Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-05

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 argue that history is one of the significant subjects taught in school while other people oppose this by saying that in today's era technology and science are the crucial subjects compare to history. In my opinion, science and technology are the most significant subjects than history because these subjects give students an opportunity to make life better in future and it also benefits the government economically.

Science and technology is evolving day by day and creating oppotunites for the younger generation by offering great jobs. Students who belong to a humble background learn about science and the ongoing trends in technology which allow them to develop skills that are most demanding. After graduating from an institute students can apply to large enterprises for a job that could change their lifestyle. Furthermore, as science and technology is growing and more countries are adopting it. Government can hire students that belong to science and technology background to develop or create more advance system or infrastructure by using technology. This could attract international businesses and other countries to invest or to collaborate.

On the other hand, some people argue that history is one of the most important subjects. A student must have knowledge about the most important events happened in the past and also a student must have the knowledge about their religion's history or about their country's histroy. If a student is going to foreign country and their if he/she is asked questions about their religion or country then they should be able to address those questions. For instance, a student move to a foreign country for further studies and in the class a professor asked a historical question about his/her country and if he couldn't answer that question then it should be embarrassing for that student.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that science and technology are more important than history because it helps the government to be economically better and it also give opportunities to students to create a better life in future. However, some people urge that history is the crucial subject as it gives an individual knowledge about the past events and also about his/her religion or country's role back in the days.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on whether history or science and technology are more important school subjects, and presents a clear personal opinion throughout. However, the development of ideas remains somewhat limited and under-developed, which keeps the response at this level. While the arguments supporting science and technology as drivers of economic and career growth are relevant, they tend to generalise rather than fully explore deeper implications. Similarly, the counterargument regarding history is supported by a single personal scenario about avoiding embarrassment abroad rather than broader societal or educational benefits. Note that 8 words copied directly from the prompt were excluded from the official word count, but the length requirement was fully met.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the body paragraphs and conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, separating the two competing viewpoints into distinct sections. However, cohesion within and between sentences is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases are occasionally repetitive or overused, and referencing lacks precision in places, such as pronoun use referring back to previous ideas. Despite these minor cohesive limitations, the overarching structure remains logical and easy to follow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less-common lexical items related to education and technology such as 'infrastructure', 'collaborate', and 'enterprises'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that occur throughout the text, including 'oppotunites' instead of opportunities, 'histroy' instead of history, and awkward phrasings like 'crucial subjects compare to history' and 'science and technology background'. While these lexical inaccuracies do not seriously impede overall communication, they demonstrate a limited control over word formation and collocation, preventing the response from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating subordinating clauses such as 'Students who belong to a humble background learn about science...'. However, there is a limited range of grammatical structures overall, and attempts at complex sentences frequently feature errors in articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation. Examples include 'Science and technology is evolving' where plural agreement is missed, and missing articles in phrases like 'move to foreign country'. These frequent grammatical errors require occasional effort from the reader to parse meaning, though communication is rarely completely blocked.

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