Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-20

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 6.0)

Some people thinking accepting a bad situation is a the optimal solutions, while other think it is best to work on improving this situations. Personally, I agree with people who work on improving things rather than surrendering.

On one hand, people who surrender to the circumstances often lack the motives to seek better outcomes for themselves. They often rely on luck or destiny to justify their inaction towards these situations. this also gives them the incentive to "go with the flow" and "leave things as they are". Examples include people accepting to live with new laws issued by government that clearly violate some rights of certain groups. Another example is a fresh graduate blaming the long years of his unemployment on the global employment crisis.

One the other hand, people are looking for all kinds of ways to save their future and improve their situation. They spent hours and days creating carefully curated plans to achieve their goals and are willing to sacrifice what they have at present to secure a better future. They take other people's experiences and advice, do some research and sit alone spending hours thinking about these steps that, once executed correctly, can completely transform their lives. These people's actions can be portrayed in many different ways, such as an young man starting a side-hustle to help improve his financial situation, Or an old man, enrolling in a sports club to help keep fit and to reduce chances of obesity, something that usually stems from inactivity for older age groups.

To conclude, people actively taking action to improve their lives, are also the same people who look back at their past and reflect on how glad they are to have took those risks to reach their goals. As clearly stated before, I'd rather do what it takes to make my life better, than to sit there and blame it on luck.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on accepting versus improving difficult situations and clearly states the writer's position in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as accepting government laws or a fresh graduate blaming unemployment. However, the development of ideas tends to be slightly superficial in places, and some generalisations are made without deep elaboration. For instance, the transition between accepting a situation and feeling unmotivated is stated rather than fully explored. Overall, the task is adequately fulfilled to a Band 6.5 level, showing a clear stance and addressing both sides of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organised with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing each perspective, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices are used to signal transitions, such as 'On one hand,' 'On the other hand,' and 'To conclude.' Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different arguments. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise, as seen with 'this also gives them the incentive' where the antecedent is slightly ambiguous. Furthermore, some cohesion feels a bit mechanical. Despite these minor issues, the overall progression is clear throughout the text, warranting a Band 6.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common phrases such as 'carefully curated plans,' 'side-hustle,' and 'global employment crisis.' However, there are noticeable lexical and collocation errors, particularly in the opening sentence ('Some people thinking accepting a bad situation is a the optimal solutions' and 'improve this situations'). While these errors do not impede communication, they reflect a lack of precision and control over word forms, placing the lexical performance solidly at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ambition with subordinate clauses and participial phrases. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement and article misuse in the first paragraph ('Some people thinking', 'is a the optimal solutions'), pronoun agreement issues ('how glad they are to have took those risks'), and minor punctuation or article errors ('an young man'). These errors occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching a Band 7.0, but because meaning is rarely obscured, it comfortably achieves a Band 6.0.

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

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