Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-18

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 5.0)

It is true that sometimes people pay somebody to do things they don't want to do or they don't have time to do and personally, i think that this is very acceptable as long as the person doing them is okay with that and especially if this person is getting paid for it.In this case, isn't that considered as a work done or making a deal?

let's take looking after children as an example; parents who are both workers and who can't take a vacation from work to take care of their children, really need someone to look after their children for them and in return they pay for that .For someone who is looking for a little extra money to pay their school fees, it's considered a good opportunity same as working in a restaurent or a dinner or a cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The student addresses the prompt by giving an opinion on whether paying others for chores is acceptable and discusses looking after children as an example. However, the response only touches briefly on the second part of the prompt regarding whether people should do these things themselves, and the ideas are severely underdeveloped due to the extreme brevity of the text. Furthermore, the response is 108 words short of the mandatory 250-word minimum word count requirement. According to IELTS guidelines, a severe negative penalty must be applied to Task Achievement for under-length responses, capping the score at Band 4.0. To improve, the student must expand their arguments and ensure all parts of the prompt are fully explored within the required word limit.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text demonstrates some basic organisation, opening with an introductory opinion and moving into an example regarding childcare. However, the response is formatted into just two very dense blocks of text rather than distinct, well-structured paragraphs. Cohesive devices are minimal, relying mostly on repetition and conversational transitions like 'let's take looking after children as an example' and 'in return'. Referencing is occasionally weak, such as the dangling question mark and rhetorical question 'isn't that considered as a work done or making a deal?', which disrupts the formal flow of the essay. Paragraphing is not used sufficiently and appropriately, reflecting the limitations of a short draft.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary for daily topics, including terms like 'household chores', 'school fees', and 'vacation'. There are some basic vocabulary and spelling inaccuracies, such as writing 'restaurent' instead of 'restaurant' and using informal conversational filler like 'let's take'. The range of vocabulary is restricted and fails to demonstrate the flexibility or less common lexical items required for higher bands. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey a basic communicative intent, noticeable errors and a lack of precise academic or formal phrasing constrain the lexical score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional and relative clauses ('parents who are both workers and who can't take a vacation...'). However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are several punctuation and capitalization errors, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters ('i think', 'let's') and placing a space before the comma and period in 'paid for it.In this case'. Run-on structures and comma splices also appear, causing some difficulty for the reader. While the writer demonstrates an awareness of complex sentences, frequent errors in punctuation and sentence boundary control place this response firmly at Band 5.0.

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

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