Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-28

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)

With the widespread adoption of new technologies like computer, smartphones and artificial intelligence, we can observe a trend of rushed and hectic lifestyle where it leads to mental health issues like stress and depression. while some people oppose this idea with referring it as inflated, as previous generation were also faced this issues but they never address it.

In today's bustling lifestyle, people stays more in stress because of high expectation and work load. For instance, employee of MNCs have a wider roles and expectation and to fulfill it, they extend their working hours to meet with deadlines and requirements. Therefore it put pressure on one's mind and with also damage work life balance.

Some people oppose this idea by labelling it as exaggerated, as previously people also working for a long day, they also faced this issues but they never addressed it. Nowadays, people are more fragile and sensitive as with little discomfort they want to make a big fuss about it. For instance, previously there were around 7 to 8 hours of working which is still same but people facing issues in this period and calling it a long day.

In my opinion, both parties are correct at their views as with increasing competition and after growing prevalence of artificial intelligence people are facing more pressure to cope up with technology and other employees, whereas on other hand in past they don't have plenty of rivalry but they had numerous other pressure. I believe that, it is good to address stress instead of living a stressful live people should share despite of being reviews from other.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on whether stress has increased compared to the past, and includes a clear personal opinion in the conclusion. For example, the writer outlines the view that modern lifestyles and technology create greater pressure, while also presenting the counterargument that previous generations experienced similar workloads without naming it as stress. However, some ideas are under-developed and lack extension. The support provided tends to generalise without specific evidence or detailed examples. For instance, the reference to multinational company employees having wider roles is somewhat brief. The position is clear throughout, but deeper elaboration of the arguments would elevate the task response to a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing each viewpoint, and a concluding paragraph containing the writer's opinion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct arguments. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the opening sentence of the second paragraph uses 'In today's bustling lifestyle, people stays more in stress' with awkward referencing, and the transition 'on other hand in past' lacks smooth article usage. Cohesive devices are present, such as 'For instance' and 'However', but referencing is occasionally unclear, which prevents the essay from achieving a higher score in logical progression and flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to use less common items such as 'widespread adoption', 'fragile and sensitive', and 'prevalence'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors that detract from precision. For instance, writing 'people stays more in stress' instead of 'people experience higher levels of stress', or 'faced this issues' instead of 'faced these issues'. Furthermore, phrases like 'make a big fuss about it' lean towards informal or conversational register rather than academic writing. These inaccuracies show that while the lexical range is sufficient to communicate the core ideas, control over word formation and style remains inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and participial constructions such as 'With the widespread adoption of new technologies... we can observe a trend...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the text, featuring frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ('people stays', 'previous generation were also faced'), incorrect pluralisation ('this issues', 'numerous other pressure'), and awkward prepositional usage ('at their views'). While these errors do not completely impede communication and the general meaning remains understandable, they occur with high frequency and prevent the sentences from achieving consistent error-free status.

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