Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-22

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)

Nowadys, in this ever-changing world people have too many choices to choose from. Nevertheless, I belive these choices could make our ability to make decisions weak.

One of the significant factors for this growing number of choices is the availability of materials, amenties and resources. For instance, people living in a metro city would have more transportation options, an individual living near a place with multiple cafes and restaurants would take time to decide keeping factors in mind like ambience, food, crowd and timing. There are number of reasons one can make there life more complex when dealing with choices.

People ought to find what is best for them, overthinking their choices most of the time. Another major example could be when deciding what to buy for oneself. The items that we buy whether be it clothes, shoes, watches an additional factors is to be taken into consideration, these are brands, amount it costs, quality and endurance over the time.

In my view, if we have too many choices it can lead to mental fatigue and burnout, it also makes power of decision making weak. Nevertheless, there are many choices and factors to be considered, it is important that one should not keep confusing and overthinking when buying ordinary stuff. People seem to overthink even on household items like detergent, brushes, carpets. It is important to have a sense of composure and clarity when dealing with multiple choices and subquently then go for what is best for you.

In conclusion, choices are supposed to be never ending, one can go from brand to pricing to quality in a single purchase, but it is important that one should understand what their requirement is.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt regarding whether we have too many choices nowadays by taking a clear stance that an excess of choices weakens our decision-making ability and leads to mental fatigue. The position is maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are presented, such as the impact of choices on daily purchases and household items, and are supported with relevant examples like cafes, clothes, and detergents. However, some of the supporting ideas tend to be slightly repetitive or under-developed, lacking deeper elaboration to reach a higher band. Nevertheless, all parts of the task are addressed adequately, and a consistent viewpoint is communicated effectively, fulfilling the requirements for Band 6.5, rounded to 6.0 based on the depth of idea extension.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used to separate distinct ideas, such as the general factors of choice in the second paragraph, specific purchasing examples in the third, and the psychological impact in the fourth. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen in the slightly awkward transitional phrases ('Nevertheless, there are many choices...', 'subquently then go for'). Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression between sentences could be smoother to avoid abrupt shifts. These features align the response closely with the Band 6 descriptor for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'significant factors', 'amenities', 'mental fatigue', and 'composure'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that detract from precision, including 'Nowadys' instead of 'Nowadays', 'belive' instead of 'believe', 'amenties' instead of 'amenities', and 'subquently' instead of 'subsequently'. Additionally, phrasing such as 'make our ability to make decisions weak' is rather unnatural and repetitive ('make... make'). While these lexical shortcomings do not impede communication, they prevent the essay from achieving a higher band, making Band 6 an accurate reflection of the student's lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student utilises a mix of simple and complex sentence forms throughout the response, demonstrating some structural variety with clauses introduced by 'whether be it' and conditional structures like 'if we have too many choices it can lead to...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips, such as comma splices in 'In my view, if we have too many choices it can lead to mental fatigue and burnout, it also makes power of decision making weak.' Article usage is occasionally missing ('metro city', 'power of decision making'). Despite these errors, the meaning remains clear and they rarely impede communication, placing the response solidly within the Band 6 descriptor for grammatical range and accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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