 2026-11-05T20:22:05.108468+00:00 Updated: 2026-11-05T20:22:05.108468+00:00 Category: vocabulary Tags: ielts, lexical-resource, ielts-vocabulary, ielts-writing, ielts-speaking, band-descriptors --- ## Lexical Resource in one answer Lexical Resource is the vocabulary criterion in IELTS Writing and Speaking. It measures how wide your vocabulary is, how precisely you choose words and how naturally you combine them, not how many rare words you can squeeze in. If you searched for "Lexical Resource là gì", the short version is this: it is the *tiêu chí từ vựng*, and it carries one quarter of your Writing mark and one quarter of your Speaking mark. ## Where Lexical Resource appears IELTS Writing is marked on four criteria: Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2), Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. IELTS Speaking is also marked on four: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. The four criteria in each skill count equally. Reading and Listening have no Lexical Resource mark, although a wider vocabulary obviously helps you understand the texts and recordings. The criterion has the same name in both skills but behaves differently. In Writing, the examiner reads your finished text, so spelling, word forms and repeated words are all visible. In Speaking, the examiner hears you think in real time, so what counts is how smoothly you find another way to say something when the exact word escapes you. ## What examiners actually look at Examiners are not counting difficult words. They look at three things working together. **Range.** Can you talk about different topics without repeating the same few words? Writing "increase" six times in a Task 1 report shows a narrow range. **Precision.** Do your words fit the exact meaning? A learner who writes "big" for everything sounds vaguer than one who chooses "substantial", "steep" or "widespread" as the context demands. > The graph shows a big increase in the number of cars. > The number of cars rose sharply between 2010 and 2020. **Naturalness.** Do your words sit together the way English speakers combine them? "Make a decision" is natural, "do a decision" is not. This is the collocation side of the criterion, and it has its own post on the Toey blog if you want to go deeper. In Writing there is a fourth, quieter factor: accuracy of spelling and word formation. A good word spelled wrongly, or used in the wrong form ("economic" where you need "economy"), costs marks. ## How the bands differ, in plain words The official band descriptors are published by the IELTS partners (British Council, IDP and Cambridge), so check the wording there. In plain terms, the pattern looks like this. - **Band 5:** the range is limited and repetitive. Word choice and spelling errors sometimes make the message harder to follow. - **Band 6:** the range is adequate for the task. You try less common words, but with some inaccuracy. - **Band 7:** you use vocabulary with flexibility and precision, including less common items, with some awareness of style and collocation. Occasional slips are fine. - **Band 8:** the range is wide, and you use it skilfully and naturally. Errors are rare and minor. - **Band 9:** you use vocabulary with full flexibility and precision, and it reads or sounds natural throughout. The jump from 6 to 7 is usually about control, not about learning more words. Candidates at Band 6 often attempt ambitious words and get them slightly wrong. Candidates at Band 7 choose fewer but better-fitting words. ## Four misunderstandings that cost marks **"Rare words equal a high band."** Forced rare vocabulary often produces errors, and errors lower the mark. > Nowadays, the phenomenon of obesity is increasingly pervasive in contemporary society. This sentence sounds impressive and says almost nothing. Compare it with a plain, exact one: > Obesity rates have doubled in many countries since 1990. **"I should memorise a word list."** Single words learned from a list tend to be used in the wrong context. Learn each word inside a phrase or a sentence. **"Speaking only needs simple words."** Simple does not mean vague. Speaking rewards natural, flexible language, including common idiomatic phrases used in the right place, and the ability to paraphrase when you are stuck. **"Spelling is a small detail."** In Writing it is part of the criterion. Keep a short list of your personal spelling errors and review it before the exam. ## How to improve it 1. **Keep an error log of word choices.** Every time a teacher, a friend or a grader corrects a word, write the corrected phrase, not just the word. 2. **Learn chunks, not single words.** Write "raise awareness of", "a growing body of evidence", "a steep decline", rather than "awareness", "evidence" and "decline". 3. **Practise paraphrasing.** Take any Task 1 or Task 2 question and rewrite its key sentence three different ways. This trains the same skill you need to avoid repeating the prompt. 4. **Build small topic banks.** Pick the common IELTS topics (education, technology, health, environment, work) and collect about ten useful phrases for each. Review them weekly, and use them in a real answer straight away. 5. **For Speaking, record yourself.** Answer a Part 2 cue card for about two minutes, listen back and count the words you repeat. Replace three of them and record again. 6. **Read with a purpose.** When you read news or articles on IELTS topics, copy two or three phrases you would like to use, not isolated words. ## Where Toey fits Toey's IELTS practice grades Writing tasks and Speaking parts against the four official criteria, including Lexical Resource, and returns feedback within a few minutes. The free plan includes 1 Writing task and 1 Speaking part graded per week. Toey is web only for now, with no mobile app yet, and the grades are AI estimates, not an official band, so treat them as a guide to where your vocabulary is weak rather than a prediction you can bank on. Checked on 5 November 2026 [Practise IELTS Writing and Speaking with Toey](/en/ielts) ## FAQ ### What is Lexical Resource in IELTS? Lexical Resource is the vocabulary criterion in IELTS Writing and Speaking. It measures the range, precision and naturalness of the words you use, and it is worth one of the four equally weighted criteria in each skill. ### Is Lexical Resource in Reading and Listening? No. Only Writing and Speaking are marked on Lexical Resource. Reading and Listening are scored by the number of correct answers out of 40, although a wide vocabulary helps you understand the material. ### Do I need difficult words to get Band 7 in Lexical Resource? No. Band 7 is about flexibility and precision, including some less common words used accurately with awareness of collocation. Forced rare words that you use incorrectly will lower your mark. ### How is Lexical Resource different in Writing and Speaking? In Writing the examiner reads a finished text, so spelling, word forms and repetition are visible. In Speaking the examiner hears you in real time, so the ability to paraphrase smoothly when you cannot find a word matters as much. ### How can I improve my Lexical Resource score quickly? Keep a log of word choices you got wrong, learn words in phrases rather than alone, practise paraphrasing the question, and build a small bank of phrases for common IELTS topics that you use in real answers.