Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-12

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 two divergent point of views. One that points the importance of letting children to be free of making their own choices on how they would eat,dress or entertain themselves. Believing that it's respecting their free will; Others believe that this behaviour will conclude to the irresponsibility of the children.

Children who are absolutely free will grant all his wishes and desires. These wishes are often to play all the day, eat junk food and sweets, dress like their idols "maybe superman or catwomen" even in places that a formal dress is required like school. Those have a negative impact on the children's health,lifestyle,behaviour...etc. Imagine putting a children on an environment full of games,sweets and all his favourite things, and we set for him no limits. There is a large chance that he will grow obese with a bad behaviour and without any education.

I am with the people whom opinion is that children should have limits. While setting these limits, i believe that we shouldn't be too severe but in the meantime, we shouldn't give too much freedom. We should find a balance between those two, a balance that allows the children to enjoy their life without losing the sense of reason, and these limits should be respected until they mature and they have learned what's benefical to them and what's not.

To conclude, I strongly disagree that children shoud be totally free. But a balance on the limits should be found to avoid all future self-related life problems.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You present a clear view that children need limits, and the examples of unrestricted access to sweets, games and unsuitable clothing are relevant to the topic. However, the task asks you to discuss both views, and the argument for children making decisions receives little explanation: it is mainly described as respecting their free will. The opposing view is also treated broadly, with the claim that children will become obese or behave badly not fully explained or supported. Your conclusion restates your position but does not add much to the discussion. Develop each side more evenly, for example by explaining how age-appropriate choices can build independence while parental guidance can prevent harmful decisions, then support your opinion with a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction to a paragraph about unrestricted choice, your own position, and a conclusion. This helps the reader identify your main view. However, the overall progression is limited because the first view is introduced but not developed in its own balanced discussion, and the body paragraphs do not consistently build a comparison between the two positions. Some linking is awkward or unclear, such as “Those have a negative impact” and “While setting these limits,” where the connection to the preceding idea could be more explicit. The conclusion repeats the central claim rather than synthesising the discussion. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example directly to the point it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “free will,” “limits,” “balance,” and “irresponsibility,” and the examples make your meaning generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several noticeable word-choice or collocation errors make parts of the response less natural, such as “divergent point of views,” “conclude to the irresponsibility,” and “self-related life problems.” Some expressions are also imprecise, including “absolutely free” and “bad behaviour,” which could be replaced with more specific language. Spelling errors such as “benefical” and “shoud” further reduce accuracy. Build a wider set of phrases for discussing autonomy, parental guidance and consequences, and check collocations and spelling during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, including conditional structures such as “Imagine putting a children … and we set for him no limits” and a complex sentence about finding a balance. However, complex attempts are often faulty, and frequent errors sometimes make the reader pause. Examples include “letting children to be free of making,” “Children … will grant all his wishes,” and “a children,” which show problems with verb patterns, agreement and articles. The opening also contains sentence fragments: “One that points…” and “Believing that…” Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, particularly the lowercase “i” and spacing around commas. Practise complete sentence construction, subject–verb agreement, articles and the correct patterns after verbs such as “let” and “allow.”

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