Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-10

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 6.0)

Human progress has not been linear. Its progress has been driven on previous knowledge, gathered during the past millenia. Human progress is also based on the exchange of information and knowldge, therefore making our life experience richer and more diverse.

But there is a limit to this exchange, and that limit is a mutual benefit. When an individual or society as a whole might not benefit from sharing certain informations, a barrier is created. People have legitimate interests in enriching themselves in search of happiness and a better life, but not at a cost of other's happiness and at the expense of someone else's legitimate interests. Human behaviour which counters that is called parasitism.

This creates negative impulsess across society and demotivates those who invest in scientific research, business and academia with an aim to use the fruits of that investemnt for their own goals, which more often than not are not in collision with the interests of a society. Stopping them from ejoying the fruits of their investment might harm society as a whole in the long term. History is full of such examples. That is also why ceratin branches of law have become so important in the previous decades, such as Intellectual Property Law.

This view and the imperative of protecting certain informations is more visible in specific spheres of human activities, which often make the society progress exponentially faster. Those are the scientific breakthroughs related to war efforts, such as the cultivation of nuclear power and military engineering. Developments in these spheres demand large private or public expenses, and their use is relevant for public safety, thus making them very unlikely candidates for the free flow of information in the view of interested parties.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both perspectives: the opening supports the value of exchanging knowledge, while the later paragraphs explain why people and organisations may protect information and refer to intellectual property and military research. Your position is suggested by the emphasis on mutual benefit, but it is not stated directly as a clear answer to the question. The discussion of open sharing is also less developed than the case for protection; it would benefit from a specific example of how freely shared research or academic findings help society. The nuclear-power and military-engineering examples are relevant, but their connection to the risks of unrestricted disclosure could be explained more fully. State your view explicitly and develop both sides with balanced reasons and examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: it moves from the general value of knowledge-sharing to limits on sharing, then illustrates protected information through military research. Paragraph breaks help distinguish these stages, and linking phrases such as “But” and “This creates” show relationships between ideas. However, the progression is not always easy to follow because some links are asserted rather than explained. For example, the move from mutual benefit to “parasitism” is abrupt, and the final paragraph does not clearly return to your own position. Some references, such as “that limit,” require the reader to infer exactly what is meant. Make the argument’s steps explicit and use a concluding paragraph to summarise your view.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic-related vocabulary, including “exchange of information,” “Intellectual Property Law,” “scientific research,” and “military engineering.” These choices help communicate a serious discussion of knowledge and ownership, and some less common terms are attempted. However, several spelling errors—such as “millenia,” “knowldge,” “investemnt,” and “ejoying”—and inaccurate forms such as “informations” reduce precision. Some expressions are also awkward or imprecise: “progress has been driven on previous knowledge” and “negative impulsess across society” do not sound natural in this context. Proofread spelling and choose more conventional collocations, such as “built on previous knowledge” and “discourages investment,” to make your ideas clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of sentence forms, including complex structures such as “When an individual or society as a whole might not benefit from sharing certain informations, a barrier is created.” This shows an attempt to express conditions and cause-and-effect relationships, and the main meaning is generally understandable. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly in possessives, agreement, and sentence construction. For instance, “at a cost of other's happiness” needs a plural possessive, while “which often make the society progress” has an unclear plural reference and awkward agreement. The opening also contains a fragment-like sentence, “Its progress has been driven on previous knowledge,” whose structure and connection to the preceding sentence need revision. Check sentence completeness, agreement, and possessive forms while retaining your complex structures.

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.