Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-29

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)

Some years ago, due to covid panademic situations study become more remote rather than offline campuses. It is not only about specific language, having said that every subject need assistance of a teacher to gain proper knowledge.

Self study required discipline, patience and majorly mindset to learn by self , which found difficult nowadays with this generation. this is one of reason to learn under guidance of teachers become beneficial. As teachers giving task and you just needs to finish those , you don't have to make schedules by your own. Another benefits are doubt solving. If student stuck at some point he will get instant solution rather to wait for the next day which usually happen with remote courses. Last year, I enrolled with one online course where i was struglling with doubt solving session as i need to wait for next day to resolve my concerns. In addition to that, understanding a concept becomes different between students who learn by self versus learn under the guidance from teachers. Teachers can stop you immediately if something you understand is wrong with what it suppose to meant.

Mindset of learning english is differnt than learning something else, As English is considered as optional things so people don't usually prefer to spend money which is optional, not a needs. On the other hand , online courses are cheaper than offline so people prefer that. Other people thinks that at the end , everyone needs practice to become expert on anything, which doesn't require any teachers supports which i partially agreed. "Practice more become men expert in any fields". nowadays there is been more platform developed who check your answers.

Conclusively, it is still individual choice and needs to learn under assistance. Student who is self-descipline and find solution from internet whenver he stuck, doesn't need assistance because he already know what to do, where to find, etc. Students category which has lack motivation to things on his own need teachers to guide them

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether independent English study is harder without a teacher, maintaining a stance that teacher guidance is generally beneficial while acknowledging self-study works for disciplined individuals. The ideas are relevant and supported with personal experience, such as the mention of an online course last year where the student struggled with delayed doubt-solving. However, some arguments are underdeveloped or slightly disjointed, particularly the digression into the cost of courses and the mindset of learning English compared to other subjects. The overall position is clear throughout, but the depth of argument development places this essay comfortably within the Band 6 descriptors, as some aspects of the task are explored more thoroughly than others.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement, divided into clear paragraphs that address introduction, body points regarding discipline and doubt-solving, cost and practice aspects, and a conclusion. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as the abrupt transitions between paragraphs and sentences (e.g., 'Another benefits are doubt solving' and 'Conclusively, it is still individual choice and needs to learn under assistance'). Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression suffers from sudden shifts in focus between sentences. Paragraphing is used, but internal cohesion requires better linking words to guide the reader smoothly from one point to the next, aligning with the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases like 'independent English study', 'remote campuses', and 'self-discipline'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout, such as 'panademic' instead of 'pandemic', 'struglling', 'differnt', and grammatical infelicities like 'study become more remote' instead of 'studying became more remote' or 'learning shifted online'. While these errors do not severely impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching Band 6.5, making Band 6.0 an accurate reflection of the lexical control demonstrated.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional and relative clauses (e.g., 'If student stuck at some point he will get instant solution...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and articles (e.g., 'Self study required discipline', 'every subject need assistance', 'by your own', and 'Students category which has lack motivation'). Punctuation errors, such as missing capitals and incorrect spacing around commas, are also present. These errors frequently cause minor difficulties for the reader, though meaning can usually be deciphered. This performance corresponds to a Band 5.0.

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

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