Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-28

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Living in a country where you have to speak a foreign language can cause serious social problems, as well as practical problems.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

A linguistic barrier poses serious social and practical problems. People living in a foreign country have to speak the native language where they are living, which causes daily life to be more difficult. I completely agree with this statement because communication gaps have serious detrimental effects.

Languages are the medium for expressing our emotions, and their barriers will lead to confusion, sometimes more fatal. For instance, poor diagnosis of disease due to linguistic problems. Similarly, people living in a foreign country will face various societal problems. Like if someone from a European country living in Nepal would not understand the cultural significance if he did not understand Nepali. Sometimes, that will hurt the religious sentiments of people. People will hesitate to socialize because of fear of being judged based on their fluency, pronunciation, and even tone.

Furthermore, languages themselves are complex to learn and need enough time. So non-native speakers who are currently shifting to foreign will not have good language skills. This will ultimately lead to various practical problems. There will be difficulty in buying goods and groceries.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 250 words, reaching only 179 words. Consequently, the development of ideas is significantly curtailed. While you clearly state your position in the introduction, the supporting arguments are underdeveloped. For example, the point about medical diagnosis is mentioned but not expanded upon, and the social implications are touched upon briefly without sufficient depth or illustrative detail. To reach a higher band, you must extend your arguments with more detailed explanations and relevant examples to fully address the prompt's requirement for a balanced discussion of both social and practical problems.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into short paragraphs, which helps with readability. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat abrupt. While you use some cohesive devices like 'For instance' and 'Furthermore', the overall flow is hindered by the brevity of the paragraphs and the lack of complex linking between sentences. The transition between the social and practical problems is mechanical. To improve, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices to link your ideas more fluidly and ensure that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence that is fully supported by subsequent sentences.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You use some appropriate terms like 'linguistic barrier' and 'detrimental effects', but there is a reliance on simpler phrasing such as 'daily life to be more difficult' and 'buying goods and groceries'. There are also minor issues with collocation, such as 'shifting to foreign', which is not natural English. To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary and idiomatic expressions related to the topic of language acquisition and social integration.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the control over these structures is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'Like if someone from a European country living in Nepal would not understand', which is a sentence fragment, and 'languages themselves are complex to learn and need enough time', which is slightly awkward. Punctuation is generally functional, but the sentence variety is limited. To achieve a higher score, focus on reducing these errors and increasing the use of more complex grammatical structures, such as conditional sentences or relative clauses, while maintaining accuracy.

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

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