Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

In recent times people started to argue that stress is a major problem nowadays and tell that people go through more stress then they used to before. Whereas the others feel that the stress people undergo today is being exploited. As they say that the past generations went under more pressure but the topic of suffering from stress did not exist.In my opnion people nowadays suffer more from stress as the level of competition in every field one competes for is hard. And the pressure of creating a living is the question.

As the number of fields in the market increased the level of competition also increased resulting in the thinking of the students or the young generation anout pursuing thier carrer ahead. As the youths nowadays have to give their full potential in order to compete and to be the best. As the youths who are not able to compete or give their full potential are leftover thinking about their career and that is when the negative thoughts start ot arise leading to stress is what is called. The pressure of not succeding is called stress.

While the topic of stress did not exist in the past, there was pressure of not succeding or proving would eventually lead to feeling under pressure. They too ahead pressure but it was not stress. So the following is the reason why stress is more today than in the past. As stress did not exist in the past. But people were still under pressure instead of being strees. And calmness, staying focused and being discplined is the key to break through the pressure or stress.

In conclusion, strees is more nowadays than before. But the person who breaks throught he pressure of stress is the most successful. For example many famous football players are being uncer pressure by the club's fans or by not showing their full potential but they stay calm and show their best performance of the match ahead.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear opinion that people experience more stress today, and you refer to both views, including the idea that earlier generations faced pressure without using the term “stress.” However, the discussion is uneven: the modern pressures of competition and career uncertainty receive most attention, while the opposing view is only briefly acknowledged and not fully explained. The claim that stress “did not exist” in the past also needs careful qualification: the word or diagnosis may have been less familiar, but people could still have experienced similar feelings. Your football example is relevant, but it would support the argument more strongly if you explained how it illustrates modern stress and connected it to your main reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion, and the main direction—from modern competition to your opinion—is generally understandable. However, progression within paragraphs is often unclear because several sentences begin with “As,” and ideas are repeated rather than developed. For example, the third paragraph repeats that people in the past faced pressure but that stress “did not exist,” without adding a distinct explanation. Some links are also awkward or incomplete, such as “Whereas the others feel…” and “So the following is the reason…”. Organise the essay around one paragraph for each view, followed by your judgement, and use clear topic sentences and references to show how each example supports the point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “level of competition,” “career,” “pressure,” “potential” and “negative thoughts.” This gives you enough language to communicate the central ideas, but the range is limited and several expressions are repetitive or imprecise. Phrases such as “creating a living is the question,” “the youths… are leftover,” and “the pressure of not succeeding is called stress” do not express the intended meaning naturally. Spelling errors, including “opnion,” “thier,” “succeding” and “strees,” also reduce accuracy. Build a more precise set of collocations for work, education and psychological strain, and proofread spelling so that your ideas are easier to follow.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to use complex structures, particularly with clauses beginning “As” and “While,” but these are often incomplete or difficult to follow. For instance, “As the youths who are not able to compete… are leftover thinking about their career” is not formed as a clear, complete sentence, and “As they say that the past generations…” is also a fragment. There are frequent problems with sentence boundaries and punctuation, including the run-on after “did not exist.” The response relies heavily on simple patterns and repeated clause openings, so grammatical variety is limited. Practise writing complete sentences with a clear subject and main verb, then combine ideas using accurate subordinate clauses and check agreement, articles and punctuation.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.