Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-24

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)

Some people believe that the best option in a unsatisfactory job or shortage of money is to accept the situation, while others contend that instead of accepting the situation, an individual should lean towards improving the bad situation. First, I will discuss the views of both sides before explaining why i believe it is more wise to improve the situation than accepting it.

People nowadays try to accept every hard or bad situation they face. This is mostly happening because of the lack of self confidence along with shyness. An individual with acute low self esteem for instance, does everything he can to avoid a bad situation, such as an unsatisfactory job, where his collegues are constantly bullying him maybe because of his salary, name or even race, while his HR is sitting in closed room thinking that all of this employees are working nicely with each other. Now, a typical low self esteem person who fears to confront people, will try his heart and soul to avoid the bullying from his fellow collegues and to do so, he will come in a conclusion that from now on he will just accept the bullying from his collegues, while also trying to please them so that they can become his friends. Similarly, an individual suffering from the shortage of money along with chronic shyness will do anything to not apply for a job, cause he it is quite impossible to talk to a fellow human being who will understand his feelings.

On the other hand, there are also a lot of people who know how to deal with this type of bad situation. Mostly this people are full of high self confidence and a good personality. They know if their collegues bullying them, they can file a complaint to the HR about. They also know it is quite easy to solve a money shortage by applying for a job.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You introduce both views and state a clear preference for improving difficult circumstances, so the response is relevant to the question. However, the discussion is only partially developed: the acceptance side is explained mainly through low confidence, shyness and workplace bullying, while the improvement side receives only brief claims about complaining to HR or applying for a job. The task asks for both views and your opinion, but the conclusion and fuller explanation of why you favour change are missing. The money-shortage example also focuses on reluctance to apply for work rather than explaining when accepting financial hardship might be reasonable. Develop each position with balanced reasons and a specific example, then reinforce your view at the end.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an identifiable structure: an introduction, a paragraph about accepting hardship, and a contrasting paragraph about trying to improve it. Transitions such as “First” and “On the other hand” help signal the shift between views. However, progression within the first body paragraph is repetitive: the discussion returns several times to shyness, low self-esteem and avoiding confrontation without adding much new development. The second body paragraph is very short and does not provide a balanced continuation or a concluding paragraph. Some references are also unclear, as in “all of this employees,” and the long example makes the central point difficult to follow. Organise each view around a distinct reason and example, and use a conclusion to complete the progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “self confidence,” “low self esteem,” “shortage of money,” “confront” and “file a complaint.” These choices help communicate the general ideas, but the range is limited and several expressions are inaccurate or awkward, which makes parts of the response less clear. For example, “lean towards improving the bad situation” and “come in a conclusion” are not natural collocations, while “collegues” is repeatedly misspelled. “Do everything he can to avoid a bad situation” also does not precisely express accepting an existing problem. Aim for more precise topic language and check spelling and collocations; varying repeated words such as “situation” and “people” would also improve flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including clauses beginning “while” and “because,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, complex sentences are often difficult to control, particularly in the extended bullying example, where several ideas are joined into one sentence. There are frequent errors in articles, agreement and sentence construction: “in a unsatisfactory job” should use the correct article, “this people” needs plural agreement, and “he it is quite impossible” is structurally faulty. Capitalisation is also inconsistent, as in “i,” and punctuation around the long sentences needs attention. Use shorter, controlled sentences for examples, then check articles, subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries.

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