Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

The convincing argument is that Work is worship, while both views have merit as well as drawbacks. I strongly believe that the key to achieving happiness is acceptance. An unsatisfactory job in a toxic environment or a situation like shortage of money in a needy situation pushes people to aggression and frustration. However, these situations pave way to learn, handle and brings out our best version to adapt and survive. For instance, an employee working in a company might not always end up with a good team, supportive collegues or friendly higher authoritative people. Some of the offensive acts like misbehaving, disrespecting, bullying or even expecting to work for more than 12 hours, providing lot of work load makes the employee eventually loose interest with work. Hence, its necessary for an indivudual to find happiness with the work they do, instead of expecting someone to give them happiness.

While others argue that it is better to withhold such situations which would help us to experience various kind of environments and people. Such situations make people understand and create awarness across the types of people around. Some might be helpful, loving, kind and supportive whereas some might be anxious, vicious, grudgeful and cunning. Everything exposes us to learn which helps us to improve our potential to survive and adapt easily.

In conclusion, it depends on the severity of the issues we face everyday. Some situations give us time and hope to withhold, learn and improve. Some ignites us to frustrate, shout and quit. Therefore, it is our responsibility to acquire the ability of acceptance which will help us to move on from unfavourable situations.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear overall preference for acceptance, especially in the opening and conclusion, and you include relevant examples of workplace difficulties such as bullying, excessive hours and unsupportive colleagues. However, the discussion does not fully explain both positions. The paragraph beginning “While others argue” describes what people may learn from difficult circumstances, but it does not clearly explain the opposing view that people should actively try to improve their job or financial situation. Your own position also shifts: you favour acceptance, yet say some situations should be improved or that people may quit, without clarifying when each response is appropriate. Develop both arguments directly and support your view with a more precise explanation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion, so the reader can identify its broad structure. Linking expressions such as “However,” “For instance,” and “In conclusion” help signal examples and stages of the argument. Nevertheless, progression within and between paragraphs is not consistently clear. The second paragraph opens with “While others argue,” but the view it presents is difficult to distinguish from your own point about learning to adapt. Some sentences also combine several ideas without showing their relationship, particularly the list of workplace problems and its consequences. Use topic sentences that state each side’s argument, then explain and illustrate it in a clear sequence; make references such as “these situations” more specific.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of vocabulary relevant to work and difficult circumstances, including “toxic environment,” “aggression,” “frustration,” “supportive,” and “adapt and survive.” These choices show an effort to express more than basic ideas. However, several inaccurate or unnatural expressions reduce precision, such as “withhold such situations,” “higher authoritative people,” “grudgeful,” and “providing lot of work load.” There are also spelling errors, including “collegues,” “awarness,” “indivudual,” and “loose” where “lose” is intended. Choose familiar, accurate collocations rather than forcing uncommon words, and proofread spelling. More precise vocabulary for accepting, changing or leaving a situation would also help distinguish the two views.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a conditional example beginning “For instance, an employee working in a company might…” and a concluding sentence with a relative clause. Meaning is generally recoverable, but errors in sentence construction and grammatical forms occur across the response. For example, “shortage of money in a needy situation” lacks a clear grammatical relationship, while “Everything exposes us to learn” uses an incorrect structure. In “Some ignites us,” the subject and verb do not agree, and “its necessary” needs an apostrophe in “it’s.” Several long sentences also need clearer punctuation and clause boundaries. Practise accurate complex sentences and check agreement, articles and sentence boundaries during revision.

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