Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-19
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
In some countries, it can be very difficult for people over the age of 50 to get good jobs, despite their experience.
What do you think are the causes of this problem, and what measures could be taken to solve it?
You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
In a few countries, old people over the age of 50 with great experience and knowledge are facing problems in terms of finding a good job or getting hired. In this essay, I will discuss all the causes of this problems and necessary measures to solve it.
In this segment, I will discuss the causes of this problems and solutions with proper facts and arguments. Firstly, many old people are facing issues related to health problems in-spite of having great experience in terms of jobs because companies and employers are looking for people without any health problems so that people focus more on work and make abundant profit for companies. Therefore, senior employees over the age of 50 do not get jobs easily. However, it can be solved with proper methods like governments should organize awareness programs to encourage the old people to do exercise daily and have a proper diet. Moreover, governments should spend more on medical facilities for the old people so they can get proper treatment and do not face problems while working.
Furthermore, many companies and organizations often prefer to hire young people because they are more capable of adapting new skills easily and also well aware of the usage of AI. Meanwhile, older generation faces difficulties for adapting new skills and have less knowledge regarding AI. Therefore, companies hires young people and not old people despite their experience. Nevertheless, it can be resolved by organizing skill based pro-grammes for the old people, so they become aware about today's time. Moreover, companies should hire old people for taking big decisions as they are more experienced.
To conclude, by taking proper measures and steps older generation can get good jobs.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The essay addresses both parts of the prompt: causes and solutions. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the suggestion that governments should organize exercise programs for older people to solve unemployment is not a strong or realistic argument in the context of professional hiring practices. The response would benefit from more sophisticated reasoning, such as discussing ageism, pension costs, or the need for lifelong learning policies. While the position is clear, the arguments lack the depth required for a higher band score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear introduction and conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Firstly', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', and 'Nevertheless'. However, some of these are used in a slightly mechanical or repetitive way. The progression of ideas is generally easy to follow, but the transition between the health-related argument and the technological argument is abrupt. The paragraphing is appropriate, but the overall flow could be improved by using a wider variety of linking phrases to connect ideas more fluidly.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'old people', 'jobs', and 'problems'. While the student attempts to use some topic-specific vocabulary like 'AI' and 'skill based programmes', the overall lexical choice is quite simple. To improve, the student should incorporate more academic collocations and synonyms to avoid repetitive phrasing and to demonstrate a more sophisticated command of the language.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('companies hires young people') and pluralization errors ('this problems'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are minor errors, such as the hyphenation in 'pro-grammes' and 'in-spite'. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. A greater variety of complex sentence forms with fewer errors is needed.
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.