IELTS Energy 1606: Feeling Alienated? How to Use it to Boost IELTS Scores!

This is the IELTS Energy Podcast, episode 1606. Feeling alienated? How to use it to boost IELTS scores. Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English.

Downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner-trained IELTS whiz, Aubrey Carter, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl. If you are stuck with a low score at 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 at allearsenglish.com forward slash my score.

Do you live in an urban or rural area? City life is a common topic on the IELTS speaking exam. And today we share five band nine phrases for this topic, along with high scoring part one answers. Listen in for everything you need to get high scores on these questions.

You've studied English in school. You've taken courses, watched videos, listened to podcasts. So why does speaking still feel difficult sometimes? Because knowledge and fluency are not the same thing.

You can know hundreds of grammar rules and thousands of words, but still struggle to use them quickly in real conversations and to connect. Our free two-minute fluency quiz helps you discover where that gap exists and what to do about it. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. Hello, Michelle.

Welcome to IELTS Energy. How are you? Thank you. Thank you. I am doing well. Aubrey, how are you? Excellent. I have a question for you. You have lived much of your life, I know, in an urban area in a big city.

Yeah. Even though it's crowded, do you still find it hard sometimes to meet people? Yeah, it's interesting because when I was living in a more urban area, I made a lot of great friends. I saw people all the time and it felt super social.

And even now that I'm not there, I keep in touch with a lot of those people. But what's interesting is now that I'm in the suburbs, it feels less transient. Like, you know, in the city life, you know that people are probably going to be moving. So it's hard to get...

very deep with people super attached right because you're always kind of like well who's gonna stay who's not gonna stay um so here in the suburbs i thought it was going to be harder to make friends but it's not and actually i feel like these are friends like the majority of the people that i know are people who are going to be here for years and years and years so it's kind of interesting I had the same. I had a similar experience. We weren't sure how long we were going to stay in New York City.

It's expensive to live there. It's difficult with kids. So there was that. And also a lot of the people we would meet, it sounded like they were loving living in New York, but probably wouldn't be there forever.

So it does sometimes impede those deeper connections when you know it's temporary a little bit. Right. Right. Exactly. Well, this is interesting. Often the topic of describing urban life or urban versus rural life will come up on IELTS, right?

So for example, emotional and social impacts of living in big cities or just comparing them. So we are going to teach you today some high-scoring vocabulary to talk about connection, maybe loneliness, modern city living in a very natural way that will get you high scores on IELTS speaking questions about this topic.

Yeah, exactly. And don't forget to hit follow, guys, wherever you are. And Lindsay will be back. You still hear her on the podcast some, but we're loving having Michelle here on IELTS Energy.

It's been so fun. And wherever you listen to the podcast, be sure to hit follow. Just search IELTS Energy in the search bar and you'll see our bright yellow square and hit follow.

Yes. All right. So yeah, we're talking about urban life today. So what are we going for today? What do we want our audience to walk away with? Yeah. So as I shared, we're going to learn some high-scoring vocabulary first, and then we will also provide sample answers.

So stay to the end of the podcast to hear this vocabulary in some high-scoring answers. But we'll also give you examples as we go of sentences that could be used in IELTS speaking questions. about urban life or comparing different types of lifestyles. So our first word we're going to teach you is alienating.

This is an adjective that means that someone feels isolated or disconnected. For example, you might say living in a huge city can feel alienating if you don't have a strong social circle. So it's very similar to the word lonely, but lonely is like band six. Every student knows lonely.

Alienating is much less common and therefore higher scoring. Yeah, yeah, this is a really good one. Or here's another one. Remote work became alienating when he stopped interacting with co workers.

So yeah, really good way. Yeah, alienating is a great, great word. And you certainly when you think of like COVID times and remote work. Yes. And that comes up a lot, right?

You may want to, even though we're a little bit removed from COVID now, it still is a part of everyone's past. And you very likely will get a question where you're going to think of COVID as the example. And you'll want to share it. And this is a perfect word.

If you felt like you were removed from friends, family, society, if you had to quarantine, this is a perfect word for that. It felt alienating, which means you felt isolated and disconnected from other people.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The second word is one that I used already earlier in the episode without even knowing that this was one of the ones. Well done, Michelle. Just because you have such an impressive vocabulary.

I like this word a lot, especially for this topic. I think it's just a really good way to describe something. Temporary. I mean, it's temporary. You're not lasting long.

