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)

Many countries are currently suffering with the lack of the students proportion choosing science at the university level education.

There are many reasons that can be the major causes of this condition. First of all there are lack of the educational environment that can support productive science subjects at university levels.

In the most of the coutries like Pakistan major proportion the budget is used in the defence an in the field of comepting the poverty, which is the cause of insufficient budget for supporting the practical level science subjects studies.

Second reason of it is the lack of well-educated science staff and lack of the practical labortaries where the students can practice according to their field of study. For instance in a university if there is the class of hundred students those who opt biotechnology or information technology and they do not have access to fully functional practical labs then they cannot acheive practical experience in that particular field. They will be unable to perform outstanding in their field of the stuudy. Because of this insufficiency there is a huge number of the students who are not willing to choose science subjects.

Third reason is that in many countries all the science subjects are not the native languages. Most of the students find it very difficult to study the science subjects in a foreign language. The language barrier restricts most of the students to choose the science subjects at the university level education. So because of these described reasons a higher proportion of the students select subject related to the field of art.

The major effect of this change will be the lack of the professional science graduates. It will lead to the serious issues of deficiency of the professional individuals in the field of science.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by identifying causes of the decline in science students, such as budget issues, lack of facilities, and language barriers, and touches upon the effect of having fewer professional science graduates. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the point regarding budget allocation to defence and poverty is introduced but not fully elaborated with clear ties to university science education. Similarly, the discussion on language barriers simply states the problem without expanding on how it impacts overall student motivation. To reach a higher standard, the writer needs to present fully extended ideas with deeper explanations and more comprehensive exploration of both causes and societal effects, supported by well-integrated examples rather than repetitive assertions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation to the writing, as the writer attempts to sequence ideas into separate paragraphs covering causes and effects, and uses basic cohesive markers like 'First of all', 'Second reason', and 'Third reason'. However, there is a lack of a clear overall progression throughout the text. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and cohesive devices are used rather mechanically, leading to a repetitive structural pattern. Furthermore, paragraphing could be managed more effectively to separate the distinct causes more cleanly from the discussion of the effects. To improve, the response needs more varied and flexible cohesive devices, along with a smoother logical flow that connects sentences and paragraphs without relying on formulaic transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task, with attempts to incorporate subject-specific terms such as 'biotechnology', 'information technology', and 'practical laboratories'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors in word choice, collocation, and word form that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, such as writing 'comepting the poverty' instead of 'combating poverty', 'acheive' instead of 'achieve', and 'stuudy'. The range of vocabulary remains restricted, and the writer relies heavily on basic, repetitive phrasing throughout the body paragraphs. To move up, the student needs to build a wider and more precise lexical resource, paying closer attention to standard collocations and accurate spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences and basic complex forms, many of which contain errors. There are frequent mistakes involving articles, plurals, and prepositions, such as 'with the lack of the students proportion', 'in the most of the coutries', and 'in field of the stuudy'. Attempts at complex structures are often faulty, and errors in subject-verb agreement—such as 'there are lack of the educational environment'—are noticeable and can cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a stronger grammatical profile, the writer needs to increase sentence variety, maintain better control over articles and pluralisation, and reduce the frequency of basic grammatical errors.

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