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)

Few amount of people stays in the way that it is best to just accept a bad situation in life, such as shortage of money. The Other people completely believe in the opposite, and argue that is better to try and improve the situtations. In this essay, I will discuss both of these ways, and will give the facts why the second opinion is better.

Firstly, just accept the situtation without any attempts to correct something, is the easiest way to run out of the problems. Just running without any attempts, and regrets starts becoming the habit, and over the time people becomes lazy without any purposes on life, believing that their problems dissapear without their actions. That Laziness is just killing the motivation in humans to make their lifes better.

On the other hand, people who tries to improve the situtation does not matter how hard is it, becomes strong, and that motivation and convinction to overcome raise the personality in them. For example, many popular athletes in different categories of sport had faced significant amount of bad situtation in their life. Lionel Messi was born in Argentina, and grew up in working type of family without any richness and opportunitess, but over the time he overcome the problems and find his own path in football.

Overall, In my opinion, it is better to try something even if it do not work, than accept the situtation and being still without any worries, believe that someone other will solve your problems.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on whether to accept or try to improve difficult situations, and provides a clear position supporting the latter. Ideas are relevant, such as the discussion on laziness versus perseverance and the example of Lionel Messi. However, the development tends to be somewhat limited and relies on sweeping generalisations, which prevents it from reaching higher bands. For example, the claim that accepting a situation inevitably makes people lazy is asserted without deeper exploration. While the position is clear throughout, the ideas would benefit from more detailed extension and nuanced support to meet the higher band descriptors fully.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay has a clear overall progression and is divided into appropriate paragraphs representing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal shifts between ideas, such as 'Firstly', 'On the other hand', and 'Overall'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, phrases like 'The Other people' and grammatical referencing issues within sentences disrupt the natural flow. Additionally, some transitional links feel slightly abrupt, preventing the cohesion from being entirely seamless. Paragraphing is present and structurally sound, but internal logical transitions require tighter control to achieve a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to express basic ideas about motivation, struggle, and perseverance. However, there is a noticeable presence of word choice errors, awkward collocations, and spelling mistakes that occasionally detract from the reading experience. Examples include 'Few amount of people stays', 'situtations', 'dissapear', 'lifes', and 'working type of family'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'perseverance' or 'convinction', but the control is inconsistent. The range is minimally adequate to convey the message, fitting the criteria for Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in subject-verb agreement, article usage, and prepositions. Examples of errors include 'Few amount of people stays', 'try and improve is better', 'over the time people becomes', and 'even if it do not work'. While these errors do not completely impede overall communication, they occur with high frequency and demonstrate limited control over complex syntactic structures. The grammatical control fluctuates throughout the text, placing it firmly in the Band 5 category.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.