Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-04

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

A huge number of students choose to study English independently on a self- study basis rather than attend a formal course. However, without the assistance of a teacher, students often find it difficult to manage their studies.

To what extent do you agree or disagree ?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

English is international language and is very important to learn in present days. There are two common ways of studying it. First one is to take classes physically and the second one is self- study. Both have pros and cons of using them. I prefer self- study more than attending a formal course.

Firstly, taking classes physically has many advantages and disadvantages. By this method the intelligent students only take benefits as they ask questions by the teachers and the teachers also only pay heed to them. Other students do not get all the points exactly as described by teacher. So it causes the wastage of time and money for such students. This is due to the reason that all the students have a different way of thinking about things and a single brain can not teach them all in the same required way. In this matter, most of the knowledge seekers fail, but have advantage of making habit of waking up at time and become punctual in daily life due to same daily life routine.

However, self- study is the thing in which most of the students face easiness of getting classes at there own recommended time. They can take classes by their favourite teachers whose ways of teaching impress them a lot. In this way, they can get every main point and become good in English. The con of this way is that it can make students lazy to a large extent. Same thing happened with my cousin when he got stuck of from the school and he got all the lectures online. He obtained better marks but became too lazy in daily life tasks.

Overall, I disagree with the opinion that it is difficult for the students to manage their studies without a the help of a teacher. Except laziness of students, each and everything is favourable for them in studying by their own.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both formal education and self-study, ultimately taking a clear position. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. The argument regarding formal classes is slightly confusing, as it suggests only 'intelligent' students benefit, which is a generalization that lacks nuance. The second body paragraph provides a personal example about a cousin, which helps support the point, but the connection between the difficulty of managing studies and the conclusion could be more robust. The response covers all parts of the task, but the reasoning is occasionally simplistic, preventing it from reaching a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, and there is a logical progression from the introduction to the conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Firstly', 'However', and 'Overall', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'In this matter' or 'Same thing happened with my cousin'. Additionally, the referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly in the second paragraph where the flow between the benefits of self-study and the drawback of laziness feels slightly disjointed. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different viewpoints.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to express their ideas clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'formal course', 'self-study', and 'knowledge seekers'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of unnatural phrasing or word choice, such as 'face easiness of getting classes', 'stuck of from the school', and 'pay heed to them'. These errors do not impede communication, but they demonstrate a lack of precision and flexibility that would be required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include missing articles ('English is international language'), incorrect preposition usage ('stuck of from the school'), and awkward phrasing ('a single brain can not teach them all'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are minor errors such as the space in 'self- study'. The errors are noticeable and occur regularly, though they rarely prevent the reader from understanding the intended message.

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

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