Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-15
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 4.0)
The bar chart compares the average weekly spending by families in a particular country in two distinct years, 1968 and 2018.
Overall, it is clear that the spending in housing, transport and leisure has been increased over the years while the expenditures in other categories has shown a significant decline. However, the expenses on household goods remained same.
In 1968, the maximum spending was on food at 35% which fell to around 17% in 2018. Followed by fuel and power that was almost 6% in 1968 and decreased to around 4% in 2018. Similarly, the clothing and footware showed a 50% decline which was 10% in 1968. Lastly, the cost on personal goods reduced to approximately 4% in 2018 that was nearly 8% in 1968.
On the other hand, the cost on housing became nearly double that was almost 19% which was 10% in 1968. The cost on transport rose to around 14% that was 8% in 1968. The leisure expenditures also went to approximately 22% in 2018 in comparison to 1968 which was around 9%. Whereas, household goods remained consistent in both years around 8%.The bar chart compares the average weekly spending by families in a particular country in two distinct years, 1968 and 2018.
Overall, it is clear that the spending in housing, transport and leisure has been increased over the years while the expenditures in other categories has shown a significant decline. However, the expenses on household goods remained same.
In 1968, the maximum spending was on food at 35% which fell to around 17% in 2018. Followed by fuel and power that was almost 6% in 1968 and decreased to around 4% in 2018. Similarly, the clothing and footware showed a 50% decline which was 10% in 1968. Lastly, the cost on personal goods reduced to approximately 4% in 2018 that was nearly 8% in 1968.
On the other hand, the cost on housing became nearly double that was almost 19% which was 10% in 1968. The cost on transport rose to around 14% that was 8% in 1968. The leisure expenditures also went to approximately 22% in 2018 in comparison to 1968 which was around 9%. Whereas, household goods remained consistent in both years around 8%.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 1.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 4.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0
Although the student wrote a response about a bar chart comparing spending in 1968 and 2018, the provided prompt actually asks an argumentative essay question about whether professionals like doctors and engineers should be required to work in their home country. This means the student has completely addressed the wrong task, writing about a Task 1 visual instead of the assigned Task 2 topic. Consequently, the task response cannot be credited for addressing the prompt. According to the band descriptors, responding to the wrong task requires a low score for Task Achievement as the core communicative requirements of the task are entirely missed.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0
Despite the severe task mismatch, the text itself exhibits a clear paragraph structure with an introduction, an overview, and separate body paragraphs detailing the data. The writer uses cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In 1968', 'Lastly', and 'On the other hand' to organise the points logically. However, there is a major issue with the entire body text being accidentally duplicated verbatim. This repetition disrupts the logical progression of the writing. While individual sentences and paragraphs show organizational awareness, the duplication limits the overall coherence and cohesion score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for discussing statistical data, using terms such as 'distinct years', 'significant decline', 'maximum spending', and 'consistent'. There are some lexical inaccuracies and spelling errors, such as 'footware' instead of 'footwear' and awkward phrasing like 'the cost on housing became nearly double that was almost 19%'. Despite these errors, the vocabulary is generally comprehensible and suffices to describe trends and percentages.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses ('which fell to around 17% in 2018'). However, there are numerous grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the text, including tense issues ('has been increased' instead of 'has increased'), subject-verb agreement errors ('expenditures... has shown'), and fused or tangled relative clauses ('that was almost 19% which was 10% in 1968'). While these errors do not completely block understanding, they occur frequently enough to impede smooth reading.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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