Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-06

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)

Studying science is significant for the advancement of humankind. Unfortunately, many pupils are not opting science at graduate level across the globe. As a resultant of this communities are facing problematic situations.

First of all, at present we are a part of modern and civilized society in which parents have given a freedom of choice to thier children. Previously, parental control had significant influence on the choices specifically career, resulting in pursuing a science as a major at tertiary education level. However, nowadays career selection trends are student dependent due to flexible parenting which results in choosing other majors.

In addition to this, there are plenty of field options availible nowadays such as music, arts, law, cooking, business at higher level and society's perception toward them has also changed. Previously, if someone wanted to pursue arts and music as a career the first thought that cross the mind was societal pressure. But, recently society developed sense of awareness and acceptance which declined students choosing science as major. In addition to these, some other factors that declined the admissions in science include lack of: facilities and career options in science and student's contribution and tendency to do hardwork.

Moving forward to the challanges, the direct effect is on scientific community. Young minds are not contributing in the excellence and advancements of socity. Moreover, thier low contribution is putting stress on scientists working in field as they are worried about thier legacy. Lastly, the laborarotries and univeristies that are especially designed for science are empty and useless.

In conclusion, both science and youth are go hand in hand.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt regarding the causes and effects of fewer students choosing science, but the development remains limited and under-developed. While you attempt to explain the causes, such as changing societal perceptions towards fields like arts and business and flexible parenting, these ideas lack full extension and concrete supporting evidence. Similarly, when discussing the effects, points like laboratories being empty are introduced rather abruptly without deep elaboration. Your position is generally clear throughout the text, but the limited support for your main arguments keeps the task response at this level. To move higher, you need to extend your ideas with more detailed explanations, specific examples, and robust justifications for both causes and effects.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, separating the introduction, causes, effects, and conclusion adequately. You make use of some cohesive devices to link your ideas, such as "First of all," "In addition to this," and "Moving forward to the challanges." However, the progression between sentences and paragraphs sometimes feels mechanical rather than completely natural. Referencing is occasionally slightly unclear, and some transitional phrases do not flow seamlessly into the following arguments. To achieve a higher band, you should ensure that cohesive devices are used more flexibly and unobtrusively, creating a smoother logical progression from one idea to the next throughout the essay.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as "advancement of humankind," "tertiary education level," and "societal pressure." However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as "resultant" instead of result, "thier" instead of their, "availible" instead of available, "cross" instead of cross the mind, "challanges" instead of challenges, and "laborarotries" instead of laboratories. While these lexical inaccuracies do not completely impede communication, they occasionally distract the reader. To improve your lexical score, you must broaden your control of less common vocabulary, ensure accurate word formation, and pay closer attention to spelling and collocation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing includes a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to handle varied structures. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that can cause some difficulty for the reader. Issues include awkward prepositions and phrasing in patterns like "not opting science," article omissions such as "in field," pluralisation inconsistencies, and subject-verb agreement slips like "science and youth are go hand in hand." While these errors rarely completely obscure your meaning, they are frequent enough to hold the grammar profile at this standard. To reach the next level, you need to produce a higher proportion of error-free sentences and demonstrate more consistent control over complex grammatical structures and punctuation.

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

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