Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-16

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 6.5)

Openions are divided on whether information in scientific research, business, and academia should be freely shared to kept confidential due to its value. While fosters global progress and innovation, I believe that protection sensitive information is crucial economic competitiveness and national security.

On the one hand, open sharing accelerates developement acroos various fields. In scientific research and academia, when breakthroughs and data are published freely, scientists worldwide can collaborate, peer-review work, and build upon exisiting k nowledge. For instance, global collaboration during health crises allows researchers to develop vaccines at unprecedented speeds. Similarly, open-source business data allows smaller startups to innovate, preventing monopolies and fostering a healtheir, more collaborative global economy.

On the other hand, there are compelling reasons to safeguard specific information. In the commercial world, property knowledge, such as tech patents or secret recips, is the lifeblood of company's survival. Without intellectual property protection, businesses would lose their competitive edge, discouraging corporations from investing villions into research and development. Furtheremore, in fields like quantum computing or biotechnology, unrestricted data sharing poses and massive national security risk, as sensitive research could be weoponized if it falls into wrong hands.

In conclusion, while free data exchange drives academic and scientific breakthroughs, it cannot be absolute. In my openion, a balanced approach is necessary. While fundamental academic knowledge should remain open, critical commercial data and high - stakes scientific discoveries must be strictly protected to ensure security and fair economic competition and also computing or biotechnolgy sharing poses and messaive national security risk.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response7.0
Coherence and Cohesion7.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both sides of the argument and providing a clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed, such as the mention of vaccine development and intellectual property protection. However, the conclusion is slightly repetitive and contains a minor inconsistency where the student repeats a point about national security that was already covered in the body paragraph. Despite this, the position remains consistent throughout the essay, and the arguments are logically supported with examples, meeting the requirements for a Band 7.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central topic, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand,' 'Similarly,' and 'In conclusion' are used effectively to link ideas. However, there are some minor issues with referencing and flow in the final paragraph, where the sentence structure becomes slightly disjointed. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate, and the logical flow is sufficient to warrant a Band 7.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with some precision, using terms like 'intellectual property,' 'unprecedented,' and 'competitive edge.' There are, however, several spelling errors ('Openions,' 'developement,' 'acroos,' 'exisiting,' 'healtheir,' 'villions,' 'Furtheremore,' 'weoponized,' 'openion,' 'messaive') and some awkward phrasing ('property knowledge' instead of 'proprietary knowledge'). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the consistent precision required for a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as missing articles ('protection sensitive information'), incorrect verb forms ('While fosters'), and punctuation issues. Some sentences are also slightly ungrammatical or repetitive, particularly in the conclusion. While the student attempts complex structures, the frequency of errors—particularly in basic subject-verb agreement and word formation—is noticeable. The errors rarely impede communication, but they do demonstrate a lack of consistent control over complex grammatical forms, placing the response in the Band 6.0 category.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.