Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-02

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

We no longer need to have animals kept in zoos, so zoos should be closed.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

According to some people animal should be set free from zoos and zoos should be closed. Whereas, some people disagree with them. I partially disagree with this statement.

On the one hand, the only way to see wildlife is either by televison or by visiting zoos, there is no other way possible because travelling to dense forest would be a greater risk because wild creatures would think human as a threat and try to hunt them. Whereas, in zoos people can experience all the thrill of wildlife by seeing different animals which are captured in cage and cannot harm humans. Moreover, in zoos fauna are fed with proper nutriton and diet which helps them in proper growth. Therefore, wild creatures have a easy and great life in zoos where they do not have to hunt or worry of being endangered, their species could be saved from being extinct.

On the other hand, keeping fauna captured in zoos makes them forget how to hunt and keep themself safe from other creatures. Moreover, in zoos they are harassed by many visitors who throw food or different items at them for attention or waking them from sleep. Whereas, most of the time wild creatures dies because of home sickness or try to escape thge zoo by harming humans.

To conclude, I partially disagree with this statement becasue, animals are also living creatures and they have right to live just like human beings. Therefore, government should initiate creation of open zoo where wildlife are set free to rome, hunt and live by their own.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear, albeit slightly contradictory, position. You argue for a partial disagreement, suggesting that while zoos have benefits, they should be reformed into 'open zoos'. The ideas are relevant, such as the educational value of zoos and the welfare concerns regarding animal captivity. However, the development is somewhat limited; for instance, the claim that wild animals would hunt humans in forests is a generalization that lacks nuance. To improve, ensure your position remains consistent throughout the essay and provide more detailed, logical support for your arguments rather than relying on broad assumptions about animal behavior.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use basic cohesive devices like 'On the one hand', 'Moreover', and 'To conclude' to transition between ideas. However, the flow is occasionally hindered by mechanical phrasing and some awkward sentence structures. For example, the transition between the benefits of zoos and the welfare concerns in the second paragraph is a bit abrupt. The use of referencing is generally clear, but the overall progression could be smoother if you used a wider variety of linking words to connect your arguments more fluidly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for a higher band. You use some topic-specific terms like 'wildlife', 'endangered', and 'extinct', which is positive. However, there are several instances of word-choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'fauna are fed with proper nutriton' (fauna is a collective noun, usually 'animals' is better here) and 'home sickness' (which is not typically used for animals). Spelling errors like 'televison', 'thge', and 'becasue' also detract from the overall quality of the writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'animal should be set free', 'wild creatures dies') and article usage. While the meaning is generally clear, these errors occur frequently enough to occasionally distract the reader. To reach a higher band, focus on proofreading for basic grammatical slips and try to incorporate more varied complex sentence structures with greater precision, ensuring that your verb forms and pluralizations are consistently correct.

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

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