Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-17
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Some people believe that old buildings, such as town halls and art galleries, should be restored, even though this can be costly. Others argue that governments should replace them with new, modern buildings.
Discuss both 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)
In this contemporary era, the importance of historical buildings has been significantly decreasing beacuse of contruction in cities with modern architectural substances. Some individuals consider that maintaing old buildings like art galleries and historical town halls should be a main priority for government even if it is expensive to wear. However, Others believe that all the old buildings should replace with modern skyscraper units. This essay will be discussed based on both arguments along with my own opinion.
To commence with, historical places play a key role in the society for today's population to make it aware about the importance of accient time and stuff. To instance, these buildings have valuable and hand made art on the walls and roofs of them which belongs to past centuries. Moreover, countries with rich history always depend a lot on these sculptures as financially. For example, Taj mahal in India is a very old building. The number of visitors anually visit this place because of the art and craft which hold by this building. Hence, tourists pay a fee to have a tour of it which automatically increase the GDP of India.
On the other hand, some time it can be risky for the local residents to have old and tall buildings in their area, because such historical places may not be stronger and could lead to an incident in natural disasters such as earthquick. As a result, local public may face some danger by living nearby these buildings as they can easily fall on ground. So I believe that government should spend some money to rebuild or repalce with modern buildings for the betterment and safety purposes of society.
In conclusion, although old building play a important role to reflect the history of any country but maintanence of them should be occurred on time by government.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on historical buildings and modern developments, and clearly states the writer's opinion. The ideas are relevant, such as mentioning tourism, economic growth, and safety concerns regarding natural disasters like earthquakes. However, some arguments remain somewhat under-developed and general. For example, the point about safety during disasters is introduced briefly without deeper elaboration. Nevertheless, the position is clear throughout, and the main tenets of the prompt are adequately satisfied. This performance aligns comfortably with the Band 6 descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression, using standard introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs. Cohesive devices are employed to connect ideas, such as 'To commence with', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, transitional phrases like 'to instance' and 'as financially' are unnatural or inaccurate. Paragraphing is present and divides the essay into appropriate logical sections, but the internal flow within paragraphs occasionally feels strained due to awkward linking and phrasing. This reflects the characteristics of a Band 6 performance.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting less common items such as 'contemporary era', 'architectural substances', and 'GDP'. However, there are frequent spelling and word-choice errors that detract from precision, including 'beacuse' instead of 'because', 'contruction' instead of 'construction', 'maintaing', 'accient' for 'ancient', 'anually', and 'maintanence'. Expressions like 'expensive to wear' (likely meaning expensive to maintain or repair) and 'sculptures as financially' show a lack of control over collocation and phrasing. Although meaning can still be understood, these frequent slips restrict the lexical score to Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense, preposition use, and sentence construction. Examples include 'should replace with' (passive voice error), 'some time it can be risky' (sometimes), 'earthquick' (spelling/lexical issue affecting grammar context), and 'hold by this building' (held by). Punctuation and article usage also show persistent inaccuracies. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they occur with enough frequency across complex clauses to prevent the writing from reaching the Band 6 threshold, placing it securely at Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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