Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-14

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 5.0)

It is often aruged by some students chose a self study option rather than giving money to teacher. Although some might disgree with this notion, I completely agree with this statement. Not only because you can save money from courses and gain more knowledge from multiple websites but also becuase of making a flexible time table.

There are multiples benfits associated with individual study. Firstly, you can save money from courses and teachers. As students are learning English to watch Youtube videos which is free of cost and resolve queries from Chatgpt. Take an instances In USA, most of the students are learning Trading from youtube and they are using AI model for resolving queries. Thus, you can learn from internet in free instead to paying courses.

Secondly, they are gaining more knowledge. As they are searching different website to find english concept and instead of learning one book. For example Japan conducts the survery where the result is showing as the increase of AI technology people prefer the self study option rather than online courses because AI have all world knowledge and teacher have only few books. Hence, students prefer multiple terminology not only one.

Finally, students are more relaxing of flexible shedule. As some student prefer to study in comfortable night and other student perfer day time.

To sum up, I believe that saving money from courses, getting more knowledge from different website or research paper and flexible timetable make student incourage to select the self study opportunity.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear stance that independent self-study is preferable to formal courses. Key ideas such as financial savings, access to online resources, and schedule flexibility are introduced. However, the development of these ideas is limited and at times repetitive, which aligns with Band 5 or 6 descriptors. For instance, the point regarding saving money is reiterated across multiple paragraphs without expanding into deeper analysis. Furthermore, some arguments rely on loose generalizations, such as claiming that 'most of the students are learning Trading from youtube,' without fully tying it back to the core challenge of managing studies without a teacher's assistance. To reach a higher band, the ideas would need more thorough explanation, concrete examples, and a direct acknowledgment of the counter-argument regarding the difficulty of self-management.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates an overall logical progression with an introduction, body paragraphs marked by signposting words ('Firstly', 'Secondly', 'Finally'), and a conclusion. Paragraphing is attempted, though some paragraphs are extremely brief or consist of single sentences, such as the fourth paragraph ('Finally, students are more relaxing of flexible shedule'). Cohesive devices are sometimes used mechanically or inaccurately, for instance starting sentences with 'As' in a way that creates sentence fragments ('As students are learning English...' and 'As they are searching different website...'). Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical links between sentences can feel disjointed. Overall, the organizational structure is present but needs refinement in paragraph development and cohesive control.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with frequent reliance on everyday words like 'money', 'learning', and 'students'. There are several noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'aruged' (argued), 'chose' (choose), 'from courses' instead of 'on courses', 'more relaxing of flexible shedule' instead of 'more relaxed with a flexible schedule', and 'incourage' (encourage). While the writer attempts some less common terms like 'flexible timetable' and 'terminology', errors in spelling ('becuase', 'shedule', 'insstances') and word formation are frequent enough to cause some strain for the reader. The lexical range is minimally adequate for communicating basic points but falls short of Band 6 requirements for precision and accuracy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The text displays a very limited range of grammatical structures. Simple sentences dominate, and attempts at complex or compound-complex sentences frequently result in fragments or structural errors, such as starting clauses with 'Not only because...' without a complete main clause to follow up. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('teacher have only few books', 'AI have'), incorrect prepositions ('in free instead to paying'), and tense inconsistencies. Punctuation is also problematic in places. These frequent errors cause difficulty for the reader and prevent the grammar score from reaching Band 5.5 or 6.

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

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