This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, episode 1536.
Four band nine adjectives for stupefying vocabulary scores.
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Hey there, Aubrey.
How's it going today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you doing?
I am doing well.
I'm glad to be on the podcast.
All good, all good.
What are we getting into on the show today?
Yeah, I'm excited for this.
We are teaching four band nine adjectives that are really going to impress the examiner.
And they're pretty easy to sneak into IELTS speaking questions because they mean you know good bad, lazy.
They're words that you're likely to be able to use on a variety of different questions you might be asked.
A hundred percent.
And I think that's really key.
What you just said, they're easy to sneak in.
This is one of the things that I think we have the most control over on aisles is sneaking in high level words, because it just takes a little bit of study and preparation to learn them.
And that can control our score and jack it up to a nine.
Okay.
Exactly.
Yes.
And a lot of words are band nine just by virtue of being less common.
Today's are less common and very impressive, right?
If I hear a native speaker use these words some of them I'm like oh, you have an excellent vocabulary.
Oh, very, very above average.
I mean these are.
I have to be honest, these words are words that I don't even use in my daily life.
Right,
So I have to be intentional about coming up with examples, right?
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All right.
So I think our listeners must be very curious as to what these words are.
Should we give them the first one?
Yes.
The first word is prodigious, which means impressive.
Right.
Maybe great in size, extent or degree.
So, for example, if you are asked to describe a friend on speaking part two, you could say my best friend has a prodigious accent talent for learning languages.
And it just means an impressive talent.
They're really good at it.
Yeah.
So impressive or extensive, right?
All really good ways to describe.
Or if you're asked about your study habits or maybe your hobbies, which is pretty common on the exam, you might say I've always had a prodigious appetite for learning.
I'm a voracious reader.
Nice.
Another bonus there, voracious to describe how much you love reading.
So yeah, really excellent vocabulary there.
Or part three, as you can see, you can use this all over the speaking exam.
It is a little more formal, but those examples we gave you, it's not overly formal.
You can use it lots of different ways, but definitely amazing for part three.
How might you answer Lindsay, if I asked you what kind of achievements do you think are most admired in society today?
Okay, you might say something like this.
Without a doubt, achievements that require extraordinary skill or effort are the most admirable.
For example, someone who invents a new technology or makes a significant scientific discovery often gains widespread recognition.
Such accomplishments are truly prodigious because they show not only talent, but also immense dedication and perseverance.
Wow, that was a mouthful, but that's a high level answer.
Exactly.
This is a band nine part three answer.
But as you can see a word like prodigious, you would need to practice adding it to your answers, right?
You can't just have it in a vocabulary list and then go on test day expecting to be able to use it.
Even if you know it means impressive, you need to practice answering some questions using this word.
100%.
So we have another question you want to ask me, Aubrey, so we can practice a little bit more.
Shall we ask you a part one question here, Lindsay?
And if you can use prodigious, right?
So what is a talent you have?
Yeah, well, for me, I think my biggest talent is my effort.
So honestly, I make a prodigious effort to be consistent and thorough in all the work that I do.
So that is my talent is working hard.
Nice.
Perfect answer.
Band nine.
You can see how for that part one question, part two, part three.
This is an amazing band nine vocabulary word to say instead of impressive, extensive.
Right.
Yes.
I love it.
Wow.
OK, so that's so we've got three more of these big words here operate in today's episode.
So what would be the second one?
All right, number two is stupefying, which means amazing or shocking.
It can also mean extremely bad, so very versatile.
For example, if you're asked to describe a vacation on part two, you could say on our trip to Hawaii, we hiked to a waterfall that was absolutely stupefying.
And here it means good, shocking, stunning, right?
We can get that from the context, right?
I mean, it's awe-inspiring.
It's wow.
But then we could change it if we are asked about job interviews on part one.
You might say several years ago, I performed terribly during a job interview.
I was so nervous and I found myself rambling incoherently.
It was stupefying how horribly I did.
So this is great as well.
And here it means extremely bad, right?
It was stupefying.
So it just means the same as shocking, but it can be shockingly good or shockingly bad.
I love how there are words in English that can be bad or good depending on context and how you dress up that word, the words that you put around it.
