IELTS Energy 1437: IELTS Vocabulary That Won’t Disappoint
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This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1437, IELTS Vocabulary That Won't Disappoint.

Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 22 million times with former IELTS examiner Jessica Beck and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams. Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com

There is a good chance you will need to share about disappointment on IELTS Speaking or Writing. Today, you'll learn four words to express this feeling along with Band 9 sample answers.

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Treading Water. Take our free English level quiz at allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. Aubrey, how are you today? I am okay. How are you? I'm a little disappointed.

We're both a little disappointed today, which is perfect because we are teaching you vocabulary to share that you're disappointed about something on IELTS. This could happen on every section of the speaking exam that you want to share that something was a little disappointing. And there's band nine vocabulary you should be using to do this.

And honestly, this vocabulary is also great for writing task one for both general and academic. What if you're describing like a graph showing sales of a product, right? And they were terrible. And you could be like, the performance was devastating in quarter two, right? Or in like the letter, you're always like writing a complaint letter or something like that. You know, something went wrong on an airline. This vocab is perfect. Oh,

Or writing test two, problem solution essays, argument essays, talking about opinions you like and don't like. I mean, today's vocab, guys, honestly, can be used everywhere on the speaking and writing exam. Good point. So yes, guys, stay until the end because we are going to give you sample answers for a lot of different questions for each of these vocab terms. And get your notebook out. Be ready to add this vocab to your list because it's very impressive and

and is pretty flexible. You're going to be able to use it on the exam. - Exactly, so let's do it. All right, pencils or pens out, guys, get ready. The first word is despondent. I love this word. - I do too.

It's so high level. It's so colorful. So despondent describes a feeling when you're really just like sad, right? You're in low spirits because you lost hope or you lost courage. You know, you're just feeling really, just really, really down and hopeless about something. Yeah, it's a pretty profound feeling. So you're not going to be like, I was despondent that we were out of cereal. Nope, nope.

it's not that kind of disappointment. It's definitely something a little bit deeper, a little stronger feeling. - It's bigger, it's bigger than cereal. So for example, in part three, you could be asked, do you think people are active enough? Yeah, no. So you could say, I don't mean to be despondent, but no, not at all. I mean, look at the recent numbers on the obesity epidemic.

Exactly. Right. So this is a perfect way to include it. It doesn't have to be like end of the world, but it does need to be something that would give you that sort of loss of hope, this stronger feeling, you know, and this is a great way to use it to say, I don't mean to be despondent, but I'm kind of hopeless about this or I do have sort of negative feelings about something.

Yeah, that is such a high level connection skill to be able to frame your feelings like that, right? And this shows fluency, not just vocab, it shows fluency when you could frame a feeling like, I don't mean to be despondent, but...

That whole structure is amazing. Yes. Or you could say, I don't mean to sound despondent, right? We'll often say it that way. These are amazing, very high scoring structures. Okay. The next one is devastated, which means like very shocked and upset, right? It's also a pretty extreme feeling. You're

You're not going to be devastated that you're out of cereal unless you're like really being hyperbolic and exaggerating. You know, none of today's words are describing being out of cereal. They're big feelings. Exactly.

So for example, in part one, this is a question you have a 50% chance of being asked. What is your job? How can you use devastated in that answer? Yeah, you might say I was devastated after graduating when I filled out a million applications and didn't hear back from anyone. But luckily, I now have the best job in the world. I'm and then you can share a little bit about your job. What a great way to start that answer.

Yeah. But now I'm a famous podcast host, you know? Okay. All right. The next word is a little bit lighter. Okay. Disheartened. Disheartened is, it's not as big as devastated, right? But it is like, I'm feeling a little bit less hope

than I did before. Yeah, maybe I have a loss of confidence or determination about something. And maybe on part two, it'll be a little more straightforward. Maybe you'll be asked to describe a time when you were disappointed. How could you use disheartened for that, Jessica? Yeah, well, I'm going to use two words right now, guys. Get ready. Okay, so I could say, well, honestly, the

this is huge and it's a it's a bit more than disappointed i have to say but when i was 26 years old i found out that i had type 1 diabetes i was disheartened to say the least it was

devastating. I had to change my entire life. So there, guys, we're saying I was disheartened to say the least. Again, we are adding this chunk of language to make it so much more natural and fluent sounding, right? To say the least. It means like...

Even this adjective doesn't describe the huge feeling that I had. And I love what you've done here to stack the adjectives. This is perfect because disheartened is a little less serious sounding. So to say like I was disheartened to say the least and then say, in fact, I was despondent or I was actually devastated because these are bigger emotions. Yeah, I would say that's a pretty big disappointment. Seriously, it's a good example.

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All right. So last word for today, appalled. This is fun. So not only does this convey disappointment, but also shock, right? Like you, you're primarily shocked at something and this something, um,

is very upsetting to you yeah it might be something that happens suddenly right so i have a good example if you're on part one you're asked what do you do for holidays or what's the last holiday you celebrated um i might share for halloween we always plan a neighborhood block party with a potluck and everyone dresses up it's usually so fun

But I was frankly appalled this year by a couple of costumes worn by neighbors that were trying to make a political statement. And it just kind of brought down the whole vibe. Oh, God, like a lot. Yeah.

I love that we could use real life examples for you guys, like diabetes and bad Halloween costumes, political Halloween costumes. All right, guys. So let's summarize the vocabulary that you have learned today for IELTS speaking and writing. Remember, these are very high level adjectives to describe negative feelings. And they are extreme adjectives, right? So again, not about.

Lacking cereal. The first one. But the blanket statement, none of these do we use about cereal. So the first one you learned today, guys, was despondent. That means like you're in low spirits. You're feeling sad. You've lost hope or courage, right? Despondent. Devastated was the next one, which is shocked and upset. But again, a pretty extreme emotion. Exactly. And disheartened.

A little bit less extreme, right? You've just lost some hope or confidence in something, right? Because something not great has happened. And then the last word today, Aubrey, was appalled. What did appalled mean?

mean yeah shocked and disappointed often something an emotion that comes upon you more suddenly what great vocab guys practice answering speaking answers using this add them to essays like you said jess task one letters perfect academic task one use this vocab to boost your vocabulary scores

Exactly. And guys, we will put all of these adjectives and their meanings in our blog. So go to allearsenglish.com/ielts and this is episode 1437. So look out for that guys and you can double check your vocabulary notes. All right. Okay guys, thank you for joining us today and we'll be back again on Friday. Awesome. See you guys Friday. Bye.

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