Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-17
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Some people believe that it is best to accept a bad situation, such as an unsatisfactory job or shortage of money. Others argue that it is better to try and improve such situations.
Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
Many believe that it is best to accept the bad situation like an unsatisfactory job or shortage of money while other argued it is better to try and improve those situations. This essay will examine compelling aurgements from both perspective before arriving at a well-reasoned conclusion.
It is common to accept the situation either it is bad or not because its hard to improve such situations. A bad situation occur due to the bad decision taken in past and its hard to escape from that problem untill unless you give your all on it and many of us are already busy in our life so giving time just for to improve past decision is not-reasonable. For example, a person have an unsatisfactory job with a loving family and wife in this situation if the person try to improve his occupation by giving regination from his job he might danger his whole hamily with one decision. So, many people accept bad situation because it might affect everything they have and not everyone has perfect life.
On the other hand, argue that accepting bad situation may lead to bigger problem later on and it can also affect our health causing depression and other mental problems. Any problem can be solve if given enough time but it depends on the problem itself and accepting and not trying improve a bad situation is a problem on its own which lead to major health issue. For instance, a student is stuck in his course in which he is not intrested and if he force that course he will be suffering from depression because he is not improving and there is just one step he need to take for him to improve both his health and life condition ie. dropping the course. Similar to that student there are many of us who are stuck but just one step away from improve but we do not take it because we accept the situation.
In conclusion, accepting a bad situtation is a problem on its own and we should takle it rather then accepting it. In my opinion its never too late for trying to improve our bad situation.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses both parts of the prompt regarding the two views and provides a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as the person with an unsatisfactory job and the student stuck in an uninteresting course. However, some arguments lack full extension and tend to over-generalise, placing the response comfortably within the Band 6 descriptor range. The writer attempts to explore why people accept bad situations and why others argue for improvement, satisfying the core task requirements despite some under-development in the body paragraphs.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two competing views. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen in awkward transitions like 'On the other hand, argue that...' where the subject is missing, and repetitiveness in referencing ('a bad situation', 'such situations'). Paragraph progression is generally logical, but the internal cohesion within sentences occasionally falters, leading to a Band 6 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'compelling arguments', 'well-reasoned conclusion', and 'unsatisfactory job'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'aurgements' instead of 'arguments', 'untill unless', 'regination', 'hamily', 'intrested', and 'takle'. These errors do not severely impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching Band 6.5 or higher, aligning best with Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some command of conditional and multi-clause structures (e.g., 'if the person try to improve his occupation... he might danger his whole hamily'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('a person have'), missing subjects ('On the other hand, argue that...'), preposition errors, and awkward phrasing. These errors frequently cause difficulty for the reader and prevent the response from achieving a higher band, reflecting a solid Band 5.0 performance.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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