Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-30

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)

Primary schools plays crucial role in children's learning and development. Several individuals believe primary schools pays too much attention on academic leaning. I completely agree with this view that primary schools are lacking in providing physical facilities and interesting sports which are very benficial for children's growth and health.

Schools rely too much on academic activities. They have a separate competition with other schools and organisations in terms of getting good grades. They want their schools to rank first or at least top 10 in ranking. So they focus more on providing best teaching facilities and study friendly environment. Moreover, advanced syllabus introduced at international level has forced primary schools to apply it asap. So, in order to compete with world, children must be aware of what is teached at international level and, this is another reason why primary schools are focusing too much on formal learning.

Besides all these factors, i still believe students must be provided with basic sports facillities. Firstly, goverment should apply strict sops. By this I mean, every primary school must have a playground, othervise it will be banned and closed by goverment. This will be usefull to display a positive message to country and children as well. Secondly, arranging a yearly competition including varous sports at school level will also work, and rewarding with prizes will also encourage students to participate more actively.

All these suggestion recommended will help student feel relaxed and more refreshed when going back to studies, because sports is very helpfull for child's overall development. Students can learn various skills like problem solving, time management, leadership and many more. Sports also make students physically more fit and at the same time mentally strong as well. For example, cricket is a sport that not only teaches leadership and teamwork, but, at the same time, makes you physically strong due to its intense running which is a part of these beautifull game.

In conclusion, although, academic learning is very benficial for competing with modern world, getting good grades and securing safe future, I still strongly believe sports and physical activites helps you prepare more advanced sills like leadership, teamwork and time management. In future, i believe the focus on sports will increase and more primary schools will include sports activities in their curriculum.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the two-part prompt by clearly stating a position on formal learning in primary schools and discussing the importance of play and sports. The student presents relevant ideas, such as institutional pressure for high rankings and the benefits of sports for developing leadership and teamwork. However, the development of ideas tends to be slightly repetitive, and examples like cricket are somewhat generalised rather than deeply explored. This places the performance firmly in the Band 6 territory, as all parts are addressed with relevant ideas, but some points lack deeper extension.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a clear overall arrangement with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct arguments, such as academic pressures in paragraph two and sports facilities in paragraph three. Cohesive devices are used, such as "Moreover," "Besides all these factors," and "Firstly," though some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. Referencing is generally clear, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow, making this a solid Band 6 performance for cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as "benficial" (spelled benefical/benficial), "international level," and "time management." However, there are numerous spelling errors throughout the text, including "plays" instead of "play," "leaning" instead of "learning," "facillities," "goverment," "usefull," "varous," and "beautifull." These spelling inaccuracies do not seriously impede communication, but they prevent the score from reaching a higher band, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures such as "unless it will be banned..." and "although, academic learning is very benficial..." However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly missing articles ("plays crucial role", "in terms of getting good grades"), subject-verb agreement issues ("Primary schools plays", "schools pays"), and punctuation errors. While these errors are noticeable and require some effort from the reader, they rarely impede overall communication, supporting a Band 5.5 or Band 6 score. A Band 6 is appropriate given the variety of structures attempted.

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