Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-19

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)

Most students choose to study English independently on a self-study basis rather than attending formal classes. However, people believe that without the assistance of a teacher, students often find it difficult to manage their studies. I largely agree with the second view that without attending lectures from a teacher, student will find it difficult to study.

On the one hand, some students prefer to study English on their own without the assistance of any teacher or attending any classes. This is because they are familiar with that course or they are studying independently. Although there's a big advantage of studying independently such as students who study's without being dependent on any person. They will be good in studies or mantally independent. Moreover, study indepedently have some cons. For example, if a student does not have any study materials or resources about that particular subject like english. Without resource student cannot prepare well to pass the test or be good at studies.

On the other hand, people prefer to students that they should take classes from an institute to study English. In institute, teachers teach their students in a structured way. For example, students have to follow a routine in an institute like, in a first week they will learn about introuction and structure of subject. Moreover, institutes will provide resources and study materials about subjects. In addition, students have to follow a proper routine to attend classes which help to manage their studies with other activities.

In conclusion, although studying independently have some advantages like brainstorming or did'nt rely on any person. I believe that learning from an institute is best for students. Beacuse they will provided resources and helping material.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses the prompt by discussing both sides of the issue—independent study versus formal classes—and clearly states a position in the introduction: 'I largely agree with the second view that without attending lectures from a teacher, student will find it difficult to study.' The main body paragraphs attempt to cover both perspectives. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For example, the arguments regarding self-study lean heavily on the vague notion of lacking resources, and the points about institutes focus primarily on structured routines and study materials. While all parts of the task are addressed, the support lacks fully extended examples and depth. This performance aligns best with the Band 6 descriptors, where relevant ideas are presented but some are under-developed or unclear.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into four distinct paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. The writer attempts to use standard cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, the logical progression within paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by awkward phrasing and mechanical referencing. For instance, the sentence 'Although there's a big advantage of studying independently such as students who study's without being dependent on any person' is a fragment that fails to connect smoothly to the following clause. Paragraphing is present and appropriate for an essay structure, but overall cohesion is sometimes faulty and repetitive, placing this response firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to communicate ideas about education, employing terms such as 'independently', 'assistance', 'structured way', and 'resources'. However, there are notable lexical errors, word-choice inaccuracies, and incorrect derivations throughout the text. Examples include 'study indepedently have some cons' (incorrect form of the adverb/adjective and missing subject), 'study's' instead of 'studying', 'mantally' instead of 'mentally', and 'did'nt rely'. Furthermore, spelling errors such as 'introuction' and 'Beacuse' detract from the quality of writing. While the vocabulary is sufficient to make the writer's meaning clear, the frequent inaccuracies prevent the score from reaching a higher band, making Band 5.5 a fair assessment.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing dependent clauses introduced by 'although', 'because', and 'if'. However, grammatical control is weak, with frequent errors that occasionally impede the flow of reading. There are numerous sentence structure errors, such as sentence fragments and missing main verbs (e.g., 'Although there's a big advantage of studying independently such as students who study's without being dependent on any person. They will be good in studies...'). Other errors involve subject-verb agreement and preposition use, such as 'student will find' instead of 'students will find', and 'in a first week'. Because the frequency of errors is high and basic grammatical rules are frequently broken alongside attempts at complex structures, this performance fits the Band 5 descriptors.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.