Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-16

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)

Certain individuals thought that primary schools should focus alot on formal learning and forget that children in primary school also required playing time too. I think that formal education plays a very major role in primary schools children but the later has a vital role in children growth too.

The formal education only teaches the students about a specific course which is very important because this teaches them how to differentiates between things. For example there is an apple and an orange and the child has the differentiate between the two and formal education teaches him how to do that. The children have a very short focus and if we make them too much focus on academic subjects they may lost interest. The extracurricular activities play a really important role in the upbringing of children. For instance, many international students make children do alot of funny activities like math games, water games and runing activities. These activities make sure the children have all the experiences needed to grow sound and sharp.

The primary schools provide the neccessary science, english and mathematics knowledge and put soo much pressure on children that they forget to smile and cry in free times. To avoid these, we should provide neccessary trips to museums, parks and joylands for these young minds to enjoy and live. There is another very important things children should know regarding washroom usage, speaking, regarding honesty and teach them to build healthy relationships among themselves.

In conclusion, I believe that formal education play paramount role in these young minds rearing but, if we put too much pressure on them, they will lose interest. In contrast, fun and play time play a major role in the tranquilty and help them rejuvinating. The must be balance between them in order to achieve the best outcomes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the extent of agreement regarding formal learning and the importance of play in primary classrooms. A clear position is established in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For example, the explanation of formal learning relies on a simplistic illustration involving distinguishing between an apple and an orange, which lacks the depth expected for higher bands. Similarly, the arguments regarding play and pressure are somewhat generalized and lack sophisticated support. While the prompt's requirements are met and all parts are discussed, the overall depth of exploration aligns best with a Band 6.0 descriptor.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding summary. Paragraphing is used to separate distinct ideas, such as formal education in the first body paragraph and playtime and pressure in the second. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. The transition between sentences and paragraphs can feel abrupt, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the use of 'the later' to refer to playing time or the vague pronoun reference 'To avoid these'. Cohesive devices are employed, but their management reflects Band 6 characteristics where logical flow is occasionally disrupted by awkward connections.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their main ideas about formal education and playtime. There are attempts to use less common or academic vocabulary, such as 'extracurricular activities', 'tranquility', and 'rejuvenating'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'alot', 'differentiates' instead of 'differentiate', 'runing', 'neccessary', 'soo', and 'rearing' used awkwardly in this context. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5 because precision and correct word formation are inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and articles. Examples include 'Certain individuals thought' (mixed past/present framing), 'formal education plays a very major role in primary schools children', 'the child has the differentiate', 'if we make them too much focus', and 'The must be balance'. These recurring errors and awkward syntactic constructions cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the grammar score from reaching a higher band, placing it firmly at Band 5.0.

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

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