100 high-value academic words for IELTS. Locked in, in twenty days.
Academic IELTS rewards students who can recognise and use academic vocabulary quickly. This module teaches 100 carefully selected items from the Academic Word List — through definitions, collocations, word families, IELTS examples, and ten days of spaced recycling. The goal is to move each word from "I kind of know this" to "I can use this under pressure."
If this sounds like you
The problem this module fixes:
"I've seen these academic words on practice tests but I can't use them. I half-recognise them in Reading. I don't notice them in Listening. I never include them in my Writing because I'm not 100% sure how to use them. They're sitting in my head as words I 'kind of know' — and that's not helping my score."
Who this is for
For students preparing for Academic IELTS, particularly Reading and Writing.
The Academic Word List is a research-derived collection of words that appear with very high frequency in academic texts across disciplines. They are not topic-specific (like environmental vocabulary). They are the connective tissue of academic English — words like significant, analyse, demonstrate, establish, factor, principle, alternative, sufficient, evident, criteria.
If you're taking Academic IELTS for university or professional registration, these words matter more than topic-specific vocabulary does. They appear regularly across Reading passages, in Writing Task 2 prompts and high-quality essay responses, and in many Section 4 lectures. Recognising them quickly and using them naturally is one of the highest-value vocabulary improvements available for Academic IELTS.
For General Training students, the AWL is less critical — but the cohesive language skills it builds still help.
Why these words matter
What AWL vocabulary does in each part of the test.
It's not vocabulary in the abstract. These words do specific work in specific test sections.
AWL words often carry the logic of academic passages — cause, contrast, classification, evidence, conclusion. Miss them, and you may misunderstand the whole paragraph.
AWL words help you write more precise Task 2 arguments — significant, factor, establish, demonstrate, alternative, sufficient — without forcing unnatural "big words."
Academic lectures often use AWL-style vocabulary when explaining research, processes, theories, or findings — especially in Section 4 where students lose the most marks.
Day structure
The same pattern on every day.
Each day has four pages. About 45 minutes total. The pattern repeats so words stick.
LEARN
Days 1–10: 10 new AWL words introduced with definitions, collocations, word families, and example sentences from real IELTS contexts. Days 11–20: recycled words return in new contexts.
PRACTICE
Retrieval-based H5P tasks. Choose the correct word, complete sentences, identify word forms.
APPLY
Use the day's words in a short Reading paraphrase task or Writing sentence task.
REFLECT
Active recall against earlier days. Spaced repetition is the only way 100 words stick.
How the 20 days work
Ten days to learn. Ten days to make it stick.
This module is shaped differently from the 12-day modules because vocabulary doesn't behave like grammar or strategy. Words need repeated encounters across time, not crammed exposure on one day. The 20-day structure is built around that reality.
Introducing the 100 words
10 new words per dayAcross the first ten days, you'll meet all 100 words on the list. Each day introduces ten new items, grouped thematically where possible (words about analysis on one day, words about classification on another, words about cause and effect on a third).
For each word you'll see: the definition, the most common collocations, the word family (noun, verb, adjective, adverb forms), example sentences from real IELTS contexts, and a contrast with words students often confuse it with.
Family: significance (n), significantly (adv). Contrast: "important" is general; "significant" implies measurable difference. Use in Writing Task 1 for trend description. Use in Task 2 for impact analysis.
Recycling the 100 words
Spaced retrieval until they're automaticVocabulary usually needs repeated meaningful encounters before it becomes usable — and seeing a word once is rarely enough. Days 11-20 are designed around that reality. No new words are introduced — instead, all 100 items are systematically recycled across mixed Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking contexts.
Each recycling day pulls 20-30 words from earlier in the module and tests them in new contexts — words you learned on Day 2 will reappear on Day 13, then on Day 18, then in the final mastery check on Day 20.
This is the part most vocabulary programs skip. They introduce 100 words across 10 days and end. Students often forget 60-70% of them within two weeks. The recycling phase is what makes the difference between "I saw this word once" and "I can use this word reliably."
Day 20 is the mastery check — a 40-question assessment that tests recognition, retrieval, and application of all 100 words across mixed IELTS contexts.
After 20 days
What you'll actually be able to do.
Specific, concrete things — not vague promises like "improve your vocabulary."
An honest question
Can't I just download the AWL for free?
Yes. The Academic Word List is freely available online — and if a word list is what you want, you should absolutely download it. But there's a difference between having a list and acquiring the words on it.
What a free list gives you:
- A column of words to read
- Maybe a brief definition next to each one
What this module adds:
- Definitions in IELTS-relevant language
- The most common collocations for each word (the natural pairings that make you sound fluent)
- The full word family — noun, verb, adjective, adverb forms
- Contrasts with similar words students confuse (significant vs important, establish vs create, etc.)
- Real IELTS context examples for each word
- Retrieval-based H5P practice (the brain learns through producing, not reading)
- Ten days of spaced recycling so the words actually stick
- A final mastery check confirming retention, not just exposure
The list is exposure. This module is acquisition. Different things, different results.
Lock in 100 high-value academic words for IELTS.
One-time purchase. No subscription. 20 days, 100 carefully selected AWL items, with spaced repetition built into the recycling phase. Day 20 mastery check included. Email Sean to buy — payment details for your region will be in the reply.
Related modules
AWL works best alongside Writing, Reading, and Vocabulary Bootcamp.
Academic vocabulary is most useful when you're applying it. Students who work through AWL alongside a Writing or Reading module retain words faster — every essay they draft becomes another encounter.