Advanced vocabulary resources?

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Burnice

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IMG_5847.jpeg I’m preparing for an English examination. When I was doing a mock test, I realized how massive the vocabulary range could be in the real test - it was full of unfamiliar words for me. For some reasons, I couldn’t get access to as much mock tests as I wanted, so I would like to find reading resources that can provide me vocabularies of the similar difficulty. Thank you in advance.
 
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View attachment 6217 I’m preparing for an English examination. When I was doing a mock test, I realized how massive the vocabulary range could be in the real test - it was full of unfamiliar words for me. For some reasons, I couldn’t get access to as much mock tests as I wanted, so I would like to find reading resources that can provide me vocabularies of the similar difficulty. [........................]
**For some reason
**as many mock tests
**a similar difficulty
 
@Burnice It is a legal requirement of this forum that you cite your source whenever you post text that you didn't write yourself. Please give us the name of the book/website from which you took those screenshots, as well as the name(s) of the author(s). Without citing the source, your post currently breaks copyright laws.
 
View attachment 6217 I’m preparing for an English examination. When I was doing a mock test, I realized how massive the vocabulary range could be in the real test - it was full of unfamiliar words for me. For some reasons, I couldn’t get access to as much mock tests as I wanted, so I would like to find reading resources that can provide me vocabularies of the similar difficulty. Thank you in advance.
Source: https://springboard.vn/2025/01/15/de-thi-chon-doi-tuyen-hsgqg-tieng-anh-tinh-thanh-hoa-2024-2025/
 
As a degree educated native speaker I must say that there are words there that are new to me.
 
That is one of the most difficult multiple choice English exercises I've ever seen. I suspect 75% of the British population wouldn't know the correct answer to at least 60% of them. Almost none of the words given are used in everyday language. One would have to know the definition of all four options in each question to stand a hope of getting them right.
 
Quite a few of those are medical jargon that I wouldn't expect anyone to know unless they were a doctor (or perhaps had experienced the particular ailment/procedure themselves). Several of them refer to biology or zoology jargon I wouldn't expect most people to know unless working in those fields. Others draw upon loan words from Yiddish - again, a relatively limited pool of people using them regularly.

It seems like it's deliberately arduous under the guise of "anyone at a level 8-8.5 IELTS score (the advertised goal of the site) would know these". Ergo, if you don't (and most won't) then you need to enroll in their course. "OH NOES, MY ENGLISH MUST BE TERRIBLE" :eek:

Note that most of the answer options are deliberately chosen to either rhyme and/or alliterate to additionally confuse the reader. You need to be incredibly well read and/or dabble in dozens of different fields of interest to know all these words.
It looks like more of an advertising hook to me than actual helpful free study material! Honestly, I find it kind of irritating that they're trying to manipulate people this way so transparently. :mad:

I’m preparing for an English examination. When I was doing a mock test, I realized how massive the vocabulary range could be in the real test - it was full of unfamiliar words for me.
Yes, English does have a massive vocabulary but I'd counsel you to take this test with a grain of salt. It's not a realistic goal for a language learner. It's not a realistic goal for most native speakers! You're probably not as overwhelmingly under-prepared as this "test" is trying to make you feel.

For some reasons, I couldn’t get access to as much mock tests as I wanted, so I would like to find reading resources that can provide me vocabularies of the similar difficulty. Thank you in advance.
The reason you couldn't get access to any more materials is that they want you to join and pay for them! They want to you to panic and join their classes or subscribe to their curriculum.
 
I couldn’t get access to as MANY mock tests as I wanted, so I would like to find reading resources that can provide me vocabularies of the similar difficulty. [...............]

I am guessing you are going to medical school. Otherwise that test makes no sense.
 
Quite a few of those are medical jargon that I wouldn't expect anyone to know unless they were a doctor (or perhaps had experienced the particular ailment/procedure themselves). Several of them refer to biology or zoology jargon I wouldn't expect most people to know unless working in those fields. Others draw upon loan words from Yiddish - again, a relatively limited pool of people using them regularly.

