Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-12

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 many countries not enough students are choosing to study science at university. After doing a survey of subjects studying by the students, we are able to know that not the required percentage of students are choosing science at university.

In my opinion, most of the students are not choosing for fear of getting fail in those subjects at university. Most of the students are thinking that mathematics and diiferent subjects of science are very difficult at university level and they will not able to understand those. Another major reason is not getting proper teaching on those subjects who can help them to understand those subjects easily.They are trying to remember those difficult topics by reading again and again without understanding. This may cause them to forget important part of a chapter in the exam hall. For this reason, they are getting fear of fail and not enough comfortable to take those subjects at university.

This habit of not taking science by enough students cause various effects on society. For this reason, not enough scients or mathematician are going to produce which is causing trouble to the future of society. We are seeing very few good doctors or engineers as well in last few years due to lack of taking science at university. If the trend is going to continue like this the future of our society is in great danger. For example, I can say that in our country I saw lots of junior of mine were not choosing science just beacuse of fear of getting fail and not able to understand those subjects properly. This was going to cause massive problem for our society.

In conclusion, I can say that students should choose science for their as well as for society's future because it will going to be better option for them ultimately. The more good teachers will be there to teach them, the more students will choose science.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying causes such as fear of failure and difficult university subjects, and effects on society including a shortage of scientists, doctors, and engineers. However, the development of ideas is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. For instance, the discussion on students trying to remember topics without understanding is relevant, but it is not fully elaborated with sophisticated arguments. The position is clear throughout, but the reasoning tends to generalise without providing broader context or robust external examples, relying instead on a brief personal observation ("lots of junior of mine"). These limitations place the response comfortably within the Band 5 to 6 range, aligning best with Band 6 descriptors for addressing all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though some are under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, two body paragraphs addressing causes and effects respectively, and a brief conclusion. However, the overall progression is occasionally hindered by mechanical or repetitive cohesive devices. Phrases like "For this reason" are overused to link sentences and paragraphs, as seen in the second and third body paragraphs. Referencing is also at times unclear or clumsy, such as "subjects studying by the students" in the opening sentences. While the essay maintains a coherent overall arrangement and the reader can easily follow the sequence from causes to societal effects, the faulty and repetitive cohesion prevents it from achieving a higher band, making Band 5.0 a fair and accurate assessment.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about education, university subjects, and societal impacts. However, the range is limited and repetitive, with frequent word-choice and collocation errors. Examples include "getting fail" instead of "failing", "scients" instead of "scientists", and "lack of taking science" rather than "a lack of enrollment in science programmes". Furthermore, spelling errors such as "diiferent" and "beacuse" detract from the overall impression. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they reflect the characteristics of Band 5, where the lexical resource is minimally adequate but features noticeable errors and restricted flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional structures like "If the trend is going to continue like this..." and relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the text. There are frequent structural errors and awkward phrasing, such as "we are able to know that not the required percentage", "most of the students are not choosing for fear", and "will not able to understand". Verb tense and auxiliary control are frequently mishandled, as seen in "it will going to be better option". Although the meaning can generally be deciphered, the high frequency of grammatical errors and faulty complex structures prevents the essay from reaching Band 6, justifying a Band 5 score.

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

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