Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people believe that international sports events, such as The Olympics or the Football World Cup, are a good way to bring countries together. Others say that these events create competition, not friendship, between countries.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 4.5)

It is often argued that higer education should be charged free to all the students. No doubt it would provide equal oppurtunities, and reduce financial pressure of the individuals, it would also put government and tax payers under the pressure.

On the one hand, everyone has a right of education, and if it would be free, people from different financial backgrounds could be eligible to grab this opportuninty. Hence, talented students who never get a chnace to aquire university education because of their financial conditions, could brighten up their futures and contributes to the nation which reduce their financial pressure of appling for study loans or debts.

On the other hand, it would put pressure on government and tax payers because education institutes are running from government funding. Government provide different facilities to the universities such as funding for renovation, teachers' salaries and other resources which are required to run these academic institutes efficiently. Moreover, people who are able to pay their tution fees, would also take the advantage of this which means everybody have to pay high tax to government which will be unfair for the middle class families. Rather than providing education completely free, I would suggest to providing scolarships to deserving students.

To conclude, I partly agree with the statement because it would provide benefits to the students by providing opportuninty to learn which contributes to the nation in future, it is also a topic of concern for government and public to raise funds to run the universitues.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both views (whether higher education should be free or if it creates pressure) and provides a clear personal opinion in the third body paragraph. However, there is a significant prompt-response mismatch: the student has written about higher education being free rather than international sports events, which was the actual topic given in the instructions. This indicates a pre-prepared essay or a misread prompt. While the ideas within the written text are extended and supported, the off-topic nature of the content severely impacts Task Achievement. The writer attempts to weigh the benefits of equal opportunities against the financial strain on governments and taxpayers, but because it addresses a completely different essay prompt, it cannot achieve a passing score for task completion. Therefore, a band 3.0 is assigned.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

Despite the off-topic content, the text demonstrates a clear attempt at logical organisation. The essay is divided into an introduction, two opposing body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', 'Hence', and 'To conclude' are utilised to structure the argument, although referencing is occasionally imprecise. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as the advantages of free education versus the disadvantages for taxpayers and the government. While some transitions are mechanical, the overall progression of the argument is easy to follow, allowing the text to achieve a band 5.5 for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The lexical range is limited and contains numerous spelling and word-choice errors that detract from the writing. Examples include 'higer' instead of higher, 'oppurtunities', 'chnace', 'aquire', 'contributes' (grammatical form error in context), 'appling', 'tution', and 'scolarships'. The student attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'financial backgrounds', 'renovation', and 'deserving students', but persistent spelling errors ('tution', 'scolarships') and awkward collocations ('charged free' instead of provided free) restrict the score. The vocabulary is adequate to convey basic meaning, fitting the band 5.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional-style constructions ('if it would be free, people from... could be eligible'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout. There are frequent errors in verb forms, tenses, and prepositions, such as 'higher education should be charged free' (passive voice error), 'reduce financial pressure of the individuals' (preposition error), and 'institutes are running from government funding' (active/passive confusion). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but comma splices appear, such as in the opening sentence. Because complex structures are often faulty and errors are frequent, a band 5.0 is appropriate.

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

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