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 say History is one of the most important school subjects. Other people think that in today’s world subjects like Science and technology are more important than History.

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant example form your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Some people agree that history is one of the most important subject at school, while others argue that science and technological subjects are more important than history subject. In my opinion, with the technological advancements, importance of science subjects is increasing and students should acquire knowledge about that rather than studying history.

In recent times, craze for science and technology subjects are gaining more importance than history subject. While, history is being taught to students since a long period, and mostly schools teaches history about other countries rather than the history of our nation. Students are adapting to the new technology which leads their interest to the technological subjects and science. In the future, the science subject will play a crucial role, either in providing employment or usage in daily life. So many schools should start giving more importance to these subjects, for the development of students.

However, despite this, some individuals argue that history is still one of the most important subjects. Many schools are prioritising history over other subjects, in order to provide knowledge to students about the events that took place in earlier times. Some students are genuinely interested in acquiring these types of knowledge, so they pursue the course in it. As in 21st century the number of science students are increasing heavily as it has become very beneficial, but the number students of history are decreasing day by day. Still history is one of the most important, and pursiued subject by the students.

In conclusion, the science and technology subjects are developing and are becoming famous among students and schools, but history is an old and widely famous subjects so it is also very important, however many are moving towards science field as compared to history.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on the importance of history versus science and technology, and clearly states the writer's opinion in the introduction. The ideas are generally relevant, but some main points tend to be somewhat repetitive or under-developed. For example, the argument that schools teach history about other countries rather than national history is introduced but not fully explored or supported with concrete examples. Similarly, the conclusion reiterates points rather than synthesizing them. However, the writer maintains a consistent position throughout, which aligns the response with a Band 6 descriptor.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear four-paragraph structure comprising an introduction, two body paragraphs representing different views, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'While, history is being taught' and 'However, despite this, some individuals argue' are used awkwardly or redundantly. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as 'pursues the course in it' where the antecedent is loose. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas, but logical progression between sentences within paragraphs requires smoother transitional devices.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'technological advancements', 'crucial role', and 'prioritising'. However, there are notable limitations and word-choice errors, such as 'craze for science and technology subjects' (unnatural collocation) and 'pursiued subject' (spelling error). Other phrases like 'number students of history' exhibit awkward grammatical collocation. While communication is not impeded, these frequent lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips prevent the writing from achieving a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'Some people agree that history is one of the most important subject at school, while others argue that science...'. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, including singular/plural mismatches ('one of the most important subject') and missing articles ('in 21st century'). Punctuation and word forms also show occasional lapses, such as 'pursiued' and 'mostly schools teaches'. Although these errors are noticeable and can cause slight difficulty for the reader, they do not completely impede overall communication, fitting the Band 5.0 profile well.

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

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