Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

"Fake it, till you make it", this proverb demonstrates that a person should keep trying until he achieves his/her goal. However, there is a group of people who believe that it is better to accept a bad situation rather than trying to improve the situation . In the following paragraphs, it will be discussed why believe people believe in accepting bad situations over working hard to improve circumstances.

Firstly, some people are the firm believer of destiny and prefer to accept it as it is. They neither want to change it nor to fight against it. They assume that there is no point of fighting because destiny has already been written by GOD. Moreover, such people think themselves as unlucky or losers who can never succeed no matter how much hard work they do.

On the contrary, others maintain that it is good to improve circumstances instead of remaining in bad situations. The main argument put forwarded by them is that hard work always pays off. For example, Nelson Mandela was not born as a leader. Circumstances made him to lead the nation. This shows that people should keep trying. Moreover, such people are the staunch advocate of fighting against odds, and want to bring about change in their status. For instance, the CEO of Tesla was not born with silver spoon, but today he is among the list of world's rich people.

Similarly, I am a firm believer of taking action instead of accepting the bad outcomes. I believe that when a person faces failure, he actually gets an experience about how to improve things next time. Resultantly , it becomes easy for a person to break the chains of poverty. Hence, everyone is born with abilities through which change can be brought in improving one's living standards.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views—accepting bad situations and trying to improve them—while clearly stating a personal opinion. The writer establishes a clear position from the introduction and maintains it throughout the essay. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as mentioning Nelson Mandela and the CEO of Tesla to illustrate the benefits of hard work. While the discussion on destiny in the second paragraph is slightly generalised, it remains fully relevant to the prompt. Overall, the task response meets all requirements for a Band 7.0, as all prompt components are thoroughly covered and supported.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct central topic, moving smoothly from the introduction to the first view, the opposing view, and finally the writer's personal conclusion. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'Firstly', 'On the contrary', and 'Moreover', though some referencing could be smoother, such as 'such people' being repeated frequently. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately to separate distinct ideas. Progression is logical, earning a solid Band 7.0 for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary with some flexibility and precision, including expressions like 'firm believer', 'staunch advocate', and 'break the chains of poverty'. There are, however, a few awkward collocations and minor word-choice errors, such as 'why believe people believe' in the introduction, 'firm believer of destiny' instead of 'in destiny', and 'born with silver spoon' missing the article 'a'. Despite these occasional inaccuracies, the vocabulary is adequate for the task and does not impede communication, placing it comfortably at Band 6.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures and relative clauses. There are several grammatical errors present, such as 'put forwarded' instead of 'put forward', 'made him to lead' instead of 'made him lead', and 'Resultantly ,' with incorrect spacing before the punctuation mark. Furthermore, subject-verb agreement occasionally slips, as seen in 'why believe people believe'. However, the majority of sentences are understandable, and the errors only rarely impede communication. This performance aligns well with the Band 6.0 descriptors.

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