English Education & School Vocabulary

Level: B1. Education comes up in interviews, forms, small talk and study itself. This page gives you the English words for school, study, exams and qualifications, grouped by meaning so related words stick together, each with a plain definition and a short example you can copy.

By the end of this page you can…

…talk about school life (class, subject, lesson), describe how you study and sit exams (study, revise, exam, pass, fail), and name your qualifications (degree, university, graduate) in clear sentences.

How this list was chosen

Every word here comes from the English frequency list (hermitdave/FrequencyWords), which ranks words by how often they appear in a large collection of everyday subtitles. From that list we kept the words you really need to talk about education, and grouped them by meaning rather than by rank. The Rank column is the word’s real position in the frequency list — a lower number means more common.

At school

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
328	school	a place where children learn	My son starts school in September.
743	class	a group of students, or a lesson	There are thirty students in my class.
1880	lesson	a single period of teaching	We had a maths lesson this morning.
1884	subject	an area of study, such as history	My favourite subject is science.
218	course	a set of lessons on one topic	She signed up for an English course.
3046	homework	work a student does at home	I finished my homework before dinner.
2960	term	one part of the school year	Exams are at the end of term.
7628	semester	half of an academic year	The course lasts two semesters.
7223	classroom	the room where a class is taught	The classroom has thirty desks.

People in education

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
1507	student	a person who studies	She is a hard-working student.
1015	teacher	a person who teaches	Our teacher explains things clearly.
9398	pupil	a schoolchild (British English)	The pupils lined up in the yard.
1028	professor	a senior teacher at a university	The professor gave a long lecture.
5004	graduate	someone who has finished a degree; to finish one	She will graduate next summer.

Studying and exams

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
691	learn	gain knowledge or a skill	I want to learn Spanish.
1289	study	spend time working on a subject	He studies for three hours a night.
20960	revise	go over work before an exam (British English)	I need to revise for the test.
3372	exam	a formal test of knowledge	The exam lasts two hours.
850	test	a shorter check of knowledge	We have a spelling test on Friday.
741	pass	succeed in an exam	I hope to pass all my exams.
2298	fail	not succeed in an exam	He was afraid he would fail.
2426	grade	a mark or level of achievement	She got the top grade in history.
889	mark	a score given to work (British English)	The teacher marked our essays.

Qualifications and higher study

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
1002	college	a place for study after school	He studies art at college.
1928	university	an institution for degrees	She teaches at a university.
3072	degree	a qualification from a university	He has a degree in law.
4920	certificate	an official document proving study	I got a certificate in first aid.
11612	diploma	a qualification below a degree	She earned a diploma in design.
6037	scholarship	money given to a student to study	He won a scholarship to Oxford.
2609	education	the whole process of teaching and learning	Education opens many doors.

Reading, writing and research

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
1415	note	a short written record	Take notes during the lesson.
8668	essay	a short piece of writing on a topic	I wrote an essay on climate change.
3917	assignment	a task a student must complete	The assignment is due on Monday.
1541	project	a larger piece of work over time	We did a group project on energy.
1587	research	careful study to find facts	Her research won an award.
4632	lecture	a formal talk to students	The lecture was about ancient Rome.
2027	knowledge	the information you have learned	Reading widens your knowledge.

Example sentences

Play each line, then say it aloud. These use the most common education words in natural, everyday patterns.

My daughter starts school in September.

'start school' is the normal phrase.
There are thirty students in my English class.

class = a group of students or a single lesson.
My favourite subject at school was history.

a subject is an area of study.
She signed up for an online English course.

a course is a set of lessons on one topic.
I always do my homework before dinner.

'do homework' is the fixed verb.
Our teacher explains difficult ideas clearly.

A teacher gives knowledge; a student receives it.
I want to learn Spanish before the trip.

learn = gain a skill or knowledge.
He studies for about three hours every night.

study = spend time working on a subject.
I need to revise for the biology test.

revise (British) = go over work before an exam.
The final exam lasts two hours.

an exam is a formal, longer test.
We take a spelling test every Friday.

You take or sit a test, never 'make' it.
I hope to pass all my exams this year.

pass = succeed; the opposite is fail.
She got the top grade in the whole class.

grade (American) / mark (British) = a score.
He has a degree in computer science.

a degree is a university qualification.
She won a scholarship to study abroad.

a scholarship pays for a student's study.
I wrote a long essay on climate change.

an essay is a short piece of written work.
The assignment is due on Monday morning.

'due' means the date it must be handed in.
Her research into clean energy won an award.

research = careful study to find facts.

Recap cheat-sheet

A few patterns to remember before the quiz.

Cheat sheet: take an exam, teach vs learn, British and American school words

Quick recap before the quiz.

Point	Example
teacher teaches, student learns	She teaches; I learn
take / sit / do an exam	I took the exam
study for, in order to learn	study for a test
British / American	mark / grade; revise / review

Practice

Education vocabulary practice

Try each one, then press Check. No sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere — it all runs in your browser.

1 Match each word to its meaning.

subject Match for subject
degree Match for degree
lecture Match for lecture
scholarship Match for scholarship

Show answer

subject → an area of study
degree → a university qualification
lecture → a formal talk to students
scholarship → money given to a student to study

Linking a word to its meaning helps you recall it faster.

2 Which verb is correct? My teacher learns me English. My teacher teaches me English. My teacher studies me English. My teacher marks me English.

Show answer

My teacher teaches me English. — The teacher teaches; the student learns. You never 'learn' someone.

3 Choose the natural sentence. I made my exam yesterday. I did my exam yesterday happy. I took my exam yesterday. I passed to my exam yesterday.

Show answer

I took my exam yesterday. — You take, sit or do an exam, never 'make' one.

4 Complete with the opposite of 'pass': He was afraid he would ____ the test.

Hint: not succeed

Show answer

fail — fail is the opposite of pass.

5 Complete: I need to ____ for three hours before the exam.

Hint: spend time on the subject

Show answer

study — study (or British 'revise') means to work on a subject before an exam.

6 Put the words in order.

Show answer

she has a degree in law — a degree in + subject: she has a degree in law.

Quiz

Next set: English Business & Work Vocabulary
Previous set: English Sports & Exercise Vocabulary
Related: English Jobs & Professions Vocabulary, English Technology & Internet Vocabulary
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English Education & School Vocabulary

By the end of this page you can…

How this list was chosen

At school

People in education

Studying and exams

Qualifications and higher study

Reading, writing and research

Example sentences

Recap cheat-sheet

Practice

Education vocabulary practice

Quiz

Education vocabulary quiz

Next

All English vocabulary topics

Vocabulary