Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-29

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)

Stress is a serious issue face in today's generation, while some individuals will argue wether the amount of stress in this generation is tremendous or the previous generations had it more difficult as there was no such thing existed named stress. In my perspective, both sides have reasons for saying this, but in all time, wether past or present there will always be some sort of pressure on people, as whenever someone is faced with a difficult task or things are not turning out their ways, people get stressed.

One of the major reason for this generation's stress is because of competition, as the population has increased significantly as compare to the previous generation, in any field of job or studies, we have thousands of individuals competing with each for a place.

In previous generation, they didn't treat stress as a medical condition or treat the effects of it on their health, and because of it, although they didn't thought of the competition but there were other ways like exhaustion, high expections, or not accomplishing their goals, this takes toll on their mental health without their knowledge, and since there were treatments for it back them, they had to endure it by themselves which is a difficult thing to do.

In conclusion, Although in this generation we have a lot of stress issues, but we also have many treatment methods to counter it, while the previous generation had it tough because there was no proper treatment for this, making it the amount of stress more than this generation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You present a relevant overall view: stress exists in every generation, but modern people face intense competition while earlier generations had fewer ways to recognise or treat its effects. This addresses both perspectives and gives a conclusion. However, the discussion is uneven and the position is not fully consistent: you first say both sides have reasons, then conclude that the previous generation experienced more stress. The view that today’s stress may be exaggerated is not clearly explained, and claims about population, competition and past treatment are asserted rather than supported with specific examples. Develop each side separately and make your final judgement explicit from the introduction onward.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction to points about current and previous generations and then a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “In my perspective,” “In previous generation,” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages. However, the body paragraphs do not establish a fully clear progression: the first body paragraph focuses on modern competition, while the next combines past attitudes, competition, exhaustion, expectations and treatment. Some connections are difficult to follow, particularly the shift from saying earlier people did not think about competition to listing other pressures. Use one paragraph for each viewpoint, connect each example directly to its claim, and avoid relying on formulaic transitions alone.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “competition,” “population,” “exhaustion,” “mental health” and “treatment methods.” These choices make the main ideas understandable, and there is some attempt to express abstract concepts such as pressure on people’s health. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors make the writing less natural, for example “stress issue face,” “competing with each,” “high expections,” and “takes toll.” Some phrases are also vague, such as “things are not turning out their ways.” Aim for more precise, natural combinations and check spelling; this will help you explain the two viewpoints with greater clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “while,” “as” and “since.” This gives the response some structural variety, but complex sentences are often difficult to control, and errors recur across the response. For example, “One of the major reason … is because” has a number-agreement problem and an awkward construction; “they didn’t thought” uses the wrong verb form after “didn’t”; and “this takes toll …” lacks an article. The opening sentence also runs through several ideas without clear punctuation, while the conclusion begins with an unnecessary capital after “Although.” Practise accurate subject–verb agreement, past-tense forms and sentence boundaries, then proofread each sentence.

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