Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-28

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)

In the contemporary era, university education is essential for everyone to get success in their life. A few individuals believe that education should be free in universities and it would be the responsibilites of higher authorities to all the costs of running universities. I am agree with this notion beacuse people gets good job opportunities and everyone get equal education, while in some cases people should pay their fee by their own. I will discuss all the points in the forthcoming paragraphs.

To commence with agrement of government should pay the costs of running universities, the first and foremost is people of all backgrounds take education at a same level. To elaborate this, when there is no fee in higher education centres, all individuals get equal opportunities to complete their learnings without thinking of their financial status. According to the report of Oxford University, KERLA is the most educated state in India because there education system is totally free. Hence, if government should pay all the fee then is would be good development for a country.

Additionally, the another reason is that when massess able to get high education then there will be more work opportunities not in their own nation but also at an international level. To expalin this, because of better jobs they easily earn good money that would be good for the development and financial condition of a country. A survay conducted by The tribune newspaper, in 2020 , 45% people earnd much better as they received work in different nations rather then their own. Thus, free study is good for masess.

On the contrary, if government should pay fees, then there would be less money available for other necessary tasks like transport, research and medical field. Moreover, there are many individuals who can easily afford their fee.So, instead of paying all government should five some scholarships and take less fee from poor children.

To conclude, although it is good if government should pay the costs of running universities such as people get better jobs and become financial independent, government also have other duties, they hace to take care of them.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is generally clear: you support government-funded university education because it can widen access and improve employment prospects, while acknowledging that public funds are also needed elsewhere. These points are relevant to the question, and the examples about Kerala and overseas employment attempt to support them. However, the discussion remains broad and some reasoning is unclear—for example, the link between free tuition and better jobs is asserted rather than explained. Your counterargument about transport, research and healthcare is useful, but the final suggestion of scholarships and reduced fees is not fully reconciled with your overall support for free education. Develop each reason with clearer explanation and make your degree of agreement consistent throughout. The response meets the stated length requirement; 16 words copied from the task prompt were not counted.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two supporting paragraphs, a counterargument and a conclusion. Paragraphs generally focus on one main point, and signposts such as “Additionally” and “On the contrary” help readers follow the broad direction. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow: the employment paragraph moves from education to income and national development without clearly connecting each step. Several transitions feel formulaic, including “To commence” and “To elaborate this,” and the conclusion repeats earlier claims rather than bringing the argument together. Improve cohesion by using clearer links between cause and effect, and by referring precisely to ideas already introduced instead of relying mainly on stock connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “financial status,” “equal opportunities,” “scholarships,” and “international level,” so the main ideas are usually understandable. However, the range is limited and several inaccurate word choices, collocations and spelling errors make the writing less precise. Examples include “responsibilites,” “massess,” “learnings,” and “financial independent”; phrases such as “take education” and “pay their fee by their own” are also unnatural. Repetition of “good,” “people,” and “government” further restricts expression. Build a more accurate set of topic-specific phrases and check spelling and word forms. For instance, use “pursue higher education,” “cover tuition costs,” and “financially independent” where appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “when there is no fee…,” and the overall meaning can usually be followed. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors in agreement, verb forms, articles and sentence construction occur frequently. Examples include “I am agree,” “people gets,” “everyone get,” and “if government should pay… then is would be good development.” The final sentence also has an unclear structure: “government also have other duties, they hace to take care of them.” These problems sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to understand. Practise forming accurate subject–verb patterns and conditional sentences, and use full stops rather than joining independent clauses with commas.

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