Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-12

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)

A lot of students do English study by their own without going to any formal courses such as coaching or any institude. Besides, they often face difficulty while managing their studies alone without any help. Difficulty levels depend on personal understanding as not all the students have the similar understanding levels.

Now a days internet has become popular among the learners. There are a lot of courses from basic to advance levels where many teachers from reputated universities talk about the ideas, tricks , lacking and also share the information for improvement. As students are becoming caucious and sincere they do not only relay on the intructors for whom they need to attend any specific formal classes. With all of these sources on internet they can improve,practice,enrich their knoeledge by their own. Some sourses are youtube, google scholar, wikipedia , different ai tools where they can practice writting, speaking, learn their mistakes, get advice where they are making mistakes and how can they improve. Therefore, they can utilise their time properly without going outside or waiting for too long in the roads.

On the other hand, personal assistance has a great value for developing basic knowledge as without them students can not understand what should do or from where to start. To a certain age instructors help to develop skills and manage the studies as they give the layout of learning as well as pointig out what is the lacking in students studies. They give a proper guidlines for improvement. But now a days these formal courses are becoming commercials and they are not giving proper instructions. Thus attending courses are killing time but no real improvements.

From my point of view, before a certain age instructors are needed but after that students can learn without their support and using free sources. So,I disagree with the statement that without assistane they often find studies difficult as in the morden age and with the help of technology they can learn better without attending any courses.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the issue and make your position clear: you disagree that independent learners necessarily struggle, while recognising that instructors can be important at an early stage. The examples of online courses, YouTube and AI tools are relevant, and your point about teachers providing a learning plan helps explain the value of formal support. However, some ideas are asserted rather than developed. For instance, the claim that students can “learn better” with technology is not supported with a specific example, and the criticism that courses are commercial and waste time is broad. Explain when independent study works well and when teacher guidance is needed, then support each point with a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on online resources, a contrasting paragraph about teachers, and a concluding opinion. “On the other hand” signals the shift effectively, and the conclusion returns to your main position. Some progression is less clear within paragraphs, however. The long paragraph about internet resources moves from courses to learner motivation, then to tools and time-saving without clearly grouping these points. Connect each claim to the next and use clearer referencing so readers can follow what “these sources” and “them” refer to. A more focused topic sentence for each body paragraph would also make the argument easier to track.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use vocabulary relevant to education and learning, including “formal courses,” “instructors,” “develop skills,” and “proper guidance,” and you attempt more specific expressions such as “basic to advanced levels.” However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural word combinations are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause: examples include “institude,” “reputated,” “relay on,” and “knoeledge.” Some phrases, such as “the lacking in students studies,” are also unclear. Aim to learn common collocations as complete phrases and proofread spelling carefully. More precise wording for ideas such as teacher support and independent learning would help you express your argument with less repetition.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a subordinate clause in “as not all the students have the similar understanding levels” and a contrast introduced by “although” or “on the other hand” in your argument. The main ideas are generally understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “students do English study by their own” has an awkward structure, and “they can improve… by their own” shows a problem with the reflexive construction. There are also issues with articles and agreement in “the similar understanding levels” and “a proper guidelines.” Review sentence patterns for expressing ability and support, and check articles, plurals, and punctuation when editing.

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

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