Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-22

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)

From my personal opinion here, while there exist two kinds of people who have two different views of life, 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.

I prefer the latter, where it is better to improve the situations. It is simply because life is too short to give in to fate; we must fight it for our sake and improve the situations. The give-in situation is never acceptable; we have to change. For example, when someone gets into a bad job, like one with a bad salary and bad environment, the impact will be massive. Having a bad salary means you cannot save up your money for the future, or a bad environment where you have to deal with people you do not like. With such a bad job, people will eventually regret it in the future. If I have to add in my personal experience, I regret not seeking better career opportunities overseas since the career in my own country is so bad.

I, as a person who tries to improve situations, actually get a lot of benefits; I have been hopping careers into another job where I just straight up got a 40% salary increase. Even better, the environments are better, like less political influence in my company. Actually, I have been thinking what would happen if I had stuck with my first company? My bet is that my salary would have been stagnant and my quality of life would never be improved there, doing a stressful job dealing with bad company environments and boss.

Therefore, based on my personal experience, it is better to try and improve bad situations, we must be better and we deserve better.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While the essay discusses the benefits of improving one's situation, the perspective of those who choose to accept a bad situation is not explored in any depth; it is merely mentioned in the introduction. The essay relies heavily on personal anecdotes rather than broader, more analytical arguments, which limits the depth of the discussion. To reach a higher band, you should provide more balanced reasoning for both viewpoints before concluding with your own stance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'For example', 'Therefore', and 'Even better', though some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. The referencing is generally clear, but the flow between the introduction and the body paragraphs could be smoother. The use of paragraphing is appropriate, and the overall structure helps the reader follow your argument without difficulty. To improve, try to vary your linking words and ensure that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence that connects back to the prompt.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, but it lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on simple descriptors like 'bad' (e.g., 'bad job', 'bad salary', 'bad environment') multiple times, which limits the sophistication of your writing. While you successfully use some topic-specific vocabulary like 'career opportunities' and 'stagnant', the overall lexical choice is somewhat repetitive. To improve, focus on using more varied adjectives and collocations to describe professional and financial situations, and avoid repeating the same basic words throughout the text.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'From my personal opinion here' (which is slightly unnatural) and 'the career in my own country is so bad' (which should be 'careers' or 'the career market'). Some sentences are slightly awkward, such as 'The give-in situation is never acceptable'. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and refining your use of articles and prepositions to ensure more natural phrasing.

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

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