Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-14
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 4.5)
The given bar chart provides information about how families spent their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018.
Overall, families mostly spent their money on daily needs like food or transport. In the modern era, leisure accounted for the highest percentage of weekly income. On the other hand, food accounted for the largest proportion in the past.
As is shown in the graph, the average weekly spending by families on food was over 35% in 1968, but in 2018 the percentage of spending decreased dramatically to over 17%. Housing had about 10% in 1968 and increased to just over 19% in 2018. Families average weekly spending on fuel and power was the lowest among the others with just about 6% and 4% in 1968 and 2018, respectively. Clothing and footwear had over 10% in 1968, and decreased to 5% in 2018.
The average weekly spending by families for household goods was over 7% in 1968 and did not change thereafter. Personal goods also had about 7% in 1968, but in 2018 it declined to over 4%. The transport also had just over 7% like the last two models in 1968, and had increased significantly to about 14%. In addition, the families spent on leisure about 7% of income, and the percentage grew sharply to over 22% in 2018.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 1.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0
The candidate has completely misunderstood the prompt, which is an Academic Task 2 essay discussing whether professionals should be required to work in their home country. Instead, the student has written an Academic Task 1 report describing a bar chart about family weekly spending in 1968 and 2018. Writing an essay when a graph report is provided (or vice versa) results in a severe task failure. Furthermore, the response contains only 218 words, failing the 250-word minimum requirement. Consequently, the task has not been addressed, and the response falls into the lowest band for Task Achievement.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
Despite being on the wrong task type, the text itself exhibits a clear structure typical of a Task 1 report. There is a logical introduction, an overview statement, and subsequent body paragraphs that present data comparisons (e.g., 'As is shown in the graph, the average weekly spending by families on food was over 35% in 1968...'). Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'On the other hand', 'respectively', and 'In addition' are used appropriately to link ideas and guide the reader. Paragraphing is also used sufficiently to separate different trends, reflecting a coherent arrangement of information.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for describing statistical data and trends, although it is somewhat repetitive. The student successfully employs terms related to data analysis, such as 'proportion', 'percentage', 'accounted for', 'increased significantly', and 'grew sharply'. There are occasional awkward phrasings or minor inaccuracies, such as 'Families average weekly spending' (missing possessive apostrophe) and 'The transport also had just over 7%', but these do not impede overall comprehension. The lexical range is minimally sufficient for the descriptive task attempted.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and comparative structures effectively (e.g., 'Families average weekly spending on fuel and power was the lowest among the others with just about 6% and 4% in 1968 and 2018, respectively'). There are some minor grammatical errors, such as missing articles ('The transport also had...') and punctuation omissions, but the majority of sentences are grammatically sound and communication is never impeded. The control of grammar is reasonably good for the language produced.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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