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
It is very common for people to change both their habits and their opinions as they get older.
Do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
In this modern era, many individual changing their perspectives and habits as they grow older and I am agree with this viewpoint. In this essay, i will discuss my viewpoints in the upcoming paragraphs.
Firstly,one of the main reason is that people get more educated as according to their age.To explain this, when people are in their teenage.they don't know about whats the right or wrong decision. In this age, they spend lot of money on shopping and otger things. they did not save money for their future. Therefore, when they get older , they know the value of money and time.A typical example of this is that one of surveys shows that 81.5% of people change thier opinion when they get older.
Furthermore, another main reason is that they have more experience in thier life. This is because they do numerous jobs in thier life as well as they know how to tackle with the problems. For example, sometimes, i get too stressed about my job and study . my parents always teach that i have always be calm and patience in your life.So , this is help idea helps me a lot.As a result, older individual have good experience in thier life due to this they are able to make good decisions in thier life
In conclusion, i believes that older people change their opinions and ideas because of getting more educated and experiences.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student addresses the prompt by clearly agreeing that people change habits and opinions as they get older, presenting two main reasons: increasing education and life experience. However, there are two key limitations. First, the response falls short of the minimum word count requirement, containing 236 words instead of the required 250, which restricts the depth of development. Second, the explanation in the body paragraphs tends to rely on sweeping generalisations rather than fully extended, specific examples. For instance, the claim that 81.5 percent of people change their opinion is unsupported and lacks realistic context, while the personal anecdote about job stress is somewhat brief. A position is maintained throughout, but ideas require greater extension and support to reach a higher band. Consequently, a band score of 5.0 is appropriate here due to under-length and limited development.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The response has a discernible overall structure with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is attempted, though the division could be clearer. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', 'To explain this', and 'In conclusion' are used to signpost the progression of ideas, but their application is sometimes mechanical or repetitive (e.g., overusing phrases like 'in their life'). Referencing is occasionally confusing, as seen with pronouns in sentences like 'This is because they do numerous jobs in thier life as well as they know how to tackle with the problems.' There is a coherent overall arrangement, but logical progression suffers from repetitive phrasing and basic linking structures. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors for cohesion and organisation.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about growing older, gaining education, and acquiring experience. However, the range is limited and repetitive, with frequent reliance on basic words and phrases such as 'people', 'older', 'life', and 'money'. There are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, including 'individual changing' instead of 'individuals change', 'otger' instead of 'other', 'thier' instead of 'their', and 'patience' instead of 'patient'. While these lexical errors do not seriously impede communication, they demonstrate a lack of precision and flexibility. The student attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'perspectives' and 'tackle with the problems', but these attempts are marred by inaccurate collocation or grammatical collocation slips.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'when people are in their teenage.they don't know about whats the right or wrong decision.' However, control over grammar and punctuation is weak, with frequent errors including sentence fragments, run-on sentences, missing capitalisation, and punctuation misuse (e.g., missing spaces after periods and commas). Grammatical accuracy is inconsistent; verb tense and agreement errors appear frequently, such as 'many individual changing', 'i am agree', 'this is help idea helps me', and 'i believes'. Although the meaning is generally understandable despite these frequent errors, the high frequency of basic grammatical inaccuracies prevents the response from achieving a higher band. The structural range is restricted largely to straightforward complex sentences.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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