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

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)

It is always observed that individuals change their habits and opininons as they grow elder.It is a natural process and cannot be overlooked I completely agree with this perception and my view will be discuss in upcoming paragraphs.

To begin with,first and foremost ,the older people give more importance to their health.Old age people often become more careful about their health and try to change their lifestyle.For instance,a person who eats fatty food regularly they may start eating homemade food after reaching the age of 40-45.Also,older people have more resposibilities such as,marriage,children and jobs this things can change their daily habits.For example,a young people mostly spend their leisure time with their mobile phone but after having a child they want to spending their free time with their child.

Moreover,people sometimes change their behavior because they learn from their past mistakes .For example,many people who are very careless and do not save money but after having financial problems,they start to have to save money in a very careful way.Also,the older people face more difficult situation in their life and they learn from them.This thing can be change their opinion .Also,they both good and bad life experience.

On the other hand,old habits are difficuit to change for old age people because they have some same habits since their childhod .For example,a person who drinks tea every day since childhood it may continue this habit even he is adult.

In conclusion,large number of people change their habits and opinions when they grow older because they have more life experience and face new situations in their day to day life.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt directly by agreeing that habits and opinions change with age, and presents a clear position throughout. Relevant ideas are introduced, such as the shift towards health consciousness, increased responsibilities like parenthood, and learning from past mistakes. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or repetitive, such as the redundant examples provided in the body paragraphs. A counter-argument is also briefly introduced regarding old habits remaining difficult to change, which adds balance. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fulfilling the requirements for Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised, though paragraph boundaries and internal transitions need better refinement. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or overused, such as starting multiple sentences and clauses with transitional phrases like 'To begin with, first and foremost,' and repetitive use of 'Also'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, for instance, 'this things can change' and 'this thing can be change'. Progression is somewhat hindered by these repetitive cohesive patterns, placing the response firmly at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases like 'health consciousness' implied through context, 'responsibilities', and 'financial problems'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as 'opininons', 'grow elder' instead of 'older', 'resposibilities', and awkward phrasing like 'difficult situation' and 'childhod'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they restrict the score to a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ability to construct multi-clause sentences ('A person who eats fatty food regularly they may start...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues, including missing spaces after commas and periods ('grow elder.It'), subject-verb agreement errors ('a young people mostly spend'), double subjects ('a person who drinks tea... it may continue'), and incorrect passive constructions ('can be change'). These errors cause occasional strain for the reader, placing the grammar at a Band 5.0.

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