Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that in the digital age, theatres and cinemas are no longer important as people can watch all the entertainment they want online. Others argue that theatres and cinemas are still important both economically and culturally.

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)

Educational institutions should include a certain time frame for the undergraduate students to spend time in a real working environment or to abroad study. Although doing an internship or work placement might be difficult as they can mistakes in an organisation, exposure into real working environments can increase communication skills and build networks which can outweigh the drawback.

The major benefit for undergraduate students working as an intern or spending time studying abroad can make them exposed into the real working environment which can increase their communication skills and adapt to handle pressure. During the period, students need to do different tasks along with making frequent communication with clients. This can develop the habit to handle pressure. As a result, they can build their mental strength and necessary skills. Additionally, pupils can build a wide range of network. By working in an organisation, one can develop link to the channel of command and also with the customers. As a result, they can develop relationship with many people. For example, working in Customer Service Department involves direct conversation with clients which can increase your linkage.

On the other hand, doing such work without efficient knowledge can create a lot of mistakes in the workplace. This is because, students do not know about how the organisation runs and they can face difficulties to adjust to the rules and regulations. As a result, they may create frequent errors and it may worsen the task. For instance, an intern working in a loan department can find it difficult to work and one minor mistake in work can create big issues.

In conclusion, building communication skills and networks can outweigh the drawback of getting difficult to adjust to the work environment or abroad study.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The candidate has failed to address the actual prompt provided in the task instructions. The prompt asks about theatres and cinemas in the digital age and whether they are still important economically and culturally. However, the student wrote an entire essay about undergraduate students doing internships and studying abroad. This is a complete task derailment and indicates that the student did not read the prompt carefully. Because the response is completely off-topic and discusses an entirely different subject, it cannot meet the requirements of Task Achievement. While the student does present a clear position and supports their arguments regarding internships, the failure to address the stimulus material means this criterion must be scored at Band 3.0 according to official IELTS guidelines for off-topic responses.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

Despite being off-topic regarding the prompt, the essay demonstrates clear organisation and paragraphing. The introduction sets out the topic, followed by body paragraphs discussing benefits and drawbacks, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'The major benefit', 'Additionally', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the text, although some linking is a bit mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with each main idea placed in its own paragraph. However, because the content is entirely irrelevant to the prompt, the logical progression suffers in the broader context of the task. Nevertheless, evaluating the structural organisation of the language produced, the student achieves a Band 6.0 for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common collocations and phrases such as 'real working environment', 'communication skills', 'mental strength', and 'rules and regulations'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices throughout the text. For example, writing 'to abroad study' instead of 'to study abroad', 'can make them exposed into' instead of 'can expose them to', and 'develop link to the channel of command' instead of 'establish professional networks'. There are also minor spelling and phrasing issues that indicate a Band 5.5 level of lexical control, where vocabulary is minimally adequate but displays recurring collocation and word choice errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and participial clauses such as 'Although doing an internship or work placement might be difficult as they can mistakes in an organisation...' However, control over grammar is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors, such as missing verbs ('as they can mistakes' instead of 'as they can make mistakes'), preposition errors ('exposure into' instead of 'exposure to'), and awkward phrasing ('getting difficult to adjust'). While these errors do not completely impede overall understanding, they occur with sufficient frequency to prevent the essay from reaching Band 6.0. The appropriate band score for this level of grammatical control and accuracy is 5.5.

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

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