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)
Nowadays, most of individuals feel that authority should pay for those students who wants to study in universities and they feel free to do study over there. I will explain my point of view in upcoming paragraphs.
To begin with, there are some advantages to study free in those college or universities where fees are paid by government. This is the best benefit for those students who are belongs to lower class families but they are very intelligent in study or any project. For example, according to the survey there are thousands students who are living in poor level families but become good teacher, scientists and get top ranking number from the country or national. So, this will help to those students who want to study in universities but they can not because of shortage of money.
On the other hand, there are few pros of this statement, some students take advantages of this they are coming for higher level of education but they are wasting the time any doing other leisure activities which is not part of study. They are just ignoring the benefits which given by authority to students for becoming the best version of their self so that's why government paying the fees for them. For instance, American Universities where government is take caring of fees and other study expenses but students are just chilling at universities not concentrating on education and making the relationships and bunking the classes. Overall Result is the authority is wasting their money on those students who are not good deserver for this opportunity.
To conclude, according to my perspective, firstly government should take the test all students really wants to study in that specific university, who are willing to study well then the authority should take care just those students who pass that test otherwise other students should pay their fees by themself and by this they will learn about the value of money and they will also study hard.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of government-funded university education and clearly states a personal position in the conclusion. Ideas are extended with reasons, such as mentioning brilliant students from lower-income backgrounds who cannot afford education. However, some arguments lack deep development and are slightly repetitive. For example, the discussion about students wasting time in American universities is somewhat generalised and anecdotal. Nevertheless, the position is maintained throughout, satisfying the requirements for Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is arranged into four paragraphs, providing a logical overall structure with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Transitional markers such as 'To begin with', 'On the other hand', and 'To conclude' are used to guide the reader through the text. However, referencing and cohesive devices are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition between sentences within the body paragraphs can be abrupt, and phrases like 'which is not part of study' show weakness in cohesion. Paragraphing is present and appropriate, but the flow between ideas prevents a higher score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to convey basic arguments about higher education funding. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'leisure activities', 'shortage of money', and 'deserver'. However, there are frequent word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'most of individuals', 'who are belongs to', 'poor level families', and 'good deserver for this opportunity'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but grammatical constraints on word forms frequently impede precision. This profile aligns with Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses like 'who wants to study' and conditional-like structures in the conclusion. However, the text contains frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement ('most of individuals feel', 'government is take caring'), verb tenses ('who wants', 'is given'), and preposition usage ('study free in those college'). These errors can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, though they do not completely obscure the intended meaning. Control over grammar is limited, placing this response firmly in the Band 5.0 category.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.