Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-01

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)

Nowadays, some people tends to give up easily on their goals while on other hand some people think in opposite way. They restart and try to achieve their goals again. Both type of people have different mindset which leads to a decision which they think is perfect for them.

Starting with the people who think giving up or accepting defeat is a solution to a problem. Initially, people think that it will be better for them to accept the bad situation and move on which might be good as per their feeling but then later on they will regret it for not retrying or for not giving their best. Moreover, some situation will come which provoke us to accept the situation going on. For instance, if people are not getting a job of their dream and instead they got a job with low salary, then they just accept the job and do unsatisfactory job their whole life.

Moving forward, one question arives that restarting or retrying anything will help us to achieve out goals? The answer is no. Sometimes even after retrying we do not get what we want but it will surely make us feel satisfied by trying our best. Hnece, a sense of victory that we gave our 100% to tackle any situation. Furthermore, mistakes can be made but, not completely involving will be harder to overcome. For example, one student failed a exam which demotivated him/her but, then he worked hard and topped the class in next exam.

Personally, i believe that working hard will always cherish someday. Our motive of life should be working hard, not giving up and always to think positive in any situation. Lastly, this criterias will help us to overcome any kind of situation in life.

In conclusion, how to tackle any situation always depends on how we think. It is very crucial to be positive and have an attitude of not giving up and not accepting the defeat.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially, presenting both views on accepting a bad situation versus trying to improve it, along with a personal opinion. However, the development of ideas remains limited and under-developed throughout the body paragraphs. For instance, the discussion on why people accept a low-paid job quickly pivots without deep exploration, and the second body paragraph struggles to fully articulate whether restarting helps. While a position is stated in the conclusion and introduction, the supporting points lack the necessary extension and depth to reach higher levels. To improve, the writer needs to elaborate on each viewpoint with well-developed explanations and specific, concrete examples rather than relying on brief generalisations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation evident in the essay, with clear paragraph breaks separating the introduction, body points, and conclusion, and the use of transitional markers like 'Starting with' and 'Moving forward'. However, the response lacks a clear overall progression, and the logical flow between sentences can feel disjointed. Cohesive devices are sometimes used in a mechanical or inaccurate manner, such as the abrupt transition into questions or the phrasing 'Hnece'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, making it difficult for the reader to track the progression of arguments smoothly. Achieving a higher band requires ensuring that cohesive devices link ideas naturally and that every paragraph builds progressively toward a unified central argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey basic ideas, featuring frequent instances of repetition such as 'situation', 'goals', and 'working hard'. There are noticeable errors in word choice, form, and collocation, including phrases like 'not completely involving will be harder to overcome' and spelling mistakes like 'Hnece' and 'arives'. These lexical slips and restricted range cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the text from demonstrating more flexibility. To advance, the student should expand their working vocabulary, pay closer attention to word forms, and utilise less common lexical items accurately with appropriate collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay displays a limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on basic sentence forms with frequent attempts at complex structures that turn out faulty. There are recurrent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'some people tends', incorrect article usage, and prepositions inside patterns. These frequent errors can cause some difficulty and strain for the reader. To improve, the writer needs to exercise better control over basic sentence construction, ensure accurate tense and agreement consistency, and practice forming complex sentences without error.

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