Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-11-03

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)

Societies have changed significantly over the past years. How people see and feel emotions has evolve, is more permissive to express how you feel and is easier to get to an audience that is probably feeling or going through the same thing.

Emotional and physical stress has always exist, what hasnt is the freedom we are giving ourselves to express it. A couple of years ago, people grew up thinking that if you showed weaknesses or stress, you were going to be seen as weak and not worthy, people used to keep all the emotions for themselves or shared them with significant others or parents, and that was all, they had just to ways of navigating the stress feeling, whether you got through it and solved whatever is making you feel stress or you sank, do nothing and be stress for the rest of your life, thats where the idea of "suffering from stress did not exist" comes from.

Nowadays, we have the luxury of being able to express feelings and communicate them. what is happening in society and what is making it feel like is exaggerated, in my opinion is because of social media, it takes one video to reach millions of people that will listen and maybe relate to that situation. Stress can come from job, relationships, decisions, pretty much anything and the fact that new generations have more emotional awareness and a platform where they can voice them, its not necessarily because suffering from stress is new.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You present a relevant central view: stress existed in earlier generations, but people had less freedom to discuss it, while social media makes it more visible today. This addresses both perspectives and gives your opinion. However, the discussion is only partial: the claim that previous generations faced greater pressure is not explored with a concrete example or explanation, and the modern pressures you mention—work, relationships and decisions—are listed rather than developed. Your position is clearest in the final sentence, so state it more directly in the introduction and support each view with a specific example. The response is 241 words, below the 250-word minimum; the nine words copied from the task prompt are not counted.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall structure: it introduces changing attitudes, discusses the past, then turns to the present and gives a concluding opinion. Linking expressions such as “Nowadays” and “in my opinion” help signal these shifts. However, the progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow, especially in the long second paragraph, where several claims are joined together without clear steps. The final paragraph also combines the explanation of social media with a list of stressors and the conclusion. Use clearer topic sentences and divide complex explanations into shorter units. More precise referencing would also help readers follow phrases such as “what is happening in society” and “that situation.”

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of relevant vocabulary, including “emotional awareness,” “significant others,” “platform,” and “exaggerated,” which allows you to discuss changing attitudes and public discussion of stress. Some choices are imprecise or repetitive, however: “stress feeling” is awkward, and “keep all the emotions for themselves” does not sound natural in this context. There are also spelling and form issues, such as “hasnt” and “weaknesses,” that reduce accuracy, although the main meaning remains understandable. Aim for more precise collocations and vary repeated uses of “stress” by referring to pressure, strain, or emotional distress where appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex structures, including a relative clause in “a platform where they can voice them” and a contrast between past and present attitudes. However, errors occur across verb forms, agreement, sentence boundaries, and punctuation, and some long sentences become hard to process. For example, “How people see and feel emotions has evolve” needs a corrected verb form, while “Emotional and physical stress has always exist” has errors in both agreement and the verb construction. The second paragraph also contains a run-on sequence of clauses. Practise checking subject–verb agreement and verb forms, and use full stops to separate complete ideas before adding more complex structures.

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