Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-11

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 their native language can cause serious social problems, as well as practical problems.I believe if you are totally unaware of their native language and cannot do a basic communication it can cause problems. Whereas, if you can atleast communicate or atleast understand the basics of their language it is not that worse.

To begin with, staying in a foreign country where you have to speak a foreign language can cause some problems, especially while communicating with other native language speaker of the country. For example : if an individual went out to grab a cup of coffee. It will be really hard to explain what kind of coffee beans he want into his coffee to the guy who would be taking his order. Because he will struggle understand his language. Due to this he might end up getting wrong type of coffee or wont get exactly what he wanted to order.

Furthermore, in case the individual knows how to communicate and aware of some basics of their language. He would not experience such practical problems. For example: if a guy came from pakistan to germany for work purposes. He went for job a hunting, so there are higher chances that he might get the job, because he knows how to speak their native language. Or atleast know how to communicate with others. this will result him in experiencing less problems than a guy who is unaware of foreign language.

In conclusion, living in a place where you have to speak a foreign language can cause social and practical problems, but you can overcome it by learning atleast some basics of that language. In my prospective it is really important to understand the foreign language in order to survive in that country otherwise it would be so hard for an individual to stay in a country like this.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear, qualified position: language difficulties can create problems, but learning basic communication can reduce them. The coffee-order example illustrates a practical difficulty, and the Pakistan-to-Germany example supports your point about employment. However, the response only partly develops the task: social problems are mentioned in the prompt and conclusion but are not explained or illustrated in the body. The examples also focus mainly on practical communication, and the job example needs clearer explanation of how language ability affects the outcome. To strengthen the response, address both social and practical consequences directly, then develop each with a specific, relevant example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. Transitions such as “To begin with,” “Furthermore” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. However, progression is somewhat repetitive: both body paragraphs return to the idea that knowing the language prevents problems, rather than developing distinct aspects of the issue. Some links between ideas are unclear, particularly the move from the job-search example to the claim that the person will experience fewer problems. The repeated use of “For example” and “at least” also makes the cohesion feel mechanical. Give each body paragraph a distinct focus and use clearer references to connect examples to the point they support.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “foreign language,” “communicating,” “practical problems” and “job hunting.” However, the range is limited and several choices or collocations are noticeably inaccurate, which sometimes makes the meaning less natural. For instance, “native language speaker” is awkward, “grab a cup of coffee” does not fit the more formal essay style particularly well, and “in my prospective” appears to be an incorrect expression. Repetition of “problems,” “language” and “communicate” also limits variety. Build a wider set of precise expressions for social integration, everyday services and employment, and check spelling and word forms such as “at least” and “hunting.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt some longer sentences and conditional structures, such as “if you are totally unaware … it can cause problems,” but control is inconsistent. Errors occur frequently in sentence boundaries, verb forms, articles and agreement, and they sometimes make the reader pause. For example, “It will be really hard to explain what kind of coffee beans he want” has a tense and agreement problem, while “He went for job a hunting” has an unclear grammatical structure. The opening also runs two sentences together, and several sentences begin with lowercase letters. Practise accurate simple sentences first, then build complex sentences with clear clauses, consistent tense and correct punctuation.

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