Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-28

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 5.5)

A human needs 8 hours of sleep daily to help their body recover from tiredness they had the whole day in their busy schedule. The children from 1st to 4th grade had studied in school that a human body needs a basic sleep of 8 hours. They would then suggest their parents to follow the sleep schedule correctly.

From the start of pandemic of covid-19 , the young generation had their lifestyles completely changed. They would use gadgets till late night and then sleep in the morning till 11am or even later. But ,after the pandemic the children have got addicted to using the gadgets by staying awake late at night or roaming out with their friends late at night and are not able to deal with a proper sleep schedule. Then, at the time of wake up they complain in morning that they are feeling sleepy.

The problems that are caused by the lack of sleep are severe headache , body pain and people are not able to focus on their work or studies. They don't get their work done on time and it does not give them good results. They start losing their focus and interest on the work. This kind of routine makes them feel unenergetic the whole day and thus cannot live a healthy and happy life.

A solution to the problem for lack of sleep is that every individual should make their own routine and follow it strictly. They can change the schedule only for weekends and festivals , but not for daily routine. The routine will make them habitual and they can live a healthier and happy life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both parts of the question: you identify effects such as headaches, body pain, reduced concentration and lower productivity, and recommend keeping a regular routine. These points are relevant, but the discussion is only partly developed. For example, you state that people “cannot live a healthy and happy life” without explaining further consequences or giving a specific example. The proposed solution is also quite general: following a routine is useful, but you could explain practical steps such as limiting screen use before bed or keeping a consistent bedtime, and show how these would help. The opening discussion of children and the pandemic takes up space without clearly connecting to the full range of problems and remedies.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: it introduces sleep habits, describes a change in routine, outlines consequences, and ends with a solution. Paragraphing helps the reader distinguish these stages, and linking words such as “But,” “Then,” and “thus” show some awareness of progression. However, the first two paragraphs overlap in their focus on children, gadgets and late nights, so the movement towards the task’s main questions is not always direct. Some references are also unclear, as in “They would then suggest their parents,” where the relationship between the children and the advice could be expressed more precisely. Grouping the effects and solutions more systematically, with clearer links between each cause and result, would strengthen the progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “focus,” “interest,” “routine,” and “addicted,” and the reader can generally understand the intended meaning. However, the range is limited and several phrases are repetitive or imprecise, such as “sleepy,” “sleep schedule,” and “routine.” Some collocations are unnatural, including “a basic sleep of 8 hours,” “the time of wake up,” and “unenergetic.” These choices make parts of the response less fluent, even though the central message remains clear. Aim for more precise expressions for sleep-related effects and practical remedies, and check that words combine naturally. This would make the discussion sound more controlled and appropriate for an IELTS essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You communicate through a mixture of simple sentences and some longer structures, including the sentence beginning “The problems that are caused by the lack of sleep…” and the contrast introduced with “But.” However, control is uneven, and some sentence patterns are awkward or faulty. For example, “A human needs 8 hours of sleep daily to help their body recover from tiredness they had” has an unclear tense relationship, while “They would then suggest their parents” is missing a grammatical link such as “that.” There are also punctuation and spacing problems, including spaces before commas and inconsistent capitalisation after sentence breaks. Practise forming accurate complex sentences and checking articles, verb forms and punctuation; clearer sentence construction will make your ideas easier to follow.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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