This is the IELTS Energy Podcast Episode 1543, Oodles of Band 9 Vocabulary for IELTS Speaking.
Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English.
Downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner trained IELTS whiz, Aubrey Carter and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer.
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You are guaranteed to say a lot on the IELTS exam.
What if you swapped in more interesting vocabulary?
You'd get a higher score, of course.
Listen in to learn how to do it today.
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Hey there, Lindsay.
How are you?
Good, Aubrey.
I am doing great.
Aubrey, do you know oodles of ways to say a lot?
Yes, right.
We just did a great episode.
If you guys missed it, we taught formal vocabulary to say a lot of like plethora myriad profusion, and also informal words like loads and gobs in a recent episode.
Stay to the end.
We'll give you details.
And then we also talked about this recently on Allers English, right, Lindsay?
Yeah, for sure.
So a recent episode on All Ears English featured a few band nine words and we always want to have our eyes out for band nine words that we missed in that episode.
So today we'll do a part two. with those words that we mentioned over on All Ears English.
Right, Aubrey?
And we're gonna share a few new words as well.
This is incredibly useful vocabulary, as we've mentioned recently, because you will definitely need to Express this idea of a lot of right on IELTS speaking and writing.
And there are band nine ways of saying this.
If you say a lot of something, that's band six, band five.
You want to keep yourself and use one of these much higher scoring synonyms instead.
Good.
Yeah, really good stuff.
So we're likely to see it on speaking.
Is there any one part of the test where more likely like speaking part one, speaking part two where we could use these most likely?
All over the speaking exam.
Absolutely.
On part one, if you're asked about Restaurants, you like friends, imagine anything you're asked about you can share, whether you do it a lot or not very much right?
There are so many places to use this vocab.
So these are very useful expressions you want to have ready to use.
You could use them on almost any answer.
This is the kind of vocab we suggest our listeners focus on is vocab that can kind of span across the entire exam or the entire speaking exam, right?
So anytime you want to say a lot of something, you can use these instead and instantly increase your score.
Okay, good.
Exactly.
Yeah, so let's dive in first here with So slew, right?
The first one, and this was shared recently on All Ears English.
So for these first few words for details, go check out that All Ears English episode.
We'll give you details in a bit.
But we would say there's a slew of restaurants near my house, but the best one is a little Italian spot around the corner.
Warner just means a lot of, but this is band nine.
I've never heard a student say slew.
Yeah, it would definitely put you in the band nine category for vocab for sure.
We can also say boatload or truckload.
Why not busload?
I don't know.
It's not a thing.
Just boatload and truckload.
But we do say boatload and truckload.
I've had a boatload of different jobs.
If you're asked about work right, we moved a lot since my dad was in the military, so I wasn't able to keep any of them for long long.
So imagine instead of saying I've had a lot of jobs, I've had a boatload of jobs, a slew of jobs.
Higher scoring ways to say that maybe a speaking part.
One question there about jobs you've had potentially right.
Or I read a truckload of books this year, but my favorite was a series I just finished.
So do you like to read?
Do you read a lot of books?
Instead of saying a lot of, say truckload.
Love it.
So much more interesting.
Truckload of, love that.
And then oodles, oodles of.
So maybe if you're asked about a friend, you know, my friend Marcy has oodles of energy.
I don't know how she does it.
It means the exact same thing as a lot of, but it's been nine.
And then another one we could just easily swap in instead of a lot, a mountain of or mountains of.
You can choose, right?
Right.
If you're asked about work every Monday, I have a mountain of tasks waiting for me.
And we say it both ways.
I have mountains of tasks.
Or if you're asked about a parent, my mother faced mountains of challenges, but never gave up.
Beautiful.
Nice.
Yeah.
Okay.
So Aubrey, we're into the new words now that we haven't heard yet on Allers English or IELTS Energy.
So what do we need to first?
Heaps of, and we also say piles of, so similar to mountains of.
We also say it this these ways, right.
If you're asked about a time you saved money, you could say I saved heaps of money by buying my phone used.
Yeah.
And I've noticed that this.
I remember I traveled through Southeast Asia with someone from Australia and I noticed that she used to say heaps all the time, heaps of something.
So I think it's really common in Australian English to say this, but totally legit in any kind of English.
Absolutely.
Right.
I say this a lot.
Heaps of or piles of, if you're asked about chores.
There are always piles of chores to do at my house.
Right.
You have like piles of clothes, but that's literal.
We'll say piles of anything.
Piles of clothes.
Tasks.
Right.
Of things to fix.
Right.
Repairs.
So it's not just literally something that amounts to a pile.
Right.
Important to know that.
Yeah.
Also a sea of.
Or an ocean of, we use this if you're asked about a time you were nervous.
I had to speak at school in front of a sea of students, teachers, and parents.
So this is a fun way to exaggerate, especially for something that there's just like a lot of people than a sea of people.
I feel like a good way to describe our coaching or our recommendation to our students and our listeners on IELTS is just be more dramatic than you normally would.
Just be a drama king or a drama queen.
And there was a sea of students in front of me.
That's dramatic, right?
Yes, right.
And because it's less common, it's higher scoring.
It also helps with pronunciation because you're able to punch it harder when you're exaggerating.
Yes.
So be a drama king or a drama queen on IELTS.
I love that.
Okay, let's dive into...
This part two, I'm going to have you ask me a part two question, Lindsay.
All right.
Do you have a timer handy to time two minutes?
