Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-19

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)

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

I strongly agree with this statement that living abroad often requires people to communicate in foreign language. This can create difficulties, particularly in social interactions and everyday activities. It is necessary for the convenience of individuals to communicate and to continue their jobs and studies in foreign.

Difficulty in communication can cause isolation and loneliness to the people. It may be difficult to make friends and participate in social gatherings. Misunderstandings can occur because of different expression, accents, and norms. An immigrant may avoid social gatherings because they lack confidence in local language.

Language barriers can make everyday tasks difficult. People with healthcare, employment, education, banking and government services. Misunderstanding important information can lead to serious consequences. A person may struggle to explain symptoms clearly to a doctor if he is lacking in foreign language.

These problems are often temporary but the language courses, regular practice and interaction with local people can improve communication. Technology such as translation apps can also help.

In conclusion, although language barrier is major problem for the individuals who live abroad but it can also be learned by using online technological apps and by communicating with local people during social gatherings.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both social and practical problems associated with living in a foreign-language country, and provides a clear position. However, the length requirement has not been met, as the response contains only 218 words against the required 250-word minimum. This significant under-length constraint prevents full development of ideas, leading to under-developed body paragraphs that fail to reach their full potential. For example, the paragraph on practical problems lists services such as 'healthcare, employment, education, banking and government services' without verbs or full elaboration. Due to the under-length penalty and the resulting restricted development, the task response is limited.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay presents a generally clear structure with an introduction, distinct body paragraphs focusing on social and practical issues, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised to separate distinct ideas, such as moving from social isolation to everyday practical tasks. However, overall progression is somewhat hindered by abrupt transitions and mechanical cohesive devices. For instance, the transition between paragraphs relies on simple topic shifts rather than smooth linking phrases. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as in the sentence 'People with healthcare, employment, education, banking and government services,' which lacks a clear predicate verb to connect the subject to the challenges mentioned.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using topic-specific terms such as 'immigrant', 'isolation', 'misunderstandings', and 'translation apps'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as 'continue their jobs and studies in foreign' (missing a noun like 'countries') and 'he is lacking in foreign language'. Attempts at less common vocabulary sometimes result in unnatural collocations. Spelling is generally accurate, but the limited variety and recurrent word choice errors restrict the lexical score to a modest level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilising structures such as 'Living in a country where you have to speak...' and 'An immigrant may avoid social gatherings because they lack confidence...'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including missing prepositions or articles, such as 'in foreign' instead of 'abroad' or 'in a foreign country', and fragment sentences like 'People with healthcare, employment, education, banking and government services.' These errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar at a band 5 level.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.