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
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)
There is a saying, it is not easy to change one's habit and the opinion formed. I agree with this statement. In this writing, I will discuss about how habit and opinion is inter-related and also a meditator who strongly encourage people to meditate daily to change their outer world.
Joe dispenze who is the meditator of the United State, he mentioned that our personality create our personal reality. How we think, feel and act is our personality. If we want to change our personality, we have to change the way we think, feel and act. One's habit is a repetitive of daily experience since we were young. It impact our external world unsciously.
If we want to change our external world, we have to change the habit built. Joe Dispenza advise us to at least meditate 20 minutes a day by just concentrating on our breath. Our brain will become more consciously about the behaviour and habit we formed. From there, we could alter the habit and then change how we think. When we have the ability to realize our thinking unscioiusly, we could change how we act. I would like to give my personal experience here. I am the one who is not aware of my breathing until i sit down to learn the meditation. At first, i was just meditate for 5 mins. I found myself even busy in mind. I was not able to have a second with peace. However, I promise myself i must learn this up to alter my outer world. I am manage to meditate at least 20 mins a day with at least 5 minute quick mind within the 20mins meditation.
Lastly, it is not easy to change one's habit since it was built from daily reptitive. But it is still possible base on how persistant to do the meditation.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses the prompt regarding whether people change habits and opinions as they get older, taking a clear stance that change is difficult but possible. However, the development of ideas relies heavily on a single extended example and references to a specific author, Joe Dispenza, rather than exploring a broader range of general knowledge or varied life experiences. While the main position is maintained throughout, the specific connection to 'getting older' mentioned in the prompt is somewhat overshadowed by the focus on meditation and personal reality. Therefore, the response fulfills the basic requirements of the task with some limitations in idea extension, placing it firmly at a band 6 level.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. However, paragraphing and logical progression are occasionally hindered by abrupt transitions and repetitive sentence structures. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly deployed, such as starting the final paragraph with 'Lastly, it is not easy to change one's habit since it was built from daily reptitive.' Referencing is generally understandable, but pronoun use can be ambiguous at times. Paragraphs lack sufficient internal cohesion to achieve a higher band, resulting in a solid band 5.5 performance.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary to communicate basic concepts related to habits, thoughts, and meditation, including terms like 'external world', 'personality', and 'concentrating on our breath'. However, there are numerous lexical inaccuracies and word-form errors throughout the text, such as 'meditator' instead of 'author' or 'expert', 'repetitive' used as a noun, 'unsciously' instead of 'unconsciously', and 'persistant' instead of 'persistence'. These errors demonstrate a limited control of word choice and collocation, though communication is rarely completely impeded, corresponding to a band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but attempts at complex structures frequently contain grammatical mistakes. Examples of frequent errors include subject-verb agreement issues ('habit and opinion is', 'personality create'), tense inconsistencies ('Joe dispenze who is... he mentioned'), and missing articles or prepositions ('learn the meditation', 'busy in mind'). Punctuation is also basic and sometimes faulty. While the writer attempts a variety of structures, the high frequency of grammatical slips places this performance at a band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.