Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-21

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)

I accept without any hesitation that the habits and opinions get changed as a person grow old. I firmly agree with that statement as I have expericed it myselves in my life.

Firstly, the opinion of a person may vary according to their age just beacuse of the problems they have face and also because of that time period they had experienced. Also they have a lot of knowledge about how to overcome particular problem according your situaiton. They would also know all the outcomes of the problem once it is solved. Another point that makes my decision of agreeing to the statement is that they won't misguide or give wrong advice to us. They have the experience so they want us to suffer from the same way they did long time ago.

Secondly, the habits of a senior citizen is quite different from the young ones. Because they realised their mistake they did long time ago so knowing the disadvantages of that habit they will change it. It also depends on the seriousness and discipline of the person. If the person will obey than for sure it will be easy to change the habits and opinions at any age. Without discipline, living this life is also not worth it. Well, it is not necessary that the elder person is right. In some cases the young ones also think out of the solution or idea that the elder ones fails to think about.

For example, if are stucked or confused at a railway station about where and when to board your train then the employee working over there will for sure help you out from there as he is working over there past long period of time. But on the other hand, if you want any suggestion regarding current time period , let's say you want to know about how to become an entrepruenor then in that case, a person who is in their 30's will help you better than the person in their 80's. Just because the knowledge matters more in second scenerio .

To conclude with, I would like to stay strong with the positive side of agreeing to the statement that yes people do change their habits and their opinion as the clock runs with experience as well as knowledge.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the opening: you agree that habits and opinions change with age, and you maintain this view in the conclusion. You address both opinions and habits, and the railway-station and career examples help illustrate how experience and changing circumstances can affect advice. This meets the task well overall. However, some points are less fully developed: the claim that older people change habits because they recognise past mistakes is not supported with a specific example, and the discussion of discipline introduces a related but not fully explained condition. The contrast between older and younger people is relevant, but could be tied more directly to how people’s own views and habits change as they age. More precise development would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs on opinions and habits, an example, and a conclusion. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “For example” make the main stages easy to follow. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, and links between ideas are not always clear. In the second body paragraph, the discussion moves from older people’s habits to discipline and then to whether young people can have better ideas, without fully explaining how these points connect. The railway-station example also shifts to career advice, so the contrast needs a clearer transition and explanation. Use referencing and linking phrases more precisely, and make each paragraph develop one central point in a more continuous progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “experience,” “outcomes,” “discipline,” and “seriousness,” and the reader can generally understand your meaning. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems make the expression less natural. Examples include “the opinion of a person may vary,” “suffer from the same way,” and “think out of the solution”; these do not express the intended ideas idiomatically. There are also spelling errors such as “expericed,” “situaiton,” and “entrepruenor.” Aim to use accurate topic phrases such as “views may change with age” and “learn from past mistakes,” and check spelling carefully. Greater precision and more natural collocations would make your ideas easier to follow.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “because,” “if,” and “once,” so there is some structural variety. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction occur often enough to make parts of the response difficult to read. For example, “as a person grow old” needs subject–verb agreement, while “the problems they have face” has an incorrect verb form. “The habits of a senior citizen is” also has a singular–plural agreement problem. Some sentences are awkwardly joined or incomplete, such as “Because they realised their mistake…” and “Just because the knowledge matters more…”. Practise building accurate complex sentences and check each clause for a clear subject and correctly formed verb.

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