Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS 7.0+ : Medical and Health Issues (Part 3)

Health and medicine-related vocabulary is a frequent feature in IELTS Reading and Speaking. Candidates often face questions about global health problems, personal well-being, treatments, and medical advancements. This lesson, Medical and Health Issues (Part 3), focuses on word transformation and word association exercises to help you expand your lexical range, improve fluency, and aim for a Band 7.0 or higher.

Why Focus on Medical Vocabulary in IELTS?

Mastering advanced medical terms is valuable for:

• IELTS Speaking Part 3: answering questions on healthcare systems, medical treatments, or lifestyle diseases.
• IELTS Reading: understanding passages about medicine, research, and public health.
• IELTS Writing: discussing health-related problems and solutions in Task 2 essays.

With practice, you’ll use precise vocabulary naturally, which directly boosts your lexical resource score.

Word Transformation Exercise

In this activity, you practice transforming words into different grammatical forms to fit into sentences. This sharpens your grammar and vocabulary flexibility – both important for IELTS Writing and IELTS Speaking.

Exercise: Fill in the Gaps with the Correct Form

Below are 15 sentences. Use the words provided in brackets, changing the form where necessary.

1. The tests showed up an iron __________ , so now I have to take supplements every morning. (deficient)
2. His alcohol __________ is becoming a real issue which could potentially ruin his life. (dependent)
3. The patient’s __________ heart valve was operated on successfully this morning. (defect)
4. You have an enhanced __________ to this strain of the flu virus – there is no chance of you falling ill. (immune)
5. __________ injury this severe can often result in paralysis – you are a very lucky man. (spine)
6. Why is it that I can never seem to read the handwriting on the doctor’s __________ , but pharmacists always understand? (prescribe)
7. The __________ benefits of gardening are widely acknowledged. (therapy)
8. I expect that I will get breast cancer sadly at some point in my life – it’s __________ , you see – my mother and grandmother both had it. (hereditariness)
9. I’m having __________ surgery to have the lesion removed. (elect)
10. The cancer is in __________ thank goodness – though I haven’t got the all-clear just yet. (remiss)
11. The patient is __________ obese, which is severely impacting his quality of life. (morbid)
12. The __________ is good – as the disease was caught early, I have an excellent chance of recovery. (prognose)
13. The __________ of arthritis came as a shock to me – I’m only 32! (diagnose)
14. A mouth ulcer that lasts more than three weeks may be __________ of oral cancer. (symptom)
15. The accident left him with a permanent visual __________ . (impair)

Word Association 2

In IELTS, collocations are just as important as vocabulary. This exercise trains you to match verbs with nouns commonly used in medical contexts.

Exercise A: Match the Verbs with Nouns