Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-12

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 the contemporary world, education plays a significantly important role in shaping individual's personality for their personal and professional development. However, in many countries, students do not pursue science subjects at university, there may have several reasons which will be discussed in this essay along with its some negative affects on society.

One of the primary reasons is that, scientific higher education requires a substantial financial budget which may not have in some family's access. To illustrate, many talented students can not pursue their medical degrees due to the fact that, they belong to a lower-income family. Another important cause is the unsupervised and excessive use of social media among students, which has significantly diverted the attention and concentration of pupils. For instance, many efficient students get astray before entering universities when they are left unsupervised by their parents and instructors.

Undoubtedly, socio-ecnomic backgrounds and excessive use of social media platforms, bring considerable adverse impact on students latter life. It is undienable fact that, medical profession offers highly paid employment propects in future both at national and international levels. However, some students can not achieve thier desired goals due to some certain circumstances and remain unable to contribute sufficiently in the growth of economy and societal progress.

In conclusion, from my perspective, low-income resources and unsupervised usage of social media lead some efficient students to stay-back.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both causes and effects, identifying financial barriers and social-media distraction, then linking these to reduced opportunities for students and weaker economic and social progress. However, the effects are less fully explained than the causes: the discussion focuses mainly on students’ careers and contribution to the economy, with little detail about wider consequences such as shortages of scientists or reduced innovation. Some claims, including that social media leads capable students to abandon university, need clearer explanation or evidence. The conclusion repeats the causes but does not summarise the effects. The response also contains 226 words, below the required 250, so there is limited space to develop the ideas. Explain each cause-and-effect link more fully and add a relevant example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on causes, a paragraph on effects, and a conclusion. This makes the main direction easy to follow, and signposts such as “One of the primary reasons” and “In conclusion” help guide the reader. However, progression within the effects paragraph is less clear: it moves from the value of medical careers to students’ inability to achieve goals and then to societal progress without fully connecting these points. Some linking phrases, including “Undoubtedly” and “However,” do not clearly express the relationship between the ideas that follow. The conclusion also repeats earlier points rather than drawing the discussion together. Use clearer cause-and-effect links and develop each paragraph around a more explicit central point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “substantial financial budget,” “lower-income family,” “concentration,” and “societal progress.” These choices show an effort to discuss education and its consequences beyond basic vocabulary. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, which sometimes makes the meaning less clear. For example, “scientific higher education requires a substantial financial budget” would be more naturally expressed as “studying science at university can be costly,” and “students get astray” does not clearly convey the intended idea. Spelling errors such as “socio-ecnomic,” “undienable,” and “propects” also reduce accuracy. Prioritise natural collocations and check spelling carefully, especially for key terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “social media among students, which has significantly diverted…” and a subordinate clause beginning “due to the fact that.” This shows some range, but attempts at longer structures are often faulty, and errors sometimes make the relationships between ideas difficult to follow. Examples include “there may have several reasons,” which needs a verb such as “be,” and “which may not have in some family’s access,” where the clause structure is incomplete. There are also problems with articles, agreement, and punctuation, as in “It is undienable fact that,” and several sentences contain commas where they interrupt the grammatical structure. Practise building accurate complex sentences before adding further clauses.

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