Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-05

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)

There is an ongoing debate where some university students want to learn about other subjects in addition to their main subjects while others argue that it is more necessary to give all their time and focus on main subjects.

Although both opinions have their own value i agree with the formal point of view.

Firstly, studying different types of subjects along with main subjects improves the students interest and focus in education. Different types of subjects helps student to learn about different aspects of the world other than their main course. For example students study pharmacy as main subject while they also study social study, this will help them to understand the needs of the society.

Secondly, additional subjects improves the communication ability of the students. This will help them to communicate with the world easily and being part of various organisations. For example, english language is taught alongside with the main course so individual can communicate and work all over the world easily.

However, main focus of students should be on their main subject. Specialized individual can perform their work more accurately. They should have command on their main subject. For example in competetive exams more number of questions are field related, so a person having a deep knowladge about its field will pass it easily.

In conclusion, although students should focus on their main subject so they can perform their work accurately, my believe is studying additional subjects is more important because it helps student in communication and increased their interest in study.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both views on studying additional subjects alongside main courses and provides a clear opinion. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed, lacking detailed extension or concrete personal examples. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met, as the response contains 240 words, falling 10 words short of the 250-word minimum (with 15 words copied directly from the task prompt not counted). To improve, you need to expand your arguments with richer supporting details and ensure you write at least 250 words of original text.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text shows some organisation with basic cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'In conclusion', but there is a lack of clear overall progression. The paragraphing is somewhat basic, and referencing or transitions between sentences can feel mechanical or abrupt, such as the sudden shift into the counter-argument. To reach a higher level, you should ensure that each paragraph builds smoothly on the last and that a wider variety of cohesive devices is used more naturally without over-relying on simple connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary is limited but minimally adequate for the task. You attempt some less common vocabulary such as 'specialized', 'competetive', and 'knowladge', but noticeable errors occur in word choice, word form, and spelling (e.g., 'competetive' instead of 'competitive', 'knowladge' instead of 'knowledge', and 'formal' instead of 'former'). These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict your score. To improve, focus on accuracy in spelling and word choice, and incorporate more precise, topic-specific vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Your writing uses a limited range of sentence structures, and your attempts at complex sentences often contain errors. There are frequent mistakes in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Different types of subjects helps student'), article usage (e.g., 'alongside with the main course'), and pluralisation (e.g., 'For example students study pharmacy'). These frequent grammatical errors can cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher score, you should practice using a wider variety of error-free complex sentence structures and pay closer attention to grammatical rules such as agreement and plural forms.

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