Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-11-12

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries not enough students are choosing to study science at university. What are the causes of this? What effects does it have on society?

Give reasons for your answer and include relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In numerous countries, an insufficient numbers of students are interested in pursuing science-related subjects at university level.

On the one hand, one of the major cause is students may find them challenging and prefer subjects that they consider easier. For example, many students avoid science because they find its concepts diffcult to understand, particularly when they lack strong academic foundation. Another reason is nowadays students believes that science subjects offer few job opportuinities however, other degrees like It, business ,and management may appear to offer better career prospects. In addition, many educational institutes lacks modern laborotories and scientific equipment consequently, students not gain pratical experience, which reduce their interest in science.

On the other hand, it has an adverse effects on society, there may be shortage of skilled professionals. Society may face shortage of doctors, engineers, and researchers. For example a lack of qualified scientists and medical professionals can reduce the quality of healthcare services and scientific research. Furthermore, scientific industry contributes significantly to economic growth. A shortage of skilled workers my reduce productivity and investment with research based activity.

In conclusion, nowadays limited numbers of students are interested in science subjects at university level because of lack of strong academic foundation or they think other subjects provide them better career opportuinities consequently effects the society ecenomic growth and development.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both parts of the question by giving several possible causes—difficulty with science, perceived career prospects, and inadequate facilities—and describing social effects such as shortages of professionals and weaker economic growth. These points are relevant, but they are brief and not consistently explained or supported. For instance, the claim that other degrees offer better prospects is stated without an example or explanation of why students believe this. The effects section identifies healthcare and research, but the economic consequence is only briefly mentioned. The conclusion repeats the main points rather than drawing them together. The response is also 30 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to develop your ideas. Extend the explanations with specific examples and clearer cause-and-effect links.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on causes, a paragraph on effects, and a conclusion. The signposts “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the broad progression. However, the contrastive phrases are not quite appropriate for separating causes from effects, and some links between ideas are crowded or unclear. For example, the sentence beginning “In addition” joins the lack of equipment and its consequence without effective punctuation, while the effects paragraph moves quickly from professional shortages to economic growth. Use topic sentences that directly identify each paragraph’s purpose, and connect each explanation to its consequence with clearer sentence boundaries and referencing.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “scientific equipment,” “skilled professionals,” “healthcare services,” and “economic growth,” which makes the main ideas understandable. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “pursuing science-related subjects.” However, the range is limited and several word-choice, form, and spelling errors reduce precision: “opportuinities,” “laborotories,” and “pratical” are misspelled, while “research based activity” is an awkward expression. Some phrases are also repetitive, particularly references to “science subjects” and “shortage.” Check spelling carefully and learn common academic collocations, such as “research activities” and “career prospects,” so your vocabulary communicates ideas more naturally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a relative clause in “equipment, consequently, students not gain practical experience, which reduce their interest.” However, complex structures are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to read. Examples include “one of the major cause is,” “students believes,” and “institutes lacks,” where subject–verb agreement or plural forms are incorrect. The sentence beginning “On the other hand” is also a comma splice, and “students not gain” is missing an auxiliary verb. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and finite verb, and use full stops or conjunctions to join independent clauses. More accurate control of these patterns would make your ideas easier to follow.

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

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