Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people believe that it is best to accept a bad situation, such as an unsatisfactory job or shortage of money. Others argue that it is better to try and improve such situations.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

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

Student answer (Band 5.0)

In this contemporary era difficulties in life have wide spread across the world. As some individuals agree upon the school of thought that individuals accept bad circumstances, while others think that one should work hard to make their conditions better. However, I agree with the latter school of thought.

To begin with one significant reason is one should never settle for what they have. now a days everyone is in a rat race. where everyone is trying to leave each other behind in order to reach success. If an individual settle for less or just accept thier situation they will fall behind others which make them lose motivation to reach at good positions or to earn a handsome salary for instance a individual with a job with no work life balance might get stress everyday about his/her job and working conditions. This will make that person to lose all the motivation to work harder to live a better.

Furthermore, working hard for better lifestyle. As individuals work harder they are tend to reach better positions with good salary. This make them to feel motivated to even work more harder in order to reach better salaries with good work life balance for instance in individual stuck at a startup with no work life balance switching his/her job to a good corporate company. this enables him/her to be more sucessful in life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You state a clear opinion in the introduction: “I agree with the latter school of thought,” and you give relevant reasons for trying to improve one’s circumstances, including motivation and better employment. However, the task asks you to discuss both views, and the view that people may accept a bad situation is not explained; the essay mainly argues for change. Your supporting examples are also brief and do not fully develop the consequences or show how the situations could be improved. The response is 20 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to address both sides and support your ideas. To strengthen the response, explain a reason someone might accept a difficult situation, then develop your own position with a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a clear progression from the value of not settling to the benefits of working for better conditions. Connectors such as “To begin with” and “Furthermore” help signal the stages of the argument. However, the second paragraph continues the same general position rather than developing a distinct point, and there is no paragraph devoted to the opposing view. Some links between ideas are abrupt, as in “now a days everyone is in a rat race. where everyone is trying…”. The examples also run into the explanation without clear sentence boundaries. Use paragraphing to separate the two views and connect each example explicitly to its main point.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic-related vocabulary, including “circumstances,” “motivation,” “positions,” and “work-life balance,” and phrases such as “rat race” and “school of thought” show an attempt to use less basic language. Meaning is generally understandable, but some choices are imprecise or unnatural: “difficulties in life have wide spread” and “reach at good positions” do not express the intended ideas idiomatically. There are also spelling errors, including “thier” and “sucessful,” and repeated use of “better” and “work harder” makes the argument less precise. Build a more varied set of expressions for improving employment or finances, and check spelling and collocations when editing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “If an individual settle for less…” and clauses explaining consequences. However, control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make sentences difficult to follow. For example, “If an individual settle” needs subject–verb agreement, while “This make them” also has an agreement error. The sentence beginning “As individuals work harder” has a faulty verb construction, and several sentence fragments or punctuation problems interrupt the flow, such as “where everyone is trying…” after a full stop. Practise accurate conditional and cause-and-effect sentences, and check agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries. Clearer sentence construction will help your ideas come across more reliably.

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

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