Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-19
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
At the present time, the population of some countries includes a relatively large number of young adults, compared with the number of older people.
Do the advantages of this situation outweigh the disadvantages?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
In this era, some nations have a significant number of youngsters as compared to the older ones. Young adults are the backbone of a country; a country's future is directly dependent on its youth. This essay will discuss both advantages and disadvantages with relevant reasons and examples.
On the one hand, Youngsters plays an important role in building up a nation's future and what amount of success it would obtain. As young adults have more capability to do a task with more effort and courage. For instance, if two persons with major age gape of like one is a youngster and the other one is old man tends to perform a task than the young one will do much better than the old one.
On the other hand, if we discuss the disadvantages as we all know that the younger a person is the less amount of experience he would have. For example, if someone is doing a duty for the first time in comparison of a person have done that work for many times than in conclusion, the person with more proficiency would do that task more accurately that the fresher. So, the old members in a community also plays an important role in maintaining the society.
Overall, I believe that the idea of having more young people carries more weight as the youngsters are the building block of a society and it would be more beneficial for a nation that it has great number of youths with fresh and sharp mind and more ability to do a duty. Comparatively, old ones are inferior in almost every situation in giving benefits to a country.
In essence, there would be more advantages in having large number of young adults, compared with the number of old people. I strongly believe that it is more favorable.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of having a large number of young adults compared to older people, presenting a clear position throughout. The introduction states that youngsters are the backbone of a country, and the conclusion reiterates the author's stance that advantages outweigh disadvantages. However, the ideas are somewhat limited and under-developed, relying on simplistic comparisons rather than exploring broader socioeconomic factors such as economic productivity, healthcare costs, or innovation versus wisdom. For instance, the argument that a young person will always perform a task better than an older person is a sweeping over-generalisation. While the prompt is addressed and a position is maintained, the superficial depth of the arguments places this response firmly at Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, separating the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' are employed to structure the response. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. The progression of ideas is sometimes hindered by awkward transitions and run-on sentences, such as 'For instance, if two persons with major age gape of like one is a youngster and the other one is old man tends to perform a task than the young one will do much better than the old one.' Referencing is also occasionally unclear, and the inclusion of multiple concluding sentences ('Overall, I believe...' followed immediately by 'In essence, there would be...') creates redundancy and disrupts the logical flow of the text.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'proficiency', 'community', and 'socioeconomic' contexts, though with noticeable inaccuracy. There are several word choice and collocation errors, such as 'major age gape' instead of 'age gap', 'old man tends to perform a task than' resulting in ungrammatical phrasing, and referring to older people as 'inferior in almost every situation', which is unnatural and imprecise. Spelling is generally acceptable, but lexical inaccuracies and awkward phrasing occur throughout the text, occasionally causing slight difficulty for the reader and preventing the score from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over complex structures is weak, leading to frequent grammatical errors. Many sentences are incomplete or lack proper subordination, such as 'For example, if someone is doing a duty for the first time in comparison of a person have done that work for many times than in conclusion, the person with more proficiency would do that task more accurately that the fresher.' Subject-verb agreement errors are also present, such as 'Youngsters plays' and 'members... plays'. Punctuation is inconsistently applied, with several comma splices and run-on structures. Because errors are frequent and occasionally impede comprehension, the writing fits the Band 5.0 descriptors.
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.