Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-13

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)

A vast number of pupils choose to learn english freely on a self study basis rather than join a formal course. However, without the assistance of a teacher, students often find it hard to manage their studies. I largely agree with the given notion to a large extent. The narrative ahead shall articulate reasons of my belief along with the contradictory side before arriving at a rational conclusion.

To begin with the reason to support my argument, some students do not complete their curriculam and miss a few crucial topics. This is because, they do not have a proper guidence from faculty and time table to complete course. Hence, those students are not able get well score in exams and consider themselves as a looser. To cite an example, many pupils did not finish their course and got low marks in exam.

Furthermore, many learners find difficulty in grammer section. To elaborate more, self learning is hard for those students, who rely on the poor internet videos, which are not coveringproper grammer and to learn grammer those students need proper guidence with tutor. As a result, some students learn most things in english but they do not have a proper structure in sentence and many students use memorized sentences. For instance, most of begginers in english use an inappropriate grammer with wrong connectors.

In contrast, a few students understand the formula on the video or a book. This is because, some teachers post their lectures on the web for their publicity and to help as well. Thus, students also manage theirs study and understand with enough information.

To sum up, although minimal pupils manage their learnig with a grammer book and on the internet, I believe that most of students do not track their curriculam and it causes low marks on exam

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and takes a clear position ('I largely agree with the given notion to a large extent'). Main ideas are presented, such as incomplete curriculums and grammar difficulties when studying independently, and supported with reasons and examples. However, the ideas tend to be somewhat repetitive and lack deep development, particularly in the body paragraphs where examples like 'many pupils did not finish their course' are too generalised and lack specific detail. This places the performance firmly in Band 6, as the prompt is addressed with relevant ideas, but the support and extension remain somewhat underdeveloped.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall progression, with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing different angles, a counter-argument paragraph, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct points. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', 'In contrast', and 'To sum up'. However, referencing and cohesion can at times feel mechanical or repetitive (e.g., the repeated reliance on formulaic transitional phrases). Additionally, some sentences lack smooth logical links between them, preventing the response from reaching a higher band level.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic arguments ('independent', 'formal course', 'curriculum', 'guidance'). However, there are numerous noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'english' (uncapitalized), 'curriculam', 'guidence', 'looser' (instead of loser), 'grammer', 'begginers', and 'learnig'. These errors demonstrate a limited control of spelling and word formation, preventing the score from rising above Band 5. While less common vocabulary is attempted, inaccuracies in spelling and collocation are frequent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses ('students, who rely on...') and conditional concepts. However, frequent grammatical errors occur throughout the text, including article omissions ('get well score in exams'), preposition errors ('learn english freely on a self study basis'), and issues with sentence structure ('those students are not able get well score'). Punctuation errors, such as misplaced commas before relative clauses, are also present. Although these errors rarely impede overall communication, their frequency prevents the writing from achieving a Band 6.

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

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