Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-16

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people believe that allowing children to make their own choices on everyday matters (such as food, clothes and entertainment) is likely to result in a society of individuals who only think about their own wishes. Other people believe that it is important for children to make decisions about matters that affect them.

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)

Some people think that allowing children to make their own decisions on daily routine such as food,shopping and entertainment is not good because they believe that it cause self thinking for their own wishes only while other argue that it is an important thing for children to take their decisions about different matters which effect them.

Some individual point out that when children make their own decisions in their routine then they are compared to selfish and poor mind individuals of society because they just focus on their own needs and try to fulfill it. They do not focus on other person's need and spent a lot of money on food, buying clothes or for entertainment purpose but they do not help to any needy person. For example one of my cousin is independent in his life and take decision on his own behalf, His parents do not guide him how to use his money. So now he just do expenses on his own needs and do not think about others even gis own siblings says that he is selfish so it is an embarsing moment for whole family.

While other argue that it is very important ability which every child have that he can easily take his decisions whenever he is affected by different matters. According to their point of view everybody need privacy and there are some matters which occure in everybody's life when he have to take decision immediately without discussing with other. So they say that when a child have this quality of making decisions can easily manage the difficult time.

For example one of my best friend give loan to gis friend to whome he knows very well and he do not discuss it with his parents, Because he knows his friend more well then his parents so he do not have need to assk his parents.

From my prospective children should be independent in making their decisions and parents must guide their children how to take decision in a good way and they teach the boundries of good and bad actions to them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both views regarding children making their own everyday choices and provides a clear personal opinion in the conclusion, fulfilling all basic requirements of the prompt. Ideas are presented, such as the notion that autonomy breeds selfishness or alternatively fosters problem-solving skills. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For example, the argument regarding selfishness relies on a single anecdotal example of a cousin spending money, rather than broader societal implications. Similarly, the second body paragraph uses a personal friend example to illustrate independence. While a clear position is maintained throughout, the support tends to be superficial and lacks broader conceptual extension. Consequently, the response aligns best with the Band 6 descriptor, where all parts of the task are addressed, but some aspects are under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs addressing opposing views, and a concluding stance. Paragraphing is utilized to separate different viewpoints, which aids navigation. However, cohesion at the sentence level is often mechanical or faulty. The writer relies heavily on basic conjunctions and transitional phrases like 'Some individual point out', 'While other argue', and 'For example', and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as pronoun shifts ('when he have to take decision', 'to whome he knows'). Furthermore, cohesive devices are sometimes inadequate or repetitive, creating a choppy reading experience. This level of organization and mechanical cohesion matches the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate basic ideas about childhood independence, money, and decision-making. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'embarsing', 'independent', and 'privacy', but these are accompanied by frequent word-choice, collocation, and spelling errors (e.g., 'cause self thinking' instead of 'self-centeredness', 'do expenses' instead of 'spend money', 'assk'). Errors such as spelling mistakes ('embarsing', 'occure') and awkward phrasing occasionally make the text awkward, though they do not severely impede overall comprehension. This balance of an adequate vocabulary range combined with noticeable lexical errors corresponds to a Band 5.5 or solid Band 6 performance, fitting comfortably at Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors occurring throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('every child have', 'he do not have'), incorrect verb tenses ('he give loan'), and missing articles or prepositions ('help to any needy person', 'From my prospective'). Punctuation is also sparse and sometimes faulty, lacking clear boundaries between clauses. Although these errors do not completely obscure the writer's meaning, they are persistent enough to prevent the response from achieving a higher band. The mixture of complex attempts and frequent structural errors is characteristic of a Band 5.

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

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