Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-19

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 some countries not much students are selecting to study science at university level. The difficulty of science and lack of general interest might be the reasons of this. Students going into wrong fields and decline in creativity will arise in society because of this.

One of the reasons due to which students are not choosing science as major in universities is the level of difficulty that science subject holds. Going for easy things and avoiding hard ones is in the human nature. It is a matter of general knowledge that the understanding of science in hard in compariosn to the rest of the subjects and this might be one the causes of this problem. For instance, not many admissions are being taken in maths amd physics because students finds it difficult to cope with these subjects. Another potential reason for this is the lack of general interest in science. Thsese days majority of the people get attracted mostly to things that entertains them. Not many give attention yo difficult concepts and that work as a demotivating factor for the students. For example, people of a dancing member have the greater chance of geeting popular in comparison to a scientist beacuse of the genaral trends presently.

Their is no doubt that this will lead to many problems on social level. One of which is that students will even if they are intelligent will choose subjects that entertains people and many of problem solvers can be lost because of it. Similarly, this will also kill the creativity in general as well because science is a filed that leads to the creation of new things such as Thomas Edison inventing light bulb. How will society get people like him if no one is interested in studing science.

In conclusion, this can be argued that majority of the students losing interest in science because of it's difficulty and lack of general interest will lead to the loss of creativity and students ending up in wrong places.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by identifying the causes of why students avoid science (difficulty of the subject and lack of general interest) and discussing the effects on society (loss of creativity and students entering unsuitable fields). The position is clear throughout the essay. However, the ideas are somewhat limited and under-developed, relying on simplistic examples such as referencing people in a dancing member rather than exploring broader socioeconomic factors. This places the performance firmly in the Band 6 category, as all parts of the prompt are addressed, but the depth of extension is restricted.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, including an introduction, body paragraphs addressing causes and effects respectively, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is occasionally faulty and mechanical. Phrases such as 'One of the reasons due to which' and 'Their is no doubt' disrupt the flow, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'because of it' in the final paragraph. Paragraphing is utilised correctly to separate distinct ideas, ensuring the reader can follow the overall progression of the argument, resulting in a Band 6 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts to incorporate less common items such as 'demotivating factor' and 'potential reason'. However, there are numerous lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'much students' instead of 'many students', 'understanding of science in hard' instead of 'is hard', 'amd physics', 'Thsese days', and 'dancing member' instead of 'dancers'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they demonstrate a limited control over word choice and spelling, which prevents the response from achieving a Band 7.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the essay. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('majority of the people get', 'things that entertains them'), spelling errors ('Their is' instead of 'There is'), and awkward syntax in complex structures, such as 'students will even if they are intelligent will choose'. While these errors rarely impede communication entirely, they are pervasive enough to restrict the score to Band 5, as attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty.

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

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