Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-07

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 5.5)

Some people feel that it is better to accept tough situations and move on further, situations like financial burden or dissatisfying job. While other believe that it is preferable to learn from those situations and work harder to improve such circumstances. There can be many situation which can demotivate us, but these situations act as a gateway towards a bright career, if we respond in a proper way such as improving ourselves from those situations, where we lack.

On the one hand, there are at time, when situations become harder to handle and ends up in a tragedy, a better and simple way is to act smarter and accept those situations. There are lot of people, who majorly suffer from a unsatisfactory job or with financial burdens, but giving up from these situations does not lead to its solution, instead it worsens the condition.

On the other hand, it is believed rather than facing such situations in life, it is better to improve ourselves to prevent such circumstances. For example, many of the successful people around the world, go through a lot of failures and facing tough situation before achieving something in life, they say, it made them learn and helped them to overcome obstacles in their life by taking things positively.

In my opinion, many people face such situations in their lives, in order to overcome such situations, it is better to start working rather than being upset over it.

In conclusion, many individuals face these kinds of situations in their lives as these situations teach a lot, but it is necessary to accept and improve bad situations.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a personal opinion, meeting the basic requirements of the task. However, the development of ideas is limited. The arguments are somewhat repetitive and lack specific, well-supported examples. For instance, the mention of 'successful people' is vague and does not provide a concrete illustration to support the point. The conclusion is also quite brief and does not fully synthesize the arguments presented. To improve, you should aim to expand on your points with more detailed explanations and specific, relevant examples to demonstrate a deeper engagement with the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. There is a logical progression from the introduction to the body paragraphs and the conclusion. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly inaccurate. For example, the transition 'On the one hand' is followed by a paragraph that seems to argue for accepting situations, but the phrasing is confusing. Additionally, some sentences lack smooth transitions, making the flow feel a bit disjointed. Improving the variety and precision of your linking words and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear, unified focus will enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the range and precision required for a higher band score. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'situations' and 'bad'. While you attempt to use some topic-related vocabulary, such as 'financial burden' and 'obstacles', the overall lexical range is somewhat limited. There are also minor issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'move on further' or 'giving up from these situations'. To achieve a higher score, focus on using a wider variety of synonyms and more sophisticated collocations to express your ideas more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the clarity of your message. For example, 'While other believe' should be 'While others believe', and 'there are at time, when situations become harder' contains unnecessary commas and incorrect phrasing. Subject-verb agreement and article usage are also inconsistent throughout the text. While these errors do not completely prevent understanding, they are frequent enough to affect the overall quality. Focusing on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and practicing more complex sentence structures will help improve your score.

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

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