Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-11

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)

It is argued that, it is better to agree a bad scenario like inadequate job or lack of money. Others believe that, these are opportunities where we can try and improve our situation. In my opinion having a temporary job is better with no job and we can move to another job with learning new skills.

On the one hand people argued that, we need face the bad scenarios like unsatisfaction at work place or shortage of money for reducing stress and to gain stable income. Where it all depends on the situation that is happening. For instance, consider a student from India who wanted pursue his master's degree in foreign countries and took loan for his studies. Here, he need to work for paying loan although he had unsatisfaction job. Other reason would be to reduce stress and gain stable income, where it is better to have a job rather than doing nothing.

On the other hand, it is better to try and improve this kind of situations because to build self confidence and having patience to solve problems. If we have patience, we can claim anything. For instance, a person need to repay his loan, when he has patience or small job with less salary by storing some amount of money, he can pay interest rather than original amount. Other reason would be, it helps in building self confidence by solving these kind of problems.

In my opinion, it is better to accept temporarily and gain huge money with good job satisfaction.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both views and give an opinion, so the response is relevant to the task. The first body paragraph explains why someone might keep an unsatisfactory job, using the example of a student who must repay a study loan; the second presents patience and self-confidence as reasons to improve one’s circumstances. However, these ideas are only partly developed, and the examples do not always clearly demonstrate the point—for instance, the link between saving money and paying interest rather than the original loan is difficult to follow. Your position also shifts: the introduction favours a temporary job while seeking improvement, but the conclusion says it is better to accept temporarily and gain a well-paid, satisfying job. State this position consistently and explain more clearly how each example supports it.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, one paragraph for each view, and a conclusion. Signposts such as “On the one hand” and “On the other hand” help readers identify the contrast. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several ideas are joined mechanically with “Other reason” or “For instance.” The sentence beginning “Where it all depends on the situation” does not connect smoothly to the preceding point, while the loan example in the second body paragraph is difficult to follow. The conclusion also introduces a position that is not clearly established earlier. Improve cohesion by making each paragraph’s main point explicit, linking examples directly to that point, and using clearer references instead of repeated transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some vocabulary relevant to employment and finances, including “shortage of money,” “stable income,” “repay his loan,” and “self confidence.” This gives you enough language to communicate the general topic, but the range is limited and several word choices or collocations sound unnatural, sometimes making the intended meaning less clear. Examples include “agree a bad scenario,” “unsatisfaction at work place,” and “gain huge money.” Some expressions are also repeated, such as “bad scenarios” and “self confidence.” Aim to learn common word partnerships and use more precise terms for the two positions in the essay. For example, “accept a difficult situation” and “improve one’s circumstances” would express the central contrast more naturally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “although” and “when,” but complex sentences are often faulty and errors occur frequently enough to affect clarity. For example, “a student from India who wanted pursue” is missing “to,” and “he need to work” has incorrect subject–verb agreement. In “If we have patience, we can claim anything,” the conditional structure is formed, but the sentence’s meaning is unclear in context. There are also recurring problems with articles, sentence boundaries, and punctuation, as in the comma after “argued that” in the opening. Practise building accurate sentences with one main clause and a clearly connected subordinate clause, then check verb forms, agreement, and punctuation.

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

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