Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-12

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)

Some people believe that accepting a bad situation is the best option, while others agrue that one should work to improve such situations. In my opinion, people should not get dissapointed by their bad situation, and they should push themselves to work hard and change their current situation.

On one hand, there are people who believe that its better to accept a bad situation. The reason behind this opinion might be the optimism possessed by these people. They strongly believe that their might be a good reason behind their current situation and they hope that things will get better on their own with time. Such people are extremely patient but are not willing to work to imrpove their situation. For example, if someone is not satisfied by their job due to the work enviroment or the rude behaviour of their boss, instead of discussing the situtation in their workspace or switching jobs, they stay silent and wait for the situation to change with time.

On the other hand, some people argue that one should try to improve their current situation. These people encourage hardwork and believe that one must not give up in difficult times as hardwork is the key to success. If you keep making efforts to improve your current situation, you might be able to solve the problem.

In conclusion, some people prefer accepting a bad situation as is and wait for things to get better by themselves. On the other hand, other people encourage to deal with the bad situtation instead of accepting it, in order to make it better.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both views and state your own position in the introduction: you favour working to change a difficult situation. The job example also makes the first view more concrete. However, the discussion is uneven: the acceptance view receives an explanation and an example, while the improvement view is supported mainly by general claims such as “hardwork is the key to success.” The conclusion restates the two positions but does not clearly reaffirm your own opinion, so your stance is less consistent by the end. To strengthen the response, explain when accepting a situation might be sensible, develop the benefits and practical limits of taking action, and make your final judgement explicit. This would make the ideas more fully addressed and supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. “On one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the discussion. The example about an unsatisfactory job is placed appropriately within the first view. However, progression within the second body paragraph is limited: it moves from encouraging hard work to a broad claim about solving problems without explaining the steps or linking them to a specific example. The conclusion also repeats the contrast rather than drawing the argument together, and “On the other hand” is used again there in a somewhat mechanical way. Develop clearer links between each claim and its explanation, and use referencing or transitions more selectively.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “unsatisfactory job,” “work environment,” “switching jobs,” and “difficult times.” However, the range is limited and several choices or spelling errors reduce precision and naturalness. Examples include “agrue,” “dissapointed,” “imrpove,” and “situtation”; these errors are noticeable even though the intended meaning is generally recoverable. Some phrases are also awkward or repetitive, such as “improve their current situation” and “make it better.” Aim to use a wider range of accurate expressions for responding to problems and making changes, and proofread spelling carefully. More precise collocations would make the argument clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including a conditional example beginning “if someone is not satisfied by their job” and a clause explaining what people believe. Most sentences remain understandable, and errors rarely prevent the reader from following your meaning. Some grammatical issues remain, however. In “its better,” the possessive form should be “it’s”; “their might be a good reason” should be “there might be a good reason”; and “encourage to deal with” needs an object, such as “encourage people to deal with.” The long job example would also benefit from clearer sentence control and punctuation. Continue practising accurate clause construction and proofreading, while varying sentence patterns beyond repeated “they” and “people” structures.

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