In this post: Work vocabulary (jobs, business, the gap year), my vocabulary cards and practice exercises.
Task 2 Topic Vocabulary (1) · 3 parts
- 1. Organising vocabulary, and technology
- 2. Environment and education
- 3. Work, vocabulary cards, practice (you are here)
✦ In this post
5. Work: job hunting, starting a business and the gap year
On work, I wrote about whether professionals should stay and work in the country where they trained, staying with one company for life versus changing jobs, whether job satisfaction or job security matters more, shorter working hours, competition versus cooperation, and two marked essays on self-employment and the gap year. I’ve grouped them into job hunting, starting a business and the gap year.
Jobs and the workplace: core vocabulary
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Common collocations | My sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| tenure | length of time in a job | a longer tenure | it’s easier for people to be promoted if their tenure is longer than other counterparts |
| get promoted / promotion | move to a higher position | better chances to get a promotion | working for the same firm grants workers better payment and chances to be a supervisor |
| job satisfaction / job security | enjoying your job / being safe from losing it | job satisfaction is more important than job security | (keywords from practice prompt 29, used when paraphrasing the introduction) |
| work–life balance | a healthy split between work and personal life | maintain a healthy work–life balance | — (I used it in practice prompt 29 to support “job security matters more”) |
| productivity / efficiency | how much / how well work gets done | increase workers’ productivity | it increases workers productivity and efficiency (workers needs the possessive: workers’) |
| mental well-being | mental health | enhance mental well-being | it enhances workers mental well-being (same: workers’) |
| escape from a hectic schedule | get away from a busy routine | — | they can escape from their hectic schedule in their daily lives |
| foster one’s full potential | help someone achieve all they can | — | competition can foster a person’s biggest potential (more natural: full potential) |
| a sense of belonging | feeling part of a group | boost a sense of belonging | cooperation boosts a sense of belonging for every member of a team |
| remuneration / be compensated | pay for work | financial remuneration, be excessively compensated | (notes) don’t write gain extremely high payment; write receive excessively high salaries |
Starting a business and self-employment: core vocabulary
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Common collocations | My sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| be self-employed / run one’s own business | work for yourself | choose to be self-employed | a number of individuals run their own businesses instead of working for large corporations (Task 23, corrected) |
| pursue entrepreneurship / business ventures | start a business | — | When pursuing entrepreneurship, people can reach their dream by increasing market shares |
| a flexible schedule | working hours you can choose | — | By running businesses by themselves, they can undoubtedly have a flexible schedule |
| a sense of achievement | pride in what you’ve done | — | The second factor is related to a sense of achievement |
| external shocks | sudden events from outside (crises, pandemics) | be influenced by external shocks | running their own business is risky since it is easy for companies to be influenced by external shocks |
| unstable income / sources of revenue | irregular money coming in | — | they sometimes do not have stable sources of money or revenue to pay for themselves |
| small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) | smaller companies | — | I originally wrote small and median corporations; median means the middle value in statistics, so it should be medium-sized. |
The gap year: core vocabulary
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Common collocations | My sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| school leavers / high school graduates | students who have just finished secondary school | — | I originally wrote leaved students, then changed every instance to high school graduates. |
| put theory into practice | use what you’ve learned in real situations | — | those high school graduates can put the theory into practice and learn real-world knowledge |
| enrich mental well-being | improve emotional health | — | traveling in their gap year can enrich those students’ mental well-being |
| get closer to nature | spend time in natural places | — | National parks around the world, which give visitors opportunities to get closer to nature |
| a lack of competency | not having enough skill | — | it is difficult for those students to find suitable jobs due to a lack of competency and academic qualifications |
| a financial burden / go into debt | a cost that is hard to bear / owe money | place an unfair burden on parents | it is difficult for them to afford the expenditure of accommodations, transportation, and the tickets for destinations |
Arguments you can use
| Position | Arguments | Examples you can use |
|---|---|---|
| Staying with one company | ① Salary rises with seniority ② Easier to get promoted | Long-serving staff have a better chance of becoming managers. |
| Changing companies | ① Meet more people and build a network ② New challenges bring job satisfaction | Companies often hold team events where you can get to know colleagues, managers and suppliers. |
| Why people become self-employed | ① Flexible hours, time for family ② A sense of achievement (growing market share, taking the company public) | Traditional jobs have fixed schedules. |
| Downsides of self-employment | ① Unstable income ② Vulnerable to external shocks | During COVID-19, many small and medium-sized businesses didn’t survive. |
| Advantages of a gap year | ① Work: put learning into practice, gain hands-on experience ② Travel: relax, get close to nature, broaden horizons | National parks around the world. |
| Disadvantages of a gap year | ① Without qualifications or skills, students may not find good jobs, or may end up in dangerous, low-paid work ② Travel is expensive, burdening parents or leading to debt | Accommodation, transport, entrance tickets. |
| For shorter working hours | ① Enough rest raises productivity ② Time with family and for travel improves mental health | A trip to southern Taiwan takes at least three days off. |
A topic sentence you can adapt, plus an example
Topic sentence: However, being self-employed sometimes seems to be disadvantageous. First and foremost, it is readily apparent that the salary those people earn is not stable.
The example I actually wrote (Task 23, corrected version; “which influenced worldwide” would be better as “which affected the whole world”): COVID-19, which influenced worldwide, is a good example of this matter. As a result of a lack of funding or shareholders, most small and medium corporations did not have the ability to overcome the difficulties when the pandemic happened.
