There are many important factors involved in scoring band 7+ in IELTS speaking, but adding a few idioms into your speaking will certainly help to improve your lexical resource score and is one of the requirements for 7+ in this section. The key factor is to make the idioms sound natural which can be achieved with frequent practice and it would be ideal if a teacher or native speaker listened to you using them.
The photo at the top of this page is an example of an idiom and it can be used in several situations. Anything that you find easy could be described as a piece of cake. For more IELTS idioms like this I’d advise following my Instagram page.
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A Useful List of Idioms for IELTS
Over the moon-to be very happy
Once in a blue moon-happens very rarely
A piece of cake-very easy
A drop in the ocean-a very small part of something much bigger
Actions speak louder than words-what you do is more important than what you say
Back to the drawing board/back to square one-after a failure starting again
Put all your eggs in one basket-put all your effort or money into something
Off the top of my head-saying something without thinking first
Run of the mill-average or ordinary
Soulmate-person who you were meant to be with
Down in the dumps-sad
Found my feet-to become comfortable doing something
Set in their ways-not wanting to change
Go the extra mile-do much more than is required
Miss the boat-miss an opportunity
Costs an arm and a leg-really expensive
Sit on the fence-to be undecided
A blessing in disguise-something positive that isn’t recognised until later
Every cloud has a silver lining-A positive aspect of a negative situation
Over the top-excessive
Feeling under the weather- feeling unwell
You can’t judge a book by its cover-Outside appearances don’t reveal what something is really like
Drives me up the wall-make me crazy
On the same page-in agreement
Learn the ropes-to learn how to do a job or activity
By the book-following the rules
Bounce back-to recover from earlier losses
Word of mouth-spoken communication as a way of transmitting information
Lower or raise the bar-to increase or decrease the standards that need to be met in order to qualify for something
Early bird-someone who goes to bed early and wakes up early
Night owl-someone who goes to bed late and wakes up late
Activity to Practice Using these Idioms
Look at the common IELTS part 1 speaking questions about your job, hobbies, hometown and current city. Then, try to place one of the idioms above into your answer
Example
What would you like to do in the future?
I’d be over the moon if I could work for…