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 a 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 more freedom and 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 | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of having many choices today, and the student presents a clear position in the introduction and conclusion. However, the response is under length, containing only 221 words against the minimum requirement of 250 words. This under-length penalty restricts the overall task achievement score. Furthermore, while the ideas regarding confusion and stress are relevant, the development in the second paragraph is somewhat repetitive and contains minor logical leaps. For example, stating that people select mobiles based on a 'good result of camera' demonstrates limited elaboration. Overall, the ideas are partially developed, aligning the response with a Band 5.5 score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised, although the second and third body paragraphs both begin with 'On the other hand', which is an inappropriate use of a transition since the two paragraphs do not present contrasting arguments, but rather different facets of the topic. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or misused. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the opening sentence of the second paragraph where 'having more choices people give more freedom' suffers from structural confusion. Progression is somewhat hampered by these mechanical transitional errors, but the overall message remains understandable, fitting the Band 6.0 descriptor.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'excessive number', 'alternatives', and 'beneficial'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'educational career' instead of 'education', 'it can sometime difficult to choose option', and 'good result of camera'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but the limitations in lexical flexibility and recurrent inaccuracies place this response firmly in the Band 5.5 range, as the vocabulary used is minimally adequate for discussing the topic but lacks precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'While having more options is pretty good I partly agree with that because...' and 'When people have too many alternatives, it can become difficult...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms, missing articles, and sentence construction, such as 'having more choices people give more freedom' and 'it can sometime difficult to choose option'. Punctuation is also neglected in places, such as missing commas after introductory dependent clauses. These errors cause some difficulty for the reader at times, supporting a Band 5.0 score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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