aubry um can you tell me about a recent time that you were successful oh this reminds me of our
last episode right i feel like the ielts energy podcast is successful we have so many listeners
if you missed our most recent episode we gave some numbers about we've had three million downloads in
three months it's amazing so i feel like we're kind of acing it when it comes to podcasting
we're totally acing it when it comes to podcasting honestly i feel like uh we really hit the jackpot
when we um you know got this job that we have yeah it is it's the total jackpot of jobs
so guys we just demonstrated very naturally if i do say so myself uh how to use two vocabulary
items that we are going to teach you today um so you know you you know you know um in order
to get a seven or higher for vocab you have to use interesting idiomatic language on speaking
and writing yes you do need to show some idiomatic ability in writing as well so guys we have three
amazing phrases for you today um very positive that you can use to describe success yes and the
last thing you want to do is say the phrase like i did that really well it's so boring it's like
band five or four vocabulary and there's so many good options if you want to talk about having done
something well or something good happening in your life use an idiom practice using the ones we're
going to teach you today to get that idiomatic language on your speaking exam exactly yeah any
easy adjectives that you learned in your first year of english do not use on the ielts exam so
don't say you are good at something don't say that uh you did a nice job on something right good nice
these are boring adjectives you guys and here's another little uh side note tip here
do please don't use to pass with flying colors now that's an idiom that you probably know and that's
a sign not a lot of students know that when i was still examining i heard students say that all the
time and it's it's okay it's an okay idiom um i'm just saying that there are better ones out there
and i don't feel like i hear natives say that very often right i don't really use it we don't really
hear natives say it much so the problem is even though it's idiomatic language the examiner might
not even recognize it as idiomatic language if it's like man this is kind of boring this is not
right you want to make sure that you're using idioms that are more common for natives and not
every student is saying and these three things we're going to share today all hit that the
examiner probably has never heard a student use any of these exactly exactly guys um remember
to get high scores you must stand out and this is very important especially with your vocabulary so
that's what it felt like that was really weird anyway
all right the first phrase guys is to hit the jackpot um now this is a funny phrase to me
because i grew up in nevada and if you guys aren't familiar with america nevada is where
las vegas is nevada is like the only state in the entire country um where gambling is legal
everywhere now if you go to other states and you see a casino that casino will be on an indian
reservation so there are casinos in some places on indian reservations um there's atlantic city
right there's casinos there but nevada as a state we are special we have gambling everywhere
in the grocery store there are slot machines in the airport yes everywhere um so anyway
that gives you an idea hit the jackpot means like literally that you won the most money gambling you
hit that's the jackpot like a million dollars or whatever but as an idiom what does it mean yeah so
this is just like if you're going to hit the jackpot in vegas and all those coins come out
at you or now it's kind of more boring and just a reason it comes out and tells you the money you
want but it's the same meaning where something really good happens to you in life so maybe you
start dating someone amazing you'd be like oh you guys i hit the jackpot with this person i just met
maybe you someone gives you something and you just are so excited about this gift you're like
man i just hit the jackpot i love the advice of using this to describe a relationship that you
are so thankful for i think like anything in your life that you have a lot of gratitude for
we can use this phrase sure right um like i went out to dinner with my best friend last night and
you know we met when we were in elementary school and we both agree we really hit the jackpot when
we became friends because we're like lifelong best friends so yeah with a partner a best friend uh a
job that's how i used it at the beginning of this podcast so speaking part one do you like your job
tell me about your job what do you do um even if you don't really like your job let's pretend
you could say to be honest i feel like i really hit the jackpot with this job because
and then support it with a couple details yes great way to describe a job a friend a
family member anything that's a positive like you said anything that you're grateful for
your home is in there yes your home your apartment your gym whatever something you like and you're
happy about like yes i would totally use it oh i got a used bike over the weekend and it's bright
yellow and i love it so much and i feel like a kid again on this bike like i really hit the jackpot
with this bicycle it was such a great deal and it just brought me so much joy
just like this is how flexible this phrase is okay let's move on what's the next phrase aubrey yeah
the next one we used right in the beginning of the podcast to talk about acing something to ace
something you'll often hear people talk about this for like an exam or a job interview if they do
really well they'll say oh i aced that interview i aced that exam it just means you feel like you did
really well yeah so to ace it is like to ace a test is like you got a hundred percent like
you did really well but it doesn't have to be perfect like that right um i think that's like
the the technical definition of to a something is to do it perfectly but you don't have to use it
like that it could just be to do very very well on something so um i think the last time i used
this i had to park my car in a very skinny spot and i parked it and i was like aced it
oh my god totally if i have to like parallel park and i do it in one shot like i'm gonna i could
say that i was like i aced that parallel parking yes um so on the ielts exam if you're asked about
um school memories your favorite subject in school your favorite teacher you could use this right you
could be like well my favorite class in high school was rhetoric it was an english like an
advanced english class um and i swear i would ace every single exam because just because i loved
it so much and i would study all the time yes and it's so great you just sneak that in there instead
of saying i received very high scores right pull that vocabulary down to a much more informal level
use this very slangy idiom idiomatic phrase and the examiner is going to be very impressed totally
um now this next one this last one is not as common as the first two i would say
um but we still use it and i think you could also use this one on writing so this is the only one
guys i would recommend for writing especially if it's a problem solution essay and you're
providing a solution in the third paragraph or two then you could say that something is a recipe for
success and that just means like this these are the steps you take to be successful right um so
how could we use this for the uh speaking exam let's see if you're asked like what makes a good
teacher right then you could say you know i think having outside experience beyond the classroom
as well as being an expert in one subject that's a recipe for success as far as i'm concerned
nice that's so good i think this would be so helpful for part two yeah lots of things i can
imagine you're describing like for example a party someone threw and when you describe things that
went well things they were doing well to plan you could say they were set up right be like they got
the balloons and the streamers and had music there was a live dj the whole thing was just a recipe
for success totally or travel right i know there's questions in part three about uh like preparation
for travel preparation for going abroad stuff like that so um you could talk about you know
the best ways to prepare for a fantastic trip and that would be a recipe for success so for example
i'm going on a road trip in a couple weeks which i will tell you guys all about on this podcast
when we get back um but i feel like i feel like i've nailed the recipe for success on this one
i'm renting a teardrop trailer i have done all the research and we're staying
at very cool campgrounds we're covering four different states um i have a special playlist
we're gonna use we're gonna listen to in the car um i think music planning ahead of time and a
healthy dose of spontaneity those three things are a recipe for travel success yeah you can see how
we often will like list things just like a recipe for exactly it's like flour sugar and milk is the
recipe for a good cake right we're listing the items that are make a recipe for success about
a trip or a book we're reading whatever it is the positive attributes that make up this recipe
for it to be good exactly guys um and we have the recipe for success for your ielts exam um all of
my 14 years of examiner experience is in the three keys ielts success system guys the online course
it is guaranteed to increase your score um so if you are curious about these courses general
academic computer paper everything is there for you guys check it out all alliersenglish.com
k-e-y-s all right awesome aubry um i think you and me are a recipe for podcast success we are
a recipe for success it's so fun thanks again for listening guys we're so happy that you guys are
here that you're enjoying learning something and we'll see you next time bye see you later
you