Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-26

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 6.0)

Nowadays, a large number of students choose to study English on their own instead of joining formal courses. Although self-study can sometimes be difficult without a teacher’s guidance, I agree that it is a more effective way of learning English for many students.

Firstly, self study allows children to learn according to their own schedule. They can chose suitable learning materials from various kind of apps as well as websites. There are several sources online who offer every kind of studying material related to English. Moreover, they improve theirselves more effectively because they know their weak points well. In addition, self learning is often more affordable then enrolling in langauge coruses. Although, you have to pay fewer amount of fee online to gain access of the learning material. They can pay their more focus on difficult topic without any time pressure. Therefore, self learning does not required fixed timeable, you can easily paractice when you want. While, it builds self discipline and high reponsibility in students. For example, students know their weak points and prepare well for them, you can access more learning resources.

However, without a teacher, many students struggle to remain motivated, organzed and stay focused in their learnings. They may make grammatical or pronunciation mistakes because nobody is avaible to correct them or spend real time with them. Furthermore, teachers provide structured lessons and valueable feedback, which help students to make more progress effectively and in a better way.

In conclusion, although self study offers several benefits, I believe that many students find it challenging and difficult to manage their learning without a teacher. Therefore, a combination of independent learning and professional guidence is often the most effective approch.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt directly, presenting a clear position throughout the essay. The writer discusses both the advantages of self-study and the challenges highlighted in the prompt, such as motivation and teacher guidance. In the second paragraph, the student explores reasons for choosing independent study, noting schedule flexibility and affordable resources. However, the development of some ideas is slightly repetitive or superficial, and the conclusion introduces a slight contradiction where the student states that self-study is effective yet ultimately concludes that a combination of independent learning and professional guidance is best. Despite minor inconsistencies in positioning, all parts of the task are addressed and supported with relevant general ideas, satisfying the criteria for Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay is generally coherent with a clear overall arrangement into four standard paragraphs. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate introduction, body points (arguments for self-study and counter-arguments regarding teachers), and conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'Firstly', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion', although some referencing is faulty or mechanical. For instance, transitional phrases are occasionally misused or abruptly chained together, as seen in 'While, it builds self discipline'. Furthermore, pronoun referencing is sometimes ambiguous (e.g., shifting between 'they', 'you', and 'students' within the same paragraph). Because the logical progression is evident overall despite mechanical cohesion issues, the response fits the Band 6.0 descriptor.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'independent', 'flexible', and 'professional guidance'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'chose' instead of 'choose', 'theirselves' instead of 'themselves', 'then' instead of 'than', 'langauge coruses', 'timeable', 'paractice', 'reponsibility', 'organzed', 'avaible', 'valueable', and 'approch'. While these errors do not impede overall communication—the reader can easily understand the intended meaning—the frequency of lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips prevents the score from reaching Band 6.5. Therefore, a Band 6.0 is appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing subordinating clauses such as 'Although self-study can sometimes be difficult...' and 'While, it builds self discipline...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms, articles, and prepositions, such as 'pay their more focus', 'does not required fixed timeable', 'to gain access of', and 'stay focused in their learnings'. Punctuation is also occasionally faulty, with misplaced commas breaking natural sentence flow. Because simple sentences are generally accurate while complex structures contain frequent errors that require some effort from the reader to parse, the performance aligns with Band 5.5.

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.