Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-22

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people believe that children learn better when they are placed in classes with children of similar academic abilities. Others believe that children learn better when they are in classes with children representing a diverse range of academic abilities.

Discuss both these views and give your opinion

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Some people believe that children learn better when they are placed in classes with children of similar academic abilities. Others believe that children learn better when they are in classes with children representing a diverse range of academic abilities. In my opinion, children learn better where they are equally respected and not degraded by other students and teachers in academic abilities.

On one hand, children learn better when they sit with children of same academic abilities because they feel respected in way of their opinions, judgements, wrong answers and any academic skill they show in their class because they know that all students with them have same academic abilities and no one would judge them and point out them. For example, Teacher asked one student to make presentation on one topic and other students would love to help him and will give different ideas and no one will feel superior in his academic abilities and degrade others.

on the other hand, children learn better with children of diverse acadmic abilities because they will have different exposure, new skills, new perspectives and ideas from everyone. But those who will he weak at some points in academics may feel embarassed as he does not know much as others. For example, If teacher asks one questions from class, students woth diverse academic abilities will present answer quickly but others may feel embarasse as they would not be able to tell them quickly but will learn from children that how to respond.

In my opinion, children would do better in both situations if they are treated equally and taught how they should help each other and not to degrad, disrespect and embarasse each other in acadamic abilities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You discuss both class arrangements and give a position: you favour either approach when students are treated equally and taught to support one another. The examples about presentations and answering questions are relevant, but the ideas remain under-developed; for instance, you mention that mixed-ability classes offer “different exposure” without explaining how this improves learning beyond helping students respond. Your opinion also shifts from the opening emphasis on respect to a conditional conclusion, so make your preference or balanced position explicit and consistent. The response is 244 words, six words below the 250-word minimum; the 39 words copied from the prompt are not counted. Develop each view with clearer explanation and a more specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, one paragraph for each view, and a concluding opinion. The signposts “On one hand” and “on the other hand” make the discussion easy to follow, and the examples are placed alongside the relevant arguments. This meets the lower-band expectation for an organised response and shows some of the stronger progression expected at the next level. However, links between claims are sometimes mechanical, and the conclusion largely repeats the introduction rather than drawing the two views together. Some references are also unclear, such as “they” and “them” in the example about students helping a presenter. Use more precise referencing and connect each example explicitly to its main point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “academic abilities,” “diverse,” “perspectives,” and “treated equally.” However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce accuracy: “acadmic,” “embarassed,” “woth,” and “degrad” appear in the response. Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “point out them” and “feel respected in way of their opinions.” These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding the overall argument, but they make parts less fluent. Build a more accurate set of expressions for discussing ability grouping, peer support, and confidence, and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional structure in “if they are treated equally” and clauses introduced by “because.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to process. For example, “children learn better where they are equally respected” uses an awkward clause pattern, while “Teacher asked one student” lacks an article and has an unclear tense choice. In “students woth diverse academic abilities will present answer quickly,” the sentence also has problems with articles and sentence construction. Practise accurate article use, subject–verb patterns, and punctuation, then proofread longer sentences by checking that each clause has a clear subject and verb.

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

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