Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-03
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)
Patience is very crucial in the life of an individual and it can also become a reason for betterment of the lifestyle of the person. The person should be able to accept the difficulties that they face in their life as it will lead to a benefit in the future. But some people contradict this and choose to improve the situation through performing several methods both the views will be discussed in subsequent deliberations.
Life is very complex of every individual, so the should be able to tackle the various problems of the life with patience. Even the person is doing a job which is not of his/her taste due to the reputation of the company or reputation of their own. To exemplify, if a person stays with the company in their difficult situation, whenever the goes in profit it will surely reward the person with better benefits. Therefore, a person should stay at the same stage in bad situations and take that particular company to heights.
In contrast, whenever the person feel unsatisfactory about the job due to various reasons, he/she try to perform some activities to improve it. If the person have some personal financial issues and salary is very low which causes problems in his life, he will surely take a decision to improve it. For instance, employees working in a company with less perks and they get a job offer from the other company with better perks and even some medical facilities, they will surely try to move towards that particular company by leaving the older one. Hence, there can be several reasons that can force a person to change his job for better advantages.
To conclude, the person should keep patience which would result with better benefits in the future. But, if the person have some major problems due to which he/she have to change the particular job as there are many more things that should be prioritized by a person.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses both views and provides a personal opinion, meeting the basic requirements of the prompt. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the argument for 'accepting' a bad situation is limited to the vague notion of 'reputation' and future rewards, without exploring the psychological or practical nuances of resilience. Similarly, the argument for 'improving' a situation relies on a simple example of changing jobs for better perks. The position is clear, but the supporting arguments lack depth and specific, well-integrated examples, which prevents the essay from reaching a higher band score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To exemplify', 'In contrast', and 'To conclude', though some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the use of 'the' instead of 'a person' or 'they' in sentences like 'the should be able to tackle'. While the overall structure is coherent, the internal flow within paragraphs is sometimes hindered by repetitive phrasing and minor errors in pronoun usage, which affects the smoothness of the reading experience.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. The student relies on basic terms like 'bad situation', 'good', and 'better', which are repeated frequently. There are some attempts at more sophisticated vocabulary, such as 'subsequent deliberations' and 'prioritized', but these are sometimes used in contexts that feel slightly unnatural. Collocations are occasionally weak, such as 'keep patience' (should be 'have patience' or 'exercise patience'). The range is sufficient to convey meaning, but it does not demonstrate the flexibility or stylistic awareness expected at a higher level.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'the person feel', 'the person have') and article usage (e.g., 'the reputation of the company or reputation of their own'). These errors are persistent throughout the text. While the meaning remains clear and communication is not impeded, the lack of control over basic grammatical rules and the high frequency of errors prevent the essay from achieving a higher score. More attention to pluralisation and verb conjugation is needed.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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