Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-04

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 fewer students are opting science subjects at university, The primarily reasons why student may not want to study these subjects are due to fewer career opportunities despite paying higher tuition fees. Overall, this can largely impact societies due to less number of workforce in specialized fields.

The trend of studying science subjects among students has been gradually declining over time for several reasons. One primarily reason is the limtied career options, means students find it difficult to find jobs once they complete their studies. It is common to see students struggling for employment with specialities in science programmes. For instance, a physics graduate can hardly see many job advertisments in his specialized degrees. Consequently, this leads to disappointment and lack of motivation among students. Another reason is finances, as compared to other disciplines, science requires higher finances which also restrict students to pursuing degrees in sciences.

Not having enough subject specialists can have detrimental effects on societies, First, fields that need experts will be negative negatively imapcted due to fewer employees in these jobs, For instance, the number of people working in specialized branches such as phychaitry are limited, but more and more people need mental therapies, so it will imbalance the demand and supply chain.

In conclusion, Students are opting general disciplines over science subjects because they find science subjects less rewarding. Also, specialized subject are difficult to afford. This is causing challenges for people as some fields are under served due to lack of staff. On whole, this will create hurdles for people who require special services.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the causes and the effects of fewer students choosing science, satisfying the basic requirements. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For example, the causes regarding career opportunities and tuition expenses are presented with some supporting detail, such as the mention of physics graduates and high university fees. Yet, the discussion on societal effects, while mentioning psychiatry, tends to generalize somewhat without fully extending every supporting point. To reach a higher level, all ideas would need to be fully developed and extended with deeper, more rigorous analysis and more comprehensive examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear, discernible structure divided into appropriate paragraphs, including an introduction, body paragraphs addressing causes and effects, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. There are noticeable punctuation and linking issues, such as comma splices ('...university, The primarily reasons...') and awkward transitions ('First, fields that need experts...'). Referencing is also occasionally unclear, which disrupts the natural flow of ideas. To improve, the writer needs to employ cohesive devices more smoothly and ensure that logical relationships between sentences and paragraphs are managed with greater precision.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common terms such as 'specialized fields', 'finances', and 'detrimental effects'. However, there are numerous word choice, word form, and spelling errors throughout the text that indicate a limited control of lexical features. Examples include 'opt science' instead of 'opt for science', 'primarily reasons' instead of 'primary reasons', 'limtied', 'advertisments', 'negative negatively imapcted', and 'phychaitry'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to restrict the score. To progress, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire and refine word forms and spelling to achieve greater precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at variety. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that cause difficulty for the reader. Sentence structures are often marred by agreement issues, missing articles, and awkward phrasing, such as 'fewer students are opting science subjects' and 'less number of workforce'. Punctuation errors are also prevalent, including comma splices and capitalization mistakes within sentences. While some structures are handled adequately, the high frequency of grammatical lapses prevents the response from achieving a higher score. To improve, the writer needs to exercise better control over complex grammatical patterns, verb agreements, and basic sentence boundaries.

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