Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-31

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 6.0)

To live in a country where a person needs to communicate with people through a non-native language is quite challenging. He may face both social and practical issues. I completely agree with the statement that it is tough for people to communicate in a foreign language while living abroad.

First of all, when a person moves to a new country, he may not know the language and culture of that country. As culture and language are interconnected, so the person needs to learn both with time. However, he faces a social distance with the people of that country. Because the new language is not his own mother tongue so no matter how well he acquires the language, he may not be able to communicate with people like a native. For example, if a student moves to China for his higher education, he needs to learn Chinese as a part of his academic syllabus.However, even though he learns Chinese, it seems like he is talking through bookish language as he cannot use native phrases/ idioms which are parts of Chinese culture. So, he may feel socially distant from the Chinese community.

Secondly, a person also faces some practical challenges when he has to speak in a foreign language. For instance, he might not be able express his real feelings like he could be able to do when he used to speak in his native language. As a result, he cannot be able to make friends or connected to the wider society.

From the above discussion, it is clear that people who live in a foreign country face both social and practical problems as they cannot use their mother tongue for communication.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you completely agree that living abroad while using a foreign language can create difficulties. You address both social and practical problems, and the example of a student studying in China helps illustrate how language and cultural knowledge can affect social integration. However, the two sides are not developed equally. The social discussion explains the difficulty of using idioms and feeling distant from the community, while the practical paragraph mainly says people may struggle to express feelings and make friends. These points overlap and do not show many concrete everyday practical problems. To strengthen the response, explain practical consequences such as misunderstanding medical advice, handling official paperwork, or communicating at work, and develop how these affect daily life.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs signalled by “First of all” and “Secondly,” and a concluding summary. The ideas generally progress from social difficulties to practical ones, so the reader can follow the main argument. Some connections are less effective or repetitive, however. The practical paragraph returns to making friends and connecting with society, which overlaps with the social point, and the conclusion largely repeats the introduction rather than drawing the two strands together. There are also small cohesion and punctuation issues, such as “syllabus.However,” and the opening “As culture and language are interconnected, so…” To improve, make each paragraph’s focus distinct and use clearer links between cause, example, and consequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “interconnected,” “social distance,” “native phrases,” and “wider society.” These choices help communicate the central ideas, and the meaning remains clear. There are some imprecise or unnatural expressions, though: “faces a social distance” is not a natural collocation, “bookish language” is vague in this context, and “make friends or connected” does not express the intended idea accurately. The repeated use of “person,” “language,” and “people” also limits variety. Aim for more precise phrases for social integration and practical barriers, and check collocations when using less common vocabulary. For example, describe someone as feeling “socially isolated” rather than saying they “face a social distance.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex structures, including conditional phrasing (“no matter how well he acquires the language”) and cause-and-effect sentences. Most ideas are understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “he may not be able express” needs “to,” while “he could be able to do” and “he cannot be able to make” use awkward or incorrect modal constructions. The clause “As culture and language are interconnected, so…” also combines two linking structures unnecessarily. Punctuation is occasionally faulty, as in “syllabus.However,” and spacing around the slash in “phrases/ idioms.” To improve, practise modal patterns such as “may not be able to” and “could express,” and proofread sentence boundaries and punctuation.

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