Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-21
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 4.5)
There is a consensus among people that animals shouldn't be caged in zoos; therefore, these zoos should stop functioning and animals should be set free in their own habitat. I partly agree with this discussion, as I think wild animals are one of the most valuable assets for educating children as well as adults, so they need to be kept in zoos for education purposes. On the other hand, I disagree because it restricts their movement and limits their freedom, which makes them more furious while restricting from their natural habitat.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0
The student attempts to address the prompt by expressing a partial agreement on whether zoos should be closed. However, the response is severely underdeveloped and falls drastically short of the required 250-word minimum, containing only 91 words. While a position is stated regarding educational value versus the restriction of animal freedom, the ideas are merely introduced in a single introductory-style paragraph without any extension, body paragraphs, or relevant examples from personal knowledge or experience as instructed. Consequently, this falls under Band 4 due to the minimal and underdeveloped nature of the response, heavily impacted by the strict length penalty.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0
Because the response consists of a single, very short paragraph, paragraphing is entirely absent. The student does attempt to create cohesion by using transition markers such as 'therefore', 'on the other hand', and 'as', but the overall arrangement lacks logical progression and structure typical of an essay. Information and ideas are not arranged coherently into an introduction, body, and conclusion. While individual sentences are grammatically linked to some degree, the lack of structural organisation and division prevents the text from achieving a higher band score, aligning it with Band 4 descriptors.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for a short piece of writing, successfully utilizing phrases like 'consensus among people', 'valuable assets', and 'restrict their movement'. However, there are some lexical inaccuracies and awkward phrasing, such as 'makes them more furious while restricting from their natural habitat', where 'furious' is a poor collocation for wild animals in captivity (distressed or agitated would be more appropriate). The spelling is generally accurate, but the overall lexical control is limited by the brevity of the text and minor word-choice errors, placing it firmly at Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate conjunctions such as 'as I think wild animals are one of the most valuable assets...' and 'which makes them more furious...'. There are some grammatical errors, notably the awkward passive phrasing 'while restricting from their natural habitat', which lacks an object and uses incorrect prepositional syntax. Despite these errors, communication is not severely impeded, and the sentence structures attempted show a basic level of control, earning a Band 5 for grammatical range and accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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