Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-27

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 several countries, there has been a noticable decline in the number of students opting for science subjects. It has several reasons and also causes to the society.

First of all, one major cause of it is difficulty level of science-related subjects like biology, chemistry, phyics. Students often find these subjects challenging and boring as compared to the businnes, IT and arts. Many students fear that they might get low grades in science subjects and cannot mantain their GPA. Another reason is the lack of career opportunities as compared to the others. For instance, in Pakintan, more students prefered to study IT or business because there are lot of jobs and opportunities for them in these fields. Furthermore, there are least jobs for the secience department.

The shortage of secience graduates also has a serious affect on the society. Firstly, it leads to the lack of innovations. A country need scientists, doctors and engineers for the progress in the medical and industrial fields. Without team, a nation becomes dependent to the other country and the required results cannot be obtained. Secondly, it creates the skill gap in the crucial departments like ealthcare and engineering. If fewer students become doctors or engineers, the quality of the health services and infrastructure with decline which direclty harms economic growth.

In conclusion, students are avoidng science because of its difficulty and less rewarding. This can damage the society future development. Therefore, government and universities should make the scirence subjects more interesting and offer better career opportunities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the causes of the decline in science students and the effects this has on society. The writer outlines logical causes, such as the perceived difficulty of subjects like biology, chemistry, and physics compared to business or IT, alongside career-related factors. The effects on society are also covered, notably the lack of innovation and skill gaps in healthcare and engineering. However, the development of ideas remains somewhat general and brief. For instance, the example mentioning Pakistan is underdeveloped, and some arguments are slightly repetitive. Nevertheless, the position is clear throughout, and the main prompt requirements are adequately met, corresponding well to the Band 6 descriptor.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing causes and effects respectively, and a brief conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes. Cohesive devices are employed to signal transitions, such as First of all, Furthermore, and Secondly. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty, as seen in referencing issues like 'Without team, a nation becomes dependent to the other country'. Additionally, logical progression occasionally stumbles due to abrupt shifts between sentences. Overall, the structure is sufficiently clear to follow, aligning closely with Band 6 standards.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully communicating the main ideas. The writer attempts less common lexical items, such as 'innovations', 'infrastructure', and 'economic growth'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'noticable', 'phyics', 'businnes', 'mantain', 'Pakintan', 'prefered', 'secience', 'affect' (used instead of effect), 'health' (spelled 'ealth'), and 'avoidng'. These inaccuracies, combined with awkward collocations like 'there are least jobs' and 'dependent to', indicate a Band 5 level of lexical control, where errors occasionally cause slight confusion for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and relative clauses (e.g., 'If fewer students become doctors or engineers, the quality...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ('A country need', 'infrastructure with decline'), incorrect prepositions ('dependent to'), and articles missing or misused ('the other country', 'less rewarding'). While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, their frequency pulls the grammar score to a Band 5, as the attempted complex structures are often faulty and require more control.

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