Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-19

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)

Traditional or structural learning of children in primary schools is a tough debate these days, majority of parents argue that academic institutes must provide flexibility to younger children at their primary level. However, the school administaration opposes this idea they firmly believe that they have maintained a balance between school curiculumn and extra curricular activities. According to my perspective little students should not be burdenised in early years of education, at the developmental stage schools must pay more attention on their creativity, interests and motorskills alongside the cognitive development, neverthless students should learn the very basics of carriculum as well.

Formal learning at early developmental stage clearly has some advantages but the disadvantages overraged the pros. Traditional methods can improve children's ability to memorise lessons but it can negatively effect their creativity. Students get alot of work from school that they cannot pay attention to their day to day skills. Additionaly it can hyjeck kids mind they can't be able to reach their full potential.

Without any doubt, playing plays a crucial role in child's development the importance of outdoor activities can not be ignored. As the education helps child to learn and improve cognitive skills similarly, activities makes children able to build social skills, enhance decision making and improve their ability to handle difficult situations.

In Conclusion, formal learning in primary institutes is important but cannot be encouraged to over burdenise students, playing outdoor and letting know about the world is really significant for children and schools should revise their programs.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing whether formal learning is too dominant and explaining the importance of play alongside learning. A clear position is stated in the introduction, suggesting that young children should not be overburdened and that play is crucial for development. However, the ideas lack sufficient depth and support. For instance, the discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of formal learning is somewhat brief and relies on general assertions rather than concrete examples. While the student attempts to cover both parts of the prompt, the development of ideas remains somewhat superficial. This places the response comfortably at Band 6, where all parts are addressed, but some elements are under-developed or lack full extension.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used adequately to separate distinct ideas, such as the critique of formal learning in the second paragraph and the benefits of play in the third. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. The student relies on basic transitional phrases like 'In Conclusion' and sometimes uses comma splices instead of appropriate conjunctions or full stops, as seen in sentences like 'Traditional methods can improve children's ability to memorise lessons but it can negatively effect their creativity.' Furthermore, referencing is not always clear, which makes the flow of arguments slightly disjointed at times. These issues align with the Band 6 descriptor where cohesion is sometimes faulty and referencing is not always clear.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully communicating central arguments. There are attempts to use less common items and subject-specific vocabulary, such as 'cognitive development,' 'curriculum,' and 'extracurricular activities.' However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'administaration,' 'curiculumn,' 'burdenised,' 'overraged,' 'Additionaly,' and 'hyjeck.' Additionally, phrases like 'motorskills' and 'letting know about the world' reveal limitations in collocation and natural phrasing. While these errors do not severely impede communication because the context remains clear, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.0, as noticeable errors cause some difficulty and prevent the response from achieving a consistent Band 6 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to construct multi-clause sentences. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in punctuation, tense consistency, and sentence structure. Examples include run-on sentences and comma splices, such as 'As the education helps child to learn and improve cognitive skills similarly, activities makes children able to build social skills...' and missing articles ('child's development' instead of 'a child's development'). There are also spelling-related morphological errors like 'effect' instead of 'affect' and 'can't be able to reach.' Because errors in grammar and punctuation are frequent and occasionally require the reader to re-read to grasp the exact meaning, the response best fits the Band 5 descriptors.

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