Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-20

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some parents send their children to preschool when they are three or four years old. Other parents wait until their children are old enough for primary school before they send them to school.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of sending children to preschool at a young age.
Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

While some parents prefer to have their offspring start their academic journey at an early age of around 3 or 4 years old, others place greater emphasis on waiting till their children age old enough to attend primary school. This essay will not only discuss the benefits of sending children to preschool at an early age but will also include its drawbacks.

To begin with the positive side, it can adopt students with school environment from early age, making them get used to it. As a result, they face less educational challenges compared to other students who start their education later. Moreover, it can broaden their horizons at young age, fostering cognitive development which helps them achieve excellent academic achievements during primary and tertiary education later on. For instance, my niece Mishika is a brilliant student with a lot of skills simply because she started her education when she was 3 years old. Therefore, sending children to preschool at young age is generally prefer by a lot of parents because of its advantages.

On the negative side, it can put on excessive pressures on young students. This is because their early age makes it difficult to cope with academic challenges due to hectic schedule. In other words, at young age, they are supposed to spend time with their parents to learn important aspects if life. However, making them study from stranger teacher and other classmates may put pressure on them. Hence, it is better if they start off after certain age when they can face educational difficulties.

To conclude, sending children to preschool at young age is beneficial for their secondary education as they can learn essential skills. However, sometimes it can also cause severe consequences while facing academic pressure at early age.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both the advantages and disadvantages of preschool as required by the prompt. The position is clear throughout, and the ideas are generally relevant. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the argument regarding 'excessive pressure' is mentioned but not fully explored with specific evidence or depth. While the example of the niece is personal and relevant, the overall discussion could be more balanced and detailed to reach a higher band. The conclusion is a bit repetitive, merely restating the points rather than synthesizing them effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. There is a logical progression of ideas from the introduction to the body paragraphs and the conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Moreover', 'On the negative side', and 'In other words' are used to link sentences and ideas. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the phrase 'adopt students with school environment', which hinders the natural progression of the argument. Overall, the structure is coherent and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to express their ideas clearly. There are some attempts at using less common vocabulary, such as 'academic journey' and 'fostering cognitive development'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'adopt students with school environment' (likely meaning 'adapt students to') and 'stranger teacher'. These errors do not impede communication but demonstrate a lack of precision. Expanding the range of vocabulary and focusing on correct collocations would improve the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'at early age' (missing article), 'is generally prefer' (incorrect verb form), 'put on excessive pressures' (incorrect preposition/pluralization), and 'aspects if life' (preposition error). These errors are noticeable and occur frequently, although they do not prevent the reader from understanding the message. To improve, the student should focus on subject-verb agreement, article usage, and consistent verb tense control.

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

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