Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Science is most definitely leading the way of the human civilisation. It paved the way for our success as the dominant species but it also provided great comfort to our lives. But students nowadays are showing less interest in science than before.

The lack of interest in science subjects among students can be due to the rising interests in art subjects and the increasing academic pressure and merit required for science related subjects. The students of the current age have picked a great interest in arts related subjects as now they can find more scope in them as compared to before. The increase in popularity of this subject is also due to the fact that more students can make a living out of it than before. While science is seeing a decline in interest also because of the academic pressure that students have to face and the sky touching merit required to study it, it stops becoming interesting and starts being more of a burden.

This kind of study pressure is best shown among asian nations such as china and india, where expectations have become the leading cause of suicide among students.

All of this can have a positive and a negative effect on society. On one hand students are studying what they like and arts is seeing a positive incline, while on the other hand science is facing a huge decline which can slow down our advancements in scientific studies and cause a huge shift in the new generation.

This is due to the fact that we have become far too comfortable which is slowing down our progress in science. The height of our speed in scientific advancements was during the 2nd great war after that we have only slowed down.

Conclusively, we are seeing a great shift in the new generation and it is detrimental to our future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: causes for the decline in science students and the effects on society. The position is generally clear, though some ideas are slightly underdeveloped or rely on sweeping generalisations. For example, the mention of academic pressure and high merit requirements is a relevant cause, but the assertion that scientific progress peaked during the Second World War is historically simplistic and underdeveloped. The ideas are presented and supported to an extent, meeting the requirements for Band 6 by addressing all parts of the task while leaving some areas underdeveloped.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The text shows a clear overall arrangement with distinct paragraphs for the introduction, causes, effects, and conclusion. However, cohesion at times feels mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'and' and transitions like 'This is due to the fact that' and 'All of this can have a positive and a negative effect'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the introduction, body points, and conclusion, but referencing is occasionally unclear, such as pronoun usage linking distant ideas. This demonstrates the characteristics of Band 6, where the response is coherent overall but some cohesive devices are faulty or repetitive.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'dominant species', 'sky touching merit', and 'detrimental to our future'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'picked a great interest' instead of 'taken a great interest' and 'sky touching merit' rather than 'sky-high entry requirements'. Spelling and word formation are generally acceptable, but these lexical errors and slight awkwardness in phrasing place the response firmly in Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though complex structures occasionally contain errors or awkward phrasing, as seen in 'While science is seeing a decline in interest also because of the academic pressure that students have to face and the sky touching merit required to study it, it stops becoming interesting and starts being more of a burden.' Punctuation is generally functional, but comma splices and run-on sentences appear, such as in the opening paragraph. Errors occur frequently enough to occasionally impede smooth reading, but they do not prevent clear communication, aligning with the Band 6 descriptor.

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

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