Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-02

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)

Some university students want to learn about other subjects in addition to their main subjects because they consider that studying more subjects will add more credits to their portfolio. It will create somesort of a diversity and in the same time it will give the idea that this student is covering so many knowledge ireas.Eventually all these positive points will boost the career of the student which means more employments opportunities.On the other side, others believe it is more important to give all their time and attention to studying for a qualification because they consider that the more a student learn about other subjects the less time he will have to study his main subjects, also those additional subjects could interfere withe the main subjects and become somesort of a distraction and in a result to that the student may risk failing both his main and additional subjects. Personally, i think that it depends on one's abilities and time schedule. When the student is capable mentally and physically and his schedule allows to add more subjects to his portfolio, he will upgrade his career therefore increase his chaces in getting hired.But if the speciality of the student is already so hard like medecine or ingeneering where the students needs to focus really well and the time schedule is si busy .I think it will be better for the student to focus on passing his main subjetcs first and trying other specialities after graduating successfully

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both views regarding whether university students should study other subjects or focus solely on their main qualification, and a personal opinion is presented. However, the length requirement is not met, as the response falls short of the two hundred and fifty word minimum, containing only two hundred and forty-four words. Furthermore, while the ideas are relevant, they remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the points about portfolio credits and career boosting are stated rather than fully extended with specific explanations or robust examples. To reach a higher level, the writer should ensure the minimum word count is achieved and expand each viewpoint with fully developed explanations and concrete examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a basic level of organisation, and the response moves from discussing the benefits of learning other subjects to the opposing view and then to the writer's opinion. However, there is no clear overall progression due to poor paragraphing and a lack of proper visual breaks. The entire essay is essentially structured into very dense blocks, and cohesive devices are somewhat repetitive and mechanical, relying heavily on phrases like 'On the other side' and 'in a result to that'. Additionally, referencing becomes slightly unclear in places. To improve cohesion, the writer needs to break the text into distinct, logical paragraphs—such as separate paragraphs for introduction, the first view, the second view, and the conclusion—and employ a wider variety of cohesive links naturally.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'portfolio', 'diversity', and 'speciality'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, awkward word choices, and spelling or word-form mistakes that create some difficulty for the reader. Examples include 'somesort', 'ireas' instead of areas, 'employments' instead of employment, 'medecine', 'ingeneering', and 'chaces'. Furthermore, phrases like 'covering so many knowledge ireas' lack natural collocation. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand the range of vocabulary, improve precision in word choice and collocations, and eliminate spelling errors to ensure smooth and accurate communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures starting with 'When the student is capable...' and 'But if the speciality of the student is already so hard...'. However, there is a limited range of structures used accurately, and attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, accompanied by frequent grammatical errors. Issues include missing articles ('needs to focus really well', 'is si busy'), incorrect prepositions ('at the same time' is handled okay, but 'interfere withe' has a typo/prepositional issue), run-on sentence structures, and punctuation or capitalization oversights like 'i think' and missing periods at sentence boundaries. To improve, the writer must exercise better control over complex sentence patterns, punctuation, and article usage.

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