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)

History, Science and technology are equally important school subjects. A comparison of importance can't be made on merit. History is less or more a theoretical subject where you can increase your knowledge with the past events. Whereas, Science is a theoretical plus practical subject, in which you can study chemistry, physics, biology, etc. Science makes you do experiments and produce an invention but history tells you about the inventions that had been done before. History tells us about what happened in the past. If you know the events that happened in the past, you would have a better say in any opinion. However, Science and technology are also important to be taught. Because without the knowledge of modern world technologies, one cannot grow. History helps you to predict the events but science and technology help you to invent new things. Studying Science and technology, you can prove to make history also. In my opinion, Science and technology is more important to study because one has more opportunites to grow after learning about science and technology. In today's world, technology is growing at a very fast pace. Learning about new things is better than revising the old ones. If you are strong in technology, you can earn more but if you are strong in history, you can predict the events more. An example is that you can see top businessmans in the world are selling technology and investing in it to make new technologies that can be sold more on higher rates

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both history and science and technology, and a personal opinion is presented. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed throughout the essay. For instance, the argument that science helps you to invent new things while history helps you predict events is introduced but lacks sufficient explanation, extension, or relevant examples from personal knowledge. The conclusion merely reiterates the stance without deeper synthesis. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to fully extend and support each main idea with robust reasoning and well-developed real-world examples, ensuring a more thorough exploration of both perspectives.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is some basic organisation with a recognisable introduction and concluding stance, but the overall progression of ideas lacks clarity. Paragraphing is handled poorly, as the entire body of the essay is clustered into a single, dense block of text rather than being separated into logical paragraphs for each view and the opinion. Furthermore, cohesive devices are often inadequate or repetitive, relying heavily on basic conjunctions like 'whereas' and 'however', and referencing is occasionally unclear, which disrupts the natural flow of reading and stalls logical development.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, providing enough range to discuss school subjects and modern technology. However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'businessmans' instead of 'businesspeople' and selling things 'on higher rates' instead of 'at higher rates'. Attempts at less common lexical items are sometimes awkward or imprecise. To improve this area, the writer should focus on expanding their range of academic vocabulary and refining word forms and collocations to ensure more natural and precise expression.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The text displays a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple and straightforward sentences. Attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, seen in restrictive phrasing like 'Science and technology is more important' where subject-verb agreement fails due to compound subjects, or dangling modifiers such as 'Studying Science and technology, you can prove to make history also.' Frequent errors in articles, prepositions, and verb tenses are present, though they rarely obscure the overall meaning completely. A wider variety of error-free complex structures and closer attention to basic grammar rules are required for further progress.

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