Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Write about the following topic: Some people believe that it is good to share as much information as possible in scientific research, business and the academic world. Others believe that some information is too important or too valuable to be shared freely. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Opinions are deeply divided on whereas information should be shared freely or if, conversely information should be conserved. While compelling arguments can be made on both sides, I believe that preservation of the information is far more viable in the contemporary era due to fact that essential information in the wrong hands can be detrimental to the communities.

One the one hand, many argue that information on scientific research,business and the academic should be openly accessible, because it will help everybody in there working fields. The core rationale here is that, any task specially in research field requires colossal amount of data. If the data is openly accessible anyone can utilize them to solve any complex problem and can present any new fruitful methodology. A clear example of this can be seen in USA, where any new research is comparatively easy compared to the developing countries because all the data related to there climatology and hydrology are freely available in there USGS website.

Nevertheless, I side with those who content that sharing information should be limited and should be strictly supervised. It is a superior approach because this addresses the root cause of cyber attack. For example, If all the information related to business or any core technology of any country is freely available any enemy partly can learn about the loopholes and cause serious harm specially in the share market. This is the evident that, in this modern era information is the power, the more information one country have the more power it has.

To sum up, despite freely available information has its own merits but information related to science or business on the wrong hand can cause significant damage to any country.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal position. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention the benefits of open data for research and the risks of cyberattacks in business, the arguments could be more deeply explored with more nuanced examples. The conclusion is a bit brief and does not fully synthesise the points made. To reach a higher band, ensure that each body paragraph provides a more comprehensive explanation of the 'why' behind your claims, rather than relying on a single example to carry the weight of the argument.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. You use some cohesive devices such as 'nevertheless', 'for example', and 'to sum up' to link your thoughts. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are occasional issues with referencing (e.g., 'there' instead of 'their' in the second paragraph). The flow between sentences is generally clear, but the logical connection between the idea of 'information as power' and the conclusion could be strengthened to improve the overall coherence of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, including terms like 'colossal', 'methodology', and 'loopholes'. However, there are several instances of word-choice errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'whereas' used incorrectly for 'whether', 'content' instead of 'contend', and 'enemy partly' instead of 'enemy party'. These errors occasionally distract the reader but do not impede overall communication. To improve, focus on learning the correct collocations and ensuring that words are used in their appropriate grammatical form.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you attempt complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('in USA', 'in the share market'), subject-verb agreement, and homophones ('there' vs 'their'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after commas and periods. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your meaning, they are frequent enough to limit the score. Focusing on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and article usage would significantly improve your writing.

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