Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-24

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries these days, the number of people continuing their education after school has increased, and the range of courses available at universities and colleges has also increased.

Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant experience.

Student answer (Band 5.0)

Education is very important for the new generation and increase in number of people continuing their education after school is encouranging for the next generation.

There might be different reasons that have impacted this number in different countries. But the most important among many is the ever increasing population around the globe.

Increase in number of people at higher studies might be due to the population increase, there might be a chance the the percentage of people going to higher studies is same as compared to total population.

Additionally, competition for jobs is also increasing with more people doing higher studies and to be ahead in this race, more and more people are enrolling for studies after school. This will gain a competitive advantage if among a group of people, one is having a specific and higher studies course.

In my experience when i was graduating, my motivation is to enroll for the course where less people are graduating and can predict a demand for that skill in future. There were many alongside me doing higher studies just to get a competitive advantage in job market after graduating.

Also, job market these days required relevant skilled graduates and hence the reaosn for range of courses offered by universities.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response attempts to address the prompt regarding whether the increase in post-school education and course availability is positive or negative. However, the position is somewhat blurred and the word count falls significantly short of the required 250 words, stopping at only 208 words. This negative impact on length leads to under-developed arguments. While the writer mentions population growth and job competition as reasons, the core question of whether this trend is positive or negative is not sufficiently explored or sustained throughout the text. Due to the under-length penalty and limited development of ideas, the response corresponds to Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text is divided into several short paragraphs, but the overall logical progression is disjointed. While basic cohesive devices are present (such as 'Additionally' and 'Also'), referencing is sometimes unclear, and the links between sentences feel mechanical. For instance, the transition between discussing population growth and job competition lacks a smooth conceptual bridge. Paragraphing is attempted, but the paragraphs are extremely brief and fail to fully explore a single controlling idea per paragraph. Overall arrangement shows some organisation, aligning with Band 5.0 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with frequent reliance on simple terms like 'increase', 'people', and 'studies'. There are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, such as 'encouranging' instead of 'encouraging', 'higher studies' used awkwardly instead of 'higher education', and phrasing like 'one is having a specific and higher studies course'. Although the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey basic concepts, the range is limited and occasional inaccuracies cause slight difficulty for the reader, placing this at Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but attempts at complex structures frequently contain errors or awkward phrasing, such as 'there might be a chance the the percentage'. There are issues with subject-verb agreement and article usage (e.g., 'when i was graduating, my motivation is to enroll'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but frequent grammatical errors across complex sentences cause some difficulty and distraction for the reader, fitting the Band 5.0 criteria.

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

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