Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-15

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people feel that the government should pay the costs of running universities so that a university education will be free for anyone who wants it.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Today in 21st century, Some people believe that government should pay the costs of running universities. Although in this expensive life, we need to have some great budget to run the universities with advanced technologies, spacious library with lot of historical and advanced books, cleaniness of classrooms and salaries of staff and professor.

I strongly agree that government should give some grant to universities to run their courses smoothly. Furthermore, Government also should give some scholarship to talented students to help them to buy important books and useful courses. But i believe to have minimum education fees so the students will study hard to get scholarship if their family annual income is low.

However, If government pay the costs to universities and education is free, some rich family based students will take advantage and they occupies seats of talented students who belongs to poor families and they will not get admission in universities.

Although, Government and universities will arrange some qualified entrance exam which is necessary to get admission in high ranking universities. This exam should be conducted with minimal fees. So the high ranked students whether they are rich or poor will get equal opportunities to pass exam and get admission.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that there should be a minimum fees structure for every courses but government should give some grant to run universities and there should be scholarship scheme which would give benefits to highly qualified and cleaver students. So there will be a minimum burden on their families.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether the government should fund universities and make education free, presenting a clear position that while government grants are needed, a minimal fee and entrance exams should be maintained. The position is maintained throughout the essay, and the main ideas—such as the risk of rich students taking seats from poorer ones if tuition is entirely free—are extended. However, some arguments lack full development or present slightly contradictory points regarding fees versus free education. The ideas are relevant, aligning well with Band 6 descriptors where all parts are addressed though some aspects are slightly under-developed or unclear.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is attempted, though some body paragraphs are quite short and fragmented. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Furthermore', 'However', and 'In conclusion', but referencing and linking can be repetitive or mechanical (e.g., beginning multiple sentences with 'Furthermore' or 'However'). The logical progression is sometimes disrupted by abrupt shifts between ideas within paragraphs, such as moving from rich students occupying seats to entrance examinations. These features are characteristic of Band 6, where cohesion is sometimes faulty and paragraphing may not always be fully logical.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'advanced technologies', 'scholarship', and 'entrance exam'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices throughout the text, such as 'expensive life', 'cleaniness', 'family based students', and 'cleaver students' (instead of clever). Furthermore, phrasing like 'they occupies seats' highlights word-form errors. The vocabulary is minimally adequate for communicating the main ideas, which fits the Band 5 descriptor, though some attempted less common items push it towards a 5.5. Overall, lexical control is inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional and concessive structures like 'Although in this expensive life, we need to have...' and 'If government pay the costs...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'If government pay', 'government also should give'), article usage (e.g., 'spacious library', 'in high ranking universities'), and prepositions. Punctuation errors also occur, such as sentence fragments starting with conjunctions. These frequent errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader, placing the response firmly at Band 5.

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

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