Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-28

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)

Some individuals believe that ancient building, such as town halls and art galleries should be restored, despite that being costly. Whereas, others have different opinion that goverments should replace them with new modern buildings. This essay will discuss the both statements in the upcoming paragraphs, before giving my that why the government should restore the art galleries and town halls.

First of all, I believe that the art galleries provides us a historical insight of a particular place. Because, art galleries holds a great history of past events. Secondly, town halls and art galleries works like a tourist attraction. By visiting these places, people can learn about culture and history. Moreover, by restoring these buildings, we can educated our upcoming generation about the past incidents. Even though, the concept of restoration can be costly, but some old buildings have unique structure, which is hard to find these days.

On the other hand, people argue that goverments should replace these old buildings with the modern buildings. The main reason behing this opinion is that, modern buildings have a suitable structure for these days needs. Because, nowadays, new buildings builds considering the climate aspects. And, with the help of techonolgy, it provides a great sesse of security and comfort.

In conclusion, I believe that, old buildinds, for example art galleries teach us about the historical impacts and governments should invest in these area. So that, we can learn some meaningful things from past. However, we cannot ignore the facilities of modern new buildings, which makes our lives easier. The government should try to balance these both aspects.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on whether old buildings should be restored or replaced by modern ones, and the writer provides a clear personal opinion. For instance, the introduction states that the essay will discuss both statements before giving the writer's view that governments should restore art galleries and town halls. However, some ideas are somewhat repetitive and under-developed, particularly in the body paragraphs where reasons such as 'historical insight' and 'tourist attraction' are stated simply without deep elaboration or specific examples. The conclusion attempts to balance the two aspects. Overall, the performance aligns with the requirements for a Band 6.0, as all parts of the prompt are addressed and a relevant position is maintained throughout, though development is limited in places.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure, using traditional signposting phrases such as 'First of all', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. Paragraphing is utilised appropriately to separate different perspectives. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. For example, the sentence 'Whereas, others have different opinion...' is a fragmented clause, and the phrase 'discuss the both statements in the upcoming paragraphs, before giving my that why...' creates awkward and unclear referencing. Furthermore, the transition between sentences can feel abrupt due to repetitive sentence starters. These issues place the response solidly at Band 5.5, showing basic organisation but noticeable flaws in cohesive devices and logical progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'restored', 'historical insight', 'tourist attraction', and 'culture and history'. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, including 'ancient building' instead of 'ancient buildings', 'goverments' instead of 'governments', 'behing' instead of 'behind', 'buildinds' instead of 'buildings', and 'techonolgy' instead of 'technology'. The student attempts some less common vocabulary like 'unique structure' and 'climate aspects', but these are accompanied by awkward collocations such as 'holds a great history' and 'provides a great sesse of security'. These persistent inaccuracies prevent the lexical score from reaching Band 6.0, positioning it comfortably at 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing dependent clauses and conditional structures such as 'Even though, the concept of restoration can be costly, but some old buildings...' and 'So that, we can learn some meaningful things...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('art galleries provides', 'art galleries holds', 'town halls and art galleries works'), incorrect article usage, and punctuation errors like unnecessary commas separating dependent clauses from main clauses. Furthermore, awkward phrasing such as 'new buildings builds considering the climate aspects' reveals a lack of control over passive voice and word forms. Despite these frequent errors, communication is rarely impeded entirely, matching the descriptors for Band 5.0.

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

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