Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-11

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 4.5)

The given bar chart provides information about the number of households by income during the period from 2007 to 2015 every four years in the US.

Overall, the number of incomes looked steady without any dramatic rise in each year. For example, at the beginning the incomes looked average, and did not have a very big difference, except $75,000-$99,999. However, at the end, the number of households did not significantly change.

In 2007, the number of households whose income was less than $25,000 was 25 million, and after 4 years the bar rose steadily to about 28 million. However, the number of families in 2015 dropped to over 26 million. The number of households with income from $25,000 to $49,999, in 2007 was over 26 million. After some amount of time, the bar rose to about 29 million families, and by the end of the period, it decreased to over 27 million.

At the beginning, the number of households whose income was from $50,000 to $74,999, was much lower than the other two incomes and had over 20 million. After 4 years it rose steadily to 22 million, and after another 4 years it fell to 20 million again. In addition, the number of families with an income from $75,000 to $99,999 was the smallest in comparison with the other 3 incomes, In 2007 it had over 14 million families, and did not grow until 2015. At the end it increased to about 15 million. In contrast, the number of households with an income from $100,000 and more, was the highest in comparison with other incomes. In 2007 it had over 29 million families, but in 2014 it had decreased to over 27 million. And in 2015 it experienced the sharp increase to over 34 million families.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks for an essay discussing the merits of studying additional subjects versus focusing solely on a main qualification. However, the student has written a report describing a bar chart about household income. Because the response does not address the task prompt at all, it fails to meet the requirements for Task Achievement. In an actual IELTS examination, this would be treated as a memorized or irrelevant response, resulting in a score of 1.0 for Task Achievement. I have evaluated the language quality below based on the text provided, but the score for this criterion reflects the total failure to address the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is organized into paragraphs, and there is a basic attempt at logical progression. The writer uses some cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'For example', 'However', and 'In contrast'. However, the referencing is sometimes mechanical, and the flow between sentences is occasionally repetitive. The paragraphing is functional, but the lack of a clear, relevant topic makes the overall coherence difficult to assess in the context of an essay. The structure is more suited to a report than an argumentative essay.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for describing data, using terms like 'steady', 'dramatic rise', 'significantly change', and 'experienced the sharp increase'. However, the range is limited and repetitive. There are some inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'number of incomes' (referring to households) and 'after some amount of time', which is vague. The student demonstrates enough vocabulary to communicate basic information, but lacks the sophistication or flexibility required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'the number of incomes looked steady' (should be 'household incomes') and 'in comparison with the other 3 incomes' (should be 'income groups'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but there are occasional errors, such as the comma splice in 'the other 3 incomes, In 2007'. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of errors prevents the response from reaching a higher band.

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

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