Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-27

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)

Studying science is becoming more crucial in this modern era of innovation yet there are many countries where the number of science students in the universities are significantly low. In my opinion, it is necessary we encourage our youth to get enrolled more in science subjects.

From my opinion, the basic reasons for not choosing science departments in universities is the dramatically high fee of the institutes. In underdeveloped countries often many talented student are forced to choose simple education because of the low institutional fee and some select prefer giving exams as private student so that they can work as part time. The other reason is direction and awareness, not every child is able to get direction due to their limited resources.

This has many effects on the society from which I believe one of the major effect is it's growth. For example, in Pakistan environmental science was not common 10 years back and now we don't have enough engineers to work on climate change and control the pollution. From last 3-4 years. Every year Lahore comes at the top of the world index of most polluted city. I believe, if we had enough engineers they could implement some advance cautions and rules to overcome this pollution so the number of people get sick every year reduced to a significant number.

Another effect is rapid inflation of cyber threads and digital frauds. Hacking is being very common and people get scammed easily because of the lack of the knowledge.

I believe if the number of youth getting enrolled in science and engineering subjects increase it will overall increase the development of a society in all aspects.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both causes and effects, and your position—that more young people should study science—is clear. The causes you identify, high university fees and limited guidance or awareness, are relevant, while the examples about pollution in Lahore and online fraud help illustrate possible social effects. However, the causes are only briefly explained, and the link between studying science and reducing cybercrime is asserted rather than demonstrated. The pollution example also needs clearer explanation of how a shortage of science graduates contributes to the problem and what specific expertise could help. Develop each main point with a fuller cause-and-effect explanation and a relevant example so the response addresses both parts more completely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph on causes, two paragraphs on effects, and a concluding view. This makes the main topics easy to identify. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and some links between ideas are abrupt. For example, the pollution discussion shifts from the past to Lahore’s current ranking and then to a hypothetical solution without clearly connecting each step. The sentence fragment “From last 3-4 years” interrupts that progression. Linking phrases such as “Another effect” help signal a new point, but the overall connections can feel mechanical. Organise each paragraph around one central claim, then explain and support it in a clear sequence, using references such as “this shortage” where the connection needs to be explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “institutional fee,” “climate change,” “pollution,” “engineers,” and “digital frauds,” which helps communicate the subject matter. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “environmental science” and “implement.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unclear, including “simple education,” “direction and awareness,” “rapid inflation of cyber threads,” and “advance cautions.” These expressions sometimes make the intended meaning difficult to follow. Aim for precise, natural combinations—for example, describe students as choosing less expensive courses, lacking career guidance, or facing a rise in cyber threats. Check word forms and spelling as well, including “scammed” and “threats,” to make your meaning more reliable.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “if we had enough engineers they could implement…” and a relative clause in “because of the lack of the knowledge.” These attempts show some range, but errors in agreement, articles, sentence boundaries, and verb forms are frequent enough to affect clarity. For instance, “the number … are significantly low” has a subject–verb agreement problem, and “one of the major effect” needs a plural noun. “From last 3-4 years” is a sentence fragment, while “so the number of people get sick … reduced” has an unclear verb structure. Practise checking the main subject and verb in each sentence, and make sure every sentence has a complete clause and consistent tense.

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