Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-30

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)

It is true that, Knowledge is the key to success. In this contemporary era, there is an ongoing debate about few scholars want to expand their knowledge by reading other subjects within their prioritize subjects. While other says it is more dominant for pupils to just focus only on academic subjects, they have, for become an qualified person. This essay will discuss both views along with my opinion. However, I side with the former school of thought.

On the one hand, focusing only on academic subjects would be helpful for achieving higher scores. To explain it, for matching the qualification standards for jobs or society, it is necessary to be an intelligent student, who will not only can enroll himself into dreamt job but also can achieve mental satisfaction. Internship, as a epitome, which is only achieved by great scorers and this is considered as a reward for merit listers. I do not agree with this because they ( student who achieve marks by reading only course related subjects) have locked their potential and determination to numbers, which does not really matter and they would not like to serve society in any ways as they have only scores rather than having knowledge of other important factors.

On the other hand, students, who tend to learn about other subjects, have enough potential to explore themselves beyond the limits, because it aid them to become independent from money minded mindset. In addition to this, the more, student gather the knowledge of un-related topics during the time he/she studying in academic institutions, the more he/she will able to find his/her inner interest or talent. Giving a good illustration to this, the Abdul kalam, ex-president of India in 2000's, was not much into school subjects, found his real interest in engineering about Airplanes while putting his whole potential and energy into various findings about planes, which rewarded himself a brilliant researcher of plane's physics, due to which he became popular among public and he got a oppurtunity to serve as a president for the society.

To conclude, Although it is beneficial for scholars to focus only on main subjects, having interest in unrelated subjects can find the real interest and potential for a student

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal position. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. The explanation of the first viewpoint is slightly confusing, as the argument about 'merit listers' and 'locked potential' is not clearly linked to the benefits of focusing on academic subjects. The second paragraph is better developed, though the example of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is slightly inaccurate in its historical context and phrasing. To reach a higher band, ensure that each supporting point directly reinforces the main topic sentence of the paragraph and avoid generalizations that are difficult to follow.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'On the one hand' and 'In addition to this', but some transitions are mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'To explain it, for matching the qualification standards'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly in the first body paragraph where the pronoun 'they' is used in a way that makes it difficult to track the subject. Paragraphing is used appropriately, but the flow between sentences could be smoother to improve the overall progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision. There are several instances of awkward collocations and word choice errors, such as 'prioritize subjects' instead of 'primary subjects', 'dreamt job' instead of 'dream job', and 'money minded mindset'. Some phrasing is non-standard, such as 'merit listers' and 'rewarded himself a brilliant researcher'. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of sophisticated vocabulary and the presence of these errors limit the score. Expanding your range of academic collocations would significantly improve your performance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('there is an ongoing debate about few scholars want'), article usage, and sentence fragments or run-on sentences. For example, 'Internship, as a epitome, which is only achieved...' is not a complete sentence. Punctuation errors, such as unnecessary commas and apostrophes (e.g., 'plane's physics'), are also present. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to suggest a lack of control over more complex structures.

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