Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-28

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 the modern world, many people of age above 50 are working but only few are getting paid well. majority of the population above 50 is working on lowest wage. In this essay I am going to state some major causes above mentioned problem and present some measures to solve this problem.

To commence, in the modern society due to inflation, a single person salary cannot run the whole house expenses and some elders continue to work because they do not want to become a burden on their children. At that age they are not capable to do work which need strength i.e. building work, loading etc . So they end up doing works which does not need much power like sweeping or child care.

Moreover, some elders cannot stay free at home as they have worked their entire life. So they decide to go out and to get a job, But they do not match the current skill requirements of big companies as they only hire highly qualified, experienced peoples. However, they do not comply with these requirement they end up in a low wage job.

Furthermore, in today's world full of competition companies want to hire employee who are familiar with new technology, also a person who can give his best in development of company. Nevertheless, senior citizens are not familiar with latest technology and due to their increasing age they are suffering from many diseases. So company avoid hiring senior citizens.

Overall, I personally think that everyone have right to work if he or she is willing to do and capable of doing job, no matter how old is he or she. Some measures can be taken to help old age workers to get a good job. Firstly, big companies should give training to old age people about new technologies and machines so they can operate them easily and give their maximum output. Thereafter, I think government can play an important role as they could make education free to senior citizens so they can learn new things and technology and use their knowledge to get a white collar job. Lastly, Blue collar jobs like construction work needs a lot of strength and flexibility so the contractors should not hire a old person for that type of job and give other sort of job which do not need a lot of power, government can pass new act in regards to this statement

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses both parts of the prompt: causes and solutions. The ideas are relevant, such as the lack of technological skills and the physical demands of certain jobs. However, the development is somewhat uneven. The explanation of why older workers are relegated to low-wage jobs is clear, but the solutions, particularly the suggestion that contractors should simply not hire older people for physical labor, lack depth and practical feasibility. The position is clear throughout, but the essay would benefit from more sophisticated examples and a more nuanced exploration of the 'causes' beyond just technology and health, such as ageism or corporate culture.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To commence', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', and 'Overall'. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly repetitive. Referencing is generally clear, though there are instances where the flow between sentences feels a bit disjointed, particularly in the final paragraph where the transition between training, government education, and labor laws is abrupt. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'job', 'work', and 'people'. While the student attempts to use some topic-specific vocabulary ('inflation', 'white collar', 'maximum output'), there are errors in collocation and word choice, such as 'run the whole house expenses' instead of 'cover household expenses' and 'stay free at home' instead of 'remain idle'. These errors do not impede communication but demonstrate a limited control over more sophisticated lexical items.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('a single person salary', 'a old person'), subject-verb agreement ('everyone have right'), and pluralization ('peoples'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some run-on sentences and incorrect comma usage. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors indicate a lack of control over complex structures. To improve, the student should focus on basic grammatical accuracy, specifically article usage and subject-verb agreement, before attempting more complex sentence forms.

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

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