Exactly.
Yes.
And they're so useful on IELTS because you can use them either way for positive or negative answers.
Yes.
And then on part three, Aubrey, what if I asked you this?
What is a natural disaster that surprised or shocked people in your country?
I might say the volcanic eruption in Tongo in 2022 was truly stupefying.
The force of the explosion and the massive ash cloud it produced were devastating, affecting not only the island but also air travel and weather patterns thousands of miles away.
Not to mention the tsunamis it triggered across the Pacific.
Many of us here in the States have friends and family in Tonga.
And so that was especially shocking.
Yeah.
So I like how here you went into a lot of detail.
You dropped the word stupefying in the beginning, but then you really described the detail of the explosion and the ash cloud right.
Travel and weather patterns.
You said a lot here for this part three answer.
Yeah.
Part three answers should be about a minute long.
So it's definitely not enough to be like It was this volcanic eruption in Tonga.
You know you need to share detail.
And even if you were to drop stupefying, it wouldn't be enough, right?
You can't just talk.
You can't just give one sentence.
Exactly right.
Especially on part three, you need to give some interesting details, topic specific vocabulary in order to get those higher scores.
Perfect.
All right, Aubrey, let's do a little more practice here.
Uh, let's say I asked you a part one question.
How could your hometown be improved?
Ooh, my hometown is tiny.
It's actually stupefying how little there is to do there.
So a huge improvement would be more activities, a museum, maybe that people could visit.
Add a stoplight.
Stop signs, yield signs on the roads in this tiny little rural town.
Oh, wow.
I love it.
And I like how you dress that up by saying it is actually stupefying.
By adding actually, you kind of brought the word to life a little bit.
You brought it into context.
Use this for part one, right?
Yeah.
These are informal answers.
So you can use impressive words like stupefying, but you're sort of doing it in a more informal way.
Yes, I love it.
Good answer.
And wow, I didn't know your hometown didn't have a stoplight.
Aubrey, you've got to get one there.
I know, right?
Where my actual high school was, about five miles away, is a little bit bigger, but my actual town where my address was, is like 300 people.
It's like a farming community.
Okay.
Interesting.
Interesting.
All right.
Great answer.
All right.
We'll be right back from break in just a couple seconds.
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All right, Aubrey, we're going for another winning word.
We just keep hard-hitting here with good words.
Indolent.
What does this one mean?
Indolent, it means lazy, right?
If you want to avoid activity or exertion.
You could describe yourself as indolent or someone else as indolent.
And we all have times that we're feeling indolent, right?
It's normal.
Sometimes in part one, they might ask you what you do on the weekend.
I try not to be indolent on weekends, but sometimes it's hard to get motivated.
Yeah, sure.
Sometimes I love to be indolent on a weekend, lay around and read a book.
I know.
That's my thing, too.
I know.
It's so true.
What about study habits?
What if I asked you about study habits?
I might say I've been indolent in the past, but I've turned things around lately and have an extremely good work ethic now.
Nice.
And then we could see it in part three.
Do you want to ask me the question and I'll give an answer here?
How might you answer if you were asked?
Do you think most people do their part to help the environment?
Well, I think it varies a lot, but many people are somewhat indolent when it comes to environmental issues.
For instance, lot of individuals don't bother to recycle and still use disposable plastic water bottles.
Small habits like using a reusable water bottle can really make a difference.
Yes, you can see how useful this is, right?
If you find yourself about to say lazy anywhere on the speaking exam, then you can just quickly replace it with indolent.
Or another trick you can do is, even if you say lazy, you could say something like some people are lazy.
They can even be downright indolent when it comes to environment, right?
Because we sometimes will stack words like that and say both.
Right.
And even if you think of it after, you could add it, as you said, hear yourself saying lazy.
Oh, and they can be downright indolent.
I love that idea.
Do you think that when it comes to high level, like this high level band nine vocab, it's good to get it in early?
Because I see a lot of our sample answers.
We're saying it early in our answer.
Do you think there's an advantage to that?
Yes.
I love that you pointed this out Lindsay, because if you have these impressive words that you're planning on using later, there is a chance that you'll get a little bit thrown off sharing all of the details for your answer.
