Vocabulary & Ideas Without Memorization

Lesson 10: Vocabulary Myths That Hold You Back

Key Insight: Examiners don’t reward “big words” — they reward natural, precise word choice in context.

Teaching Points:

• Why memorized phrases lower your score
• The four traits of high-band vocabulary:
  1. Topic-specific
  2. Collocationally correct
  3. Flexibly used
  4. Contextually accurate
• The “1 Powerful Word per Paragraph” rule

Example:

• Bad: “It is an irrefutable truth that…”
• Good: “One key factor behind this trend is…”

Exercise:

• Identify and replace unnatural phrases in sample intros
• Choose stronger, simpler alternatives from a curated word bank

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Lesson 11: Real Ideas, Not Templates

Key Insight: Examiners can smell fake arguments. Real examples + logic = high marks.

Teaching Points:

• Idea Generation using:
  • Simple societal logic
  • Personal context (workplace/home/school)
  • Common cause/effect patterns
• The “W-H-Y” method: Write → How → Why
• 3 real-world examples that almost always work

Exercise:

• Take 3 questions and brainstorm 2 ideas for each
• Build 1 argument chain using the “W-H-Y” pattern

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Lesson 12: Topic Banks and Idea Maps

Key Insight: You don’t need to know everything — you need reusable “idea engines.”

Teaching Points:

• Use topic banks to prepare common ideas ahead of time
• Structure topics into:
  • Problem/Cause/Solution
  • Advantage/Disadvantage
  • View 1 / View 2
• Practice “map → write” fluency drills

Included Tools:

• 10 universal idea maps: e.g., Environment, Education, Health, Technology
• Vocabulary + Example pairings for each topic

Exercise:

• Fill in a blank idea map for one topic
• Write one paragraph from the map in under 8 minutes

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