Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-17

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 recent times, it has been observed that in many nations more students are joining other displine studies rather than science. It has been noticed that there are less university scholars who are choosing to learn science due to that reason. However, this is caused by the rise in technology or because science is a difficult subject, this will lead to the shortage of talent drain and the workforce shortage.

To begin with, most students are now likely to be interested in technology majors which tends to be more interesting and in a favor of what is trending on the modern job market. Furthermore, some students tend to find science as a difficult field of study which influence them to decide to join others. For instance, I decided to study business administration because it is more interesting and involves a better decision making and the management skills than science. Consequently, university trainees are declining in numbers of the science students who are choosing other majors. Therefore, due to the difficult of science and the advancement of technology is influencing students to shift to those majors which are currently trending.

Consequently, the reduction in the number of science learnes will led to the reduction of skilled employees in that field. For example, the number of educated doctors, astrologists and engineers will be reduced. As a result the decline will lead to the shortage of brain drain in science field. Therefore, the lessening in such field will affect the society as well as the whole world.

In conclusion, many students are no longer choosing science instead they are learning other majors mainly, it is caused by change in fields where most of them are taking technological studies. Thereafter, This will affect the community as there will be less skilled employees.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the causes (rise in technology and the perception that science is difficult) and the effects on society (reduction of skilled employees, shortage of brain drain). A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are extended, such as the personal example provided about choosing business administration instead of science. However, some arguments lack full clarity and suffer from confusing phrasing, such as 'shortage of brain drain'. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6 by addressing all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though some parts are slightly underdeveloped or unclear.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, using paragraphing sufficiently and appropriately. Cohesive devices are used to signal logical progression, such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', 'Consequently', and 'In conclusion'. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, and referencing is not always clear, as seen in repetitive transitional phrases like 'Consequently' and 'Therefore' at the start of consecutive sentences. The logical flow is occasionally disrupted by awkward transitions and confusing sentence connections. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'advancement of technology', 'business administration', and 'skilled employees'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and spelling throughout the text. Examples include 'displine studies' instead of disciplines, 'less university scholars' instead of fewer, 'learnes' instead of learners, and the unusual collocation 'shortage of brain drain'. These lexical errors and awkward formations occasionally impede smooth reading, but the meaning remains largely transparent, placing this squarely at Band 5.5 or a solid Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like conditional and causal clauses ('due to the difficult of science and the advancement of technology is influencing'). However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('the decline will lead to the shortage', 'learnes will led'), incorrect word forms ('due to the difficult of science'), and run-on sentences. While these errors do not completely obscure the message, they are frequent enough to cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the response from achieving a higher band. Therefore, a Band 5.0 is appropriate.

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

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