So if you can use it right away in the beginning, more power to you.
And then you can think about all of the other details you want to share.
Love it.
Good to know.
Good to know.
Should we do a little bit more practice here?
Yeah.
Lindsay, how might you use indolent if I ask you the part one question?
Do you like to sleep in?
Yeah, I like to sleep in.
But honestly, what I'd rather do is I usually when I on the weekends, I don't stay in bed too late.
I mean, for me, sleeping in is 8am.
But I like an indolent morning, drinking coffee around the house, reading a book lying on the couch or reading the news on my phone.
That's what I want to do.
That's my version of sleeping in.
Same.
Yeah.
Great answer.
I agree.
Ooh, such a useful word.
Okay.
Let's dive in with number four here.
Yes.
What's number four?
Which is abysmal.
And this is so useful.
It just means extremely bad.
Yes.
And bad is such a low scoring word, right?
You don't want to say good or bad.
There are so many higher scoring synonyms.
So have this one in your arsenal, abysmal.
And if you find yourself about to say bad, say abysmal.
Yep.
Yep.
I recently saw this in a business communication by email that I had kind of like sort of sharing results.
And the person was like, I know our results have been abysmal.
Right.
So they really wanted to show me that they know how bad their results are. right?
So very useful word here.
Yes, that's such a useful word.
And it's a good point that it really does mean very bad.
So if you're wanting to just share that, something was a little bit bad.
There are other words you'd want to use, right.
Unless we're exaggerating.
Sometimes we'll exaggerate with a word like abysmal, because it does mean extremely bad.
Absolutely.
So, for example, in part one, you might be asked about a time you received poor marks on an assignment or an exam.
What could you say, Aubrey?
Yeah, I might say.
In college, I didn't study at all for a French test and ended up getting an abysmal grade, which is a true story.
Oh, horrible.
The worst.
You never forget those moments, right?
No, you're like, I got this.
I don't need to study.
Then you get an abysmal grade.
Oh, no.
Overconfident.
Oh, geez.
Or you might be asked about a restaurant in part one.
So, for example, the Thai place near my home used to be amazing.
But the last time I went, the food was abysmal.
So it was really bad, right?
Maybe it was cold.
Yeah.
And this is a great way to answer it.
Anytime you can compare, to share what something used to be like, and then now you can use an adjective if you want to share that it's fantastic now or that it's abysmal now.
This gives you a chance to add more detail.
I love it.
It tells a story, right?
Yeah.
What about part three?
If I asked you, Aubrey, how would you describe the quality of public services in your country?
I might say it's really hit or miss, to be honest.
Take public transportation, for example.
In some cities it's abysmal, overcrowded and unreliable, with buses and trains often delayed for hours.
However, in other places, it runs like clockwork.
Nice.
Excellent.
Love it.
Good story there.
You are giving a lot of details and you're giving a very specific example about public transportation.
So nice.
And notice the intonation.
For a word like abysmal, it would sound very strange to use it in a monotone, right?
And just say, in some cities, it's abysmal.
We need to punch it harder because we should sound like we think it's really bad.
Yeah.
So maybe you can demo that for us here, Aubrey, talking about art.
So in a part one question, I could ask you, are you good at art?
Yeah, and I might answer.
My art skills are downright abysmal, which is shocking because my brother and my father are both artists.
So you'd think I would have get some of those genes.
But no, I'm a terrible artist.
You didn't get the artist gene.
No, no, we got the language genes, which is good, too, right?
I'll take it.
And he was a male dominant gene.
Yeah maybe maybe oh, i love it so good.
Wow, this has been a hard-hitting episode today.
Aubrey for really high scoring words.
I mean higher than what we normally cover on this show too.
Right, exactly right.
More rare, less common, and the best way to boost your out speaking scores is to learn words like this that can replace those very common words good bad, other common adjectives that will definitely come up on IELTS Speaking because we use them so much to describe things.
Love it.
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Right, Aubrey?
That's what it's all about.
Exactly.
Yes.
Hit follow and we will see you guys next time.
All right.
Sounds good.
Take care.
Bye.
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