Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

It is sometimes possible to pay somebody to do things you don't want to do, or don't have time to do, for example, household chores or looking after children.

Is this a good way of providing work for others?

Should people do these things themselves?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Nowadays more and more people have to compete with young people for the same jobs.

What problems does this cause? What are some possible solutions?

In the contemporary world, the competition between young adults and an other segment of the population is increasing rapidly for the similar role in corporations. This essay will elaborate on the negative consequences of this tendency and discuss possible solutions.

The population growth especially in developing countries is the primary driver of this phenomenon. More and more young graduates are entering the job market each year, whereas, the governments are unable to generate jobs on the same scale. As a result, due to demand and supply mismatch, people have to compromise with their salaries as young workers perform the same job in low wages. Moreover, in the sectors that has physically demanding jobs, aged people lose their jobs and are replaced by young adults due to their high physical strength and energy. Many families consequently face financial challenges to meet their essential needs.

However, major negative outcomes can be easily resolved with active government involvement. To elaborate, a regime can introduce mandatory quota system for senior citizens and specific age group in organizations. Additionally, government can generate additional jobs such as traffic controller for unemployed individuals in order to help them maintaining their employment status .

To conclude, even though young adults competing with other individual has various side effects, a few counter steps and goverment interference can rectify the issues effectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks about the ethics and implications of paying others to perform household chores or childcare. However, the essay discusses competition between young and older workers for jobs. Because the response fails to address the prompt entirely, it cannot be scored higher than a Band 3 for Task Achievement. Additionally, the response is 247 words, failing to meet the minimum 250-word requirement, which further impacts the score. To improve, you must carefully read the prompt and ensure your ideas directly answer the specific questions asked.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and there is a clear attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'However', and 'To conclude'. While the content is irrelevant to the prompt, the structure itself is coherent and follows a standard academic essay format. The progression of ideas is logical within the context of the argument provided, even though that argument does not address the task instructions.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, showing some attempt at academic register with phrases like 'contemporary world', 'primary driver', and 'rectify the issues'. However, there are some awkward collocations and minor errors, such as 'an other segment' (should be 'other segments') and 'low wages' (usually 'for low wages'). The range is sufficient to express the ideas clearly, but it lacks the precision and sophistication required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'the sectors that has physically demanding jobs' (subject-verb agreement error: 'have') and 'help them maintaining' (should be 'help them maintain'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not significantly impede communication. The control of punctuation is generally good, and the sentence variety is sufficient to demonstrate a basic level of grammatical competence.

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

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