Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-27

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)

Some people believe that stress is a major problem and face many problems right now compared to past era, while others think that previous generations have more stress compared to younger generations. Both viwes are discussed before presenting my own opinion.

On the one hand, some people assert that nowadays people have excessive level of stress compared to past time. The major reason of high stress is that fast-paced lifestyle. Many people have hectic schedule than before, which may prevent them to maintain their work-life balance. People have long working hours, commuting, and household responsibilies, making it harder for them to maintain all tasks subsequently. Moreover, technology or social media influence on individual's mind. Excessive use of social media can make people lazy and procrastinated, enabling them to postpone all necessary tasks. As a result, they can not achieve tasks within the deadline.

However, some believe that older generations have higher level of stress because they have economic and social difficulties. Previous generations often face poverty, limited employment opportunities, making them unable to get benefits from there, which leads to stress. Wars, personal conflicts may lead to stress due to serious pressure on individuals. In addition, people are enrolled in physically demanding work. Old generation often involved in agriculture, factories or other physically demanding jobs, enabling them to perfrom complex tasks efficiently. As a result, people may live with stress that cause many difficulties in their life.

There was debate over whether stress is a major problem of nowadays or from the past time. In my perceptions, I believe that both generations have stress in their life, such as lack of employment opportunities, physically demanding job.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views—that stress is higher today due to modern lifestyles and that previous generations experienced greater hardships—and provides the writer's opinion. The ideas are generally relevant, though some arguments remain somewhat under-developed or repetitive, such as the discussion around employment and physically demanding jobs. The position is stated, although the conclusion is brief and does not strongly synthesise the main arguments. For instance, the mention that 'both generations have stress in their life' touches upon the prompt, but the extension of ideas lacks depth. Overall, the response meets the basic requirements for addressing the prompt adequately, aligning with a Band 6.0 level of task response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression with standard paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion appropriately. Cohesive devices are used to signal shifts between paragraphs, such as 'On the one hand' and 'However'. However, some of the referencing and linking within sentences are faulty or mechanical, as seen in awkward transitional phrasing like 'Both viwes are discussed before presenting my own opinion.' Additionally, referencing pronouns is occasionally unclear, which slightly interrupts the logical flow. Paragraphing is present and logically structured, but the overall cohesion suffers from minor mechanical awkwardness, placing it solidly in the Band 6.0 range.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'fast-paced lifestyle', 'work-life balance', and 'physically demanding work'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'face many problems right now compared to past era' and 'enabling them to perfrom complex tasks efficiently' where the verb 'enabling' is misused. Spelling errors, such as 'viwes' and 'perfrom', also occur, along with repetitive phrasing regarding 'stress' and 'difficulties'. While communication is not impeded, these lexical inaccuracies prevent the score from reaching a higher band, making Band 6.0 an appropriate evaluation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. For example, the writer successfully uses relative clauses and conditional structures to convey ideas. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly concerning verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include 'previous generations often face poverty', 'people can not achieve tasks', and 'cause many difficulties'. Errors in articles and word forms also appear regularly. Although these mistakes do not impede the overall communication of ideas, they affect accuracy across the text, placing the grammatical performance at a Band 5.5 level.

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