Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-27

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)

Nowadays, it has become very common for people to change both their habits and their opinions as they start getting older. I completely agree with this, because it is very necessary to improve yourself by making good habits and change your opinions about society.

One of the main reasons for people change their habits and opinions is that as they get older they learn from the past mistakes and failures. At a young age people does not have enough thinking ability to make any decisions because their brain is not developed yet . People who quickly learns for their past experiences often become successful at an early age. For example, some people may find it difficult to make any important decisions as they get older because they are not allowing their brain to get rid of old mindset. Therefore, it is very important for them to get rid of bad habits and change their perspective towards the society.

Moreover, children learn most of the things from their parents. Therefore, parents needs to know that how they can behave with todays' children. In the past, parents use to shout at their kids and beats them whenever they make mistakes but in todays' world it is not allowed for parents to hit their children. For example, my father told me that my gradfather use to beat him a lot when he was not listening to my grandfather, but now that the world has become more developed it is not a good habit to beat your children because it can impact negatively and in some cases children become more stubbern. Therefore, parents need to change their habits and opinions according to their child.

To conclude, if you want to be successful in todays' world then it is very important to get rid of bad habits and change your opinions towards the society as soon as possible.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you completely agree that people change their habits and opinions as they age. You give relevant reasons, including learning from past mistakes and adapting parenting practices, and the examples about decision-making and your father’s experience help connect the discussion to real life. However, the response only partly develops the task: the first paragraph’s point about learning from mistakes is not fully explained, and the claim that people need to change opinions “towards the society” remains broad. The parenting example mainly illustrates changing habits, rather than clearly showing how opinions change. To strengthen the response, explain both kinds of change more directly and develop each reason with a clearer link to your position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. The ideas are generally grouped by topic, and linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “For example” and “Therefore” make the intended relationships clear. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow: the first body paragraph moves from learning from mistakes to brain development, then to success and old mindsets without clearly connecting each point. “Therefore” is also repeated to introduce conclusions that are not always fully established. Use a clearer sequence—reason, explanation, specific example, and link back to the question—and make references such as “them” and “it” unambiguous. This would make the organisation more coherent and less dependent on repeated connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including topic-related expressions such as “past experiences,” “perspective” and “impact negatively.” There is some attempt to express abstract ideas about personal development and social change. However, the range is limited and several choices or forms are inaccurate or unnatural, including “old mindset,” “stubbern,” and “change your opinions towards the society.” Repetition of “habits,” “opinions” and “change” also makes the writing less flexible. Aim for more precise collocations and check spelling and word forms; for example, describe a person as “stubborn” and refer to “changing one’s views about society.” These improvements would make your meaning clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, and the overall meaning is usually understandable. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently in agreement, verb forms, articles and sentence construction. Examples include “people does not have,” “parents needs,” “people who quickly learns,” and “parents use to shout … and beats them.” The sentence “parents needs to know that how they can behave” also has an incorrect clause structure. Punctuation and spacing need attention, as in the space before the full stop after “yet.” Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and correctly matched verb, and build longer sentences from accurate clauses before adding further detail.

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