It seems like it's deliberately arduous under the guise of "anyone at a level 8-8.5 IELTS score (the advertised goal of the site) would know these". Ergo, if you don't (and most won't) then you need to enroll in their course. "OH NOES, MY ENGLISH MUST BE TERRIBLE" :eek:

Note that most of the answer options are deliberately chosen to either rhyme and/or alliterate to additionally confuse the reader. You need to be incredibly well read and/or dabble in dozens of different fields of interest to know all these words.
It looks like more of an advertising hook to me than actual helpful free study material! Honestly, I find it kind of irritating that they're trying to manipulate people this way so transparently. :mad:


Yes, English does have a massive vocabulary but I'd counsel you to take this test with a grain of salt. It's not a realistic goal for a language learner. It's not a realistic goal for most native speakers! You're probably not as overwhelmingly under-prepared as this "test" is trying to make you feel.


The reason you couldn't get access to any more materials is that they want you to join and pay for them! They want to you to panic and join their classes or subscribe to their curriculum.
Allow me to clear these things. First of all, this test is an entrance test of my province to select students to enter the National English Competition, the web sinply reposted them for students who need studying materials. (Legally, this is completely fine, the web would have come up with many problems and accusations long ago if it isn’t, so please don’t worry about copyright issue). I have been on their studying group on Facebook for a while and I can declare that those behind the web are kind, they are not trying to lure everyone into paying for their course.

Secondly, about the test’s difficulty. I completely agree that this test is very hard, but it’s designed for gifted students, aiming for a competition of national level, and the difficulty is just how the game is.
 
Quite a few of those are medical jargon that I wouldn't expect anyone to know unless they were a doctor (or perhaps had experienced the particular ailment/procedure themselves). Several of them refer to biology or zoology jargon I wouldn't expect most people to know unless working in those fields. Others draw upon loan words from Yiddish - again, a relatively limited pool of people using them regularly.

It seems like it's deliberately arduous under the guise of "anyone at a level 8-8.5 IELTS score (the advertised goal of the site) would know these". Ergo, if you don't (and most won't) then you need to enroll in their course. "OH NOES, MY ENGLISH MUST BE TERRIBLE" :eek:

Note that most of the answer options are deliberately chosen to either rhyme and/or alliterate to additionally confuse the reader. You need to be incredibly well read and/or dabble in dozens of different fields of interest to know all these words.
It looks like more of an advertising hook to me than actual helpful free study material! Honestly, I find it kind of irritating that they're trying to manipulate people this way so transparently. :mad:


Yes, English does have a massive vocabulary but I'd counsel you to take this test with a grain of salt. It's not a realistic goal for a language learner. It's not a realistic goal for most native speakers! You're probably not as overwhelmingly under-prepared as this "test" is trying to make you feel.


The reason you couldn't get access to any more materials is that they want you to join and pay for them! They want to you to panic and join their classes or subscribe to their curriculum.
No, the reason is the national competition is usually suitable for students of gifted schools only, because as you can see, the test is hard, the gifted students are better and the teachers are more experienced and have more practising materials for their students. They gatekeep these materials to decrease the chance of winning of their rival’s schools. I don’t study at a gifted school, so I only have the internet as my material.
Once again, I declare that any accusations about the website’s integrity are just misunderstanding, it’s partly my fault for not explaining it carefully enough. Ultimately, I can bet my bottom dollar that people behind this website are not trying to manipulate anymore to serve any purpose, they just collect study materials for a group of students who aim for tough English competitions held in my country. So please don’t question their doings, or I will feel very guilty for making other people misunderstand them, they are very kind!
 
We can agree on one thing - that's a very tough English competition!
 
I like the idea of a chalupa leading to a firm's bankruptcy. (It's a type of Mexican food.)
 
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