Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

In many countries alot of students are choosing to study science at university rather than any other subject. Science is a vast field that belongs to STEM, but now a days people prefer business or IT related subjects over science. In my opinion now a days there is a scope of artificial intelligence and Information technology. Shortage of jobs in science field is one of the main reason of course switching to other fields. This is a time of technology and people are trying to learn skills instead of scientific things. In most of the countries, there are alot of jobs related to cybersecurity and forensic sciences, so people prefer to study such subjects. For example a science student has to give his full times in to perform experiments, writing thesis and articles, still at the end they become jobless. So studying science subjects these days is the waste of time and money because at the end there is no reward. On the other hand IT, AI and cybersecurity is comparatively easy and skill base subjects. At the end these subjects will open many doors for the students to earn money and get successful. In my opinion, this is a good step and students should switch their subjects for their future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response is notably under-length, containing only 211 words against the minimum requirement of 250 words, which incurs a strict penalty under Task Achievement. Furthermore, the opening sentence of the essay contradicts the prompt by stating that students are choosing science 'rather than any other subject,' whereas the prompt states that 'not enough students are choosing to study science.' Although the student partially attempts to discuss causes such as a shortage of jobs, the overall development is limited and heavily reliant on generalisations. The societal effects are weakly addressed, focusing mainly on personal monetary benefits rather than broader societal implications. Ideas lack sufficient depth and the argument becomes somewhat confused regarding cybersecurity, which the student simultaneously describes as a science field and an IT field. Consequently, the task is only partially addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays a basic structural arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, and paragraphs are used to separate ideas. However, overall progression is limited by the brevity of the response. Cohesive devices are used sparingly and sometimes inaccurately; for instance, 'On the other hand' is used to transition between paragraphs, but the logical link between paragraphs is weak and repetitive. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in 'still at the end they become jobless' where the antecedent is ambiguous. Paragraphing is present, but some paragraphs consist of only single, disjointed sentences which disrupts the flow and logical development of the argument. Overall, the organizational structure is basic and at times mechanical.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with frequent reliance on high-frequency terms such as 'subjects', 'students', 'money', and 'jobs'. There are notable spelling errors ('alot', 'now a days', 'skill base') and awkward collocations, such as 'give his full times in to perform experiments'. The student attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'cybersecurity' and 'artificial intelligence', but the overall lexical range remains limited and minimally adequate for the task. Word choice errors do not entirely impede communication, but they restrict the precision and flexibility of the writing, anchoring the score firmly at the lower-intermediate level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though attempts at complex structures are frequently flawed by grammatical errors. There are multiple issues with subject-verb agreement and article usage, such as 'Shortage of jobs in science field' (missing article) and 'science student has to give his full times in to perform' (plurality and preposition errors). Punctuation is also weak, particularly the frequent omission of commas after introductory phrases like 'For example'. While some sentences are clear, frequent grammatical errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader and prevent the text from reaching a higher band level.

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