Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-08-18

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 6.5)

In many countries around the world, many students prefer to study art or commercial courses rather than science. This is due to high stress levels and low income, this turn in event will greatly affect the ratio of doctors to patients and scientists to technology innovations.

On the one hand, so many students opt for art courses in the higher institutions rather than science because they are very demanding and these leads to high stress levels in the school, scientific field doesn’t give one the opportunity to be versatile and engage in other extracurricular activities and in the long run, the income is very low and doesn’t equal the pressure. For example, so many doctors in Nigeria are not paid enough salary, they work for 24hours or more without rest and at the end their compensation is not enough to take care of themselves and their families. Also, the said jobs does not give them enough time to spend with their loved ones or even engage in fun activities.

Due to the low interest of youngsters to study science related subjects, there has been a great decline in the number of doctors and other scientists we have. The rate evolution of technology is slowly decreasing and this is because people are no longer willing to study in such profession. For instance, the ratio of doctors to patients in so many countries are relatively low, there is great demand for doctors in countries like USA and they are slowly encouraging immigrants to come work in their country for a better pay and more stable lifestyle.

In conclusion, undergraduates are no longer interested in science related education because of the high stress levels and very low pay, and this has greatly affected many countries, as the ratio of patients are so much higher than available doctors and there are no scientists to invent new technologies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: causes (stress, low income) and effects (shortage of professionals, technological stagnation). The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as the situation of doctors in Nigeria and the demand for medical staff in the USA. However, the development is somewhat repetitive, particularly in the conclusion, which restates the causes rather than synthesizing the broader implications. To reach a higher band, ensure that the effects are explored with more depth, perhaps discussing the long-term societal impact beyond just the immediate shortage of professionals.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the causes from the effects. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'Also', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and there are instances where the flow between sentences could be smoother. For example, the transition between the discussion of stress and the discussion of income could be more fluid to better connect these related points.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There is some attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'extracurricular activities', 'versatile', and 'technological innovations'. However, there are some inaccuracies in collocation and word choice, such as 'rate evolution of technology' (which is awkward) and 'the said jobs does not give them' (subject-verb agreement error). To improve, the student should focus on more precise collocations and avoid repetitive phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'these leads to', 'the said jobs does not', 'the ratio of patients are') and punctuation (e.g., comma splices in the introduction and body paragraphs). These errors do not impede communication, but they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Increasing the variety of complex structures while ensuring accuracy in basic agreement would significantly improve the score.

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

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