Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-01

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)

Today many people believes that stress in modern life is more than it was in the past,However , other feels that people in pas were under more pressure but they just did not talk about that.

To start with, stress is regarded as a major problem as modern life causes a lot of worry due to the advancement of technology day by day. Because of the smartphones and digitalisation , people are always connected to their jobs even if they feel exhausted.for example , in COVID -19 pandemic 2020, though people were quarentined, but they must do their jobs from home day and anight.since then the trend of work from home was started. Many people believes that this was more exhausting than their job in the fields. There is always a constant pressure to cope up with the daily advancement in technologies and to upgrade the own skills. rthermore, LIfe has become more expensive, and finding a good job is very hard nowdays.People also compare their lives on social media which makes the anxious and unhappy . They always want a lifestyle which is usally very hard to afford them and that compells them to do more work and leads to a more stressful life.

On thr other hand, people in past had some major difficulties in thier life , which they normally dont talk about. They lived their life with competing the world just to fulfill thier basic needs like good food, home and clothes. the work they have done was completely manual far away from the computerised work. They have to use their mind and physical strength to the level which now is impossible for us to do now. They faced difficult times like poverty , deadly diseases , inflation and what not.They suffered so much but never spoke about because mental healt was never a common topic back then rather it was a taboo.

In conclusion, both sides are facing stress for thier survival. The difference is that the modern problems are more related to mental pressure whereas in the past the life was physically very challenging physically. Both the generations faced stress only for one thing that is survival.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views—that modern stress is greater and that past pressure was equal or worse—while also presenting a clear personal opinion in the conclusion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and uneven across the paragraphs. For example, the point about past generations having to use physical strength and facing poverty is raised, but it lacks sufficient extension and concrete supporting evidence. While the writer covers the main themes required by the task, certain arguments remain underdeveloped, preventing the response from achieving a higher rating.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised, and there are basic attempts at logical progression and sequencing, such as using transitional phrases like 'To start with', 'On thr other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical or faulty, with referencing that is not always entirely clear. Additionally, minor organizational hiccups, such as punctuation issues around linking words like 'However ,', mean that the flow of ideas is occasionally disrupted rather than seamlessly integrated.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'digitalisation', 'quarentined', and 'taboo'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word form, including 'quarentined' instead of quarantined, 'day and anight' instead of day and night, 'the anxious' instead of them anxious, and 'mental healt'. While these lexical inadequacies are present, the vocabulary remains minimally adequate to convey the core message, and communication is only occasionally impeded by these slips.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a limited range of sentence structures with frequent grammatical errors that can occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader. There are persistent issues with subject-verb agreement, such as 'many people believes', articles like 'in past' instead of in the past, and prepositions within grammatical patterns. Attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, leading to structural awkwardness, as seen in phrases like 'a lifestyle which is usally very hard to afford them'. Punctuation is also problematic throughout the text, featuring irregular spacing and commas placed incorrectly before conjunctions.

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