Task 23 scored 7–8 / 7 / 7 / 7, overall 7. Task Response was high because both questions (why, and what the disadvantages are) were answered clearly, and every argument had an example. On grammar, my original draft said “most of small and median corporations do have ability…”: I had left out not and hadn’t used the past tense, so the meaning was the exact opposite. In the exam, this kind of mistake can only be caught by checking.
6. How to learn and use them: my topic vocabulary cards
1. One topic, one A4 page
Put each topic on a single page divided into four sections: ① words + collocations (10–15 sets is enough); ② 2–3 arguments for and against; ③ one example of your own (ideally from your own country or personal experience); ④ one topic sentence you can adapt. In the last week before the exam, review only these pages, not whole essays.
2. Practise with idea notes instead of full essays
My notes have a section called “topic ideas”, where I write only the arguments, not an essay. For an unemployment question, for example, I just wrote: causes (technological development, automation, replacement by robots) → solutions (universal basic income, re-education, upskilling programmes). This takes five minutes per question, so you can do twenty or thirty a week. That builds an “ideas bank” faster than writing a full essay every day.
| Question | My idea notes (as in my notes) |
|---|---|
| Causes of and solutions to unemployment | Causes: technological development, automation, replacement by machines or AI Solutions: universal income, re-education program, upskill program |
| Should you do the same job for life? | For: higher salary, easier promotion, deep expertise Against: no chance to try new things, no progress, fewer chances to build a network |
| Traditional vs renewable energy | Traditional energy generates electricity and many things depend on it; phasing it out completely would put many people out of work Renewable energy is sustainable |
| Falling biodiversity | Causes: invading or destroying animal habitats, urbanisation, global warming Solutions: conservation centres, genetic technology, renewable energy |
3. Use examples that are real and specific, and don’t invent statistics
Early on, I loved writing “According to a study conducted by National Taiwan University, 80% of…”, and almost every essay had one. My notes even contain my own reminder: “quoting data → OK for medicine and industry (personal examples are better)”. Invented statistics sound fake and often don’t match the argument. In my later, higher-scoring essays, most examples were concrete things everyone knows: LINE, YouTube, COVID-19, Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system.
7. Practice exercises (with answers)
Exercise A: fill in the gaps
Choose from: deprives, put … into practice, external shocks, habitat, a sense of belonging
- The ______ of polar bears has been shrinking due to rising ocean temperatures.
- A gap year allows high school graduates to ______ what they have learned ______.
- Small businesses are vulnerable to ______ such as a pandemic.
- Overusing smartphones ______ children of opportunities to develop social skills.
- Working in a team gives employees ______, which benefits their mental health.
Show answers
- habitat
- put … into practice
- external shocks
- deprives
- a sense of belonging
Exercise B: write a topic sentence using vocabulary from this post
Question: Some people think governments should raise air fares to reduce air pollution. Write a topic sentence that disagrees, and add one sentence explaining why.
Show answers
Model answer: The main reason why I disagree with this policy is that passengers would simply switch to other forms of transport, which also contribute to pollution. If flights became more expensive, many travellers would drive or take trains instead, so overall fuel consumption might not fall at all.
Ideas used: the substitute effect (alternatives), fuel consumption, and an if clause (the second conditional for a hypothetical situation).
Exercise C: correct the mistakes
- Learning comprehensive subjects makes students easier to adapt to changes in the workplace.
- Driverless vehicles result in the decrease in jobs vacancies.
- Those leaved students can conduct challenges tasks in the workplace.
Show answers
- Learning a wide range of subjects makes it easier for students to adapt to changes in the workplace.
- Driverless vehicles result in a decrease in job vacancies.
- Those school leavers can take on challenging tasks in the workplace.
Part 2 continues with culture, the arts and the media; crime and prisons; cities, the countryside and housing; social issues (health, longevity, inequality, risk); and the economy, business and advertising, in the same format as this post.
Further reading
- IELTS preparation notes: overview (in Chinese)
- Tutor review, Ali: streamlining my essay structure from 400 to 300 words (in Chinese)
- Tutor review, Farid (former examiner): live feedback on speaking and writing (in Chinese)
- The Best Free IELTS Websites and Tools: What I Actually Used
This is the last part of “Task 2 Topic Vocabulary (1)”. To start again, go back to Part 1.
IELTS Notes in English · Writing Language (post 3 of 4)
← Previous: Paraphrasing in IELTS Writing Without Losing Marks: Synonyms, Background Sentences and Words to Avoid
Next →: IELTS Task 2 Topic Vocabulary (Part 2): Culture, Crime, Housing, Society and the Economy
Task 1 Structure · Task 2 Structure · Topic Guides · Writing Language · Band Score Samples · Practice Methods · Speaking & Study Tips
✦ Target Your Future
Some days you practise for hours and the score still does not move. I hope these notes remind you that the setbacks are part of the road: every recording you replayed, every essay you rewrote and every sentence you finally dared to say is progress you have already made.
I wrote this down so the next person can take fewer detours. You do not have to follow my method exactly. Find a rhythm that works for you, rest when you need to, and come back for the next small step.
I hope what you take away is more than a number on a score report: a little more confidence in yourself, and the courage to step a bit closer to the world.
— Ting
← Back to IELTS notes in English
Leave a Reply