Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-26

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)

Language is an essential part of human skill set. Therefore, residing in the foreign country can lead to some seroius social and practical problems. I absolutely agree with this statement and this essay will highlight several reasons supporting my position.

The fundamental reason why speaking a foreign language can result in asocial problem is communication barrier. This is because when native and foreign speakers interact, there is chance of misunderstanding or misinterpretation of words which can result in total akwardness leading to deterence of the foreigners from engaginging in social places like markets or visiting social environments in general. Another important factor that might lead to practical problems is racial abuse. another issue that may result in social problem is bullying in school. Foreign students can be term as immigrants which could trigger some unwarranted debates, this could result in some unwanted social problems in school.

Although majority of foreign speaker adapt native accent and pronounciations of a foreign language, some might not and this could prompt some native speakers to ask where they are from and this conversation can lead to unwanted arguments, and in the end, physical interactions.

To sum up, living in a foreign country is hard and speaking a foreign language is even harder. Therefore, these issues of communication barrier and racial abuse could deter foreigners from attending social events and may even result in disobeying some laws due to physical interactions.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

Your position is clear: you state, “I absolutely agree,” and return to communication barriers and abuse in the conclusion. These points are relevant, but the response addresses the task only partially because the reasons are not sufficiently explained or supported. For example, racial abuse is introduced as a practical problem, but no explanation or example follows; the school-bullying point is also brief and its connection to the wider question is not fully developed. The discussion of misunderstandings and social withdrawal is more relevant, though it remains general. The response is 14 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to develop your ideas. Explain how language difficulties affect everyday tasks as well as social relationships, and add a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a main discussion, a further paragraph, and a conclusion. The conclusion also returns to the central concerns raised earlier. However, progression between ideas is uneven. In the second paragraph, communication barriers, racial abuse, and school bullying are placed together without clear explanation of how one leads to another. The transition “Although” introduces a contrast, but the paragraph mainly continues the same line of argument rather than developing a clear opposing or qualifying point. Some linking phrases, such as “Another important factor” and “another issue,” feel repetitive, and the reference in “these issues” is broad. Group related points into separate paragraphs and use links that show the precise relationship between them.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “communication barrier,” “misinterpretation,” “unwarranted debates,” and “physical interactions,” which helps convey the subject. There is also an attempt to use less common language, but several choices are inaccurate or unnatural and sometimes make the meaning harder to follow. For instance, “asocial problem” does not clearly express a problem in social interaction, while “deterence of the foreigners from engaginging” is both awkwardly phrased and misspelled. Other noticeable spelling errors include “seroius,” “akwardness,” and “pronounciations.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully. A smaller number of precise expressions will communicate your ideas more effectively than ambitious but unclear wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt complex sentences, for example, “when native and foreign speakers interact, there is chance of misunderstanding,” and use a subordinate clause beginning “Although.” However, the range is limited, and complex sentences are often not controlled accurately. Errors include the missing article in “there is chance,” the incomplete construction “Foreign students can be term as immigrants,” and the sentence fragment-like run-on in “another issue that may result in social problem is bullying in school.” Capitalisation and punctuation are also inconsistent, particularly where a new sentence begins with lowercase “another.” These errors recur and can make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. Practise building shorter, complete sentences first, then add subordinate clauses while checking articles, verb forms, and sentence boundaries.

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