Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-13
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 argued that it is good for us to accept our worst situation such as undesirable job and scarcity of money. Conversely, others say we should thrive to make these circumstances better. Considering benefits and obstacles associated with both approaches, I believe that we should make efforts to change things.
people think that acceptance can make us feel good about our situation rather then comparing ourselves with others and hurting our mental health. It is somehow gives us relief, especially when things are too tough to manage. Sometimes, sense of deprivation can leads to severe anxiety and depression. For example, Individuals with sense of satisfaction are more happier than those who have complains about their existing state. Therefore, in order to maintain inner satisfaction, its important to accept things as they are.
On the other hand, there is a strong believe that thriving and struggling for achieving a higher goal is the essence of human. God gave us enough capabilities to use then and get our desired dream in life. All successful personalities either from history or current age gained achieved financial and social status with an solid aim rather than accepting their current state. For instance, Elon musk used to live in a small apartment when he was doing a internee in university and he became world's richest person with motivation to do better in life.
In my personal opinion, seeking for good opportunities and making effort to avail then rather than been stick to toxic job and managing low financial budget is always better.
To summon up, Trying to upgrade your life is always make us motivated but we should not lose our mental health and ignore signs of anxiety in this process.
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 all parts of the task by discussing both views on accepting bad situations versus trying to improve them, and it clearly states the writer's position in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant, such as discussing mental health benefits of acceptance and the drive for success through ambition, as seen in the example of Elon Musk. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or contain sweeping generalisations, and the arguments could be extended further to fully meet the higher band descriptors. Nevertheless, a clear position is maintained throughout, satisfying the requirements for Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is divided into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing each viewpoint, a personal opinion, and a brief conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal shifts between ideas, such as 'Conversely', 'Therefore', and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, and paragraphing could be managed more smoothly. For instance, the transition into the personal opinion forms a very short paragraph that could be integrated better. Overall organisation is coherent, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for the task, including phrases like 'scarcity of money', 'sense of deprivation', and 'financial and social status'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'thrive' instead of 'strive', 'internee' instead of 'intern', 'more happier', and 'been stick to' instead of 'stuck to'. These errors demonstrate an adequate range for the task with attempts at less common vocabulary, but the inaccuracies place this firmly in the Band 6 category.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and subordinate clauses ('especially when things are too tough to manage'). There are, however, frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text, such as missing articles ('Individuals with sense of satisfaction'), subject-verb agreement issues ('sense of deprivation can leads'), and tense/form inaccuracies ('seeking for good opportunities... rather than been stick'). While these errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the essay from achieving a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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