Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-05

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

The position of women has changed a great deal in many societies over the past 50 years. But these societies cannot claim to have achieved gender equality

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The position and role of women has changed considerably in most societies of the world in the recent half a century but still a claim about gender equality cannot be made in these societies. That's partly true with some serious considerations.

Women play a foundational role in any society around the world. There is a chinese proverb that 'Women hold up half the sky', this means that they are equally important for the growth of a society. In the recent past, we have seen that women have excelled in fields which were considered gender specific a few centuries ago. Their position and value has changed over time and modern world cannot beg to differ from this fact. Gender differences are now being considered a special problem and all the human rights organizations are working on it to make things better so that women face less discrimination. For example, in my own country, people are now focusing more on women education than simply restricting them to household jobs and roles.

This justifies that the role of women in society has changed but in my opinion asserting to have achieved gender equality is still an early claim. To this date, there is a huge gap of discrimination and prejudice between men and women. The world has started to consider it a problem but it has not yet overcome this problem. Millions of women across the globe face the same inequity in their everyday lives that they used used to in the past.

Its true that positive efforts have been made to minimize the gender differences in societies with positive outcomes too, but we are yet to achieve total gender equality.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by acknowledging the progress made in women's rights while maintaining a clear position that gender equality remains elusive. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of education and the persistence of societal discrimination. However, the development is somewhat limited; the essay relies on general statements rather than providing deep analysis or concrete, detailed examples. For instance, the reference to the 'Chinese proverb' is a good start, but it is not fully integrated into a robust argument. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your points with more specific evidence or nuanced reasoning to fully explore the complexities of the topic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. There is a progression of ideas from the introduction to the body and the conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'For example' and 'In the recent past', though some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The referencing is generally clear, although the flow between the second and third paragraphs could be smoother. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the acknowledgment of progress from the argument regarding the lack of total equality. Overall, the structure is coherent and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'foundational role', 'inequity', and 'prejudice'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'beg to differ from this fact' (which is used incorrectly here) and 'asserting to have achieved' (which should be 'asserting that we have achieved'). While you attempt to use less common vocabulary, these occasional errors in collocation and phrasing prevent a higher score. To improve, focus on using collocations more naturally and ensuring that your vocabulary choices precisely match the intended meaning in an academic context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'in the recent half a century' (should be 'in the last half-century'), 'women education' (should be 'women's education'), and 'used used to' (a repetition error). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are some issues with sentence boundaries and article usage. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the essay from reaching the 7.0 band. Increasing your control over complex structures and proofreading for minor slips would significantly enhance your score.

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

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