Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-22

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 6.5)

Many people currently studying English prefer to learn it by themselves instead of a formal educational course where a teacher would be present. Whilst this is a preference for some, I believe it is more challenging to deal with the requirements of the course without help from a teacher. Busy personal lives and not having the expertise of a teacher make this more difficult.

Balancing studies with personal lives is not easy. It can be very difficult to prioritise self-study whilst trying to maintain a job and other life events that may occur. An approriate balance must be found to ensure studying does not jeopradise employment or hinder other life opportunities. Often, it is hard to find this balance without the help of a teacher and a formal educational setting that would have a structured timetable for example, maing it much easier to manage studies.

Moreover, teachers are seen as experts in their chosen subjects, including English.

Thus, they are well-equipped to help students efficently manage their learning and edcuation. As well as this, students are more likely to obtain better results with the help of a teacher as they have the necessary knowledge and skills to enhance learning. Therefore, following a timetable and attending a college to learn English would mititgate the chances of failing the course and save time as students would be less likely to repeat a course they try to teach themselves.

To conclude, though many indivduals prefer to study English themselves, it is undoubtetly easier to manage and focus on studies with a teachers support. It is profoundly hard to manage studies alongside our own personal lives and utilising a qualified and skilled teacher eases this study management. Due to these

reasons, I agree with this statement.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response fully addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear position that self-studying English is more challenging without a teacher. The student introduces relevant main ideas in the introduction, such as busy personal lives and the lack of expert guidance, and adequately develops them throughout the body paragraphs. For instance, the second paragraph effectively explores the difficulty of balancing self-study with employment, while the third paragraph discusses the benefits of a teacher's expertise. Although the arguments are relatively straightforward and could be extended further for a higher band, the overall treatment of the prompt is coherent and directly answers the question. The student successfully meets all requirements of Task Achievement at a Band 6.5 to 7 level, and the descriptors for Band 7 are best met due to the clear position maintained throughout and the logical extension of ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response presents a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Information and ideas are coherently structured, starting with a clear introductory stance followed by distinct body paragraphs discussing time management and teacher expertise, and concluding appropriately. Cohesive devices are used adequately, such as 'Whilst this is', 'Moreover', and 'Thus', though some transitions feel slightly mechanical or are impacted by minor cohesion flaws like typos in linking. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, with each paragraph focusing on a central theme. The overall progression is easy to follow, making this response sit comfortably within the Band 6 or 7 range. Because referencing is generally clear and logical sequencing is maintained, a Band 6.5 rounded to 6.0 is slightly conservative, but Band 6 is well justified due to occasional mechanical use of cohesive devices and minor errors.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'mitigate', 'expertise', and 'profoundly'. However, there are several noticeable spelling errors throughout the text, including 'approriate' instead of appropriate, 'jeopradise' instead of jeopardise, 'maing' instead of making, 'efficently' instead of efficiently, 'edcuation' instead of education, 'mititgate' instead of mitigate, 'indivduals' instead of individuals, and 'undoubtetly' instead of undoubtedly. While these spelling errors and occasional word-choice inaccuracies do not impede overall communication, they prevent the lexical score from reaching Band 7. The vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey precise meanings, aligning best with the Band 6 descriptors where an adequate range is shown alongside spelling mistakes that do not obscure the message.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating structures such as concessive clauses ('Whilst this is a preference...') and conditional or participial phrases. There is a reasonable variety of sentence types attempted. However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent, with several errors present. For example, there are punctuation issues and awkward phrasings such as 'formal educational course where a teacher would be present' and minor slips in agreement or modifiers. Despite these errors, the structures used do not severely impede communication, and the meaning remains clear throughout. This balance of mixed structures and persistent errors fits the Band 6 criteria well, as the writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex forms alongside errors that rarely hinder the reader's understanding.

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

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