Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-13

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Nowadays many people complain that they have difficulties getting enough sleep. What problems can lack of sleep cause? What can be done about lack of sleep?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.0)

In recent time, people complain that they suffer from lack of sleep. This can be caused by stress resulting from work or family conflict.

Firstly, lack of sleep causes low productivity. This is a major problem because when people spend long hours at work, they do not have time to rest and sleep due to heavy workload and target deadline. This can subsequently lead to stress, fatigue and reduced effectiveness at their job. For instance, such individuals are unable to contribute creative or innovative ideas that can help to improves sales for their companies, thus this leads to poor sales.

Another problem is that insomia leads to health complications.

when individuals do not have adequate sleep, they tend to suffer from high blood pressure. This is because the body is not resting properly, and as such this puts a strain on the body organs to function. For example, the occurence of high blood pressure can impair other tissues and nerves not to function effectively.

A solution to this, is for people to have a suitable timetable to plan their schedule. When this is done, they can be able to delegate some tasks to others, move it to another time. As a result of this, they are able to rest, sleep better and even have time to spend

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by identifying causes, problems, and solutions related to lack of sleep, such as low productivity and health complications. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and incomplete. For instance, the final solution paragraph trails off mid-sentence ("and even have time to spend"), leaving the discussion unresolved. Additionally, the Length Check confirms that the essay contains only 217 words, falling short of the 250-word minimum requirement. Consequently, this under-length penalty restricts the task achievement score to Band 5.0, as the main parts of the task are only partially addressed due to insufficient length and incomplete explanations.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays some overall organization, using paragraph breaks to separate problems and solutions. However, progression is disrupted by abrupt transitions and incomplete thoughts, particularly in the conclusion of the final paragraph. Cohesive devices are occasionally used (e.g., "Firstly", "Another problem is that", "A solution to this, is"), but referencing and logical flow are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, in the last paragraph, the sentence structure breaks down ("When this is done, they can be able to delegate...") and the text ends abruptly without a proper concluding sentence. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal cohesion of the final section requires better control. These factors align with a Band 5.0 level.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as "productivity", "fatigue", "health complications", "high blood pressure", and "insomia" (a minor spelling error for insomnia). There are also attempts to use less common expressions like "target deadline" and "delegate". However, word choice and collocation are occasionally awkward or inaccurate, such as "improves sales" instead of "improve sales" and "target deadline" instead of "tight deadlines". Vocabulary limitations and spelling errors do not completely impede communication, making the lexical control fit comfortably into the Band 5.5 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writing contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over grammar. Examples of successful structures include "This is a major problem because when people spend long hours at work..." However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasings throughout the text. Notable errors include missing articles, tense or form inconsistencies such as "can be able to delegate" and "impair other tissues and nerves not to function effectively", as well as punctuation issues like unnecessary commas (e.g., "A solution to this, is"). The sentence structures often become faulty when attempting complexity. These frequent errors place the grammatical accuracy at a Band 5.0 level.

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