Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-07

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)

Modern technology has made it so easy for everyone to access any kind of information freely. While some believe that sharing as much information as possible in certain fields lead to growth and development of society, others on the other hand think that certain data can be too intimidating and private to share on any platforms with unlimited access. This essay will discuss both the point of views and reason into why I believe it is inappropriate to share all kinds of data to unknown public.

Scientific datas and records such as research or review papers can be counted as encouraging and developmental knowledge to be shared. This help students with their academics and researchers for their ongoing experiments in the similar field. For an instance, all the biological data globally is managed into databases like GenBank, ENA and DDBJ. These are accessible to all the scientists and students worldwide for learning and gaining information that is reliable and accurate.

However, there are particular kind of details which are confidential and restricted for general crowd. Threats of misuse, infringement or plagiarism comes along with exposure of such documents. For example, a food company cannot outsource their recipe or the unique process they use to formulate their products. It poses high risk of stealing. Also, the government cannot leak their data regarding defense or economical strategies online. It would lead to other countries and terrorists use it gainst our own nation.

Hence, to conclude, I strongly believe that not all the types of information are appropriate to share on publicly accessible sites with little to no restrictions for free because instead of serving it's purpose of educating people it usually has a possibility of reaching into wrong hands and get used in an inappropriate and inhumane manner.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal position. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of GenBank for scientific data and the risks of intellectual property theft for businesses. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat brief. While the prompt asks for a discussion of scientific research, business, and the academic world, the essay focuses heavily on science and business, leaving the academic aspect less explored. To reach a higher band, you should ensure that all three areas mentioned in the prompt are balanced and that your arguments are expanded with more depth and nuance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central theme, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'However', 'For an instance', and 'Hence, to conclude'. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there is a minor issue with referencing, such as 'it's purpose' (possessive error) and the slightly awkward phrasing 'reason into why'. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would elevate the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'infringement', 'plagiarism', and 'confidential'. There are some inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'Scientific datas' (data is uncountable) and 'general crowd' (which is slightly informal). Additionally, 'unknown public' is not a standard collocation. While your vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, you should aim to use more precise academic collocations and avoid non-standard pluralizations of uncountable nouns to achieve a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this level. There are some grammatical errors, such as 'lead to growth' (should be 'leads'), 'it's purpose' (should be 'its'), and 'use it gainst' (should be 'to use it against'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of possessive pronouns. Increasing the frequency of error-free complex sentences will help you move into the 7.0+ range.

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

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