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
Some people believe that nowadays we have too many choices.
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)
Nowadays, people have wide range of choices in many areas of life such as food, fashion, jobs, educational career and entertainment. While having more options is pretty good I partly agree with that because it can sometime difficult to choose option in all of them.
On the other hand, having more choices people give freedom easy to select one of them or what they want. For example, when buying a mobile phone there are lots of option people have. Some one select mobile by their good result of camera and some select by they love design of phone.
On the other hand, an excessive number of choices can create confusion and stress. When people have too many alternatives, it can become difficult to decide which one is the most suitable. For instance, online shopping websites may offer hundreds of similar products, which can make customers spend a lot of time comparing them. Moreover, people may worry that they have made the wrong choice after selecting one option. This can reduce satisfaction even when their final decision is actually good.
In conclusion, I believe that having a variety of choices is generally beneficial, but too many options can sometimes create confusion and stress. Therefore, people should have enough choices to meet their needs without being overwhelmed by unnecessary alternatives.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student addresses the prompt by discussing both the positive and negative aspects of having numerous choices, establishing a clear position. However, the task achievement is significantly hindered by the length requirement: the text contains only 218 words, failing to meet the minimum threshold of 250 words. As a result, the ideas presented, such as the examples regarding mobile phones and online shopping, remain somewhat under-developed due to the constrained space. While the arguments are relevant, the lack of sufficient word count pulls the score down into the Band 5.0 range, as the response cannot fully develop its arguments as required by higher bands.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body points, and conclusion adequately. The writer attempts to use cohesive devices such as 'While having more options', 'On the other hand', and 'Moreover'. However, there is a notable cohesive error in the repetition of 'On the other hand' for consecutive paragraphs (used for both the first and second body paragraphs), which makes the logical progression somewhat mechanical and faulty. Referencing and paragraph transitions need better variety and precision to achieve a higher score. Overall, the organizational structure is basic but meets the requirements for a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'excessive number', 'alternatives', 'confusion', and 'satisfaction'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'educational career' instead of 'education', 'pretty good' which is overly informal, and phrasing like 'some one select mobile by their good result of camera'. Spelling and word formation are generally acceptable, but the lexical limitations and occasional unnatural collocations restrict the score to Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses with 'While having...' and 'When people have...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in article usage, prepositional phrases, and subject-verb agreement, such as 'people have wide range' (missing article), 'can sometime difficult' (missing verb), and 'Some one select mobile by their good result' (grammatically awkward and inaccurate). While these errors do not completely impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the writing from reaching Band 6.0, fitting the Band 5.5 descriptor.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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