Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some university students want to learn about other subjects in addition to their main subjects. Others believe it is more important to give all their time and attention to studying for a qualification. Discuss both these views and give your opinion. Give reasons for your answer and include relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Many believe that students from higher education should learn extra subjects with regard to their own field whilst, some oppose this statement and argue that they should invest their time and effort for their qualification. Though the latter is important, I believe it is more beneficial for students to explore other subjects in addition to their own to improve their academic knowledge and increase valuable experiences for the future.

It is important to be exceptional in your interested field in higher education, however, one should also invest their time in learning more than their selected subjects. This helps with broadening your knowledge outside of your courses by involving you in learning different lessons that these subjects provide. A good personal example is, during my college years, I chose Business studies, but we were also encouraged to learn basic coding to make simple websites. This subject is completely off from our course and yet it had helped many of my classmates to build a business website of their own. Thus, learning different courses enables us to learn different areas of the world.

Likewise, learning variety of other subjects outside of you own will help us gain more experience by implementing learning, exploring and expanding our academic knowledge. In later years, students can use these wisdom and expertise in their career. It can be seen in many scholars' professional life, where they used a completely different sets of skills to solve problems, like a tech savvy graduate found issues with the basic audit reporting. Therefore, learning different skills and subjects support students not just in their current school life but also assist them in their future endeavors.

In conclusion although putting all your time and effort guides student to be remarkable, I believe, navigating other subjects is more important for increasing ones skills and knowledge outside of their qualification not just for present but also for the future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both viewpoints and providing a clear personal opinion. The position is consistent throughout the essay. Ideas are generally well-developed, particularly the example regarding business studies and coding, which effectively illustrates the benefits of interdisciplinary learning. However, the second body paragraph is slightly repetitive in its argument, focusing on 'gaining experience' and 'expanding knowledge' in a way that overlaps with the first paragraph. To reach a higher band, the student could provide more distinct arguments for the opposing view or delve deeper into the specific advantages of focusing solely on a qualification, which is currently only briefly mentioned in the introduction and conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'though', 'likewise', 'thus', and 'in conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as 'these wisdom' (which should be 'this wisdom') and 'a tech savvy graduate found issues with the basic audit reporting', where the link to the previous point about interdisciplinary skills is slightly tenuous. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and the progression of ideas is generally clear throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task. There are some good attempts at less common items, such as 'interdisciplinary' (implied), 'endeavors', and 'remarkable'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice or collocation errors, such as 'students from higher education' (should be 'students in higher education'), 'off from our course' (should be 'outside our course'), and 'these wisdom' (wisdom is uncountable). While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more precise control over vocabulary and collocations to reach the next band level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There is a good attempt at using complex sentences, such as 'Although putting all your time and effort guides student to be remarkable, I believe...'. However, there are frequent minor grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('guides student' instead of 'guides students'), article misuse ('a variety of' instead of 'a variety of'), and incorrect pluralization ('a completely different sets of skills'). While these errors rarely impede the reader's understanding, they are frequent enough to prevent the essay from reaching a higher band for grammatical accuracy.

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