Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-27

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 some countries, people aged over 50 may find it difficult to find suitable employment even though they have many years of experience.

In some countries, older people face difficulties when looking for good employment, even though they have considerable work experience. This essay will disuss the main reasons for this problem and suggest some possible solutions.

There are several reason why older people may struggle to find jobs. Firstly, some employers prefer younger worker because they belive younger worker can more energetic, and can work for the many years in the company. Secondly, technology is developing rapidly, and some older worker may not have same technology skill as younger people. As, a result employers choose younger candidates who are more familiar to technology and digital system.

There are several way to adress this issue. Companies should provide traning programme to improve their computer and modern workplace skills. In addition, employers should consider person's qualification, experience and abilities instead of focusing of manily on their age. Government should introduce the law and enforce law that prevent discrimination agains older peoples. This measure could give experienced people more opportunites to find suitable employment.

In conclusion, older people may difficultie to finding good jobs, because the employers prefer younger workers and change in technology. However, better traning and fair employment practices can helped experienced workers remain active in the job market.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main parts of the prompt by discussing both the causes of employment difficulties for older workers and suggesting viable solutions. However, the student unfortunately repeated the opening paragraph twice at the very beginning of the essay, which wasted precious words and impacted the overall development of ideas. Furthermore, the response falls short of the required 250-word minimum, containing only 229 words. Because the length requirement was not met, a penalty has been applied to Task Achievement. Ideas are generally relevant, covering employer preferences and technological changes, along with training and legislation as solutions, but these points require further extension and more specific examples to reach higher bands. Overall, the task is addressed adequately for a Band 5.5, but is limited by length and under-development.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall structure with four distinct paragraphs corresponding to an introduction, causes, solutions, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', 'As a result', and 'In addition' are used to sequence ideas logically. However, paragraphing is somewhat undermined by the accidental duplication of the opening sentences. Referencing is occasionally slightly unclear or repetitive, such as 'improve their computer... skills' where the pronoun 'their' lacks a precise antecedent. Paragraphs are reasonably distinct, but transitions between sentences can feel a bit mechanical. Overall, the organisational structure is coherent enough to meet the descriptors for Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, successfully using topic-related terms such as 'suitable employment', 'work experience', and 'discrimination'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'younger worker' (instead of workers), 'technology skill' (instead of technological skills), and 'familiar to technology' (instead of familiar with technology). There are also spelling errors like 'disuss', 'reason', 'traning', and 'adress'. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey meaning, the frequency of word-form and preposition errors restricts the score to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional and subordinate clauses like 'even though they have considerable work experience' and 'despite their experience'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement and article usage, including 'younger worker can more energetic', 'some older worker may not have same', 'several way to adress', and 'older peoples'. Additionally, the conclusion contains a major grammatical breakdown: 'older people may difficultie to finding good jobs'. These persistent errors cause some difficulty for the reader, though the meaning is generally recoverable, placing the response firmly at Band 5.0.

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.