Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-22

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)

Personally I believe that zoos should not exist. I get the idea of wanting to see rare and wild species which we normally can not living in the cities. But that's just a selfish human desire. Just like us they, the animals, too deserve to live their life as they are supposed to and not inside a cage. I mean it's a pretty obvious argument that no human would like to be kept in a cage and be stripped of their rights to live their life however they see fit. Then why and on whose authority we humans imprison animals taking away their rights to live their life. Wild animals are categorised as wild for a good reason. They are supposed to live in the wild, in the jungles, in their eco-system. A bird is supposed to fly and fly high into the endless sky, we we the selfish being inhabiting this earth alongside them choose to take their freedom away. Put them inside a cage for us to see, while they wonder what happened to their promised life of flying in the endless sky. Just like birds there are aquatic animals, wild animals, amphibians and more. As the sentient being, we must not misuse our capacity, on the contrary we should use our intelligence and emotions to be more empathetic. I once visited a cousin of mine, who had two birds fairly large cage. His argument that I feed them and they can still fly inside that cage. As if a person can stay content with being locked in a room for life. The said person will eventually go insane even if they aggreed to stay in the room. Just think about the person who was forced to stay in a confined room and you will know my stance on, if animals should be kept in zoos.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student presents a clear position throughout the response ("Personally I believe that zoos should not exist") and addresses the prompt directly. Main ideas are introduced, such as animal rights, the natural instincts of wild species, and the selfishness of captivity. However, the development of these ideas relies heavily on repetition and emotional rhetoric rather than extended academic argumentation or concrete examples. The personal anecdote involving a cousin's bird is brief and serves as a simple analogy rather than a fully expanded example. Consequently, while all parts of the prompt are addressed and a strong personal stance is maintained, the depth of task response aligns best with a Band 6.0 descriptor due to under-developed supporting arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear personal viewpoint. However, the organizational structure is weakened by the lack of clear paragraphing; the entire text is presented as a single block of writing, which severely impacts the logical progression. While cohesive devices and referencing (such as "Just like birds there are aquatic animals" and "The said person") are attempted, the absence of paragraph breaks creates a dense flow that lacks adequate structural guidance for the reader. Therefore, the formatting and structural cohesion fall short of higher bands, making a Band 5.0 score appropriate.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as "sentient being", "categorised", "eco-system", and "confined room". There are noticeable attempts to use less common vocabulary, but word choice and collocation errors occasionally occur, such as "two birds fairly large cage" (missing preposition) and "aggreed" (spelling error). Furthermore, some expressions are repetitive or overly conversational for an academic task, such as "I mean it's a pretty obvious argument". Despite these limitations, the vocabulary remains sufficient to convey the intended meaning without impeding communication, fitting the Band 6.0 criteria well.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including relative clauses and conditional structures ("Just think about the person who was forced to stay... and you will know my stance"). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text. Examples include fragment sentences ("which we normally can not living in the cities"), missing prepositions, and structural awkwardness ("Then why and on whose authority we humans imprison animals"). While these errors do not completely obscure the message, they occur frequently enough to prevent the grammar from reaching a Band 6 level, making a Band 5.5 a fair assessment.

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

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