Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-17

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 5.0)

There are a group of people which believe allowing children to make their own choices on everyday matters is likely to result in a society of individuals who only think about themselves. Contrary to this, there is another group, which believe it holds a deep importance in allowing children to make their own decisions about matter that affect them.

While not allowing children to make their own choices could affect their personalities negatively, such as they may grow up to be indecisive individuals. Whereas, if not done right, doing so could make them a little self-centered and conceited.

When you not allow children to make their own choices this could result in children who would not be able to choose. They will not have their preferences in any thing. They'll be dependent on you to make choices for their everyday matters. Consequently, they might turn out to be less confident and over conscious people who have no idea what things they actually like.

However, allowing them to make their own choices in everything could make them obnoxious and self centered who don't care about what others need and desires. They may become selfish, as they have always thought about their selves. Moreover, access should be given with certain limitations. Giving too much access to the children in the early stage without any restrictions could be really dangerous.

They should only be allowed to access the age appropriate stuff. For instance they can watch whatever they like on TV but it should still be something that is appropriate for their age.

Allow your children to make their choices but with certain limitations and teach them to have empathy for others.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the task by discussing the views that letting children make choices creates self-centered adults versus the view that it is important for their development. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. The position is stated implicitly in the introduction and reinforced in the conclusion, but the arguments lack depth and extension. For example, the point about television watching and age-appropriate content is introduced briefly at the end without fully tying back to the core prompt regarding everyday choices. While all parts of the prompt are touched upon, the arguments remain somewhat superficial and lack specific, well-developed supporting examples from the writer's own knowledge or experience, placing it securely at Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance split between introduction, body paragraphs addressing each viewpoint, and a conclusion. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, with several very short paragraphs, including single-sentence paragraphs that fragment the flow. Cohesive devices are occasionally used (such as 'Contrary to this', 'Whereas', and 'Moreover'), but referencing and linking can be mechanical or imprecise, as seen in the abrupt transitions between paragraphs. The logical progression is somewhat disrupted by the fragmented paragraph structure, which prevents the essay from achieving a higher band. Overall, the structural choices create a choppy reading experience, aligning best with the Band 5 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'indecisive', 'self-centered', 'conceited', 'obnoxious', and 'empathy'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing, such as 'There are a group of people which believe' (instead of 'who'), 'matter that affect them' (instead of 'matters'), and 'over conscious'. Furthermore, repetition of words like 'choices', 'everyday matters', and 'children' limits the lexical flexibility. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the intended meaning, but errors and repetitive phrasing prevent it from reaching Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, though attempts at complex structures are frequently flawed by grammatical errors. There are several noticeable grammatical mistakes throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement errors ('There are a group of people which believe'), missing plural forms ('matter that affect them'), and awkward relative clauses. Additionally, sentence construction issues occur, such as in the clause 'When you not allow children to make their own choices this could result...', which lacks proper auxiliary verb usage and structural cohesion. While communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of grammatical errors and lack of consistent control over complex forms place this submission at Band 5.

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

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