Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-02

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In spite of the advances made in agriculture, many people around the world still go hungry.

Why is this the case?

What can be done about this problem?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Several individuals are facing malnutrition, despite the fact that agriculture has become more innovative. Although agriculture is progressive, still public encounter starvation because of climate changes due to harmful emission released by machinery and poverty.

To commence, with one major reason that climate changes cause the reduction in yield productivity as they emerged due to use of machinery that emitted harmful emissions, consequently the crop is affected adversely, and ultimately local communities often face shortage of essential food items. To illustrate, machines release harmful emission that affect detrimentally our climate changes, that lead to cause the sudden rain or temperature changes, as a result crop production is adversely affected. Similarly, another reason is highly priced items create hinder for people from disadvantage backgrounds as they are unable to purchase agricultural products. For example, it is challenging for unprivileged communities to afford prohibitively expensive agricultural yields, therefore they have to go through starvation.

To tackle this product, it is essential for farmers to use electric tractors and solar-powered irrigating pumps, that helps to protect the climate changes that effect the crop and enhance the yield productivity. Furthermore, government should reduce the price for economically disadvantaged people, consequently they will be able to purchase and enjoy the agricultural products, therefore it is an effective measure that will overcome this issue.

In conclusion, although poverty and climate changes are the major causes of this issue, while effective measures like electric machinery and reducing highly priced product can resolve this problem. Therefore, government and public can collaborate to tackle this problem effectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for hunger and potential solutions. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the link between machinery emissions and climate change is stated repeatedly but lacks depth, and the suggestion to 'reduce the price' for disadvantaged people is vague, lacking a practical mechanism (e.g., subsidies or food aid). While the position is clear, the arguments would benefit from more specific, real-world examples rather than general statements. The response meets the minimum length requirement, but the ideas remain at a basic level of analysis, which limits the score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, and there is a logical progression from the problem to the solution. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To commence', 'Similarly', and 'In conclusion', though some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. The referencing is generally clear, although some sentences are slightly clunky, which occasionally disrupts the flow. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main parts of the prompt. To improve, the student should focus on using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring that the relationship between sentences is more fluid.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and range required for a higher band. There is some repetition of words like 'harmful emissions', 'climate changes', and 'adversely'. Some collocations are slightly unnatural, such as 'create hinder for people' (should be 'create a barrier') and 'unprivileged communities' (usually 'underprivileged'). While the meaning is always clear, the lexical range is somewhat limited, and the student relies on basic phrasing rather than more sophisticated academic vocabulary. Expanding the range of synonyms and focusing on accurate collocations would improve the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'public encounter starvation' (missing article), 'that lead to cause' (redundant phrasing), and 'that effect the crop' (confusing 'effect' with 'affect'). Subject-verb agreement and article usage are inconsistent throughout the text. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they are frequent enough to indicate a lack of control over more complex structures. Focusing on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and refining sentence construction would be beneficial.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.