Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-11-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In some societies, stress is now regarded as a major problem, and it is thought that people suffer from more stress than they did in the past. However, others feel that the amount of stress people have today is exaggerated. They say that previous generations were under more pressure, but the idea of suffering from stress did not exist.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In modern society, stress become a major concern, and many individuals experience more pressure today than in previous generations. However, other argue that people in the past faced more difficulties as "stress" was not widely recognized at that time. In my opinion, modern life has created new source of stress, making life more difficult for many people.

On the one hand, people nowadays, experience stress due to upgraded lifestyle, many individuals facing education competition and also financial pressure due to inflation. Living expenses, healthcare become unafordable, unemployement rate increases day by day. To some extent social media also take a major part in stress or to feeling underpressure. Due to social media, people seen other and impress by their luxurious lifestyle or a living standard. This create and effect people psychological and thier mental health and negatively effect their own lifestyle and wellbeing. for example, young people often feel dissatisfied when they seen other showing their achievements and modern lifestyle online. This situation create more stress on many individuals and they are hard on their selfs.

On the other hand, previous generations also experienced considerable pressure, and in some ways, their life is more difficult as ours. In the past, people had limited access to healtcare, education and modern technology. Many individuals worked extremely hard to earn living expenses. Most of the people were assigned to physical jobs. In addition, people had fewer facilities to make thier life comfortable. Although, they might not have used the term "stress" this does mean that they did not experienced mental and emotional difficulties.

In conclusion, both modern and previous generation have faced differnet types of challenges. However, my believe that stress is more noticeable in today's society, because of financial stress, to maintain the demanding lifestyle and constant social expectation. Nevertheless, the difficulties experienced by the previous generations should not be underestimated.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both views and give a clear opinion: modern life creates new sources of pressure, while earlier generations also faced serious hardship. The discussion is relevant, with examples such as financial pressure, social media comparisons, limited healthcare and physically demanding work. However, the two sides are not developed equally. The modern-stress paragraph gives several causes, but some points—such as inflation and social media’s effect on wellbeing—are asserted rather than explained in depth. The earlier-generations paragraph is more general and would benefit from a specific example or clearer comparison showing why those pressures were substantial. To strengthen the response, explain how each example supports the view being discussed and make the comparison between past and present more precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion that restates your position. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the discussion. Within paragraphs, however, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, the sequence about living expenses, healthcare and unemployment reads like a list, while “This create and effect people psychological” makes the relationship between social media and mental health difficult to follow. The conclusion also repeats the main position without drawing the comparison together. Use clearer links between cause and consequence, and ensure each paragraph develops one connected line of reasoning rather than a series of loosely joined points.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary, including “financial pressure,” “inflation,” “limited access,” “physical jobs,” and “mental and emotional difficulties.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, and you attempt topic-specific language about social media and wellbeing. However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “unafordable,” “unemployement,” “underpressure,” and “impress” where “impressed” or “influenced” is intended. Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “upgraded lifestyle,” “earn living expenses,” and “hard on their selfs.” These do not usually prevent understanding, but they reduce precision and fluency. Build accuracy by learning common collocations for money, work and social comparison, and proofread spelling and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a concession in “Although, they might not have used the term ‘stress’…” and a reason clause beginning “because of financial stress.” The overall meaning is generally recoverable, but some errors in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence construction remain. Examples include “stress become” instead of “stress has become,” “other argue,” “people seen other,” and “they did not experienced.” The sentence beginning “people nowadays, experience stress due to upgraded lifestyle” also has faulty punctuation and an incomplete structure around the list of causes. Practise checking subject–verb agreement and tense, and revise complex sentences so each clause has a clear subject and verb. More accurate control of these patterns would make your ideas easier to follow.

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