Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-12

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)

It is true that, taking risks both in people's professional lives and their personal lives plays a vital role. Despite some disadvantages, it can be outweighed by the advantages of taking risks.

It is a common scenario that, people often go through some delusional situations when they can barely make a decision for their professional and personal lives. Sometimes, these are also a reason for having exhausting and stressful time and these can easily lead to be demotivated in their lives. To surpass these issues and for the major prosperity in future, it has significant role in people's lives to take risks. For instance, in professional areas, people who are assigned to corporate jobs, they often feel fear to be vocal with their bosses or colleagues as they assume that this can affect their jobs they need. For this reason, sometimes even they get suffered by the office politics. Some job holders think that their salaries are low compared to what they deserve, in which case they should take the risk of quitting the job and find another one which is suitable for them. It is also important for people to take risks in their personal lives such as to choose a subject to study or to travel somewhere solely.

There are both advantages and disadvantages of taking risks. On the one hand, by taking risks people can easily motivate themselves. It can grow their confidence that they can make a decision. People can reach at the peak of their aim that they once speculated of. On the other hand, the disadvantages are for example, people often get into trouble by taking risks like when they visit a new place alone it could be a deleterious thing for their safety or in professional terms there could be issues for quitting or switching their job or start a business. But overall, people can improve their professional and personal skills, experience new things, prosper their knowledge by taking risks which overcome the disadvantages.

In conclusion, despite having some disadvantages, the advantages of taking risks outweigh the issues and it is important to take risks in professional and personal lives.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the two views regarding accepting a bad situation versus trying to improve it, framing the discussion around the concept of taking risks. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the connection between 'accepting a bad situation' and 'taking risks' is slightly indirect at times, as the prompt specifically asks about enduring versus improving unsatisfactory circumstances. While the ideas are relevant, some arguments could be extended further with more precise application to the prompt's core theme. For example, the discussion on office politics and quitting a job aligns well with improving a bad situation, but the exploration of the opposing view—the reasons why people might choose to accept a bad situation—is relatively brief. Nevertheless, all parts of the task are addressed, earning a solid score in this category.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is divided into four paragraphs, providing a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, which ensures an overall logical arrangement. Cohesive devices such as 'Despite some disadvantages,' 'On the one hand,' 'On the other hand,' and 'In conclusion' are employed to guide the reader through the text. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise, and some sentences feel mechanically linked rather than flowing naturally. For instance, the transition between sentences in the second paragraph can be abrupt, affecting the overall progression. Paragraphing is adequate, but internal cohesion requires smoother transitions to achieve higher band levels.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common phrases such as 'delusional situations,' 'major prosperity,' and 'deleterious thing.' However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'delusional situations' to describe difficult circumstances, and awkward phrasing like 'prosper their knowledge.' Spelling is generally accurate, but lexical control is inconsistent, leading to occasional awkwardness that prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Despite these slips, the meaning remains clear throughout the essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied grammatical structures. Examples include conditional and participial constructions like 'Despite some disadvantages, it can be outweighed...' and 'people who are assigned to corporate jobs, they often feel fear...' However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as dangling modifiers and incorrect pronoun referencing (e.g., 'these are also a reason for having exhausting and stressful time and these can easily lead to be demotivated'). Punctuation and sentence boundary errors also occur, but they rarely impede overall communication, placing the performance comfortably within the band six range.

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

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