25% of Speaking. 25% of Writing. Most students study it backwards — hunting bigger words instead of better-used ones.
English partners are arbitrary. Persian partners are regular.
"Make a decision" — not "do a decision." Translate the noun, guess the partner — wrong partner = broken English.
Hit the precise word — force misses the score.
Half band on lexis = one overall band.
5.5 → 6.5 can come from lexis alone. One criterion. One band.
3
Which scores higher on Lexical Resource?
A"Education is very important."
B"The pivotal of education is paramount."
C"Education is paramount."
A. Simpler, but correct. A breaks word class twice — "pivotal" and "paramount" misused. Wrong rare word loses more than right common word.
Section 02 · of 04
02
What examiners actually measure
Four boxes — range, accuracy, appropriacy, flexibility. None of them is 'size of vocabulary.'
Belief vs reality.
The four LR criteria.
Lexis by band.
Band 7 = less-common, used naturally.
Naturally is the gate. Not crowbarred. Not from a synonym list. Used like a native.
Weight · criteria · ladder.
WEIGHT
25%
Of Speaking. Of Writing. Each.
CRITERIA
4 BOXES
Range · Accuracy · Appropriacy · Flexibility.
CLIMB
NATURAL
Band 7 gate = less-common used naturally.
Range × Accuracy.
Most Iranian students live in messy Band 6.
Rare words, no partners. Drop back a tier — own the collocation.
3
Which scores Band 7?
A"Vehicles perpetrate degradation."
B"Cars cause heavy pollution."
C"Automobiles propagate atmospheric pollution."
B. "Heavy pollution" is a natural collocation. B's "perpetrate degradation" is broken — perpetrate is for crimes, not pollution. Naturalness beats fanciness.
Range × Accuracy = 7+.
AXIS 1
RANGE
How many different words you reach for.
AXIS 2
ACCURACY
How often the partner is right.
PRODUCT
BOTH
Multiply, not add. Either zero kills it.
Section 03 · of 04
03
Words travel in pairs
Capture the phrase, not the word. 'Make a decision,' not 'do a decision' — the partner is the band.
Words travel together.
Capture the phrase. Not the word.
"Decision" → "make a decision." "Risk" → "take a risk." One phrase per page.
Company · phrase · natural.
COMPANY
PARTNERS
Every noun has its verbs + adjectives.
UNIT
PHRASE
Not the word alone. The phrase it lives in.
GATE
NATURAL
Pair sounds native, or it doesn't count.
Examiners reward precision. Not rarity.
Perfectly-used "important" beats mis-used "pivotal." Stop hunting bigger words. Hunt the right partners.
Four stages of owning a word.
Three fixes. Band 6 → 7.
If you can't say it, you don't own it.
Writing has 40 minutes. Speaking has zero thinking time. Speaking is the proof.
Where it gets counted.
Section 04 · of 04
04
Own it, don't list it
Seen to deployed under pressure. Five leaks, all the same root: confusing size with use.
You learn one new word today: elucidate. Tomorrow's essay asks about a simple problem at work. You want a Band-7 word in there.Don't click yet. Write your move — now.
Drop in "elucidate" — the rare word looks higher-bandWrite "tackle the problem" — a word you already own, with the right partner
If you reached for the new word, that's not greed — it's the list-culture you grew up in. Five hundred and four, GRE decks, Konkur word-counts: all of it taught you that a bigger word is a better word. It's a habit, not a flaw. And habits get swapped.
Deploy · partner · pressure.
DO
DEPLOY
In essays and speech. Not flashcards.
WITH
PARTNERS
Never alone. The phrase, not the word.
UNDER
PRESSURE
Speaking proves ownership. Writing too.
Five fixable leaks.
Synonym swap without collocation Thesaurus picks the word; collocation rejects the partner.
Treating lexis as vocabulary size Examiners measure use, not inventory.
Mixing registers Slang in Task 2. Bookish in Speaking. Both break appropriacy.
Repeating the prompt Paraphrase or lose the flexibility mark.
Reaching and missing Band-9 word, mis-used = worse than Band-6 word, precise.
Swap "memorize words" for "collect collocations."
Write the phrase it came in. Never the word alone. One habit. Different score.
Stop · collect · deploy.
STOP
WORD LISTS
504, GRE, AWL — close the book.
COLLECT
PHRASES
From real articles. Write the full phrase.
DEPLOY
UNDER TIME
In essays. In Speaking practice. Daily.
The list is easy. Deployment is the band.
Mid-frequency ownership = months, not weeks. Choose the harder thing.