Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-19

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)

It is argued that old buildings should be restored, such as town halls and art galleries, despite the cost is so high, while others say that old buildings should be repalced by governments with new buildings. Although restoring old buildings helps people to connect with past time and culture, modern buildings provide individuals with more space and safety.

On the one hand, restoring old buildings connects people to their culture and past time. Old buildings always represent an old design and work of art, which can help people to connect with past time. In addition, new generation can also gain knowledage about a beautiful wall design that was made by hands rather than using modern machines. For example, in India, the government spends a huge amount of money to protect Taj Mahal because it has been considered an amazing building in the world that is ever constructed.

On the other hand, one of the reasons of building new buildings is to have saftey and more space. When modern buildings are built with new technology, safety alarms and digital door looks are normally installed in them so that people can be awared before happpening any incidents. As a result, it not only helps to save people's lives, but also prodive them with privacy in their life. For instance, in developed countries, the government replacing old buildings with new buildings so that more space can be provided to people and maintained their safety.

In conclusion, although old buildings connect new generations with old architecture and culture, modern buildings provide people with a safe environment and more space for storage.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both sides of the discussion and give a clear overall preference for modern buildings in the introduction, supported by points about safety and space. The restoration argument also has a relevant example in the Taj Mahal. However, the position is not fully sustained: the conclusion summarises both benefits but does not clearly restate which option you support. Several ideas remain general or unclear, particularly the claim that new buildings provide “more space” and the example about governments replacing old buildings, which does not identify a specific case or explain the benefit in detail. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation and a more precise example, and make your opinion explicit throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, one paragraph for each view, and a conclusion. The signposts “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” make the progression easy to follow, and the ideas within each body paragraph generally relate to its main point. This coherent organisation meets the lower-band expectations and shows some features of stronger progression. To make the links more natural and precise, avoid relying mainly on formulaic transitions and clarify connections between claims. For example, the sentence beginning “As a result” moves from safety alarms to privacy without explaining that link, while the final example is not clearly tied to the preceding point about space and safety.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “restore,” “culture,” “modern technology,” “safety,” and “privacy.” There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “wall design” and “digital door looks.” However, the range is limited and several inaccurate word choices, collocations, and spelling errors make parts of the response less clear. Examples include “past time,” “knowledage,” “saftey,” and “awared”; “digital door looks” also does not express the intended idea clearly. Build accuracy by learning common collocations for heritage and building safety, and proofread spelling and word forms. More precise vocabulary would help distinguish preservation, renovation, and replacement.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex forms, including a concession in “Although restoring old buildings…” and a result clause beginning “so that.” The main meaning is usually understandable, but complex sentences are often not controlled accurately, and errors occur across verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “despite the cost is so high” needs a different grammatical pattern, while “the government replacing old buildings” lacks a finite verb. In “new generation can also gain,” the article is missing, and “it not only helps … but also prodive them” has faulty agreement and parallel structure. Practise building accurate clauses first, then combine them, and check that each sentence has a clear subject and correctly formed verb.

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