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)
In this day and age, changing persona of human beings while growing older is most widely discussed. Individuals ordinarily change their routines as well as their way of thinking as they age. Personally, I completely agree with this view. This essay with shed light on why I support this statement.
To commence with, people usually transform their lives when they grow old, and they learn new things while getting mature with age. This is because, some human beings starts to get the reality check of how actually the world works after coming out of the comfort zone. Moreover, they also focus on healthier lifestyle which forces them to change their way of living the life. For instance, when a teenager reaches at a certain age, he will focus on earning more to support his livelihood and managing life instead of just sleeping and wasting time. This demonstrates that, age teaches lot of things to a human.
Another important point is that, at reaching a certain age people tends to get married and that changes their perspective of looking at things dramatically. This is due to, getting a sense of responsibility to provide, protect the family in different ways changes the person in various ways. For example, a person will think only for himself before getting married, however afterwards he will need to think for family first them himself.
In conclusion, People usually changes their personalities and thinking with getting older. This changes
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student addresses the prompt by clearly stating their opinion and agreeing that people change habits and opinions as they age. Ideas are presented, such as learning from experience and getting married, which are relevant to the topic. However, the development is somewhat limited and lacks deep extension. Furthermore, the response is incomplete, ending abruptly in the final paragraph. Crucially, the length check indicates that the essay contains only 242 words, falling short of the 250-word minimum requirement. This penalty impacts Task Achievement, placing it within the Band 5 category where ideas are underdeveloped and the response is restricted by length.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay displays a basic overall progression with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion, though the conclusion is cut off. Paragraphing is attempted, with distinct points introduced for different aspects of aging. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'Moreover', and 'For instance' are used to link ideas, but some referencing and transitional phrases are mechanical or awkward, such as 'at reaching a certain age people tends'. Paragraph structures are discernible, but the overall logical flow suffers from the abrupt ending and occasional awkward transitions. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors for coherence and cohesion.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to communicate ideas about aging and personal change, attempting some less common phrases like 'reality check', 'comfort zone', and 'perspective of looking at things'. However, there are notable lexical errors and awkward word choices throughout the text, such as 'changing persona of human beings', 'getting mature with age', and 'he will think only for himself before getting married, however afterwards he will need to think for family first them himself'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but word formation and collocation errors prevent the text from achieving a higher band. These characteristics fit the Band 6 descriptor.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing dependent clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement and preposition use, such as 'people tends to get married', 'reaches at a certain age', and 'focus on healthier lifestyle'. Additionally, awkward phrasing and structural slips appear throughout the body paragraphs, as seen in 'This essay with shed light' and 'with getting older'. While communication is rarely impeded entirely, the density of grammatical errors keeps the score at Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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