Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-21

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)

The increasing amounts of stress amongst people has become a concerning factor when dealing with life situations. In societies, stress has been regarded as a major problem. While some argue that the previous generations suffered more and dealt comparatively more stress, i believe that being aware of it and expressing your feelings while dealing with such emotions made it quite evitable for comparison.

Dealing with stress and expressing often is disregarded in the socielty, it make a person look weak when they repeatedly worry and overthink for a certain life situation. Nowadays, people feel like they suffer more when compared to the previous generations. Some justified situations could be people in 90s were more kind, helpful and generous, also theft and robbery were the common crimes, also people were more freindly and didn't had emotions or jealousy for other people, they were not back-stabbing as usually the people are in todays world. People in present day mostly stress about other people and the poilitics they play whether in offices or in real life situations. People usually stress alot the situations that are going on whether be it reduced employment opportunities with increased population, incresed competativeness and crimes. People are now leaning more towards expressing and seeking help rather then hiding it and making it a reason to feel embarrased about it.

However, there is a section of society that feels otherwise. People believe previous generation had more stricter parents and rules to abide by. Additionally, studying english and passing distinction, getting a government or private job had significant amount of stress induced in individuals. People believe expressing and overthinking about certain situation makes it unbrearable or tolerable, instead one should just focus on finding a solution.

In summary, i believe that present generation deal with more stress and has to deal with problems on their own. It becomes important to express emotion and seek help when required so as to reduce burnout and fatigue.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on modern versus past stress and providing a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas lacks depth and clarity in places, particularly in the second paragraph where the argument about past generations shifts into sweeping, generalised claims about people being kinder and having no jealousy in the nineties. Your position is stated in the introduction and reinforced in the conclusion, but some supporting arguments are repetitive or lack logical expansion. To reach a higher band, ideas should be supported with more cohesive and realistic examples rather than unsupported generalisations. Consequently, this performance aligns closely with Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing different perspectives, and a concluding summary. However, referencing and transitions are at times faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition into the second body paragraph ('Dealing with stress and expressing often is disregarded in the socielty') feels abrupt, and pronoun referencing can be confusing. Paragraphing is used to separate the opposing views, but within the paragraphs, sentences do not always flow smoothly into one another, occasionally creating hurdles in logical progression. Cohesive devices are attempted but are sometimes inaccurate or awkward. These features place the response firmly at Band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'concerning factor', 'overthink', 'burnout', and 'fatigue'. However, there are numerous noticeable spelling errors ('socielty', 'freindly', 'poilitics', 'incresed', 'competativeness', 'unbrearable') and instances of awkward word choice or collocation ('didn't had emotions', 'stress alot the situations'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they recur frequently enough to prevent the lexical score from reaching a higher level. To improve, focus on accuracy in spelling and precision in word formation and collocation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional or participial clauses ('While some argue that...', 'Whether be it reduced employment opportunities...'). However, grammatical errors are frequent throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('present generation deal'), incorrect verb forms ('didn't had', 'stress alot the situations'), and punctuation errors like lowercase 'i' used for the first-person pronoun. While the meaning remains mostly clear to the reader despite these flaws, the high frequency of basic and complex structural inaccuracies prevents the score from rising into the higher bands.

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