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 households in each income braket 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 a sharp increase to over 34 million families.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 1.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0
The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks for an essay discussing university students' subject choices, but 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 cannot be assessed for task achievement in the context of the essay question provided. In an official IELTS examination, this would be treated as a memorized or irrelevant response, resulting in a score of 1.0 for Task Response as it fails to address the prompt.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay is organized into paragraphs, and there is an attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'However', and 'In contrast'. The progression of information is logical within the context of describing a chart, moving from an overview to specific data points. However, because the content is entirely irrelevant to the prompt, the coherence is undermined by the fact that the text does not fulfill the purpose of the task. The paragraphing is functional, but the logical flow is disconnected from the actual requirements of the essay task.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for describing statistical data, with terms like 'income bracket', 'steadily', 'decreased', and 'sharp increase'. There are some spelling errors, such as 'braket' instead of 'bracket'. The range is sufficient to describe trends, but it lacks the academic vocabulary required for an argumentative essay on university education. The lexical choices are repetitive, and the student relies on basic descriptive language rather than the more sophisticated vocabulary expected for a Band 7+ essay.
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 households... looked steady' (should be 'remained steady') and 'in comparison with the other 3 incomes' (should be 'other income groups'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, though there are some comma splices and awkward phrasing. The control of grammar is sufficient to convey the meaning of the data description, but the errors are frequent enough to prevent a higher score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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