Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-01

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)

A certain amount of individuals accept that sharing much information publicly is a good decision and others believe that some information is valuable or it can not be shared to everyone. Sharing everything to public make populace intellectual, expressive whereas telling your secrets to another person can let anyone use it against you. In my opinion, I do not think that it is good to split your personal details to another person.

Sharing information to your employees or your friends is good way of engaging with someone. Providing much information can give them ideas and you can also learn about positive and negative about that particular thing your are talking about. For instance, you get to know that something is wrong with the nearby area and you tell others about that in this case they will become aware of danger.

Secondly, revealing everything is not significant to share freely to one another. Revealing your secrets to a stranger or providing information about something they should not have to know can create problems. They can sometimes use it against you or your family. As an illustration, telling a unknown person about your weakness, this can leads to result in black mailing or disclosing family problems to a individual whom you don't believe can judges you at your lowest.

From my perspective, it is not important to disclose information that can be used later against you and results in mental stressed or depression.

In conclusion, revealing data publicly can help you express your inner thoughts while valuable information should be kept secretly.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt but fails to engage with the specific contexts mentioned: scientific research, business, and the academic world. Instead, the essay focuses almost exclusively on personal secrets and interpersonal relationships. While the position is clear, the development is limited by this misinterpretation of the topic. The arguments regarding 'sharing information' are treated as a matter of personal privacy rather than professional or institutional transparency. To improve, you must ensure your examples align with the specific domains requested in the prompt, such as intellectual property in business or open-access data in science.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, and there is a basic attempt at logical progression using transition words like 'Secondly' and 'In conclusion'. However, the flow between ideas is often mechanical. Some sentences are disjointed, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the transition between the benefits of sharing and the risks of disclosing secrets. The paragraphing is present but the internal structure of the paragraphs lacks the depth required for higher bands. Improving the use of cohesive devices to link sentences more naturally would enhance the overall readability.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher scores. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'information', 'sharing', and 'revealing'. Phrases like 'split your personal details' and 'nearby area' are slightly unnatural in this context. There are also minor errors in word choice, such as 'mental stressed' instead of 'mental stress'. To achieve a higher band, you should aim to incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to research, business, and data security, and work on more accurate collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Examples include 'Sharing everything to public make populace intellectual' (subject-verb agreement), 'this can leads to result in' (incorrect verb form), and 'a unknown person' (article error). While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher level of accuracy. Focusing on subject-verb agreement, article usage, and consistent verb tenses will significantly improve your grammatical control.

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

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