Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)
The given bar chart provides information about how families spent their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018.
Overall, food accounted for the largest proportion of weekly family expenditure in 1968, while leisure became the largest category in 2018. Spending on food, fuel and power, clothing and footwear, and personal goods decreased, whereas expenditure on housing, transport and leisure increased.
As 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 other categories 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 on household goods was over 7% in 1968 and did not change thereafter. Personal goods also had about 7% in 1968, but in 2018 they declined to over 4%. Transport also had just over 7% like the last two categories in 1968, and had increased significantly to about 14%. In addition, families spent about 7% of their income on leisure, and the percentage grew sharply to over 22% in 2018.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 2.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 2.0
The student has written a response about weekly family expenditure in 1968 and 2018 based on a bar chart. However, this is a severe task-type failure because the prompt explicitly asks for a discussion on whether professionals should be required to work in their home country or free to work abroad (Task 2 argumentative essay), whereas the student has mistakenly answered an Academic Task 1 graph description prompt. Consequently, the response completely misses the actual task prompt, leading to a very low band score for Task Achievement. Furthermore, the length requirement of 250 words is not met, as the response contains only 220 words. Although the data summary itself is reasonably accurate, the total irrelevance to the prompt results in a heavily penalised score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
Despite the severe off-topic nature of the content regarding the task prompt, the language produced demonstrates a clear structure. The text is divided into logical paragraphs, beginning with a clear introduction that paraphrases the chart title, followed by an overall trend statement, and subsequent body paragraphs detailing specific categories. Cohesive devices are used adequately to guide the reader through the data, with phrases like 'Overall', 'As shown in the graph', and 'In addition' employed appropriately. Paragraphing is clear and logical, contributing to overall readability despite the complete mismatch with the required essay format.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing statistical data and trends. Words and phrases such as 'proportion', 'expenditure', 'decreased dramatically', 'fluctuated', and 'grew sharply' show a satisfactory command of language related to graphs. There are occasional repetitive structures, and the vocabulary is generally standard rather than advanced, but it successfully conveys the intended numerical comparisons without impeding understanding. However, because the vocabulary is restricted to data analysis and fails to address the socio-economic essay topic, it remains limited in scope for this specific task.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0
The response exhibits a satisfactory mix of simple and complex sentence forms. The student successfully uses subordinate clauses and comparative structures, such as 'while leisure became the largest category in 2018' and 'spending on food, fuel and power... decreased, whereas expenditure on housing... increased.' Grammatical accuracy is generally good, with proper subject-verb agreement and accurate use of past and present tenses when referring to the historical data. Errors are very rare and do not impede communication. The sentence structures demonstrate control, though they are somewhat formulaic and tied to reporting chart data.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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