Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-03

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)

The issue of looking after own kids has become increasingly important in recent years. This essay will answer both questions and present my opinion on the trend.

One key point to consider is that it will give an employment opportunity to people in need. This is because there are lots of people around the city who specifically go to school to learn how to take care of others and provide them with good care. For example, lots of parents hire babysitter for their kids while they're at work, so their children can be looked after by someone while they are busy. Therefore, it is clear that it could give an employment to someone else's life.

Another important aspect is kid can have negative impact on their growth. In other words, kids usually learn most of the early life living stuffs from being around people. A good example of this can be seen in babysitter situation, if the kids spend majority of their time with babysitter then they learn most of the things from nanny rather than their own parents. Moreover, if the nanny has bad habits then kids will definitely learn that from babysitter. Thus, this shows that kids should spend more time of their early stage of their life with their parents.

In conclusion, looking after own kids by having babysitter could bring negative impact on kids behavior because parents always wanted make their kids like them. It is essential kids early stage learning should be done by their own parents because parents are the one who can make their kids like them.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the benefits of providing employment and the question of whether parents should perform these tasks themselves. However, the development is somewhat limited. While you mention that hiring help provides employment, the explanation is repetitive. Regarding the second question, you focus exclusively on childcare, neglecting the broader mention of 'household chores' in the prompt. The position is clear, but the arguments lack depth and specific examples beyond a general reference to 'babysitters'. To improve, ensure you address all aspects of the prompt and provide more detailed, nuanced reasoning for your arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use basic cohesive devices like 'One key point', 'Another important aspect', and 'In conclusion' to signal transitions. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'living stuffs'. The logical progression is present but could be smoother. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices and ensuring that the relationship between ideas is more explicitly linked, rather than relying on simple sentence starters.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. You rely on repetitive phrasing, such as 'looking after', 'kids', and 'babysitter'. There are also instances of awkward word choices, such as 'early life living stuffs' and 'make their kids like them', which sound unnatural. While the meaning is generally clear, the range is limited, and there is little evidence of less common lexical items or idiomatic language. To improve, try to incorporate more academic vocabulary and synonyms to avoid repetition and enhance the sophistication of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'kid can have negative impact' (missing article), 'hire babysitter' (missing article), and 'parents are the one who can make their kids like them' (subject-verb agreement/awkward phrasing). Punctuation is generally functional, but the errors in articles and pluralization are persistent. To improve, focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy, specifically regarding articles (a/an/the) and subject-verb agreement, as these errors occur frequently enough to occasionally distract the reader.

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

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