I don't think you said it, actually. So without further ado, what is the word? Or if you did, I missed it. Oh, did I not say the actual word? Oh, that's hilarious.

Okay, sorry. Transient. I was just giving, I was going to give you the definition and have everyone guess. So yes, it means temporary, not lasting long.

And this is how I felt. I felt like we were transient in New York City as much as I would have loved to live there forever. It quickly became clear to me how expensive it was, how difficult it was to have children. And I had a feeling the ball was going to drop eventually.

And I would realize we have to move to the suburbs. Gotta go. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So here's an example. Many people in big cities have transient lifestyles moving frequently for work.

Right. So people can move for work as well. Or her friendships felt transient because people were always coming and going. That's city life for sure, right?

Someone comes to complete a master's degree or to do an internship, and then they move away. And so it feels a little bit transient. Yeah. Or here's another one, close knit.

So that's a knit is K-N-I-T, guys. And this is an adjective. So it means having strong, supportive relationships. Yeah. For example, I grew up in a close knit neighborhood where everyone knew each other.

So that means like imagine the actual, when fabric is close knit, it means the threads are very close together. You're not seeing big holes like a sweater. Right. But that we also talk about this almost like the threads between people that link us.

It's very metaphorical to call someone, a group close-knit, meaning they're close emotionally. They have those close bonds. Yeah. Or she misses the close-knit community she had back home.

Yeah. I have this now. I love it. I have a pretty close-knit community with my neighbors. And it's really nice. I haven't always had that. I have often had neighbors that never...

They drive into their garage and shut the garage and you never see them. You never talk to them, which that happens. And if you're out there, I get it. A lot of people, they would prefer that.

But now we're friends with our neighbors and we have the close-knit community and I love it. Yeah, that's awesome. What's another one? All right, overstimulating.

You've likely heard this recently because it's used often now to talk about if someone has anxiety and too much noise or sound, they get overstimulated. This adjective, overstimulating, Band nine adjective. That means providing too much sensory input.

Something's overwhelming. And you can describe city life this way. It's loud. It's noisy. Things are happening all the time. You could say city life can be overstimulating with constant noise and activity.

Yep, exactly. Or after a long day, I find crowded places overstimulating. I mean, I'm thinking about Times Square, right? I find Times Square to be very overstimulating.

I don't want to be there if I don't have to. Yeah, I actually had someone say this to me. I was at volleyball and we play in an indoor gym that's very echoey.

Just the way it's built and set up. There's also a stage where kids could do musical productions. It's inside a church. And it's very echoey. And with all the noises of volleyball and people yelling and often people are all talking between games, it can be very overstimulating.

And there's one girl who often seems really grumpy when we're there. And she was being especially grumpy on Friday. And I asked her, I was like, are you mad at me? Yeah.

Because it kind of felt like it was. It kind of felt directed toward me a little bit. And it might have been about something that had happened. But she just said, no, I'm just overstimulated.

She said, I find this gym very overstimulating with all the noise and the echoes. I was like, oh, yeah, I get it. That's true. It's kind of overwhelming in there sometimes.

Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't get that too. But this would be perfect. If you are asked on the IELTS exam to compare rural life and urban life, this would be perfect to say cities are much more overstimulating because that's more rare in rural life.

It's quieter, not as many lights and all the things that you might consider overstimulating. It's more peaceful. So that would be a good comparison to make.

Yeah, definitely. Love that. Let's do one more before we take a break. So this is a sense of belonging. And guys, this is a noun phrase. So this is the feeling of being accepted and part of a group.

Example, joining a club helped him develop a sense of belonging. So yeah, if you feel like it's alienating wherever you live, there are things like this that you can do. Join a rub, run club, whatever you're interested in. to try and create that sense of belonging.

This is how we counteract. We fight that sense, that loneliness that you can feel sometimes in a city or in a rural area. You can feel that anywhere. Anywhere.

It takes time to build a sense of belonging in a new city. Yeah. Anytime you move somewhere, you know, it's just going to take time and you just got to realize that it's hard at first. Exactly.

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Go to allearsenglish.com slash vocabulary. All right, Michelle, let's do some practice answers. So we're going to do some speaking part one questions here that you might get on IELTS part one.

