Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-24

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)

In today's modern world people have a wide range of choices in almost every aspect of life including health, education, business, job, shopping and entertainment. Some people believe that too many choices make life more complicated. I firmly agree with this statement because an excessive number of choices can make confusion and decision making stressful.

On one hand, having more choices gives people greater freedom and flexibility to choose what suits them best. For example in educational field students can choose from variety of subjects in the universities according to their choices and interest and career. Similarly, people can have many choices during online shopping they can compare different products with their prices before making a purchase. This allows people to make decision that suit with their needs and preferences.

On the other hand, too many choices can create stress and make it difficult for the people to select what is best for them or what is not. Sometimes making a decision can be time consuming, as people may spend many hours on deciding which option suits them best. While , comparing and worrying about the wrong choices. For instance, the people who shop online founds it difficult for having too many choices by comparing similar products with their prices and finding the best for them. Moreover, people may dissatisfied with their decisions because they continue to wonder weather another option would have been better.

In conclusion, although having a variety of options provides freedom and flexibility, I believe too many options can create confusion and unnecessary stress. Therefore people should focus on selecting options that best meet their needs rather than trying to consider every possible alternative.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt, exploring both sides of the issue (the benefits of choice versus the complications caused by an excess of choices) and clearly stating a position in the introduction ("I firmly agree with this statement"). The main ideas are relevant and supported with explanations and examples, such as online shopping and educational course selection. However, the development of ideas in the body paragraphs tends to be slightly repetitive, and some arguments lack deeper elaboration. For instance, the discussion on online shopping is reiterated across both body paragraphs. While the prompt is adequately answered and a clear stance is maintained throughout, the over-generalisation and slight under-development place this response firmly in Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs presenting opposing views, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices are present, such as transitional markers like "On one hand", "On the other hand", and "In conclusion". However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the sentence fragment "While , comparing and worrying about the wrong choices" disrupts the flow, and there are awkward transitions between sentences within the body paragraphs. Additionally, referencing pronouns like "this" and "they" occasionally lack immediate clarity, leading to minor tracking issues for the reader. These features align with the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as "flexibility", "excessive", and "dissatisfied". However, there are noticeable word-choice and spelling errors that detract from precision. For instance, the student writes "can make confusion" instead of "can cause confusion", "educational field" instead of "the educational field", and misspells "weather" instead of "whether". The phrase "shops online founds it difficult" contains grammatical interference affecting lexical collocation. Despite these inaccuracies, communication is not impeded, and the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, matching Band 6 expectations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, such as missing articles ("in educational field", "with their prices"), punctuation errors (unnecessary spaces before commas and punctuation fragments like "While , comparing..."), and subject-verb agreement issues ("the people who shop online founds"). Complex structures are sometimes faulty. Nevertheless, the errors are not severe enough to impede overall communication, and many simple sentences remain error-free, which corresponds well to a Band 6 rating.

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