If not, I can.
You do.
Okay.
Set a timer for two minutes.
One second here.
All right.
This is tricky because out there listening, here's a pro tip.
When you go to start your part two, the instructions will say the examiner is going to say you have one to two minutes for this.
So don't worry if I stop you.
That throws off a lot of students.
That doesn't mean... you can speak for one or two minutes.
If you don't speak for that full two minutes, your score will go down.
Your fluency and coherence score.
That is so tricky.
Why do they trick people like that?
They shouldn't say that.
Really, the instruction should say, you must speak for two minutes, but they don't tell you that.
So be sure to speak for two minutes.
All right, good.
So we know better, though, because we listen to IELTS Energy, right?
Exactly.
All right, here we go, Aubrey.
I'm going to ask you the question, then I'll hit the timer, and we'll see how we do.
So I'm going to ask you to describe a hobby you love.
Okay.
When I was a kid, there was an ocean of choices, so I had a hard time choosing a hobby when I was young.
I decided to play the piano.
I spent a ton of time on the piano.
I would have lessons weekly.
I would practice daily at least 30 minutes or at least I told my mom I practice daily.
But whenever I could get away with it.
I didn't because I felt like I was spending a boatload of time at the piano.
And there were so many other things I would rather be doing.
But because I spent so many hours at the piano, I did... become quite proficient.
I was able to sit down and play pretty much anything I wanted to by the time I graduated high school, and especially reading music.
I could read any music.
I wasn't very good at playing by ear.
But now, tragically, I've really lost this talent a lot.
I have a piano in my home, but I just don't sit down and take the time.
You know, I don't have oodles of free time actually, so that's part of the problem.
If I had extra time, maybe, maybe I would.
But I miss it.
And it's sad.
It feels like a waste that I spent all this time really honing that skill.
And now I can't just sit down and play anything I want. to work at it.
I would have to play lines of music again and again.
I would make a lot of mistakes.
I've forgotten a lot of the notes off ledger.
So I still really love playing the piano, but it's not as fun when it's work right now.
I feel like I'm struggling to do it instead of having it be relaxing and fun.
Now it feels like a chore.
So though I do still love this hobby, I would say, I think I would enjoy it more.
Thank you.
Did that feel like a long two minutes?
I could tell you felt like it was long.
I could tell.
You used some interesting strategies there that I want to point out, by the way.
Other things we've talked about in In recent episodes, you use the conditional.
You went into the conditional.
If I had more time, I would.
And that's a way to fill time, right?
Absolutely, right?
When you feel like, what else can I say?
What would you do if things were different?
If you had more money, more time, if you could go back.
And change things.
That's a great way to fill time.
And you also obviously used an ocean of choices, but then you also use a ton, a ton of something.
I don't remember exactly what you said, a boatload and oodles.
And then you also use the word tragically.
Very, again, dramatic, which is what we're looking for.
It's true.
I feel like I was really exaggerating.
Like, really, it's true.
It is tragic that that's happened.
But I could say that in kind of a flat uninterested monotone way.
Unfortunately, this is the case.
Instead, if I say tragically, I'm going to emphasize it more and get a better pronunciation score, better vocab score and a better pronunciation score.
I love it.
Good job, Aubrey.
Sometimes it's real hard to fill that two minutes.
It is.
It really highlights how important it is to practice, right?
The more you get a feel for how long two minutes is, the more you have strategies and And it's interesting
I didn't tell a story.
Often we for part two, we give you this strategy of telling a story.
And if I had, I could have filled that two minutes much more easily.
And I could have.
I could have told a story about a time that I performed or something, a time recently when I could have played and didn't.
If I had told a story, that would have been good.
That would have helped.
No, that's a good point.
That's right.
Because when we think about part two, we usually say tell a story.
And the reason is to fill that time, right?
It has to have more details.
So you're not just throwing out facts and facts.
Yeah, that's why it felt so long.
I don't know why it felt like it moves so slow for me too, even though I was just taking the time.
Because there wasn't a story, right?
It was just like random facts about my childhood.
Right, exactly.
Aubrey, what are the other episodes from this series.
Don't miss these.
So scroll back and get 1537 right here on IELTS Energy.
Do you know a plethora of IELTS vocabulary?
So we taught formal and informal phrases there.
Don't miss it.
And then on All Ears English episode 2511 was got a boatload of work.
How to share in English.
For more details and examples with this vocabulary
Yes, go and make sure you check out those episodes.
If you're not familiar with the All Ears English podcast, then open your search bar right now.
Wherever you listen, or even on YouTube, type in All Ears English.
It will pop up.
You'll see the yellow.
You'll recognize us right away.
Hit the follow or the subscribe button.
There are so many episodes over there that as we're recording, I'm like oh, I hope all of our IELTS listeners are getting this great vocabulary.
We teach so much over there that really can help you on IELTS.
Oh my gosh, for sure.
Good stuff.
So Aubrey, what's our takeaway for today?
Yeah, you guys are almost guaranteed to say a lot of on IELTS speaking and use it on writing as well, multiple times even.
So you need this band nine vocabulary to boost your vocab scores.
And like you were saying Lindsay, that often it leads you to exaggerate, which will also help you improve pronunciation scores as well.
All right.
Great tip for today.
Great example.
And Aubrey, we'll see you back here very soon in the next episode.
All right.
Awesome.
See you next time.
Take care.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.
Hit subscribe now, and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglishcom.
Slash my score.
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