Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-04

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 5.0)

In recent days, people think that they suffer from stress more than they did in the past, and surprisingly, it is now regarded as a main problem in society. There are more people who believe that previous generations were under more pressure, but that suffering from stress did not exist. In this essay, I will present both views and give my perspective to elaborate on this.

Firstly, I want to say that because of social media, people nowadays are unwilling to meet or sit a place to gossip or listen into another. Which made our lives completely isolated. Because of that we can't really express ourself much as we used to do in the past. This is a major issue, and also, people nowadays are more into comfort, so they just want everything to be closed. This causes them to feel isolated and more stressed.

On the one hand, people were more stressed than in the present day, but they didn't feel that. Because they had this societal bond, which made their life less stressful. I strongly believe that being in touch with people even makes you feel less anxious. If we look into our previous generation we'd see that they used to stay together, stay as much as contaced in person. Which actually makes them reliable.

In conclusion, I can say that because of advanced modern society, we are not able to stay connected in person, which makes our lives more difficult and more stressful. Our previous generation did not have this miscommunication that's why they felt less stressed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt only partially, fulfilling the requirement of discussing both views and presenting an opinion, but the ideas remain limited and under-developed. While the introduction outlines the two perspectives, the body paragraphs do not sufficiently explore the complexities of modern stress versus historical pressure. For instance, the argument regarding social media and isolation is introduced but lacks proper support, and the explanation of previous generations being less stressed relies on generalisations about 'societal bond' without concrete examples. The student's position is discernible, yet the overall development lacks depth and extension, preventing a more thorough exploration of the topic.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay displays some basic organisation with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, but it lacks a clear overall progression. Paragraphing is attempted, though the division of ideas feels somewhat disjointed, particularly in the transition between the second and third paragraphs. Cohesive devices are used, but they are often inadequate or repetitive, such as the frequent reliance on 'Because' and 'Which made' to link thoughts. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, leaving the reader to guess the precise relationships between sentences. The flow is hindered by mechanical transitions and abrupt shifts in focus, which prevents the essay from achieving a smooth and logical progression of ideas throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic message of the essay. There are noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and phrasing that occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader, such as writing 'sit a place' instead of 'sit in a place', or 'contaced' instead of 'contacted'. The writer attempts to use some less common vocabulary, like 'isolated' and 'societal bond', but these attempts are constrained by inaccurate application. Repetition of words such as 'stress', 'stressed', 'people', and 'past' further restricts the lexical range. Spelling and word formation errors, while generally not completely obscuring the meaning, remain frequent enough to impact the overall fluency of the response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing demonstrates a very limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few faulty attempts at complex ones. There are frequent grammatical errors that can cause difficulty for the reader, including sentence fragments such as 'Which made our lives completely isolated' and 'Which actually makes them reliable.' Issues with verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions inside grammatical patterns are noticeable throughout the text, as seen in phrases like 'people think that they suffer... and surprisingly, it is now regarded' and 'stay as much as contaced in person.' Punctuation is also problematic, particularly with improper comma splices and incorrect sentence boundaries, which further disrupts the clarity of the grammatical structures.

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