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 many countries not enough students are choosing to study science because of several reasons . One of many may be because Science is a very hard subject that doesnt attract much students. Students along with studying also want to enjoy thier university life , also want to make memories for which they think science or any hard subject like science can become a barrier for that. Other key feature for not selecting science at university could be because it can feel like a boring subject to majority of the students . Majority of the students from the beginning have always loved creative subjects like Arts , Literature and other fun subjects , Only people with high iq and with a mind who doesnt give up very easily have had a liking and longing to study science and also student whos elder forces them only hard subjects like science. All of this can have a major effect on the society as there will be a huge shortage for people in this career .Without science the world cannot be fully operational and the world wouldnt grow and progress. If we were to compare the world from 1900s to a world now it has progressed wonderfully and consecutively , In which science plays a humungous role , Without science not even half of it would have been possible as science is a major career category that allows the world to invent new things and develop. In Pakistan in early 2000s there was a decline in the percentage of people studying science subjects and an increase in people studying easy subjects like arts which led to slow development of the country where as in countries like japan there was always a high increase in the percentage of people studying science which led to fast development of the country. If we compare both these countries there is a major difference like land and sky.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying causes such as the perceived difficulty and boredom of science subjects, and outlining societal effects like a shortage of professionals and slower technological development. However, the development of ideas tends to be repetitive and relies heavily on generalisations without deep elaboration. For instance, the discussion on societal impacts revolves around the broad notion that 'the world cannot be fully operational' without science. While the position is clear and supported by examples such as the comparison between Pakistan and Japan in the 2000s, the arguments remain somewhat superficial and lack nuance. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors, where all parts of the task are addressed, but some ideas are under-developed or lack sufficient extension.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay lacks proper paragraphing, as it is written as a single massive block of text, which severely impacts the visual organisation and logical flow. While there are some basic cohesive devices used to connect ideas, such as 'One of many may be because', 'Other key feature', and 'If we were to compare', the referencing is often clumsy and repetitive. The progression of ideas becomes muddled because the causes and effects are mixed together without clear transitional signposts between paragraphs. Furthermore, punctuation errors, particularly the spacing before commas and periods, detract from readability. These features place the response firmly at Band 5, where there is some overall organisation and attempt at cohesion, but a lack of clear paragraphing and logical progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully using terms like 'operational', 'consecutively', 'humungous', and 'percentage'. However, there are notable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'doesnt attract much students' (should be 'many students'), 'thier' (spelling error), and the colloquial phrase 'like land and sky' to describe a difference. Less common lexical items are attempted, but they are sometimes used awkwardly or inaccurately. Spelling errors like 'humungous' and repeated reliance on basic descriptors prevent the score from reaching a higher band. Overall, the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the message, fitting the Band 5 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ambition with conditional structures ('If we were to compare...'). However, grammatical control is weak throughout the text. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement ('doesnt attract much students', 'mind who doesnt give up'), missing apostrophes ('doesnt', 'whos'), incorrect pronoun usage ('majority of the students... have had'), and run-on sentences joined inappropriately by commas. These errors require some effort from the reader to decode the intended meaning. Because simple structures are generally reliable but attempts at complex sentences frequently contain errors that cause difficulty, this performance corresponds to a Band 5.

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

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