Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-26

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people believe that professionals, such as doctors and engineers, should be required to work in the country where they did their training. Others believe they should be free to work in another country if they wish.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In recent years, whether doctors and engineers, should be required to work in their home country or in another country, has emerged as a subject of considerable debate. Some maintain that professionals should work in their country, as this can contribute to the development of their own country, whereas others argue that, specialists should travel to another nation to work wherever they choose.

Firstly, many skilled professsionals move abroad because they can find a better career opportunities. Additionally, developed countries such as ( Australia , Canada , US) often provides better facilities and advanced technology, which result in better professional growth.

Furthermore, they also receive higher salaries and package, which helps them to fulfill their needs of personal life and a better standard of living. For Example- a person living in Bangladesh, Nepal or Pakistan, can get access of advance technology and higher income by moving to developed nations.

Meanwhile, If qualified specialist remain and work in their country, they can contribute to GDP of their nation. For instance, working in their home country allows skilled persons to work, living along with their parents and friends, which does not affect their emotional attachment with country and family. Moreover, their experience and guidance can help younger generation by providing training, and knowledge. If professionals will leave their county for better opportunities, country may face shortage of skilled workers too.

To sum up, the decision should be taken wisely by doctors and engineers based upon their requirement, as if their main goal is money and advance technology, they should move abroad.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a personal opinion, though the opinion is somewhat underdeveloped in the conclusion. While the main points regarding professional growth and national development are relevant, the development of these ideas is relatively brief. The essay covers all parts of the prompt, but the conclusion does not fully synthesize the arguments or provide a strong, clear final stance, which limits the depth of the response. To improve, ensure that each body paragraph provides a more comprehensive explanation of the implications of these choices, and ensure the conclusion clearly reflects the position stated in the introduction.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Additionally', 'Furthermore', and 'Meanwhile' are used to link sentences and paragraphs. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally imprecise. For example, the transition between the benefits of moving abroad and the benefits of staying home could be smoother. The paragraphing is appropriate, but the internal structure of the paragraphs could be strengthened by ensuring each supporting sentence directly relates to the topic sentence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'specialists' and 'professional growth'. However, there are instances of awkward phrasing and minor errors, such as 'access of advance technology' instead of 'access to advanced technology' and 'package' used in a singular sense where 'remuneration' or 'compensation packages' would be more precise. Spelling errors like 'professsionals' and 'county' (instead of country) also occur. Expanding the range of vocabulary and focusing on accurate collocations would help elevate the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with article usage ('the GDP', 'the younger generation'), subject-verb agreement ('often provides' should be 'often provide'), and punctuation (the unnecessary comma after 'engineers' in the first sentence). The use of conditional structures is attempted, but there are minor errors in tense consistency. To reach a higher band, the writer should focus on reducing these frequent errors and ensuring more consistent control over complex sentence forms.

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

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