Lexical Resource rewards words used exactly right, not words that look advanced. These drills train paraphrase, collocation, and word forms — the three places where Band 6.5 vocabulary quietly loses its footing.
What the examiner reads for
Lexical Resource is 25% of your Writing band.
Swap the everyday words of a question — important, good, bad, a lot of — for precise academic alternatives.
Start the drill →Drill the verb + noun and adjective + noun pairings — pose a threat, heavy traffic, take measures — that separate Band 6 from Band 7.
Start the drill →Choose the right member of the word family — economic or economical, benefit or beneficial, significance or significant.
Start the drill →Choose the exact word over the misfired thesaurus word — utilise, plethora, effect/affect and other Band 7.5 traps.
Start the drill →Understanding the criterion
Lexical Resource is not a vocabulary test; it is a precision test. The Band 7 descriptor asks for less-common items used with awareness of style and collocation — and it penalises the thesaurus word that lands slightly wrong harder than it rewards the ambition. Most candidates lose lexical marks in three mundane places: paraphrasing the question into something it did not say, pairing words that do not collocate (strong traffic, do a decision), and using the right word in the wrong form. These drills target exactly those three, because they are cheap to fix and the examiner meets them in the first paragraph.
When a drill feels easy, write a full essay and see whether LR holds up under exam pressure.