Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-12

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people argue that primary schools focus too much on formal learning.

To what extent do you agree with this opinion?

How important do you think it is for children to play as well as learn in the primary school classroom?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Many thinks that children are driven more into the subjective learning in primary schools. I absolutely agree with this statement because children are prepared as if the exams are the only ultimate goal and extra activities such as playing is completely ignored although it is as important as exams.

To begin with, exam evaluates the overall performance of a student. It checks their ability to understand and analyze different topic they are taught. For this matter, motivating students to focus more on books, notes and various teaching material is an obvious strategy. However, this will degrades the creativity and the thinking potential of a student. They cannot learn the basic skills required in daily life such as cooking, doing chores. For example, my primary school teachers never encouraged us in extra activities such as playing chess and making arts. Up until now, I cannot make a simple drawing and I am very poor with the basic human skills as well.

Games and sports, on the other hand, help students to work as a team. Intellectual games such as chess, monopoly helps them think and boost their creativity. Outdoors games, mainly, football and cricket, improves their agility and teaches them about coordination and team work. These sports increase their physical strength and improves their brain health as well which in turn help them in their studies. Most of the above average students in primary schools are seen to be involved in at least one sporting activity.

In conclusion, formal learning is very important as it helps students to explore and understand new things but primary schools should focus equally on playing activities too since this improves students overall growth and prepare them for various life skills.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student addresses all parts of the task by clearly stating their agreement with the view that primary schools focus too much on formal learning, and they discuss the importance of play alongside study. The position is clear throughout the response. Ideas are extended and supported, such as when the writer discusses how team sports build physical strength, brain health, and social skills like cooperation. However, there is a tendency to over-generalize in places, such as claiming that 'Most of the above average students in primary schools are seen to be involved in at least one sporting activity,' which lacks nuance. Additionally, some arguments regarding daily life skills feel slightly under-developed. Nevertheless, the response successfully answers both prompt questions with relevant reasoning and examples.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into four distinct paragraphs with a clear overall logical progression, moving from the introduction to academic focus, play-based benefits, and a summary conclusion. Cohesive devices are used adequately to connect ideas, such as 'To begin with,' 'However,' 'on the other hand,' and 'In conclusion.' However, some referencing is occasionally faulty or mechanical, and paragraph transitions could be smoother. For instance, the transition between discussing the negative impacts of exams in paragraph two and shifting to sports in paragraph three feels somewhat abrupt. Paragraphing is used appropriately overall, but the management of cohesive ties prevents the essay from reaching higher bands.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'subjective learning,' 'ultimate goal,' 'agility,' and 'coordination.' However, there are noticeable word-choice errors and awkward collocations that detract from precision. For example, 'Many thinks' in the opening sentence contains a clear grammatical error, and phrases like 'making arts' should be 'making art' or 'arts and crafts.' Other vocabulary items such as 'this will degrades' show instability in word forms. While the range is sufficient to convey the intended meaning without impeding the reader, the lexical control is inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures appropriately in sentences like 'Games and sports, on the other hand, help students to work as a team.' However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('Many thinks,' 'exam evaluates' instead of exams evaluate, 'topic' instead of topics, 'Outdoors games' instead of Outdoor games, and 'improves their brain health... which in turn help'). Punctuation and verb tense errors also occur occasionally, such as 'this will degrades.' Despite these errors, the structures used do not impede overall communication.

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

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