Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-07

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)

Existance in a state where you have to communicate in other states language can provoke critical social issues and also physical issues.

In our country many individuals, who work in a company, talk in foreign language like English but it is tough for other citizens to understand other state's language.

Overall this essay will discuss the serious problems of speaking other country's language.

In most states of the world people speak english and latin. These languages are mostly spoken in Europe states and American states, but in Asia, citizens speak arabic, hindi, urdu. So, in these states where english and latin are not spoken in the country, the schools and institutes higly recommend youth to learn english or latin as these languages can help them in future. For extance, when I was a child my school teachers suggested us to learn english language because english is spoken in more than 50 percent of the countries. Now a days, English is the most common used language in every state.

The high class and middle class people study at English medium institutes. So, they know about basic english and they can easily understand english in future when they go to find a job. But on the other hand poor class individuals don't understand english because they studied from government schools and colleges where students learn only their mother language. So, it is very difficult for these lower class people to find job as they don't even know how to speak english or any other state language.

In my opinion, it is true that foreign language cause different social and practical cons. So, i think that we have to speak our basic language as well as english language so, it is easy for us to communicate with the locals and also with the foreigners.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses the prompt but struggles with focus. While you acknowledge the social and practical problems, the development is somewhat tangential. You spend a significant portion of the essay discussing the importance of learning English in schools rather than directly exploring the 'serious social and practical problems' caused by living in a foreign-language environment. The position is clear, but the arguments are not fully extended or supported with specific examples of the social consequences mentioned in the prompt. To improve, ensure every paragraph directly links back to the specific problems caused by language barriers in a foreign country, rather than shifting the focus to educational policy.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. Transitions between ideas are often mechanical or abrupt, such as the sudden shift from discussing European/Asian languages to personal school experiences. The use of cohesive devices is limited and sometimes repetitive (e.g., 'So' is used frequently to start sentences). Referencing is occasionally unclear, making it difficult for the reader to follow the flow of your argument. To improve, use a wider variety of linking words and ensure that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence that directly relates to the thesis statement.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. There are several instances of awkward phrasing, such as 'Existance in a state' instead of 'Living in a country' and 'physical issues' when you likely meant 'practical difficulties'. You rely on basic vocabulary and repeat terms like 'state' and 'language' frequently. There are also errors in word choice, such as 'most common used language' instead of 'most commonly used language'. Expanding your range to include more academic collocations and precise terminology would significantly improve your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in articles ('the English', 'the foreign language'), subject-verb agreement, and word order. For example, 'foreign language cause different social' should be 'foreign languages cause different social...'. Punctuation is also problematic, with missing commas and incorrect capitalization of 'english'. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar and sentence construction hinder the overall fluency of the writing. Focusing on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and article usage will help.

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

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