Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01

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 5.0)

Science and technology have become central to human development, and one of the most debated topic on earth. While some people believe that spending on space exploration is a waste of resources and money, others argue that it is essential for the humanity's furture survival. This essay will discuss both views and also my perspective to this issue.

Those who believe that it is a total waste of valueable resources are of the opinin that this amount of money could have been spent wisely on very critical issues on earth like poverty and unemployment. For instance, for launching a rocket in space requires billions of dollars, that otherwise could have been spent on providing clean water and education to thousands of children. Moreover, they believe that this budget could create thousands of jobs for unemployed youth by investing in industrial units.

On the other hand, there are also great benefits of space explorations. No doubt, it requires a huge budget for launching space rockets but at the same time it help predict upcoming weather conditions and help people stay connected all the time. For instance, now Space X company is providing wireless internet facility to millions of people worldwide, that help people communicate very easily. Moreover, scientists are also trying their best to discover new planet to live, through space exploration, that could solve a problem of over population on the planet earth.

To conclude, although we should give attention to the urgent issues of the earth like poverty, health, and education, yet investing in space exploration could save our future generations. So, in my perspective, the benefits of space research far outweigh its drawbacks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response suffers from a significant misunderstanding of the prompt. While the student addresses the general topic of change over time by discussing space exploration, the actual task asks whether people change both their habits and opinions as they get older. Because the entire essay writes about a completely different prompt regarding space research versus earthly issues, the task response is heavily impacted and addresses the prompt only minimally and tangentially. The writer does attempt to present a position in the introduction and conclusion, but the lack of relevance to the actual question about human aging, habits, and opinions means the ideas presented do not answer the prompt set. To improve, the writer must carefully analyze the core instructions and ensure that the arguments directly respond to the specific question asked rather than a memorized or mistook topic.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph-by-paragraph structure, presenting an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. The writer uses basic cohesive devices adequately to guide the reader through the text, such as 'On the other hand', 'Moreover', and 'To conclude'. However, referencing and cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical, and the logical progression is occasionally hindered by abrupt transitions. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately to separate distinct points of the argument. To move to a higher band, the writer needs to employ a wider and more sophisticated range of cohesive devices and ensure that transitions between sentences and paragraphs flow more naturally without relying on formulaic connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'space exploration', 'unemployed youth', and 'over population'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that prevent a higher score, including 'furtrure', 'valueable', 'opinin', and the collocation 'for launching' instead of 'launching'. Despite these inaccuracies, communication is generally not impeded, and the meaning remains clear. To achieve a higher band, the writer should focus on expanding their precise control over less common vocabulary and rigorously proofread their work to eliminate basic spelling slips and minor word-choice errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination with structures introduced by 'While', 'although', and relative clauses. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text, such as missing articles ('the humanity's furture'), subject-verb agreement issues ('for launching a rocket in space requires... that otherwise could have been spent'), and prepositional slips ('perspective to this issue' instead of 'perspective on'). However, these errors rarely impede communication and the basic meaning is usually clear. To reach the next band, the writer should incorporate a wider variety of error-free complex sentence structures and tighten control over articles and prepositions.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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