I am kind of stumbling on my words today a little bit. I apologize, everyone out there listening. That's how you know this is scripted and unscripted. This is unscripted and natural when I'm stumbling over my words a bit.

So, okay. Our first one, Michelle, I'll have you ask me a question. Remember that speaking part one is like three to five sentences. It's not going to be super long, but you do need some good details and you want to try to use like this vocabulary we've taught you today, maybe some slang linking phrases.

So we'll share after the answer, some of the good vocabulary that you want to be using, maybe add it to your vocabulary notebook. Yeah. All right. Am I asking you or are you asking?

Yeah, ask me a question. Okay, I'm going to ask you a question. All right. Do you enjoy living in a big city? Honestly, it's a mix. On one hand, I love the opportunities, but it can feel quite alienating at times.

People are busy and it's not always easy to build a sense of belonging. So let's go through this answer quickly. First of all, linking phrases. I said, honestly, it's a mix on one hand.

And then these, it's interesting because the IELTS speaking exam, sometimes this is what students miss, which really lowers their fluency and coherence score. Because you have to link your ideas together. You need linking phrases to do that, which we don't always use when we're speaking normally in conversation. We don't.

We sometimes will have choppier sentences and throwing ideas out there without linking them. So you have to do this on IELTS writing as well as in your speaking answers.

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, you said I can feel alienating. And then you said it's not always easy to build a sense of belonging. So yeah, these are two really good ones.

And also I like this phrase to say, honestly, it's a mix. Or you could say it's a mix of both. That's an interesting way to say, I kind of feel both. Like I don't really feel one way or the other.

Both things exist, right? That's a really native phrase to say that. And then you're going to explain why. Don't just say, honestly, it's a mix, full stop, and that would be a low scoring answer.

You then need to provide all of these details. What about it is a mix? What are the positives and what are the negatives? Yeah, exactly. All right, Michelle, you want to ask me one?

Here's your question. Do you know your neighbors? Not really, to be honest, the environment feels quite transient. So people don't stay long. I definitely prefer more close knit communities where you actually know the people around you.

Yeah. And I hope that's not actually true for you, Michelle. I know this is a hypothetical situation. Imagining someone living in an urban area. Are you you have just moved recently?

Are you getting to know your neighbors there? Yes. Nice. I mean, not all of them, but there are some that are just, I mean, most of the, I mean, actually all of the ones that I've met are lovely.

Oh, amazing. That's always such a bonus. Because even if they're not, it's like, that's okay. I don't have to be friends with my neighbors as long as we have a good, you know, relationship where no one's terrible.

We'll take that. But it's such a bonus when people are really nice and friendly. I love that. Oh, it's, it's, yeah, everybody is really. I feel very lucky for that.

Okay, ask me one more. Let's do one more sample answer. Oh, did we have to go through what I said? Oh, yeah, I think we didn't. I forgot to because I was so excited to ask you if this was true for you or not.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I said not really. The environment feels quite transient. And then I said I definitely prefer more close-knit communities where you can actually, where you actually know the people around you.

Yeah. Awesome. Okay. One more question here. You want to ask me? I'll ask you. Sure. Okay. Do you prefer quiet places or busy places? To be frank, I prefer quieter places because super busy environments can be really overstimulating for me.

I definitely feel more relaxed and connected when things are calm and chill. Love that. I love what you said. You said to be frank. It's another way to say to be honest, right?

Exactly. But higher scoring because less common, less students use it. And you might think that sounds a little too formal for part one, but not really. I would say this to a friend, to be frank, and we kind of say it like playfully lighthearted.

So it's perfect for part three about more serious topics as well. But it also works for part one like this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. All right. Well, yeah, Aubrey, this has been really great to talk about these kinds of questions and to talk about this vocabulary.

Yes. I'm excited for you guys to have this high-scoring vocabulary to use in your answers. Remember these extra bonus tips we had today. It's not enough just to have high-scoring vocabulary, linking phrases.

intonation. You've heard all this from us on the podcast. There's a lot that goes into a high scoring speaking answer. So practice. Practice the answers that we answered today with your own details.

How would you answer them? Use this vocabulary. Practice ahead of time so you're ready to get the score you need on IELTS speaking. Okay. Excellent. Aubrey Wall, I'm so glad we spoke about this today.

And guys, thank you so much for listening. Yeah. Awesome. We'll see you next time. Bye, Michelle. All right. Bye. Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.

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