Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-22

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)

Most people argue that living in a place where language is not their mother tongue can cause a lot of serious problems like social communication. i completely agree with this statement because language barrier can cause a lot of problems if living in another country.

Firstly, people who arrive in a new country may not be familar with a lot of different rules and proceedures in that place. Another downside to living in a foreign country is language barrier, which is necessary for communication. For instance, most countries do not take immigrants unless they speak their language. Because, it does not benefit them taking in people who cannot communicate with the majority of people they are going to live with. Language is also required for a lot of other reasons , that are job opportunities , integration and learning cultural backgrounds. As a result, getting a job and reading documents becomes really difficult in a new place .

Although, living in a develped country has a lot of benefits like clean housing environments, better human rights and laws that protect immigrant rights. But there are also a lot of limitations which they would not face if living in their own country. These limitations are rules which may prevent them from certain things like buying property of their own unless they pay a certain amount of tax and another reason are the strict rules regarding the right to live in that country which needs legal requirements.navigating bureaucratic procedures.

In conclusion, residing in a new country is only beneficial if all the legal requirements are met. Learning a new language before departing for that country also has a lot of benefits which helps to remove barrier related to jobs and other opportunities in that new country.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both social and practical problems related to living in a foreign country, clearly stating a position that the author completely agrees with the statement. Ideas are presented, such as difficulties with rules, procedures, and job opportunities due to a language barrier. However, some arguments remain underdeveloped or repetitive, such as the discussion on immigration policies and tax regulations. While the writer attempts to support their position with general examples like 'reading documents becomes really difficult' and 'buying property of their own', these lack specific depth. Overall, the response meets the basic requirements of addressing all parts of the task with a clear position, fitting comfortably into a Band 6.0 description for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, separating the introduction, body paragraphs with distinct points, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal progression, such as 'Firstly', 'Another downside', 'Although', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and transitions are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the sentence 'Because, it does not benefit them taking in people...' creates an awkward sentence boundary and breaks logical flow. Additionally, the paragraph starting with 'Although, living in a develped country...' contains fragments and a disjointed structure ('These limitations are rules which may prevent them... and another reason are...'). These cohesion issues place the response at a Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, securing a solid 6.0 for clear overall organization despite mechanical linking.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms like 'immigrants', 'integration', 'cultural backgrounds', and 'bureaucratic procedures'. However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'familar' instead of familiar, 'proceedures' instead of procedures, and 'develped' instead of developed. Furthermore, some phrasing is clumsy or unnatural, such as 'cause a lot of serious problems like social communication'. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main ideas and communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of spelling slips and limited precision prevent the lexical score from reaching higher bands. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures (e.g., 'people who arrive in a new country may not be familar...'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several punctuation and sentence structure errors, such as starting a sentence with a lowercase 'i' ('i completely agree'), sentence fragments ('Because, it does not benefit them...'), and dangling clauses ('Although, living in a develped country... But there are also a lot of limitations...'). Punctuation errors and awkward comma splices also appear frequently throughout the text. Despite these issues, the errors rarely impede overall communication, allowing the writer to achieve a Band 5.5 for grammatical range and accuracy.

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